The collection

Selected items

Contact and access

The bfi National Film And Television Archive (NFTVA), Television collection

There are now over 250,000 television programmes within the bfi National Film and Television Archive's television collection and this total is growing at a rate of over 15,000 titles a year. The NFTVA’s television collection covers the entire range of British television production from all sources and the television collection includes material from the BBC, ITV channels, Channel 4, and Channel 5. These include early television newsreel film, news bulletins, factual and documentary programmes, drama, comedy, children's and youth programming, music, lifestyle and light entertainment, and sport. The current situation is that the archiving of the main terrestrial channels is fairly comprehensive and there is little material from the past that cannot be accessed through the Archive. The missing element is cable and satellite television, which remain outside of the Archive’s scope.

In 1992, in recognition of its status with regard to television, the name of the Archive was changed from National Film Archive to National Film and Television Archive.

The methods of acquiring television programmes, since the bfi acknowledged a commitment to the medium in 1961, have ranged from the opportunistic to the statutory, resulting in a collection which, though large and comprehensive, requires a considerable amount of explanation.

The first TV collections - The first bfi donor agreement signed with a television company was with the BBC in 1960. This was specifically to cover the donation of a collection of nitrate BBC television newsreels, but it also established the fact that the Archive was the only outside organisation with which the BBC could deposit its productions and that the material could be used for private study by serious researchers. Similar agreements followed with the ITV companies, but, as it was only material which the companies no longer required that was ever offered for deposit, collecting was very sporadic and limited. A small acquisition budget allowed the purchase of a very limited number of programmes and a selection committee was set up to decide which programmes the Archive should have and whether it could afford them or not.

It should also be noted that, while the bfi committed itself to including television in the scope of its operations as early as 1961, it did so in terms of the use of film in the newer medium. It was not until the later 1970s that this was widened to include video, by which time the opportunity to rescue many of the videotapes wiped by the television companies had been lost.

ITV - The big breakthrough for the Archive came in 1968 when a number of the original ITV licensees lost their broadcasting franchises. Although the Archive managed to rescue some of the Associated-Rediffusion collection, much material was lost and the fragility of the system for ensuring the preservation of important material was exposed. As a result, in 1969, ITV gave the first of a series of annual grants to allow the purchase of important programmes selected by the committee. Consequently, throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, an important collection of ITV material was built up, which was enhanced by the donation of the collection of film reports from the current affairs flagship THIS WEEK between 1956 and 1968 and a collection of entertainment programming from the late fifties made by Jack Hylton Productions. The Archive also began to accept material on videotape, thus further widening the scope of the collection. The ITV companies have also donated collections of obsolete 2" tape, and these have recently been transferred for preservation with the help of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A selection of regional ITV material is also regularly acquired, using grant monies to purchase programming from the regional companies.

Channel Four - In 1982 Channel Four was launched, introducing the first new channel to the nation since the start of ITV broadcasting in 1955 and the launch of BBC2 in 1964. Channel Four also began to co-operate with the Archive from the very beginning of its service, donating its entire first week of programming.

Channel 5, and other broadcasts - In 1990, the Broadcasting Act placed the Archive recording operation on a statutory basis and provided for Channel 5, which launched in 1997 to be included from its outset. Cable and satellite television, currently remain outside of the Archive’s scope. The Television Acquisition section is also responsible for acquiring the master recordings of the complete proceedings of Parliament, which are regularly deposited by the Parliamentary Recording Unit some three years after their creation.

Off-air recording - In 1985, the combined ITV and Channel 4 grants were increased and used to fund the off-air recording of selected programmes to broadcast standard for preservation and access purposes. At this time the selection of programmes to be collected became the responsibility of Archive staff, rather than the committee. This greatly increased the amount of programming which could be acquired. Over the years, the amount recorded was increased and the Archive was given the right to record any but pay-TV services without a breach of copyright by the 1989 Copyright Act.

The result is that, today, the Archive records about 30% of ITV, over 25% of Channel Four and over 20% of Channel 5 programming. Selection policy ensures that all material of unique historical interest, such as news, current affairs and documentary programming is recorded, together with all drama and arts, a large selection of comedy, entertainment and sport, and at least one example of every series transmitted on the commercial terrestrial channels. Regular recordings of entire days’ output are made including the links, trailers and advertisements. When a major news story breaks, comprehensive recordings are made of all terrestrial television broadcasts following the story.

BBC - As the BBC maintains its own large archive, the main issue was study access and, in 1990, the Archive began, with the help of a grant from the BBC, to record viewing (S-VHS) copies of the entire output of BBC Television, in order that the programmes could be made publicly accessible. At the same time, the BBC donated a large collection of programming on 2" videotape, which it had transferred to modern formats for its own use. The current BBC Charter promotes archival co-operation between the BBC and the NFTVA and forbids the Corporation from throwing anything away without first offering it for deposit in the Archive.

Missing, Believed Wiped - Because television archiving was not satisfactorily arranged, on a national or company level until the mid-seventies, there is a large amount of classic programming missing from the official collections, which was either discarded or not recorded in the first place. It is, however, possible to track down some of this material and the bfi has been running a campaign, called Missing, Believed Wiped to do so. Material has been be found at overseas television stations, in private collections and with people involved in the production. There have been some notable successes.

The bfi NFTVA's television collection can be categorised in a number of ways, including by TV company, by transmission date and by genre (grouping together programmes and series with a common style or theme). The following provides examples which highlight some of the variety of material in the bfi television collection.

Drama - Drama programming on British television in the archive's collection includes the single dramas from the 1960s and 70s, as well as drama series and serials, and soap operas.

Factual - Factual television in the archive includes television newsreels, news broadcasts and current affairs, documentaries, interviews, discussions and programmes on history, natural history, arts and science, education and religion.

Comedy and Entertainment - Comedy and entertainment in the television collection includes sketch shows, situation comedies, variety shows, chat shows, music programmes, game shows, and sports.

Children's and youth programming - Children's programmes and youth programmes in the archive include all genres of television aimed at children including: news and magazine programmes, animation, drama series, light entertainment and game shows.

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