Picture Page | |
---|---|
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
Picture Page is a British television non-fiction programme, broadcast by the BBC Television Service from their studios at Alexandra Palace from 1936 to 1939, and again after the service's hiatus during the Second World War from 1946 until 1952. It was the first British television series to become a long-term and regular popular success. [1] The series proved to be very popular with viewers. A BBC survey in 1939 showed the series to be second in popularity behind plays. [2]
The programme had a magazine format with two hour-long editions broadcast each week including a range of interviews with well-known personalities, features about a range of topics and coverage of public events. The main presenter during the pre-war era was Canadian actress Joan Miller who played the role of a "switchboard operator" similar to that of a telephone exchange, "connecting" the viewers to the particular guests and items being featured that week. Miller was nicknamed "The Switchboard Girl" in the popular press and became one of the first television celebrities. [3] She would be assisted by Leslie Mitchell and Jasmine Bligh, two of the BBC's three continuity announcers (the other being Elizabeth Cowell).
Picture Page celebrated its 200th edition on 15 December 1938 with a "huge birthday cake". At that time the show had welcomed "1,450 items in which have taken part over 1,500 men, 660 women, the ghost of Alexandra Palace and a large number of animals of all kinds, including goats, snakes, lions and mice." [4] [5]
After the reinstatement of the programme during 1946, Joan Gilbert assumed presenting duties until 1952. Mary Malcolm presented some shows in 1949 and 1950. [6]
Picture Page was produced live by the BBC from their Alexandra Palace television studio for the entirety of its run. The first episode was actually broadcast on 8 October 1936, some three and a half weeks before the official opening of the service on 2 November, as part of the ongoing test transmissions during the prelude to the initiation date. Until 1949 the series was not recorded and thus none of the pre-1949 programmes exist anymore. Four shows from 1951 have survived in the form of telerecordings. [7]
The theme tune Shopping Centre was composed by Philip Green. [8]
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Leslie Scott Falconer Mitchell was a British actor and broadcaster who was heard on newsreel soundtracks, radio, and television. Raised by his literary uncle William J. Locke and schooled at The King's School, Canterbury, and Chillon College in Switzerland, he began his career as a stage actor in London's West End after a time as a trainee stockbroker. Mitchell was the first voice heard on BBC Television on November 2, 1936, and also gave the inaugural announcement on Associated-Rediffusion, the joint first company to broadcast as part of the ITV network, on 22 September 1955. His voice was perhaps best known from his lengthy relationship with British Movietone News, for which he provided commentary on newsreels throughout the Second World War and into the mid-1970s. Mitchell was appointed a Freeman of the City of London and the Royal Television Society's first honorary member.
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A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Television News.
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