Preserving the Television Archive
Hear from the people behind the scenes at the BBC Archive
Preserving the Television Archive
Preserving the Television Archive
An interview with Adrian Williams, BBC Preservation Manager
Adrian Williams, the BBC's Preservation Manager, explains how the BBC keeps its archive safe for future generations to enjoy.
- Click on a heading below to jump to that section of the film
- Why do we need to preserve the Television Archive?
- The Challenges of Preserving the Television Archive
- What does preservation involve?
- Film
- The Earliest Type of Film: Silver Nitrate
- The Oldest BBC Television Film Clip
- What are the limitations of film?
- Why was videotape invented?
- Computers
- Film Conservation
- Vinegar Syndrome
- Storage
- The Legal and Royal Vault
- The Value of Preservation
Transcript
The Oldest BBC Television Film Clip
The earliest film clip we have in the BBC is a piece from 1936, which shows television in its very early days when it was new and experimental; a brave new world, if you like.
(film clip)
We have a number of early test recordings and clips of early BBC material.
(film clip)
And in some of them you see women presenters singing about the great new advances in broadcasting technology, transmitting all these great, fantastic pictures across the airwaves to the viewers.
(film clip)
