BBC Wales ( ) is a division
of the British
Broadcasting Corporation for Wales
.
Based at
Broadcasting House in the Llandaff
area of
Cardiff
, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces
a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the
Welsh and English
languages.
Outside
London
, BBC Wales is the largest BBC production centre in
the United
Kingdom
, partly due to its slate of Welsh language
programmes. The BBC Wales television channel debuted on 1
February 1964 to much fanfare (short television promotions
proclaimed: "Wales gets its very own TV service in 1964!"). However
the BBC had been producing television programmes in Wales since the
mid-1950s. The first TV production studios were established in a
converted church (since demolished) in Broadway, Cardiff. The
entrance was in Sapphire Street off Clifton Street. The first
programmes were produced and transmitted live from in a tiny
temporary studio - later to become part of the scenery-dock whilst
two proper studios were created within the structure of the church.
One was a medium-size drama and music studio and the other a
discussion and news studio from which the daily Welsh language
magazine "Heddiw" and the daily English Language news programme
"BBC Wales Today" were produced from 1962 on. In this pre-videotape
era film was played into programmes from a telecine machine in
Bristol or London until telecine was actually installed in
Broadway. Film processing for news was carried out by a firm called
Park Pictures in Cardiff until BBC processing was installed in
Stacey Road.
Prior to 1964 BBC Wales had had to share its television channel
with the West of England as the Wenvoe transmitter near Cardiff
also served viewers in the West of England. The 20 minute slot for
tv news at six each evening was therefore split between "Wales
Today" and the West of England news programme "Points West". The
establishment of the BBC Wales dedicated channel in February 1964
(transmitted from a new mast built alongside the main transmitter
mast at Wenvoe) enabled a full length "Wales Today" to be broadcast
for the first time along with other Welsh and English-language
programming for Wales.
Overview
BBC Cymru Wales building in Bangor,
Gwynedd, North Wales.
BBC Cymru Wales produces
television
programming in
English and
Welsh both for the "
opt
out" sections of the
BBC One and
Two network feeds, and for the dedicated
Welsh-language channel
S4C. Perhaps its
best-known Welsh-language programme is the soap opera
Pobol y Cwm, which has run since 1974. BBC
Wales also operates two radio stations:
BBC Radio Wales in English and
BBC Radio Cymru, which broadcasts in Welsh
and is aimed at a younger audience. The national television news
programme
Wales Today is
the world's longest running daily television news programme - and
was confirmed as such by Director General Michael Checkland in a
speech to Cardiff Business Club. The Welsh language news service
Newyddion, produced by BBC Wales
for
S4C, combines international and UK news with
the national news of Wales.
Another popular Wales-screened programme is the drama series
Belonging, which as
of 2009 has run for ten seasons since 1999. An English language
programme,
Belonging is produced in-house by the BBC Wales
drama department and screened on
BBC One
during an "opt out" slot from the main UK network feed. As with
other such "opt outs", however, it is available to viewers
elsewhere in the UK via the digital satellite platform.
As well as providing these dedicated services for Wales, BBC Wales
also provides programming for the BBC's UK networks. In recent
years, its drama output has been particularly successful, including
the 2005 revival of the classic
science-fiction series
Doctor Who and its spin-off
Torchwood (2006). In addition,
BBC Wales commissions other drama output for the BBC network from
independent producers, such as
Life on Mars (2006–07).
The
BBC National Orchestra
of Wales was based at Broadcasting House in Cardiff, but moved
to BBC Hoddinott Hall at the Wales Millennium Centre
in January 2009, and performs regularly throughout
Wales and internationally.
It was
announced in March 2009 that the BBC will move
the filming of shows such as Casualty and Crimewatch to studios in Cardiff following an
announcement stating they were going to concentrate on more
programmes being made in Wales, Scotland
and Northern
Ireland
, instead of most of them being made in London.
Programming
Produced in-house by BBC Cymru Wales
- For Wales:
- For the UK:
It was
announced in March 2009 that the BBC will move
the filming of shows such as Casualty and Crimewatch to studios in Cardiff.
Commissioned from independent producers by BBC Cymru Wales
- For Wales:
- For the UK:
References
External links
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