Television in the 1950S and 1960S: Institutions, Society and Culture
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Copyright Statement This copy ofthe thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and due acknowledgement must always be made ofthe use ofany material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. The Expansion of British Television in the 1950s and 1960s: Institutions, Society and Culture Robert Francis Turnock A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment ofthe requirements ofBoumemouth University for the degree ofDoctor ofPhilosphy September 2007 Boumemouth University 2 Robert Francis Turnock The Expansion of British Television in the 1950s and 1960s: Institutions, Society and Culture Abstract: This thesis explores the expansion of British television in the 1950s and 1960s and its relationship to social and cultural change. During this period, television developed into an industry and mass medium and this coincided with a cultural shift from a seemingly consensual society ofpost-war austerity to a society characterised by fragmentation, individualism and consumerism. By combining a re-examination ofexisting histories of British television with a discussion of television programmes and sociological theory, this thesis explores the complex relationship between the expansion oftelevision and that social and cultural change. The thesis shows how television represented these changes, and how it presented competing discourses about consumer culture in a range ofprogrammes including action adventure series, pop music and women's programmes. It also demonstrates how television promoted class and cultural conflict in its individual programmes such as situation comedies and dramas, and through juxtaposition ofhigh and low cultural vales, themes and forms in its mixed programme schedule. By looking at issues such as intimacy, performance, authenticity and sociability, the thesis argues that television promoted its own status as an increasingly centralised cultural form. It proposes that television established social categories which became embedded and naturalised over time, and this created the potential to define social experience. The thesis therefore concludes that the examination ofthe expansion oftelevision in the 1950s and 1960s is ofimportance for understanding the operation ofmedia power today. 3 Contents: Abstract: p3 Acknowledgements: p6 Author's declaration: p6 Introduction: p7 Approaching the histories: p12 The arrangement ofthis thesis: p17 Chapter 1: Rationalisation p20 The political economy ofa new television service: p23 Television and competition: p29 Expansion, industrialization and professionalism: p34 Programmes and criticism: p49 Chapter 2: Centralisation p54 Media Events: p66 A myth ofcentrality p71 Chapter 3: Technologies p82 Film and lTV: p83 Film technology and the BBe: p91 Videotape: p98 Recording technology and the new visibility: pI 05 Chapter 4: Spaces pl14 4 Urban and suburban change: p115 Television and the home: p119 Dramatic change: television as translocational medium: p124 Mediating the home and the global: p133 Chapter 5: Consumer Culture p148 Advertising consumer culture: p150 Visibility and material display: p 153 Conflict: p165 Distaste: p l 70 Chapter 6: Consuming Television Culture p 178 Fun as ideological work: p179 Scheduling and television's nearness-over-time: p 187 Ritualised sociability p193 Conclusions: p199 The expansion oftelevision: p200 Culture and the new visibility: p204 Television and media power: p210 References: p219 5 Acknowledgements: The work in this thesis has built on initial research conducted as part ofthe Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) funded project 'Did lTV Revolutionise British Television?' under the supervision of Professor John Ellis at, first, Bournemouth University and then Royal Holloway, University of London. Much ofthe research in this project would not have been possible without the support ofa number ofkey institutions and people. They are the BFI Library, the National Film and Television Archive, Matt Holland at Bournemouth University Library, Andy O'Dwyer at BBC Information and Archives, and Dick Fiddy and Veronica Tavlor at the National Film Theatre. The work in this thesis has benefitted from the guidance ofProfessor John Ellis, and various drafts ofchapters, and the ideas contained within them, have been read by and discussed with Dr Hugh Chignell, Susan Lawson, and Dr Catherine Johnson. I would particularly like to thank Dr Catherine Johnson for both her professional and personal support while I finished this thesis. Author's declaration: An early version ofthe first three chapters in this thesis were presented as part of the report submitted to the AHRB on completion ofthe earlier funded project. Some ofthe findings ofthat project also informed the rationale for the jointly edited volume with Dr Catherine Johnson, lTV Cultures: Independent Television Over Fifty Years (Open University Press: Maidenhead: 2005). A book version of this thesis has also been published as Television and Consumer Culture: Britain and the Transformation ofModernity (LB. Tauris: 2007). 6 Introduction This thesis is about the expansion of British television in the 1950s and 1960s and its relationship to society and culture. Television as a technology, cultural form and practice had existed in Britain since the 1930s~ with a low-definition 'experimental' service being transmitted from BBC Broadcasting House from 1932~ and the opening ofthe BBC's licence fee funded high-definition service from Alexandra Palace in north London on 2 November 1936.1 Yet the passing ofthe Television Act of 1954 controversially broke the BBC's monopoly ofbroadcasting to establish commercial television in Britain. This new commercial service, which came to be known as lTV (Independent Television), was to be funded by advertising revenue and was to be made up ofdifferent regional broadcasting companies. A regulatory body, the Independent Television Authority, was quickly set up to issue franchises to the new regional companies, and the first ofthese started broadcasting in the London area on 22 September 1955. The new commercial service reached the Midlands and north of England in different stages in 1956, parts of Scotland in 1957 and parts ofWales in 1958. Programme companies continued to open until 1962 when the fifteenth regional company opened. From 1955, therefore, British television broadcasting was constituted by two services, the BBC and lTV. In the Television Act of 1963, a third television channel was awarded to the BBC, and BBC2 started transmission on 21 April 1964.11 Just as importantly, during the same period, television changed from a minority interest watched by a small percentage ofthe population to being a cultural activity ofnational interest. From 1954 to 1964 the number oftelevision licenses held in the United Kingdom, with one license per household, rose from just over three million to almost 13 million, effectively a national audience (Briggs: 1995). This expansion oftelevision services and ofthe television audience also coincided with profound social and cultural changes taking place in Britain. Following a period of post-war austerity, characterised by rationing and meagre provisioning, there was a boom in the economy in the 1950s, with full employment, a housebuilding programme, new technologies and the advent of a new consumer culture. Although consumerism 7 had been evident in British society before this period (Sandbrook: 2005), the 1950s and 1960s were characterised by an economic affluence and social change that set it apart as a 'Golden Age' (Hobsbawm: 1995). Technological innovation and new manufacturing processes also meant that a range ofnew commodities were available and accessible to a mass public for the first time, They included domestic appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, and items more associated with leisure such as transistorised radios, electric record players and vinyl records. There were developments in women's and men's fashions, an increase in the number ofprivate cars. and an increase in the number ofpeople taking holidays abroad. These developments lead to improvements in living standards, to new forms of leisure pursuit for a larger public, and the development ofnew cultural forms such as rock and roll and skiffle. Importantly, these changes marked an apparent cultural shift from a Britain characterised by post-war austerity and consensus to a society marked by consumer culture, social fragmentation and individualism. So profound were the changes from the late 1950s onwards that Britain could be said to have experienced a 'cultural revolution' (Marwick: 1996). This thesis will therefore explore the complex interrelationship between the expansion oftelevision in this period and this social and cultural change. In particular, it will be driven by three important and interrelated questions. Firstly, what was the impact of the expansion oftelevision on television itself? This potentially raises definitional issues as to what television itselfis. As John Comer (2003: 275) has suggested, television is a 'multifarious' object ofstudy, which is constituted by institutions (organisations), practices (programme-making), programmes (forms, representations and aesthetics), technology and, in a wider sense, its diffuse connections with society and culture ranging from the world ofpolitics to domestic audiences. This thesis will consider all ofthese aspects to understand how television developed as a whole. So it is necessary here to differentiate