BBC One
Formerly Called	The BBC Television Service (until April 1964)
Launched:	November 2, 1936
Audience Share (Aug 2004 [1] (http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/monthreports.cfm?report=monthgmulti)):	22.6%
Owned By:	BBC
Web Address:	www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone
Availability
Terrestrial Analogue:	Usually Channel 1
Terrestrial Digital:	Freeview Channel 1
Satellite:	Sky Digital Channel 101
Cable:	NTL Channel 101 Telewest Channel 101 BBC One logo (2002-) This work is copyrighted. ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1927 by means of a royal charter from the Crown. ... Freeview is a free-to-air digital television service in the United Kingdom broadcast from terrestrial transmitters using the DVB-T standard. ... Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcastings digital satellite television service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28. ... NTL (NASDAQ: NTLI) is a US listed company providing cable services. ... Telewest Broadband (formerly Telewest) is one of the two major cable companies in the United Kingdom. ...

BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formally styled) is the oldest television station in the United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. It is the primary channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and first broadcast as the 'BBC Television Service' on November 2, 1936, although the BBC had been broadcasting experimental and test transmissions in a variety of formats since 1929. The station held a complete monopoly on television broadcasting in the UK until ITV was launched in 1955. A television station is a type of radio station that broadcasts both audio and video to television receivers in a particular area. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and a member of the British Commonwealth and European Union. ... This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about economic monopoly. ... This article is about the British television network. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

History

The transmission mast above the BBC wing of Alexandra Palace, home of BBC One from 1936 until the early 1950s, photographed in 2001.

The earliest broadcasts used the 210-line Baird system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system on alternate weeks. However the Baird system proved too cumbersome and by early 1937 had been dropped. The station was based in a converted wing of Alexandra Palace in London, housing two studios, various scenery stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms and so forth, and even the transmitter itself. The Palace was the home base of the channel until the early 1950s when the majority of production moved to the Lime Grove Studios, and then in 1960 the headquarters moved to the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, also in London, where the channel is based to this day. Download high resolution version (472x690, 43 KB)Uploaded to illustrate BBC One. ... Download high resolution version (472x690, 43 KB)Uploaded to illustrate BBC One. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1927 by means of a royal charter from the Crown. ... Alexandra Palace from the east Alexandra Palace was built on a hill in Muswell Hill in North London in 1873 as a public entertainment centre. ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Alexandra Palace from the east Alexandra Palace was built on a hill in Muswell Hill in North London in 1873 as a public entertainment centre. ... Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... Lime Grove Studios was a film studio complex built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915 situated in a street named Lime Grove, near Hammersmith, west London and described by Gaumont as the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country solely for... 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... BBC Television Centre BBC Television Centre (sometimes abbreviated TVC or TC) in television output and, since 1998, almost all of the corporations national TV and radio news output by BBC News. ... White City is a place in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London in England. ... London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ...

On September 1, 1939, two days before Britain declared war on Germany, the station was unceremoniously taken off air at 12:10pm after the broadcast of the Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Gala Première. The last words broadcast were of a caricature of Greta Garbo saying "Ah tank ah kiss you now". It was feared that the VHF transmissions would act as a beacon to enemy aircraft homing in on London—also, many of the television service's technical staff and engineers would be needed for the war effort, in particular on the RADAR programme. The television channel returned on June 7, 1946 at 3pm. Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement saying "Remember me?" Remarkably, the programming continued with the same Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939, introduced with the announcement: "As we were saying before we were so rudely interrupted..." September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the worlds leading industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. ... Mickey Mouse is a fictional character, a comic animal cartoon character who is perhaps Walt Disneys most famous creation. ... Garbo in the 1920s Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990) was a Swedish actress. ... London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ... M*A*S*H, see Corporal Walter (Radar) OReilly. ... June 7 is the 158th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (159th in leap years), with 207 days remaining. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

An Emitron camera, of the type that would have been used to make the earliest 405-line programmes broadcast on the channel. This particular example is a dummy constructed for the 1986 BBC drama Fools on the Hill, which depicted the early days of the station.

