Opening Doors
The BBC's Community Programme Unit 1973-2002
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4494577 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Giles Oakley (corresponding author), Peter Lee-Wright (Goldsmiths University of London) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 213-234 |
| Publication date | 2016-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History Workshop Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/hwj/dbw024 |
| OpenAlex | W2475527325 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
The BBC's Community Programme Unit (CPU) was set up in 1973 to widen access to the airwaves by creating spaces for non-professionals, campaigning groups and others to make their own television programmes. It grew out of the mood of grass-roots activism of the 1960s (as did History Workshop). The Unit was launched on BBC2, a channel established in 1964 whose remit was to develop innovative programming. In the words of the opening titles to the unit's initial series, Open Door, its aim was to allow participants to ‘have your own say in your own way’. Throughout its thirty years the Unit's production team handed over editorial control to non-professionals in the making of programmes which ranged from campaigning documentaries (on issues as diverse as local hospital closures, animal rights and critiques of the BBC itself) to innovative formats such as Take the Mike which linked with local radio stations. It sought out the marginalized and the unrepresented. Its series featured self-help groups in Grapevine, disaffected youth in Something Else, the deaf in See Hear, and many others. The broad scope of the Unit produced insights into the social world and everyday experience which moved beyond established genres and mainstream television programming. This is an important, but neglected part of television history
Doors · Mainstream · Media studies · Political science · Public relations · Scope (computer science · Sociology · Unit (ring theory · Computer Science · Engineering · Media Studies and Communication · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Psychology · Law
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |