Six of the best
They may not be the most famous, but these TV and radio programmes embody the spirit and ambition of the BBC over the past century, says David Hendy
IN TOWN TONIGHT 1933 The BBC featured entertainment from the start, but it was the launch of In Town Tonight in 1933 that truly announced the arrival of a new, confident age of popular variety at the corporation. The show’s mix of guest interviews and live stunts, all delivered in a slick, chatty style, provided the template for our now-familiar fun-packed Saturday night TV schedule.
WOMAN’S HOUR 1946 There had already been plenty of programmes for women, but Woman’s Hour, which began in 1946, offered more than the traditional mix of fashion and housekeeping. It covered social issues, politics, the menopause and more. The aim, its producers said, was to take listeners beyond the four walls of the home. It refused to see domestic topics and public affairs as mutually exclusive, and it paved the way for programmes such as Radio 4’s long-running Today.
GRANDSTAND 1958
The BBC’s flagship sports show has been described as “the all-encompassing behemoth of sport on television”. For nearly five decades, Grandstand demonstrated the technical mastery and reach of the BBC’s outside broadcast operation for several hours every Saturday afternoon, leaving millions of viewers with indelible memories of great sporting moments.
Z CARS 1962
When Sydney Newman took over the reins of BBC TV drama and launched The Wednesday Play in 1964, Z Cars provided his inspiration. It depicted the rough-andtumble of ordinary men and women serving in a northern police force, with the restless visual style of a documentary. It was gritty and dark, and showed messy, complex lives. As its writer, John McGrath, explained, “the cops were incidental”.
TOP GEAR 1967
No, not the TV series about cars – rather, the Radio 1 programme that launched the BBC career of John Peel. The show established the Reithian approach to music Peel displayed over the following 37 years: introducing listeners to sounds they had little chance of hearing anywhere else on British radio.
SMALL AXE 2020
This anthology of five films directed by Steve McQueen powerfully captured the experience of black Britons – and the decades of institutional racism they’ve endured. By placing these films in the Sunday evening slot usually reserved for cosy television drama, the BBC showed its willingness to make the perspective of marginalised communities part of our shared national story.