BBC Two (
BBC2 until 1997) is the
second major terrestrial television channel of the
BBC, aimed at a wide range of subject matter and
interests, and specialising in intelligent yet popular programme
genres. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio networks, it is
commercial-free and yet remains a comparatively well funded
public service network,
regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most current
public service networks worldwide. It was the second British
television station to be launched
by the BBC (starting in 1964), and Europe's first television
channel to broadcast regularly in colour, from 1967, envisaged as a
home for less mainstream and more ambitious programming.
History
As a result of its criticisms of the populism of
ITV, the 1962
Pilkington Report
recommended that Britain's third television channel should be
awarded to the BBC.
Prior to its launch, BBC2 was promoted on the
BBC Television
Service channel soon to be renamed
BBC1; the animated adverts featured the campaign
mascots "Hullabaloo" (a mother
kangaroo)
and "Custard" (her
joey). Prior to
its formal launch (and for several years afterwards) the channel
broadcast '
Trade Test
Transmissions', short films made externally by companies such
as
Shell and
BP,
which served to enable engineers to test reception, but became
cult viewing.
The
channel was scheduled to begin at 19:20 on 20 April 1964 and show
an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show
The Alberts, a performance from
Soviet
comedian
Arkady Raikin, and a production of
Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, culminating with a
fireworks display.
However,
at around 18:45 a huge power failure, originating from Battersea Power
Station
, caused Television Centre
to lose all power. BBC1 was able to
continue broadcasting via its facilities at Alexandra
Palace
, but all attempts to show the scheduled programmes
on the new channel failed. Associated-Rediffusion, the London
ITV franchise-holder, offered to transmit on the
BBC's behalf, but their gesture was rejected, presumably for
pride's sake.
However, at 22:00 BBC2 had no choice but to concede defeat and
postpone programming until the following morning. As the BBC's news
centre at Alexandra Palace was unaffected, they did in fact
broadcast brief bulletins on BBC2 that evening, beginning with an
announcement by the newsreader
Gerald
Priestland at around 19:25. There was believed to be no
recording ever made of this bulletin, but one was discovered in
early 2003.
By 11:00 on 21 April, power had been restored to the studios and
programming began, thus making
Play School the first
programme to be shown officially on the channel. The launch
schedule, postponed from the night before, was then successfully
shown that evening, albeit with minor changes. In reference to the
power cut, the transmission opened with a shot of a lit candle
which was then sarcastically blown out by presenter
Denis Tuohy.
To establish the new channel's identity and draw viewers to it, the
BBC decided that a widely promoted, lavish series would be
essential in its earliest days. The production chosen was
The Forsyte Saga, a
no-expense-spared adaptation of the novels by
John Galsworthy, featuring well-established
actors
Kenneth More and
Eric Porter. Critically for the future of the
fledgling channel, the BBC's gamble was hugely successful, with an
average of six million viewers tuning in per episode of a total of
only 9 million able to receive the channel at the time, and BBC2
was safely established with the public.
Unlike the other channels available at that time (
BBC1 and
ITV), BBC2 was broadcast
only on the
625 line UHF system, so was not available to
viewers with
405-line
VHF sets. This created a market
for dual standard receivers which could switch between the two
systems. The early technical problems, which included being unable
to transmit US-made videotapes due to a lack of
system conversion from the
US
NTSC system, were resolved by a committee
headed by
James Redmond.
BBC1 and ITV later joined BBC2 on 625-line UHF but continued to
simulcast on 405-line VHF until 1985. In July 1967, BBC2 became the
first channel in Europe to begin regular broadcasts in colour,
using the
PAL system. The thirteen part series
Civilisation
was created as a celebration of two millennia of western art and
culture to showpiece the new colour technology. BBC1 and ITV
simultaneously introduced PAL colour on UHF on 15 November
1969.
As the
switch to digital-only terrestrial transmission progresses, BBC
Two is (in each region in turn) the first
analogue
TV channel to be replaced with the BBC multiplex, four weeks
ahead of the other four channels. This is required for those relay
transmitters that have no current
Freeview giving viewers time to
purchase the equipment, unless they have already selected
Freesat.
