The Written Archives
The BBC archive trial is being run to help the BBC to decide how we can best use our archives in the future. To help us answer this question we have released programmes in two phases. Each phase has a different aim and contains different types of programmes.
Phase One - Breadth
The first batch of programmes we released aimed to be a representative sample of what's in the archive and include a little bit of everything. It is made up of a range of radio and television programmes from the 1930s right up to the 21st Century, including dramas, comedies, variety shows and some stunning documentaries. We've tried to show how Britain has changed through the ages and choose programmes that let you relive key moments in history, discover the lives and stories of incredible people, and see well-known faces in their first TV appearances. See programmes from this phase of the trial.
Phase Two - Depth
The second phase of programmes has a different aim; to drill down into the archive to find as many programmes on one subject as we can. We're tying in with the BBC season 'India & Pakistan at 60' and have trawled the archives to find a huge variety of great programmes that we are confident you'll enjoy. Find out why we have chosen this season
As well as news items and recordings of speeches from the time of independence and partition, we'll be looking at how the BBC has represented the growth of India and Pakistan as nations after the departure of the Raj, what kind of programmes British Asians might have been greeted with on their arrival here and the rise of British Asian culture from niche to mainstream with the likes of Nitin Sawhney and 'Goodness Gracious Me'. See programmes from this phase of the trial.
Why can't you just release everything?
The archive offers lots of possibilities for fun and exploration; however, these possibilities don't come without costs. The programmes have to be transferred from the film or video tape on which they were originally recorded and made into digital files, and the people who made a creative contribution to the programme have to agree to us releasing them in this way and be paid for their contribution (find out more with BBC rights expert Simon Hayward-Tapp).
Why we need your help
It is important that the BBC spends licence fee payers' money wisely, so we need to find out as much as we can about how people want to use the archive through this trial. To help us to gather this information as accurately as possible we need all of the people who are taking part in the trial to behave responsibly with their access to the archive.
