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 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, and a large number of animals of all kinds, including goats, snakes, lions and mice." [4]
After the reinstatement of the programme during 1946, Joan Gilbert assumed presenting duties until 1952. Mary Malcolm presented some shows in 1949 and 1950. [5]
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. [6]
The theme tune Shopping Centre was composed by Philip Green. [7]
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936.
Radio Times is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine. Consequently, in September 2023 it became the first broadcast listings magazine to reach and then pass its centenary.
This is a timeline of the history of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an important part of its schedule, with many of the BBC's top-rated programmes being from this genre.
Thomas Reginald Handley was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme It's That Man Again ("ITMA") which ran between 1939 and 1949.
Starlight is an early British television programme, one of the first regular series to be broadcast by the BBC Television Service during the 1930s. Its first edition was broadcast on 3 November 1936 – the day after the service had officially begun – and it continued to be broadcast until the suspension of television for the duration of the Second World War during 1939. After the resumption of BBC television during 1946, Starlight was one of the few pre-war programmes to be reinstated, and it was broadcast for a further three years until 1949.
Television Newsreel is a British television programme, the first regular news programme to be made in the UK. Produced by the BBC and screened on the BBC Television Service from 1948 to 1954 at 7.30 pm, it adapted the traditional cinema newsreel form for the television audience, covering news and current affairs stories as well as quirkier 'human interest' items, sports and cultural events.
Breakfast Time is British television's first national breakfast television programme. It was broadcast from 17 January 1983 until 29 September 1989 on BBC1 across the United Kingdom. It was broadcast for the first time just over two weeks before TV-am, the commercial breakfast television station.
The Brains Trust was an informational BBC radio and later television programme popular in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 1950s, on which a panel of experts tried to answer questions sent in by the audience.
George Black was a British theatrical impresario who controlled many entertainment venues during the 1930s and 1940s and was a pioneer of the motion picture business.
This is a list of British television related events from 1961.
This is a list of British television related events from 1949.
This is a list of British television related events from 1947.
This is a list of British television related events from 1946.
Cecil Charles Madden, MBE, was an English pioneer of television production. In 1936, he moved from BBC radio to its experimental television service, and was responsible for many programmes until the service was suspended during the Second World War. After the service resumed in 1946, he resumed his television work, and later became a BBC executive, until his retirement in 1964.
This is a timeline of the history of the BBC Television Service, from events preceding its launch in 1936 until its renaming as BBC1 in 1964 upon the launch of BBC2.
A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Television News.
A timeline of notable events relating to BBC Radio News.
Joan Miller in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada was an actress. She moved to London, UK in 1931 to pursue a career in acting.