Diwrnod ardderchog yn Leeds ddoe - gweithdy Lloegr i drafod polisi darlledu yn y DU datganoledig. Yr Alban nesa, ym mis Medi!
A great day for the 'Broadcasting Policy in a Devolved UK' team at the England workshop in Leeds yesterday. A great deal to mull over. Next stop Glasgow in September!
Graphic featuring a colour painting of a man and woman in evening dress standing by an antique chair and facing a television camera and operator from the 1930s.
Delighted to be giving an online talk about British television in the 1920s and 1930s for the Art Deco Society on the evening of 17 March; tickets £5 for non-members.
artdecosociety.uk/events-2/
A month on from publication my book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' remains available from publishers Bloomsbury with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...
Today's post is largely a link to my polemic on The Conversation about the paucity of the arts on BBC television...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-arts-on-...
Our BFI Southbank screenings linked to the publication of Magic Rays of Light continues on Sunday, 25 January.
This is a rare large-screen outing for the 1934 satire Radio Parade of 1935, with Will Hay as John Reith.
Programme note reporduced here:
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/magic-rays-a...
Wake up, Westminster:after May, the Scottish and Welsh parliaments will likely be for independence | Will Hayward www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Excellent interview with Michael Sheen by daughter (mine, not his) Kate Wyver
www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...
A Welsh language campaign group has repeated calls to devolve broadcasting powers to Wales amid concerns about the impact of a new agreement between S4C and BBC iPlayer
The successful series of screenings at BFI Southbank continues on Sunday, 18 January, with the first of three programmes of British feature films that offer imagined versions of television at its start.
First up is the silent version of High Treason...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/magic-rays-a...
My all-time favourite film. Loved it as a kid and 50+ years later, I still do! My kids (now 13, 15, and 30) are not so enthusiastic, sadly….
The Government finally published its Green Paper on the BBC today. So here’s a very timely piece from Tom Chivers on the future of the BBC as we go into the Charter Review.
'The choice is a democratic BBC or no BBC at all.'
fabians.org.uk/whose-bbc/
Delighted to be presenting alongside international colleagues in the MeCCSA Policy Network "Future of Public Service Media" series. The event is apparently sold out.
"For a century, the BBC has been our classroom, our concert hall, our stage, our storyteller and our window on the world. Politicians need reminding: its much more than a news channel."
TG4, BBC Northern Ireland and S4C have announced a milestone co-commission of the first ever animated Christmas movie, created through a tri-nation co-production
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
Diolch! Thank you!
Broadcasting for Wales Cover
A History of Independent Television in Wales cover
Today marks World #Television Day! 📺
Discover more about the struggles and successes of #Welsh broadcasting in 'A History of Independent Television in #Wales' by @jimbomed.bsky.social and 'Broadcasting for Wales' by Elain Price.
📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/history...
📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/broadca...
Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...
No one should have to face such threats.
It would’ve been nice if Greene had realized this before she amplified and endorsed calls for executing Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.
SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.
"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
Important contribution from Lewis Goodall, who describes in devastating detail his own personal experiences - and suggests Robbie Gibb and David Grossman should be removed from their current posts.
@naomialderman.bsky.social's new book: "A friend - who’s read the book - texted me yesterday to say “I see they’ve decided to burn Tim Davie at the stake today”. And so I thought it was probably the right time to put this extract on Substack." naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
Extract from report in the Guardian on the right wing manoeuvres that have led to the resignation of the DG Tim Davie
Welsh-language broadcaster S4C now supports more than 2,500 jobs across Wales, according to new independent research that highlights the channel’s growing economic impact
On this day in 1936:
The start of the BBC’s regular TV service from Alexandra Palace.
See programme archive, oral history interviews - and some amazing images from those pioneering days:
Some background to Peter Watkin's extraordinary 'The War Game' ...
... as revealed through oral history interviews with senior BBC figures - including Huw Wheldon and Hugh Carleton Greene - as well as Tony Benn.
Part of the @sussex.ac.uk research project 'Connected Histories of the BBC'
Dwi'm yn siwr alla i gysgu heno. Am ddeffro i newyddion da, ond ....
