Brennan, Mhairi (2020) Archiving the Referendum: BBC Scotland’s Television Archive and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/81881/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Archiving the Referendum: BBC Scotland’s Television Archive and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum Mhairi Brennan BA (hons), MLitt Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Film and Television Studies School of Culture and Creative Arts University of Glasgow March 2020 1 Thesis Abstract This thesis contends that BBC Scotland’s television archive, and the material it contains, is a site of power, carrying the potential to embed specific narratives about the past into the public consciousness. Using the contents of the archive pertaining to the 2012-2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign as a case study, the research herein asks ‘how is BBC Scotland’s television archive used to construct specific narratives about the past and what impact might this have on cultural memory of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum?’ Focusing on production processes and archival practices at BBC Scotland relating to archive programmes made about the 2014 referendum, this thesis traces the journey made by BBC Scotland television archive material from programme to archive shelf and onwards to new programmes, exploring the role that choice and context of archive material, as well as constraints on access and availability, play in shaping the narrative about the past presented on screen. Research methods include textual analysis, interviews with key BBC production personnel and members of the Archive Department at BBC Scotland, as well as analysis of my own working practices and experiences as an archive producer working for BBC Scotland during the referendum campaign. 2 Table of Contents List of illustrations 3 Acknowledgements 5 Author’s declaration 6 ‘Scotland Decides’ image 7 BBC Charter Extract : ‘Archive’ 8 Introduction 9 Chapter 1: Literature Review 32 Chapter 2: ‘Just how did we get here?’: BBC Scotland and the 62 2014 Scottish Independence referendum Chapter 3: Textual analysis of Scotland’s Smoking Gun 110 Chapter 4: ‘You’re always scripting to pictures’: 151 production practices on How the Campaign Was Won Chapter 5: ‘We’re at the coalface’: 196 archival practices at BBC Scotland Conclusion: 237 Appendix 1: 2014 Scottish Independence referendum key events 243 Appendix 2: Scotland’s Smoking Gun shot list 249 Appendix 3: How the Campaign Was Won shot list 259 Appendix 4: Documentaries produced by BBC Scotland’s 267 Referendum Unit Appendix 5: Specialist TV programmes made by BBC network 270 about the referendum Appendix 6: List of BBC archives and archive research tools 271 Filmography: 274 Bibliography: 277 3 List of Illustrations Introduction 1 Screenshot from Scotland’s Smoking Gun of wrong BBC logo 19 Chapter 2 2-1 Yes Scotland poster: Scotland’s Future in Scotland’s Hands’ 82 2-2 Better Together poster: ‘I Love Scotland I’m Saying No’ 82 2-3 Yes and No posters and stickers 83 2-4 The set for The Nine 90 2-5 ‘Channelling our Nation’ poster 90 2-6 Lighting and set tests at BBC Scotland 18th September 2014 101 2-7 Sample of referendum programmes on iPlayer 101 2-8 Protesters outside BBC Scotland HQ 102 Chapter 3 3-1 Screenshots from Scotland’s Smoking Gun as a visual timeline 109 3-2 Milestones in Scotland’s Smoking Gun 139 3-3 pre-credit montage 141 3-4 Recap graphics at the end of each decade 142 3-5 Interview aesthetics 142 3- Montage sequences 143 3-7 Texture of film and television 146 3-8 Screenshots from Road to Referendum repeated in Scotland’s Smoking Gun 147 3-9 Television on television in Scotland’s Smoking Gun 148 Chapter 4 4-1 Screenshots from How the Campaign Was Won as a visual timeline 150 4-2 Screenshots of post-credit montage in How the Campaign was Won 194 4-3 Screenshots of television archive material travelling from 195 How the Campaign was Won to Yes/No inside the Indyref Chapter 5 5-1 Scotland’s Smoking Gun & How the Campaign Was Won available to 233 view in BBC Scotland’s Digital Library 4 5-2 Digital Library interface compared with HD and Beta tape 233 viewing station at BBC Scotland HQ 5-3 Detail of Digital Library interface:Thumbnails of each shot 234 5-4 Detail of Digital Library interface: Logging 235 5-5 Detail of Digital Library interface: choosing a clip to send to edit suite 235 5-6 ‘Like what you see?’ poster advertising the archive department BBC Scotland HQ 236 Conclusion 1 