In a single 1931 document, electrical engineer Alan Blumlein patented stereo records, stereo movie sountracks and surround sound. His equipment was used to make some of the first stereo recordings at EMI's Abbey Road studios - several decades before the technology came into popular use. Blumlein went on to pioneer 405 line TV (the first wholly electronic format which won out over John Logie Baird's rival system) and to produce the equipment that made the first outside TV broadcast possible. At the outbreak of World War 2 he was a key architect of the secret H2S radar project. Unfortunately he was killed in a plane crash while testing the technology and the whole incident was kept secret. Hence he remains an obscure figure despite his achievements. A recent BBC Radio 4 program contains a lot of the archive stereo footage and tells his story.
posted on Aug 7, 2008 - View this thread

The Black and White Minstrel Show was a (very cheesy) British variety series that ran Saturday nights on the BBC for twenty years. Hard to believe that it was still on the air as late as 1978. A live show, "Memories of the Minstrels ," toured the UK to packed houses in 2004 and 2005. The show was performed white-faced and featured the stars, medley's and costumes from the original TV series. Previously.
posted on Jun 4, 2008 - View this thread

People think working in television is glamorous, but is it really? Is it, really? Is it? Really? Charlie Brooker on making TV (Youtube, NSFW). Selected bite-sized chunks: filming, watching your ideas take shape, being the talent.
posted on Nov 1, 2007 - View this thread

Guess who's censoring references to evolution out of David Attenborough documentaries? That's right, the Dutch. See the differences; here's a detailed write-up by a Dutch biologist and documentary enthusiast comparing the two versions side-by-side (in Dutch).
posted on Aug 28, 2007 - View this thread

The BBC have published online new guidelines for programme makers as to how the end credits to television shows should be formatted in future. The instructions are geekily idiosyncratic and the diagrams offer a preview of at least BBC One's on-screen graphics in the future. Spy drama Spooks famously dumped its credits online. Are we now seeing the first stage of a process in which the same will happen for all programmes? Does it matter?
posted on May 9, 2007 - View this thread

Question Time Iraq Special (Skip to 04:45 to begin). Question Time is a British TV institution, where five prominent politicians debate current affairs while being questioned by a studio audience. The Iraq edition, available online, features the British Secretary of State for Defence, a popular, anti-war former party leader, the aristocratic old socialist leading the Stop-the-War coalition, the first female leader of a Muslim state … and John Bolton.
posted on Mar 22, 2007 - View this thread

"See his pug-nose face." David Bowie, from Extras second season, which premieres tomorrow in USA. Stephen Merchant (from today's RADAR) and Ricky Gervais have been mentioned here before, but I think the David Bowie clip is worth it.
posted on Jan 13, 2007 - View this thread

"I feel guilty because I have friends that are working really hard to get into television or acting and I'm just sitting here having not done anything more than enjoy playing with gadgets."

Susi Weaser (24) makes little one-minute gadget reviews and posts them on YouTube . The BBC must have liked them - because they hired her.
posted on Nov 18, 2006 - View this thread

Remember the announcement for the BBC's Manchester Passion? The full list of songs and lineup were recently announced, rehearsals are over, tonight the procession through the city will be broadcast live on BBC Three - for now you can watch trailers and interviews with the cast (only for UK viewers/proxy users).
posted on Apr 14, 2006 - View this thread

BBC Open News Archive Eighty iconic news reports available in a variety of formats. Here is the full directory. For another example of the cool things Auntie as been offering lately, see the downloadable mp3 commentary for the Christmas episode of Doctor Who.
posted on Dec 30, 2005 - View this thread

The BBC announces plans to make its TV channels available on the internet. As you already know, you can already listen to all BBC radio channels live and view news clips and some news programmes. Now the BBC has ambitions to expand its internet offer even further. Starting next year, on demand radio and tv content will be available through MyBBCPlayer, with the past seven days of programmes, along with live streaming of BBC tv channels (apparently to be restricted to UK viewers only) and access to the archives. Plans also include the ability to purchase music downloads.
posted on Aug 28, 2005 - View this thread

The BBC TV weather forecasts haven't changed much over the years - until now. (RealVideo) But some people aren't too happy with the changes.
posted on May 17, 2005 - View this thread

The new Doctor Who series has been airing on BBC Television for three weeks now. And it is "good TV" Most all of the reviews are startlingly positive, far more than I've seen for a television series in a long, long time. What is most striking is that many of the commentaries about the "New Who" state that it is just plain ole' good television that combines something intelligent, something scary, something mysterious and something balls-out fun. In our world of reality television, what other series would you classify as being "good tv"? What makes for "good TV"? (Link goes to a fan site that has re-printed and linked to numerous reviews)
posted on Apr 14, 2005 - View this thread