Initially, the station's range was officially only within a twenty-five mile radius of the Alexandra Palace transmitter—in practice, however, transmissions could be picked up a good deal further away, and on one occasion in 1938 were picked up by engineers at RCA in New York, who were experimenting with a British television set. They filmed the static-ridden output they got on their screen, and this poor-quality, mute film footage is the only surviving record of 1930s British television filmed directly from the screen. However, some images of programmes do survive in newsreels, which also contain some footage shot in studios while programmes were being made, giving a feel for what was being done, albeit without directly replicating what was being shown on screen. Download high resolution version (472x1035, 42 KB)Uploaded to illustrate BBC One. ... Download high resolution version (472x1035, 42 KB)Uploaded to illustrate BBC One. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson Consumer Electronics, which manufactures RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related accessories; and... This is an article about New York City; see also NYC, New York, and New York, New York. ... Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Science Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term ecosystem War, peace and politics Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism Rise to... A Newsreel is a documentary film that is regularly released in a public presentation place containing filmed news stories. ...

By the outbreak of war in 1939, there were an estimated 30,000–40,000 television sets in London. Coverage extended to Birmingham in 1948 with the opening of the Sutton Coldfield television transmitter, and by the early 1950s the entire country was covered. 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Sutton Coldfield television transmitter is a broadcasting transmitter based at Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham in England. ... Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ...

The station was renamed BBC1 on the day that BBC2 was launched in April 1964. In 1969, simultaneous with ITV and two years after BBC2, the channel began 625-line PAL colour programming. Stereo transmissions began in 1988, and widescreen programming was introduced on digital platforms in 1998. However many of these developments took some years to become available on all transmitters. BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... This article is about the British television network. ... For other meanings of PAL see PAL (disambiguation). ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

For the first half century of its existence, with the exception of films and imported programmes from countries such as the United States and Australia, almost all the channel's output was produced by the BBC's own in-house production departments. This changed following the 1990 Broadcasting Act, which required that 25% of the BBC's television output be out-sourced to independent production companies. As of 2004 many popular BBC One shows are made for the channel by independents, but the in-house production departments continue to contribute heavily to the schedule. For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of... The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America¹, the States, or (archaically) Columbia — is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii). ... Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is the sixth-largest country in the world, the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia/ Oceania. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Programming

BBC One is more mainstream than its sister station BBC Two and generally gets higher ratings, competing with ITV as the most-viewed channel in the UK. The BBC's sport and news have their homes here, as does Children's BBC, mainstream drama and comedy programming, film premieres and documentaries. Regional news programmes generally follow the main news, in particular the Six O'clock News is followed at 6:30 by half-hour regional news shows. Popular shows from BBC Two may make the crossover to BBC One, Match of the Day and Have I Got News For You being examples of this. BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC. History The channel was scheduled to begin at 7:20pm on April 20, 1964 and show an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show The Alberts and... This article is about the British television network. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of... Match of the Day is the BBCs football (soccer) magazine shown every Saturday night. ... Have I Got News For You is a UK television panel game, on the subject of news, politics and current affairs. ...

Some popular programmes:

• Picture Page (1936–39; 1946–52) - Magazine programme
• Come Dancing (1949–95) - Ballroom dancing
• Panorama (1953–) - Current affairs
• Quatermass (1953; 1955; 1958–59) - Science-fiction
• The Grove Family (1954–57) - Soap opera
• Dixon of Dock Green (1955–76) - Police drama
• The Sky at Night (1957–) - Astronomy
• Grandstand (1958–) - Sports showcase
• Blue Peter (1958–) - Children's magazine
• Steptoe and Son (1962–74) - Sitcom
• Z-Cars (1962–78) - Police drama
• Doctor Who (1963–89; 1996; 2005–) - Science-fiction
• Top of the Pops (1964–) - Popular music
• Match of the Day (1966–) - Football highlights
• The Morecambe and Wise Show (1968–78) - Light entertainment
• Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–74) - Sketch show
• Play for Today (1970–84) - Drama anthology
• Grange Hill (1978–) - Children's drama
• Question Time (1979–) - Political debate
• Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003) - Sitcom
• EastEnders (1985–) - Soap opera
• Casualty (1986–) - Medical drama
• One Foot in the Grave (1990–2000) - Sitcom
• Jonathan Creek (1997–) - Mystery drama
• Spooks (2002–) - Spy drama