Screenshot from BBC News website 11th November 2019, two clips of Boris Johnson 238 2 Aye 2.0 242 5 Acknowledgements Dedicated to Henry Brennan 1936-2016. I am indebted to the brilliant contributors who agreed to be interviewed or to answer endless questions for my research. Thank you to Craig Williams, Vicky Plaine, Gregor Marks, Charlie McGann, Ian Small, Brendan O’Hara, Val Douglas, Virginia Heath, Lynne Dent, Joanna Taylor, Jean McClure, Linsey Wilson, Una Clive-Skilling, Rhoda Moudi, Katie Noble, the endlessly patient and good-humoured Archive team at BBC Scotland, and the interviewees who wished to remain anonymous. Without your generosity of time and the wealth of your knowledge this thesis would only have been about ten pages long. Special thanks to Craig for letting me talk at him in edit rooms when I was working as an archive producer. Your headphones must be really good. Thank you to mum, Joanne, Kathleen, Finlay, Eric and Ray for keeping me sane through it all. Thank you to Nicky, Ray & Amarjit, Linda & Kenny, Alex, Amy, Marianne & Louise, Gillian, Eilidh, Joanne, Carol-Anne & Jo, Anna, Mathilde & Louise, Rachel & Donna, Chantal, Tessa & Vicky, Aliza, Clare, Kathi & Kerr. Thank you to the Department of Film and Television Studies, the College of Arts Graduate School (especially Claire Smith) and to the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities. Thank you to Dee Heddon, Gillian Daly, Anna Scott and all the SGSAH staff for showing me that doing a PhD can be fun, with summer schools, travel funding, internships, conferences, ceilidhs, away days and excellent wine. I am so proud to have been part of the SGSAH cohort. Most of all, thank you to my supervisors, Amy Holdsworth and David Archibald. Without you I would have thrown the towel in after the first day. Thank you, David, for encouraging me to apply and thank you, Amy, for convincing me to stay when I wanted to run away. Every time I had a panic, I thought about you telling me, ‘if we didn’t think you could do this you wouldn’t be here’. I cannot believe my good fortune in having you both as my supervisors. I am so grateful for your wisdom, encouragement, patience, and toughness (when needed). Sorry for all the missed deadlines. Finally, thank you to my best friend and research assistant, Kitty Macdonald, the Fourteenth Doctor. I’ve been writing this thesis for half of your life and it is a journey we’ve been on together. Thank you darling, for being such a good girl when I had to take you to lectures or supervisor meetings, for writing notes in my text books, for letting me read while you messed about in parks and in soft plays, for all the pictures you drew for my office board, and all the weekends you didn’t get to spend with me because I was studying. Thank you for setting a deadline by agreeing to put up with all this until P4. Thank you for being my favourite film and television critic and companion. Tha gaol agam ort. 6 Author’s Declaration I declare that, except where explicit reference is made to the contribution of others, that this dissertation is the result of my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Glasgow or any other institution. Printed Name: Mhairi Brennan Signature: ______________________ 7 ‘Scotland Decides’ graphic from live results show broadcast on BBC Scotland 18th -19th September 2014 (personal photograph) 8 Extract from BBC Royal Charter Agreement, 2016:43 69. Archive (1) The BBC must make arrangements for the maintenance of an archive, or archives, of films, sound recordings, other recorded material and printed material which is representative of the sound and television programmes and films broadcast or otherwise distributed by the BBC. (2) Those arrangements- (a) must ensure that every such archive is kept safely, to commonly accepted standards; and (b) must give the public reasonable opportunities to visit the archives and view or listen to material kept there, with or without charge (as the BBC thinks fit). (3) In making those arrangements, the BBC must consult such bodies as are engaged in maintaining sound, television and film archives as it considers appropriate which are not established or conducted for profit. (4) The BBC must not destroy, sell or otherwise dispose of any material that it has broadcast or otherwise distributed which it decides not to preserve in any archive without first offering that material, free of charge, to such bodies as are engaged in maintaining sound, television and film archives as it considers appropriate.