Behind the Dark Door [Google cached copy] might prove a valuable resource to science fiction aficionados, or interesting to fans of quality television drama. It provides insight into the mind of Nigel Kneale, writer of The Quatermass Experiment. Last Saturday's gripping and technically impressive update was based largely on his original scripts, and was the BBC's first live TV drama in more than twenty years. Another chance the pimp David Tennant, The Quatermass Experiment 2005 was much more satisfying than the BBC's other science fiction drama with which Tennant has been linked.
posted on Apr 4, 2005 - View this thread

Peep Show. Ah, now that's lurid-sounding. What it is, however, is a comedy from BBC that's way, way funnier than The Office. Reviewers chatter about the Herman's Head-like gimmick -- you hear the characters' thoughts -- but the better gimmick? Excellent writing.
posted on Nov 22, 2004 - View this thread

Twenty Years Ago, The BBC produced a topical drama called Threads - little did they know the furore it would go on to create. [more inside]
posted on Sep 6, 2004 - View this thread

Star presenter wears hijab and apparently gets "a flood of calls". But, in an odd turn for the BBC, the piece doesn't say what those calls think. Are they all praising the traditional - and controversial - head-dress, or are they up in arms. The story skirts the issue. Islam 101 explains a bit about it.
posted on Nov 26, 2003 - View this thread

Tv Licenses do not infringe people's human rights. Journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Miller refused to pay his license because it seemed as though the BBC had license to charge what they like raise the charge when they like; and that it didn't take into account the gulf between someone only receiving an Analogue service as opposed to digital. He lost the case. Serious implications.
posted on Jul 17, 2003 - View this thread

One-in, one-out: the nominations. "Who should be granted honorary British citizenship and who should have it revoked?" The BBC's Today programme has its annual poll and this year, it claims, is a little different. Various celebrities, politicians etc will be giving their opinions and the result will be announced on New Year's Day. Who will you be voting for?
posted on Dec 18, 2002 - View this thread

David wins Fame Academy! Mix Big Brother with Pop/American Idol and you get the Fame Academy, where 12 gorgeous under-30s are thrown into a glorified stage school for a few months, and only one emerges an idol. The prize? Supposedly the 'biggest TV prize ever.' A £1 million recording contract, a fancy apartment in London, a personal shopper, chauffeur, and more. All is not lost for the 'losers' though, as they've all gained professional management and Mercury Records is considering them all for solo careers. In contrast to the 'Idol' shows, being couped up for weeks on end has caused even the wackiest contestants to grow in their singing and songwriting abilities. So will this show reach the US? Probably, given these other crossover shows.
posted on Dec 13, 2002 - View this thread

Trial by Tabloid? Top BBC presenter Angus Deaton has been sacked after a sex & drugs scandal. He has presented comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You for over ten years. So, is ti right for him to be sacked after trial by tabloid? Do we actually care what our T.V. presenters get up to after the cameras are turned off?
posted on Oct 30, 2002 - View this thread

the BBC recreates the stanford prison experiment. First episode is being aired now, (slightly late post, sorry 'bout that). The original experiment was discussed on mefi here.
posted on May 14, 2002 - View this thread

Great 'The Prisoner' site - I just recently got into this BBC sci-fi/paranoia classic on my local PBS affiliate, so I was glad to find this lovingly done fan site. Anyone else have a pet obsessive fan site for a favorite TV show? SNPP.com comes to mind, of course, but I'm interested in the less famous and less frequented places.
posted on Dec 5, 2001 - View this thread

Is TV dumbed down so much these days that even educational or documentary material needs to appeal on a broader audience? It seems that TLC and Discovery are going overboard in their need to draw viewers, though, then their motto 'a place for learning minds' becomes just another example of false advertising. If you were to tune in at prime time, chances are the stuff that's on would be about a)aliens, b)Christianity, or c)aliens and Christianity. Tune in for TLC you'll always get 'worst drivers 3: road rage' or 'plastic surgery gone BAD'. Their good productions, such as the Great Books Series have been shut down over 2 years ago, and these days the most interesting stuff that's on is shown in reruns over at the discovery civilization or science channel. BBC and PBS creates interesting programs, but not all that often.

Sometimes people complain at how Survivor and the rest of the reality show stuff is dragging down TV to the very bottom, but is it really effecting everything?
posted on May 7, 2001 - View this thread

You Are The Weakest Link, Goodbye! Yes, the "Rudest Person on Television" is about to hit American airwaves as NBC desperately tries to catch up to "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and "Survivor". This little BBC profile of Anne Robinson explains it all for us unsuspecting Yanks. Is "YATWLG" about to be the next hot meme?
posted on Mar 27, 2001 - View this thread

So farewell then, Nasty Nick! Or was he a stoolie all along?
posted on Aug 18, 2000 - View this thread