For a fuller list of programmes screened on all BBC television channels, see List of BBC television programming. Picture Page was a British television programme, broadcast on the BBC Television Service (now known as BBC One) from 1936 to 1939, and again after the services hiatus during the Second World War from 1946 until 1952. ... Come Dancing BBC TV ballroom dancing competition show that ran on and off from 1949 to 1995, becoming one of televisions longest-running shows. ... This article is about the artistic term Panorama. ... Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional character, created by the writer Nigel Kneale originally for BBC Television, who appeared in three influential BBC science fiction serials of the 1950s, and made his swansong in a final serial for Thames Television in 1979. ... The Grove Family was a British television soap opera, generally regarded as the first of its kind broadcast in the UK, made and transmitted by BBC Television from 1954 to 1957. ... Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series, which ran from 1955 to 1976. ... The Sky at Night is a long running television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. It is the longest running television programme with the same presenter anywhere. ... The British television sport programme Grandstand is one of BBCs longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year. ... Blue Peter is a popular, long-running BBC television programme for children. ... Steptoe and Son was a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherds Bush, London. ... Z-Cars (sometimes written as Z Cars, and always pronounced zed, never zee) was a British television drama series centred around the work of regular beat police officers in the fictional town of Newtown, near Liverpool, in the north-west of England. ... The Doctor Who 2005 television series logo. ... Top of the Pops is a long-running British music chart television programme shown each week on BBC ONE and now on BBC Kids in Canada. ... Match of the Day is the BBCs football (soccer) magazine shown every Saturday night. ... Morecambe and Wise Morecambe and Wise were a famous British comic double act comprising Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. ... Monty Pythons Flying Circus (aka Flying Circus or MPFC, known during the fourth season as Monty Python) was the popular BBC sketch comedy show from Monty Python. ... Play for Today was a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC One from 1970 to 1984. ... For other meanings of Grange Hill, see Grange Hill (disambiguation). ... Question Time is a topical debate television programme in Britain. ... The original lineup of Only Fools and Horses, featuring Rodney, Del Boy and Grandad, lasted from 1981 to 1985. ... EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, which was first broadcast on February 19, 1985. ... Casualty is a long-running BBC television drama serial, first broadcast in 1986. ... One Foot in the Grave is both a television situation comedy (see below) and a 1994 album by Beck (see One Foot in the Grave (album)). One Foot in the Grave was a popular BBC television situation comedy series written by David Renwick. ... Jonathan Creek is a mystery television series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. ... Spooks is a British television drama series, produced by the independent production company Kudos for the BBC One network. ... An incomplete list of popular BBC produced shows and shows originally produced for BBC TV: Numbers Contents: Top - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Numbers 2point4 children A Absolute Power...

On screen identity

Computer Originated World (COW), BBC1's primary ident from 1985 to 1991.

