From Documentary Film to Television Documentaries: John Grierson and This Wonderful World

Abstract

In October 1957, John Grierson, the founder of the British documentary film movement, made the transition to a new medium: television. His series for STV, This Wonderful World, which ran in its original form until August 1965, introduced audiences to international documentary in an ‘inter-generic’ magazine format and was among the most popular broadcasts of the fledgling station, which was formed in August 1957 following the introduction of Independent Television (ITV) in 1954. This article analyses how cinematic documentarists made the transition to television and what their experiences reveal of the documentary's place in British society in the 1950s and 1960s. It argues that Grierson's series stood at the centre of debates over ‘prestige’ programming and ‘cultural uplift’, as well as over fears of the allegedly negative influence of ITV on the mass audience, and shows how British television negotiated an increasingly global media and the emergence of the modern television personality. It concludes with an examination of the legacy of early British documentary on television and demonstrates how its pioneers exploited the memory of the 1930s in order to carve out their place in the genre's history.