The First Broadcast TV Drama

Abstract

<italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Television development, which began in the 19th century, was typically pursued as laboratory experiments. Ernst Alexanderson’s broadcast is considered a major step toward making TV a reality. A search for technical details concerning the historic 11 September 1928 television broadcast led to the Museum of Science and Innovation. The very limited documentation found in their files delineate steps taken through the eight months leading up to the broadcast and provide some details of the equipment employed. The broadcast of The Queen’s Messenger as well as prior and subsequent transmissions were much more than lab experiments, but fell far short of being a medium of entertainment. Nevertheless, without the introduction of appropriate receivers, home TV entertainment would not have existed</i> .