BBC One's identity was symbolised by the idea of a globe. In the early 1960s a map of the UK was shown onscreen between programmes, but in 1963, the globe first appeared, changing in style and appearance over the next 39 years. In its time, it became a 'mirror-globe' in several colours and sizes (a globe in front of a curved mirror which reflected a distorted view of the reverse) from 15 November 1969 until 18 February 1985, when the COW (Computer Originated World) debuted. This was a computer-animated globe with the land coloured gold, and the sea a transparent blue, giving the impression of a glass globe. On 16 February 1991, on the same day that BBC2 rebranded, an ethereal crystal-ball-type globe appeared, which was played out on air from laserdisc. On 4 October 1997, the revolving aspect disappeared as the globe became a red, orange and yellow globe-patterned hot-air balloon flying around various places in the UK. This was the first BBC1 ident to appear in multiple versions, as the balloon was seen floating over numerous British landscapes, and in later variations, superimposed on more distant locations including Sydney (during the 2000 Olympics) and even prehistoric Earth (when Walking with Dinosaurs was aired). On 29 March 2002, the globe finally disappeared from screens to be replaced by the current ident sequences, consisting of people dressed in red and dancing in various styles. This work is copyrighted. ... This work is copyrighted. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Events January-February January 11 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Pioneers LaserDisc Logo The Laserdisc (LD) was the first commercial optical disc storage medium, and was used primarily for the presentation of movies. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in Leap years). ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Reef. ... Walking with Dinosaurs is a 1999 six-part television series produced by the BBC and narrated by Kenneth Branagh. ... March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Controllers of BBC One (prior to 1964 the BBC Television Service)

The current Controller of BBC One is Lorraine Heggessey, the first female Controller of the channel, who has been in the role since 2000. She is due to leave the channel in June, to be succeeded by Peter Fincham, the first Controller never to have previously worked for the BBC. Lorraine Heggessey (born November 16, 1956) is the Controller of BBC One, the UKs oldest and frequently most-watched television channel. ...

• 1936–1939: Gerald Cock
• 1946–1947: Maurice Gorham
• 1947–1950: Norman Collins
• 1950–1957: Cecil McGivern
• 1957–1960: Kenneth Adam
• 1960–1963: Stuart Hood
• 1963–1965: Donald Baverstock
• 1965–1967: Michael Peacock
• 1967–1973: Paul Fox
• 1973–1977: Bryan Cowgill
• 1977–1981: Bill Cotton
• 1981–1984: Alan Hart
• 1984–1988: Michael Grade
• 1988–1992: Jonathan Powell
• 1992–1996: Alan Yentob
• 1996–1997: Michael Jackson
• 1997–2000: Peter Salmon
• 2000–2005: Lorraine Heggessey
• 2005–date: Peter Fincham

Gerald Cock (born 1887; died November 10, 1973) was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio, before being made the Corporation’s very first Director of Television, in effect the very first Controller of the television channel initially known as the BBC Television Service but later renamed... Maurice Gorham (born 1902; died August 9, 1975) was an Irish journalist and broadcasting executive. ... Norman Collins was a British radio and television executive, and one of the major figures behind the establishment of the Independent Television (ITV) network in the UK, which was the first organisation to break the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly when it began transmitting in 1955. ... Cecil McGivern was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio before transferring to BBC Television in the late 1940s. ... Donald Baverstock (January 18, 1924 – March 17, 1995) was a British television producer and executive. ... Michael Peacock (born 1930) is a British television executive, who from 1964 until the following year was the first ever Controller of BBC Two, the Corporations second television channel and only the third ever to be launched in the UK. He joined BBC Television working in the Talks Department... Paul Fox is a British television executive, who spent much of his broadcasting career working for BBC Television, most prominently as the Controller of BBC One between 1967 and 1973. ... Bryan Cowgill is a British television executive, who initially worked in the sports department of BBC Television. ... Bill Cotton (born April 23, 1928) CBE, is a British television producer and executive, the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton. ... Alan Hart was a British television executive, who from 1981 to 1984 was the Controller of BBC One. ... Michael Grade (born March 8, 1946) is a British businessman and a distinctive figure in the field of broadcasting. ... Jonathan Powell (born 1947) is a British television producer and executive. ... Alan Yentob (born March 11, 1947) is a British television executive. ... Michael Jackson (born 1950) is a British television executive. ... Peter Salmon (born 1956 in Burnley, Lancashire, UK) is a senior executive at BBC Television, and is currently the organisations Head of Sport, a job he has occupied since 2000. ... Lorraine Heggessey (born November 16, 1956) is the Controller of BBC One, the UKs oldest and frequently most-watched television channel. ...

See also

• List of British television channels

Television stations These channels are available on digital aerial, satellite and cable systems. ...

External link

• BBC One official homepage (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/)