The History of Forgotten Television Drama in the UK

In recent years, there has been a degree of return to empirically-based television history that seeks to 'revise' the conventional ways in which television's past has been understood. In particular, there has been a growth in awareness of the need to document and reassess the output of the BBC and ITV during the early decades of television production when many programmes were 'lost' or destroyed. This project will build on previous research by investigating the history of 'forgotten' television drama in the UK, looking at productions that are largely unknown, either because they were produced live and not recorded, or because they were recorded but subsequently junked, wiped or lost. It will also examine dramas that exist, either in part (e.g. as individual episodes within a series or serial) or complete, but which have rarely been seen, if at all, since their original transmission. Due to the specific issues raised by regional production, the project will place particular emphasis upon television drama made in the regions and nations of the UK (the English regions plus Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and assess the extent of the correlation between the 'unknown' and the 'regional' in television drama.

The period to be covered by the project is from 1946, when BBC television resumed after the Second World War, to 1982, when the BBC/ITV duopoly was ended by the arrival of Channel 4 and a new era in broadcasting began. In 1946 all drama was broadcast live and no recordings were made. By 1982 nearly all drama was pre-recorded and the practice of wiping and junking recordings, which occurred on a regular basis during the 1960s-70s, had ceased. Through research in regional and national archives, and by interviewing surviving production personnel, the project aims to uncover a 'lost' history of television drama in the UK. In doing so it seeks to produce an alternative history of UK television drama that will add to our knowledge of television history, challenge ideas concerning the television drama 'canon' and encourage awareness of the regional diversity of television drama production.

Among the research questions to be addressed are: What has happened to the many lesser-known plays, series and serials produced from 1946-82 that are not mentioned in television histories and which have not had subsequent screenings? Do these dramas still exist? If not, does their lack of existence, or their unavailability if they do exist, account for their 'invisibility' in histories of television drama? What constitutes the 'unknown' or 'forgotten' in UK television drama and by what criteria might a drama be designated 'unknown'. To what extent were these 'forgotten' dramas produced by regional BBC production centres and regional ITV companies? Is there a correlation between 'forgotten' drama and regional production? What happened to recordings of these dramas? Were they kept in the archives of regional BBC production centres and regional ITV companies? If so, what happened to these archives when the centres closed or relocated, or when the ITV companies were taken over by other companies? Has the nature of their archiving contributed to the 'invisibility' of these dramas?

Given that it will be impossible to provide an exhaustive account of all the 'forgotten' drama produced in the period under study, it is the aim of the research to build on existing databases by mapping the main contours of unknown and forgotten drama in the UK before concentrating on a series of case studies.The case studies will be chosen to represent all of the regions and nations, with at least one drama, as far as possible, representing each BBC regional production centre and each regional ITV company. In this way, the case studies should contribute to an alternative history of television drama in the UK while also putting to the test some of the assumptions that have traditionally underpinned existing accounts of its history.

In addition to the academic community, the project is planned to be of benefit to a range of beneficiaries, including the BFI, the BBC, regional film theatres, regional film archives, BECTU and the general public.

The project is supported by the BFI and will involve various kinds of collaboration with this major cultural and educational organisation. A key component of the BFI's strategy is to 'unlock' the UK's film and television heritage and to make it accessible to as wide an audience as possible within the UK through digitisation, screenings and an increased use in education. The BFI also recognises that 'access' is not simply a matter of the physical availability of films and television programmes but also depends upon underpinning research that will provide contextualisation and interpretation of the relevant material. This project will therefore contribute to this process of 'unlocking' hitherto 'unknown' material and of making it physically and culturally accessible, through a variety of means:

1) collaboration with national and regional archives
2) the organisation of public screenings and discussion at BFI Southbank and at regional film theatres that will provide national and local audiences with the opportunity to see material that may not have been publicly exhibited for 40 or 50 years,
3) the recording of interviews with practitioners
4) the development of online written and viewing materials, and
5) the encouragement of the production of a television programme that will take the findings of the project to national and international audiences.

In this way, it is envisaged that the research project will not only assist cultural organisations and broadcasters fulfil their remit to encourage knowledge and understanding of the UK's television heritage, and increase access to it, but also have an impact upon the policies of broadcasters, archives and critics regarding the production, archiving policy and evaluation of television programmes as well. One of the basic questions addressed in this research is how television dramas of the past have been elevated into a canon of 'great' drama not only by academics and critics but also archivists and curators. By uncovering a 'lost' history of television drama, especially regional dramas, it is one of the aims of the project to re-evaluate and reappraise 'forgotten' television drama and, in so doing, query the criteria by which the 'quality' or 'significance' of television drama has been identified and assessed in the past. In this way, it is intended that the research will inform and influence the policies adopted by archives and exhibitors in selecting, preserving and making available television 'heritage'.

In order to achieve this goal the project will ensure that the project will not only involve research users from outside the academic community from the very beginning of the research project but will also maintain a continuing flow of communication and dialogue with relevant bodies and agencies during the course of the research.The project has been discussed with Richard Paterson, Head of Research and Scholarship at the BFI, who has pledged his support. The Senior Curator of Television at the BFI National Archive, Steve Bryant, has agreed to join the project advisory committee as has Dick Fiddy, who organises the 'Missing, Believed Wiped' screenings at BFI Southbank. Representatives from the BBC, ITV, the BUFVC and national and regional archives will also be members of the advisory group as well as contributors to the conference. This means that the non-academic beneficiaries of the research will not only advise, and in some cases collaborate, on the research but will also be in dialogue with the researchers and receive reports on the research that will contribute to the development of future policies and practice governing the collection and promotion of access to neglected TV material.