The 1970s got under way with the Annan Committee making inquiries into the
future of broadcasting. Under the chairmanship of Lord Annan, two of its
recommendations were crucial to the BBC:
Broadcasting services should continue to be provided as public services, and
should continue to be the responsibility of public authorities. These
Broadcasting Authorities should be independent of government in the day-to-day conduct of their business. (recommendation 1)
The BBC should continue to be financed from the revenue of the broadcast
receiving licence. (recommendation 34)
In March 1977, the government invited comments on the Annan report's
conclusions and recommendations and in July 1978 presented its own proposals in
a Broadcasting White Paper. In this the government concurred with the
Annan Committee's general praise of the performance of the IBA - the former
Independent Television Authority had become the Independent Broadcasting
Authority in July 1972 when the government made the Authority responsible for
the establishment of Independent Local Radio.
The committee saw a marked improvement in the quality of Independent
Television programmes over the past decade and considered the IBA's increased
influence an important factor in this improvement. The White Paper
proposed a fourth television channel: the IBA would run the transmission side,
and the ITV companies would have an important programme involvement, but the
overall administration would be the responsibility of a newly created Open
Broadcasting Authority (OBA).
The White Paper's proposal brought opposition from the IBA and from the ITV
companies, which had been lobbying strongly for an 'ITV-2' since late 1971, when
a TV4 Campaign had been formed. However, in January 1972, the Minister of
Posts and Telecommunications (former ITN newscaster Christopher Chataway)
postponed any fourth channel decision, to the disappointment of the ITV
companies and the embarrassment of the IBA.
1973 ended with the 'three-day week' and television closing down at 10.30
pm - ostensibly to save electricity during a nation-wide industrial dispute -
until February 1974, when, with a general election looming on the horizon, the
curfew was lifted. Until the energy crisis made itself felt at the turn of
the year the ratio of audiences continued to divide fifty-fifty between the BBC
and ITV, with the balance tipping towards the BBC at all holiday times and for
just about all coverage of major events.
In 1974 the government authorised the BBC to start a two-year experiment,
regularly transmitting live 'pages' of written up-to-the-minute news and
information, displayed at viewers' requests on their TV screens, either in place
of, or in association with, the ordinary television picture. This CEEFAX
(as in 'see facts') service started on 23 September; ITV introduced its own
teletext service, ORACLE, in July 1975.
The 1970s was a busy decade for TV sport. England's defence of its
World Cup soccer crown in Mexico was covered by satellite all the way through to
Brazil's victory in the final (1970). There were also the Commonwealth
Games in Edinburgh (1970). A year later the introduction of slow-motion
instant playback into sports programmes opened up the floodgates of unending
controversies over refereeing decisions and bad conduct by players.
Satellite links made possible same-day pictures of the Australian test cricket;
a programme of highlights was beamed to BBC2 each day.
In 1972 the Munich Olympic Games reached estimated audiences of up to 17
million in the UK through 170 hours of live coverage. The BBC was the only
individual European organisation, apart from the German networks, to have
exclusive studio facilities in Munich and to have rented a private vision
circuit from Munich for its national coverage of the Games. Because of
this, BBC1 transmitted live pictures of events in the Olympic village during the
nights of 5 and 6 September which were not generally available elsewhere in
Europe, and TV's presence enabled it to cover in detail the tragedy of the
Israeli hostages.
The Munich Games provided world colour television on the largest scale yet
known. Some thirty Olympic locations were covered by over 160 colour TV
cameras, 23 colour transmission vehicles, seven colour studios, and around 50 TV
tape recorders, as well as numerous rooms for cutting and editing film.
These vast production facilities were provided by Deutsches Olympia Zentrum, a
consortium formed by the two German networks. Two BBC Outside Broadcast
units went to Munich to assist with the DOZ operation; one of them provided the
Olympic boxing coverage and a BBC mobile camera was used for the cycling road
race events. Fifty BBC editors, producers, productions assistants, and
secretaries, nearly 70 engineers, and 16 commentators were on the spot in Munich
to make this the biggest single operation ever mounted on British
television.
The increasing role of television within social life led to a growing concern
over its power. An independent Programmes Complaints Commission was set up
by the BBC in October 1977 to consider complaints from the public of unfair
treatment in radio and television programmes. 1979 saw the completion of a
study by programme makers, led by Monica Sims of the BBC, recommending
guidelines for the portrayal of violence in television programmes. Sims'
report was thoroughly examined by the Board of Governors after it had been
endorsed by management and discussed at length with the BBC's Consultative Group
on the Social Effects of Television. The BBC working party report on
Violence on Television was published in March 1979.
Original TV drama was for the most part replaced by a surge of period and
novel-based serials during the 1970s, with The Six Wives of Henry VIII (BBC,
1970) and Elizabeth R (BBC, 1971) blazing the trail for such programmes as
Upstairs, Downstairs (ITV, 1970-75), The Onedin Line (BBC, 1971-80), Colditz
(BBC, 1972-74), Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill (ITV, 1974), When the Boat Comes
In (BBC, 1976-81), The Pallisers (BBC, 1974), Edward the Seventh (ITV, 1975),
The Duchess of Duke Street (BBC, 1976-77), I, Claudius (BBC, 1976), and The
Glittering Prizes (BBC, 1976).
The mainstream presentation of TV comedy took a sharp curve away from the
'Pythonesque' style of humour (and even the 1960s 'new wave' sitcoms of Johnny
Speight and Galton & Simpson) to the more bland, by-the-numbers programming
of On the Buses (ITV, 1969-73), Bless This House (ITV, 1971-76), Are You Being
Served? (BBC, 1973-85), and Man About the House (ITV, 1973-76). However,
some comedies - Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (BBC, 1973-74), The Fall
and Rise of Reginald Perrin (BBC, 1976-79), Fawlty Towers (BBC, 1975; 1979),
Ripping Yarns (BBC, 1977-79), and a handful of others - went some way to try and
balance out this cosy, studio-bound situation comedy.
TV documentary, often incorporating dramatisation, excelled, informing and
impressing viewers with such (at times, marathon) productions as The Search for
the Nile (BBC, 1971), The World at War (ITV, 1973-74, The Ascent of Man (BBC,
1973), The Family (BBC, 1974), The Voyage of Charles Darwin (BBC, 1978) and Life on
Earth (BBC, 1979). These excellent documentary studies went
on to win much international acclaim and help boost British TV's standing around
the world.
The early part of the 1970s, under a Conservative administration, reflected
safe, reassuring, family-based programming: Bless This House, For the Love of
Ada (ITV, 1970-71), Queenie's Castle (ITV, 1970-72), Father, Dear Father (ITV,
1968-73), And Mother Makes Three (ITV, 1971-73). Even game shows - The
Generation Game (BBC, 1971-81), for example - adopted a family-focused
format. During the latter half of the decade (now under Labour Prime
Ministers Wilson and Callaghan) the emphasis turned in favour of the underdog
(whatever their respective pursuits and motives), with such programming as Miss
Jones and Son (ITV, 1977-78), Citizen Smith (BBC, 1977-80), Rumpole of the
Bailey (ITV, 1978-79; 1983; 1987-88; 1991-92) and Minder (ITV, 1979-85; 1988-94)
proving popular.
Tise Vahimagi
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