Controllers
Jane Root, who was appointed in 1999 and
was the first woman to be appointed controller of a BBC television
channel, departed in May 2004 to become the executive vice
president and general manager of the US-based
Discovery Channel. BBC Two was channel of
the year in 2007.
Present and past programmes
Nowadays, new BBC programmes often appear on BBC Two, especially if
those behind them have not proven themselves elsewhere. A
successful BBC Two programme has often been moved to BBC One, in
the manner of
Have I Got
News for You and
Torchwood (which was actually moved up to BBC
Two from
BBC Three). Over its first thirty
or so years the channel developed a reputation for screening highly
praised and prestigious drama series, amongst these
Boys from the Blackstuff
(1982) or 1996's epic, critically-acclaimed
Our Friends in the North ; its
"highbrow" profile compared to rivals is also in part attributable
to a long history of demanding
documentaries of all types, beginning with
Civilisation
and
The Ascent of Man.
Like the early
Channel 4, BBC2 also
established for itself a reputation as a champion of independent
and international
cinema.
The channel has sometimes been judged in more recent years
increasingly to have moved away from this original role and to have
moved closer to the mainstream. The perception of its greater
minority interest nevertheless persists in today's multi-channel
world, so that a programme moved from BBC Two to BBC One will often
attract a much larger audience, even though no other change has
been made. Since 2004 there have been some signs of an attempt to
return closer to parts of BBC Two's earlier output with the arts
strand
The Culture Show
and intermittent night-time repeats of programming from
BBC Four. Its most popular programme at the moment
is
Top
Gear.
During the evenings, alternative programmes are broadcast on
BBC Two Northern Ireland,
BBC Two Scotland and
BBC Two Wales. Until December 2008,
BBC Wales broadcast a special, digital-only
channel,
BBC 2W, which contained more
opt-outs than analogue-only BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Northern
Ireland's offering includes local news and weather updates, whilst
BBC Scotland broadcasts variations from
the main network on BBC Two Scotland, such as
Newsnight Scotland, and
Gaelic-language programmes under the banner
BBC
Two Alba.
Programming
Public service, educational and community programming
An important part of BBC2's founding mission was not only to
provide minority interest entertainment but also to fulfil the
public service functions of
educational
and
community broadcasting.
Following
a long and important association with the Open University
, which has always co-produced programming with the
channel, BBC2 has also carried BBC
Schools programmes from 1983 onward from BBC1. In recent
years the Open University programming has been broadcast under the
wider category of the
BBC Learning
Zone, in its long-standing slot late at night and during the
early hours. However, in 2004 the Open University announced it was
to end the late-night programmes in favour of more primetime
co-productions, modelled on
Coast.
As a result of the channel's commitment to
community broadcasting and amongst other
programming the channel produced the symbolic
Open Space series, a strand
developed in the early 1970s in which members of the public would
be allotted half an hour of television time, and given a level of
editorial and technical training in order to produce for themselves
a film on an issue most important to them. BBC2's
Community Programme Unit kept this
aspect of the channel's tradition alive into the 1990s in the form
of
Video Diaries and later
Video Nation. The Community Programmes
Unit was disbanded in 2004.
On-screen identity
BBC Two ident "Copper Cutout" used
from February 1991 to December 1999.
From 2001-2007 the '2' gained a
personality as a 2 robot.
As well as programmes, BBC Two has also proved memorable for its
numerous
idents — various
short films shown in between programme junctions that serve as the
channel identity. Since it began in 1964, the figure '2' has almost
always featured, using revolving, mechanical models and
computer-aided technology, including the world's first
computer-generated ident in 1979.
At Easter 1986 the computer-generated '2' was replaced by the word
'TWO' in red, green and blue on a white background. However, a
survey carried out by the BBC in 1990 found that this ident gave
the channel a 'worthy but dull' image. Then-controller Alan Yentob
saw a major change of identity was necessary.
