Making the political popular: the early days of the BBC’s Panorama

Abstract

Current affairs television programmes are exceedingly political, but were not always so. This article offers a history of Panorama, the first British current affairs programme and a precursor and inspiration for current affairs programmes in Britain and abroad that followed. It offers a history of the programme in its own right, delving into the factors that contributed to Panorama’s creation and the events that led to it becoming a purveyor of political and international news for the last six decades. It also offers an alternative approach to media history. Rather than simply relying on high policy material, as has previously been done, this article delves into programme-specific files to demonstrate the utility of a multi-layered archival approach in understanding and appreciating the history of a specific programme. In so doing, it also offers explanations as to why the history of particular programme, in this case, Panorama, can contribute to overall histories of the organisation in which is was a part, the British Broadcasting Corporation.