Perhaps surprisingly, British television is creatively richer and far more diverse than it has ever been. This is at a time of continual flux within the industry, when the public service tradition as developed by the BBC, and, nur­ tured more recently by Channel 4 Television, is being chal­ lenged by a far more aggressive commercial sector, both in terrestrial services and from cable and satellite. The perma­ nent revolution began with the start of Channel 4 in 1982. As a publisher of programming, rather than an integrated producer-broadcaster, Channel 4 brought into being a new industry of independent producers, many of whom were concerned to see the channel fulfil its parliamentary remit "to encourage innovation and experiment in the form and content of programmes." For a remarkable decade Channel 4 revitalised the British feature film industry, funding an astonishing catalogue of factual programming from Britain and abroad, working with artists and film-makers in new ways, and extending the range of representations of both conventional politics and the new feminist, gay and lesbian, and ethnic politics of the 1980s. It would be misleading to suggest that this era has ended, but certainly Channel 4 is no longer the most exciting and progressive programme service. New management, headed by Michael Grade, have sent the channel chasing after rat­ ings, in large part because the service is no longer protected by the mainstream ITV companies and is now selling its own advertising. Channel 4's defining programmes these days are its banal breakfast show The Big Breakfast and the vari­ ety series Don't forget Your Toothbrush. Much of the impe­ tus developed by Channel 4 and its associated independent producers has been taken up by BBC2. BBC2 carries im­ ported series like The X-Files, but in the past five years it has stimulated a remarkable range of programming that ex­ plores new forms and is often challenging and provocative. Like Channel 4 it needs to keep its audience figures stable (averaged across the week around 10% of the terrestial audience) but unlike its rival, under Controller Michael Jackson, it combines the three traditional core concerns of public service, broadcasting information, education and en­ tertainment in ways which feel contemporary and constant­ly surprising. Consequently, my FOCUS-programme of ex­ tracts is drawn largely from the recent BBC2 output. This programme features a wide range of extracts from creative and innovative British television programmes made over the past two years. They will be presented as part of a lecture which will sketch the production context of the works and suggest aspects of their in­ terest and distinctiveness. No programme of extracts can adequately convey the true qualities of the works
shown. Nonetheless it is hopes that this programme will offer a strong sense of the qualities of British televi­ sion today. Among the works to be expected are: Tx: The Waste Land, Rememberance of Things Fast, One Minute Pieces, Inside Victor Lewis Smith, Alan Partridge - Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, Video Nation, Modern Times: Lido, Work: Bank Manager, London, The Last Maschine, The Late Show: Singapore, The Net. "The young are generally considered highly receptive to innovation. In the field of television, networks prefer testing new forms of broadcasting on younger vie­ wers. Included here (if often limited) are opportunities to interact by telephone, fax, and participate in games using the telephone. Along with that, come presentations by vir­tual-moderators. Marketing laws, however, have remained hard to pin down. For various reasons, computer-game broadcasts such as Games World (SAT 1), X-Base (ZDF) and Super??? (SAT 1), with interactive elements dispersed through the program, have all failed. Yet an infantile and totally schematic produc­ tion like Hugo-Show (Kabel 1) continues to enjoy a succes­ sful and uninterrupted airing. At the same time, television for younger viewers makes a strong effort to involve their public In the programs. During broadcasts, fax messages are read on the air; and live- shows, such as Lollo Rosso (WDR) and Zell-o-Fun (SDR), wel­ come telephone calls - either to include the callers in games, or have them respond to questions about their hob­ bies, habits and lifestyles. Technical sophistication has reached the area of television for children as well. Totally computer-animated programs, such as the cartoon series Reboot (Premiere/ZDF) or In­ sectors (ARD: The Capt'n Blue Bear Club), have made Manko - a certain sluggishness, actually choppy little move­ ments - the norm. In Reboot (Zondag Entertainment, Canada) 3D-images, courtesy of elaborate computer-anima­ tions, do everything expected of them - in a computerized world. Insectors (Fantome Animation, France) takes place on a distant planet inhabited by insects, during an endless war between ill-tempered grey cockroaches and their playful multi-coloured adversaries."