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Television

Documentary

Exhaustive 13-part survey of the television medium from its hesitant beginnings in the 1920s to the multi-million dollar extravaganzas of today and the cable and satellite technologies of the future [relative to 1985]. Tackling the medium as a worldwide phenomenon, the series examines each of the principal areas of programming - news, drama, documentaries, and light entertainment - and the unique impact of "live" coverage.

Feb 12, 19851 seasons13 episodesEndedEN

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Ian Holm

Self - Narrator (voice)

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Seasons

Miniseries

13 episodes

Premiered Feb 12, 1985

Episodes

1–6 of 13

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Ep 1

Visions of Power

Feb 12, 1985

45m

A look at the way that TV affects and manipulates viewers.

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Ep 2

The Race for Television

Feb 19, 1985

45m

Goes back to TV's earliest flickering beginnings, in the first primitive TV camera built by the eccentric Scots inventor John Logie Baird - whose previous triumph had been the indestructible sock - out of hat-boxes, sealing-wax and an old tea chest. (The Guardian)

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Ep 3

We Bring You Live Pictures

Feb 26, 1985

45m

The development and impact of outside broadcasts and live coverage of news, sport and pageantry. Peter Dimmock, then in charge of OBs at the BBC, recalls how the coronation in 1953 was a turning-point. When Prince Charles married Lady Di in 1981, 750,000,000 people in 74 countries followed their progress up the aisle. (Daily Telegraph)

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Ep 4

News Power

Mar 5, 1985

45m

Continuing the worldwide history of the medium, this programme moves on to television news, tracing its development from the first TV news in America in the forties to today's high-powered satellite broadcasts. (Daily Telegraph)

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Ep 5

News: The Power of Pictures

Mar 12, 1985

45m

Looks at the awesome ability of on-screen images to evoke a massive public response, as with the pictures of the starving children of Biafra in 1968; to shape the nature of the response, with American footage showing how protesters in close-up look far more violent than when filmed in long-shot; and ultimately to shape events like Nixon's downfall. (The Guardian)

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Ep 6

The Story Machine

Mar 19, 1985

45m

From news to fiction as the series moves behind the scenes to look at how some of the most popular drama series are produced, what they cost and how they came about. Hollywood is the home of most of the world's TV drama, but there is also a look at Japanese Samurai drama, Brazilian soap opera and Nigerian comedy. (Daily Telegraph)

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