Edinburgh TV Festival

Edinburgh TV Festival (Look Here)

Programme looking at issues around television, with items on the Edinburgh TV festival, the popularity of quiz shows and the prospect of a fourth channel.

This edition of LWT's monthly programme, presented by Andrew Neil, begins with a report from the 1978 Edinburgh television festival, where there had been discussion about the rise in concern at violence in TV drama. Such criticisms had led to instances of censorship and editorial intervention by the BBC.

Writer Kennith Trodd cites the example of Barry Keeffe's Gotcha, which the BBC director general had banned. Also mentioned is Caryl Churchill's The Legion Hall Bombing, which had been re-written by BBC executives against the wishes of Churchill and the director Roland Joffe. Writer Howard Schuman argues that expectations of the 'accountability' of broadcasters too often means them falling into line with a narrow, petit-bourgeois sensibility.

Another item explores the growing popularity of quiz shows on television. Nicholas Parsons argues that while a vocal minority of viewers and critics might criticise them, such shows are popular with a silent majority.

The third item sees a viewer criticise ITV's Spearhead series for what he felt were its unrealistic portrayals of the British army.

The final item considers arguments for a proposed fourth channel, and what kind of programming it should offer.

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TV on TV

How does television see itself? Get inside the box with this selection of insider accounts of a rapidly changing medium.

By the 1970s, TV in Britain was not just a booming cultural industry but the nation's dominant medium for entertainment and news. This collection shows how television looked at itself, whether questioning, critical or just self-congratulatory. The programmes highlight a period of extraordinary change, with technology and industry evolving rapidly, and the multi-channel era we know now just beginning to emerge.

13 videos in this collection

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Curtains for the Single Play?

  • 1980
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Look Here [04/01/81]

  • 1981
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The Question of Violence on Television

  • 1978
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Movies on TV (Look Here)

  • 1981
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Look Here [02/11/80]

  • 1980
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Look Here [08/03/81]

  • 1981
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Look Here [05/04/81]

  • 1981
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Look Here [07/06/81]

  • 1981
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Behind the Screens

  • 1977
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Look Here [03/05/81]

  • 1981
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Look Here [09/06/79]

  • 1979
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Edinburgh TV Festival

  • 1978
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30 Years of UTV

  • Belfast
  • 1989
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