Branding agency
Lambie-Nairn were
commissioned, and in February 1991, the new custom '2' — and the
signature colour,
viridian — were unveiled
on BBC Two, in idents that would successfully change public
perception, and become world famous. The '2' always appeared in the
same shape, in various forms; the earliest idents of 1991 featured
solely inanimate '2' figures of different material in each, but
also made use of camera angle tricks and properties such as
refraction to achieve various effects. In
later years it was given character, taking the form of a
remote-controlled car, a rubber duck, a
Dalek
and a toy dog among many others (see
BBC Two 1991-2001 idents). The
expansive set of idents from 1991 to 2001 — lasting over a decade —
are generally regarded as the best idents ever produced for a
television channel; they ended in November 2001. The BBC corporate
logo was updated within the idents in October 1997, though the
idents moved away from the original viridan colour scheme in these
latter years.
The subsequent presentation style, again created by
Lambie-Nairn, was introduced on 19 November
2001 kept the same figure '2' — though it was now always shown
white on a yellow background, and completely computer generated.
Occasionally, to promote certain programmes on the channel the
ident moved away from the standard style. For example, in a trail
for the second series of
The
Catherine Tate Show, the character of
Lauren Cooper was shown arguing with a '2' in
the guise of a dog. This canine identity for the '2' was part of
the BBC's
Pedigree Comedy branding for comedy programmes
in the Thursday night slot, and featured in 3 ident versions for
use ahead of the programmes.
Withdrawn idents from years past have also made a return to BBC Two
for special events.
The "Garden" ident (in which a '2' grows out
of flowers) returned for the 2001 Chelsea Flower Show
after having been retired in 1997, and remained in
occasional use until the November 2001 rebrand. For the
2006 Winter Olympics, the
Christmas 2000 ident was used again (renamed "Frosty"), and
remained in use until the February 2007 refresh.
For the 2006 Chelsea Flower
Show, "Predator" (where a '2' butterfly is eaten by a
Venus fly-trap shaped '2') was used again (as "Venus Fly Trap"),
and also remained in occasional use until the February 2007
rebrand. In each case, the branding was updated to match the
then-current style.
The latest style of presentation was introduced on 18 February
2007, designed by
Abbott Mead
Vickers BBDO and produced by
Red Bee
Media. The figure 2 — which has been altered from
Lambie-Nairn's original '2' design for the
first time in 16 years — became a 'window on the world'. The first
ident broadcast from this set was "Cappuccino Scoop". Additionally,
the plum coloured box previously used for the BBC Two logo was
changed to a teal colour, along with a font change from
Gill Sans to
Avenir across the channel.
On 18 March 2007 the ident "Tagging Football" was used to introduce
Match of the Day 2. This
ident is shot from the viewpoint of a man carrying a pink template
with a 2 shaped cut-out hole, through which everything is seen; it
is held up close to the camera. The man runs across a pitch, and
hastily sprays the side of a football with a crude, bright pink '2'
using the template and a can of spray paint. The camerawork is
jittery, though likely intended to convey the frantic pace. Despite
being different in style from the other current sequences, it is
one of the idents issued as part of the initial set from AMV &
Red Bee, and there are other versions of the same concept yet to
air.
BBC Two and BBC Four
Since the launch of the digital-only
BBC
Four, the BBC has been accused in particular of shifting its
more highbrow output to the new channel, which a minority (12% in
the second quarter of 2008) of viewers do not receive. The
perceived strategy has been to allow BBC Two to show more popular
programmes and to secure higher ratings. Many commentators have
judged there to be a strong resemblance between the new Four and
the earlier, more ambitious, BBC Two. Output from BBC Four
(documentaries rather than foreign films) is repeated on BBC Two in
a 'BBC Four on Two' branded area, although this is often in a late
night broadcast slot after
Newsnight.
See also
References
- David Attenborough extra on BBC DVD
Civilisation by K. Clarke
- BBC Two idents
- Ofcom report
- The Guardian blogs
External links
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