The Vision of a Nation: Making Multiculturalism on British Television, 1960–80

308 Pages·2014·2.704 MB·English

by  Gavin Schaffer (auth.)

The Vision of a Nation
Making Multiculturalism
on British Television, 1960–80
Gavin Schaffer
The Vision of a Nation
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The Vision of a Nation
Making Multiculturalism on British
Television, 1960–80
Gavin Schaffer
ProfessorofModernHistory,UniversityofBirmingham
©GavinSchaffer2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014978-0-230-29298-7
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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
1 TheVisionofaNation:Introduction 1
2 ‘TheFirstBridge’:ProgrammesforImmigrants
onBritishTelevision 18
3 RaceinNewsandCurrentAffairs:PrinciplesandPractice 67
4 DealingwithRacialExtremes:NewsandCurrentAffairs
underPressure 96
5 What’sBehindtheOpenDoor?TalkingBackonRacein
Public-AccessBroadcasting 143
6 TheRiseandFalloftheRacialSitcom:Laughterand
PrejudiceinMulticulturalBritain 178
7 StrugglingfortheOrdinary:RaceinBritish
TelevisionDrama 231
8 Conclusion 273
Bibliography 276
Index 286
vii
Acknowledgements
The research behind this book was only possible thanks to the
under-acknowledged efforts of dedicated archivists across the UK. In
particular, I would like to thank Stephen Parton at the ITA Archive
in Bournemouth and Rachel Lawson and Els Boonen from the BBC’s
WrittenArchivesinCaversham.TheWrittenArchivesareanextraordi-
nary repository of British history, staffed by brilliant people, and I feel
privilegedtohavespentsolongworkingthere.
IamalsogratefulforthesupportofmycolleaguesattheUniversities
of Portsmouth, Birmingham and beyond. Being able to chat to schol-
ars like James Jordan, Sadiah Qureshi, Panikos Panayi, Tony Kushner,
MatthewHilton,ChrisMoores,KieranConnell,TimGrady,PaulLong,
Kim Wagner, Vanessa Jackson, Christopher Hill, Tom McCaskie and
HelenWheatleyhasprovedinvaluableatdifferentstagesoftheproject.
WeareluckyattheUniversityofBirminghamtohavesomefantastic
students, whose ideas and support have fuelled this research at many
points.Inparticular,IwouldliketothankSaimaNasar,AmyEdwards,
ZoeDennessandZahraKassamaliforimputingtheirideas,aswellasall
themembersofourContemporaryBritishHistoryreadinggroup.
Of course, I owe a debt of gratitude to those people who took the
time to be interviewed for the book. I have been both touched and
inspired by the generosity of Owen Bentley, Paresh Solanki, Tommy
Nagra, Jack Smethurst, Peter Ansorge, Tara Prem and Jagtar Basi. Most
of all, I am grateful to Stephanie Silk for her interviews, her advice on
themanuscriptandforthewonderfulcoverimage.
I would also like to thank Jen McCall and her editorial team at
Palgrave, especially Jon Lloyd. Jen has been passionate about this
project from its beginning and I have come to rely on her energy and
enthusiasm.
Finally,asever,Ineedtothankmyfamilyandfriends,whosesupport
neverwavers:Mum,Dad,Joel,and,mostofall,Christina.
viii
1
The Vision of a Nation:
Introduction
In 1978, an argument erupted at the BBC about illustrations in some
ofthebooksthataccompaniedchildren’seducationprogrammes.Writ-
ing to a host of high-ranking BBC officials, John Robottom, from the
MidlandsdivisionoftheEducationalBroadcastingCouncil,complained
that‘alltheseareportrayalsofwhiteadultsandchildrenwhenitwould
have been so easy to vary this’.1 Giving short shrift to Robottom’s
concerns, Geoffrey Hall, the Head of Schools Broadcasting on Televi-
sion, responded that he would ‘certainly oppose’ any decision not to
recommend literature simply because ‘none of the cartoon faces in
the teacher’s notes have been shaded in’. Focusing on the quintessen-
tially English cartoon versions of Arthur English and Jack Wild in
teachers’ notes for Everyday Maths, Hall flippantly argued: ‘Perhaps we
shouldhaveblackedthemup!’2Farfromfindingthisresponseamusing,
Robottomcontinuedtomakehiscase.
in most urban areas, a disproportionately high part of the audience
forthisserieswillbeblackorAsian.Thisdoessurelyconstitutesome
case for considering the images projected on the screen and in the
broadcasts.Yes,Ithinkyoushouldhaveshadedinsomeofthefaces.3
While ostensibly the most modest of arguments about representation,
thisdisputewasoneofmanyamongbroadcastersabouthowtoreflect
Britishmulticulturalism.Aswasgraphicallyillustratedinthiscase,these
debates were very much about ‘making’ in the most conscious sense
of the term, so that making multicultural television in the 1960s and
1970s could boil down to discussions between white executives about
whether or not to ‘shade in’ the faces of cartoon characters. In this
way,televisiondebatedhowbesttorespondtowhatwasperceivedtobe
1