The BBC Story

 

Doctor Who first episode 23 November 1963

The first episode of Doctor Who was aired on 23 November 1963. The cover of the Radio Times that week announced "a new Saturday-afternoon television series of adventures in time and space". Viewers heard the ominous theme tune - written by Ron Grainer in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and arranged by Delia Derbyshire - and saw the title sequence designed by Bernard Lodge.

 

In an Unearthly Child, Jacqueline Hill and William Russell play teachers who are intrigued by their pupil Susan Foreman, played by Carole Anne Ford. They follow her home to an old junk yard and - in a revelation that took the audience into the realm of science fiction - are surprised to discover that the police box in which she lives has a bright futuristic interior, much bigger inside than out. Susan's grandfather is the Doctor, played by William Hartnell. Alarmed that the teachers will reveal the secret that he and Susan are time travellers, the Doctor kidnaps them. The final shot shows the Tardis in a barren landscape as a human shadow falls across it, setting the scene for future adventures.

 

Doctor Who ran until 1996. However its lasting popularity ensured its return in 2005, and that it played a large part in the revitalisation of Saturday evening family viewing. In 2010 Matt Smith will become the 11th Doctor.

 

Also in November...

 

 

Hancock's Half-Hour 2 November 1954

Hancock's Half-Hour started on 2 November 1954 and ran on radio and later on television until 1961.

 

The first episode of Hancock's Half-Hour was The First Night Party. Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Tony Hancock was Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock. Hancock was surrounded by a cast of supporting players, chiefly Bill Kerr as his best friend, Sid James as a questionable friend, and Moira Lister as his girlfriend. Also in the first episode were Gerald Campion as Coatsleeves Charlie and Kenneth Williams as Lord Dockyard.

 

Hancock was already known to radio listeners from Educating Archie and Star Bill. Galton and Simpson took Hancock's character as it appeared in Star Bill and developed a more subtle, reactive style of comedy that put the curmudgeonly man at the centre of the action. Together with Hancock and producer Dennis Main Wilson they helped to popularise the situation comedy format.

 

Galton and Simpson went on to create Steptoe and Son and remain one of Britain's most successful comedy writing teams. Main Wilson continued to produce comedies including Till Death Us Do Part and Citizen Smith. He died in 1997.

 

Hancock never recaptured the success of Hancock's Half-Hour, and died in 1968. However, such was its influence that 40 years after the last original episode was transmitted, Tony Hancock was voted the greatest British comedian of all time.

 

 

 

Colour television on BBC One 15 November 1969.

BBC One launched a full colour service on 15 November 1969. At midnight the incongruously named An Evening with Petula - Petula Clark in concert from the Royal Albert Hall - was the first transmission. The channel then closed down until 10am. Programmes showing in colour on the 15th included Star Trek and Dixon of Dock Green, The Harry Secombe Show and Match of the Day, plus the feature film The Prisoner of Zenda.

 

The launch of the colour service was preceded by a promotional programme Colourful One, in which Julian Pettifer looked forward to the advent of colour on BBC One, and Maurice Wiggin of the Sunday Times offered an analysis of the pros and cons of colour broadcasting.

 

The new service was also extended to ITV, bringing it and BBC One in line with BBC Two, which had been offering colour programmes - including Wimbledon, the Olympic Games and The Eurovision Song Contest - since 1967. BBC One was initially only available in colour to about 50% of households, as transmitter upgrades took time to install, but by 1978, 11 million homes had a colour licence as viewers saw for themselves the benefits of colour television.

 

 

Start of television broadcasts from the House of Commons,
21 November 1989.

First discussed in 1964, television cameras were finally allowed to transmit proceedings live from the House of Commons on Tuesday 21 November 1989. The first broadcast was of the Queens's Speech Debate, with Ian Gow the first MP to speak.

 

Broadcasting came to Parliament gradually, with regular radio broadcasts from the House of Commons starting in 1978, and television entering the House of Lords in 1985. Filming of the Commons was heavily regulated. Eight cameras were installed and allowed to film head and shoulder shots of any MP who was speaking, shots of the Speaker and occasional wide shots of the entire chamber. Reaction shots of MPs were not permitted, and the rules agreed by the Select Committee on Televising of Proceedings of the House stated that this applied particularly during "incidents of disorder or altercations between the Chair and other Members".

 

These rules were relaxed as the experiment was a success, arguments that television would somehow trivialise Parliament were swept away, and MPs realised the benefits of having their words reach a wider audience. Today almost all proceedings of both houses of Parliament are available on the dedicated channel BBC Parliament.