Factual programmes: commentary

A commentary on the top 20 in this genre

Factual television is the largest of the six genres identified for the bfi TV 100 poll. It is an enormous category and includes a number of separately identifiable sub-genres, most of which are represented in the overall 100 and in the top 20 factual programmes.

News, possibly the most important factual material on television, was excluded from consideration in the poll. But there was still a wide variety of programme styles competing for votes: topical journalism and current affairs; observational documentaries; archive-based histories; arts and science programmes; comprehensive subject surveys presented by experts; interview and discussion programmes; travel series; docusoaps; events.

Of those mentioned above, perhaps the most readily identified factual programmes, and the staple output of all broadcasters' documentary departments for decades, are the observational documentaries. Whether in series or one-offs, these have taken the form of presentations of aspects of contemporary life, often based in workplaces or institutions. The forces have been a favourite source (Sailor), or the emergency services (Police, Jimmy's). Communities (Three Salons at the Seaside), families (The Family, The Royal Family), or ways of life (Beauty, Bonny, Daisy, Violet, Grace and Geoffrey Morton, The Fishing Party) have been explored by the documentary camera, following in the tradition of the British Documentary Movement; a tradition which was transferred to television by the likes of Denis Mitchell (Morning in the Streets, A Wedding on Saturday) in the late 1950s and early 1960s, at a time when new lightweight film camera and sound technology allowed much greater scope for access to the subject (sometimes called 'fly-on-the-wall' filming). These programmes are an essential part of TV history. They won awards. But none appear in the top 20 factual programmes.

What has caused this remarkable fall from favour? Part of the explanation may lie in the recent spate of scandals concerning the staging of scenes for some documentaries. Everyone in television knows that documentaries are set up - they don't just happen and the presence of the camera must have some effect - but perhaps the recent problems may have caused a general re-appraisal of the importance of past work in this area, honest and honourable though it undoubtedly was. This is a shame, because a series like Roger Graef's Police stands as a vital record of the procedures of the time and actually served to change those procedures by exposing the truth. In more recent times, institutions and individuals have wised up to the threat (with the exception of the Royal Opera House!); consequently, as in politics, everyone has become aware of the importance of image rather than content and the best documentaries of the past decade have been those which admitted to the problems of the filming process (the work of Nick Broomfield) or which explored the image itself (Signs of the Times). The era of the docusoap seems to have placed a newer perspective on the 'golden age' of television documentary, whenever that may have been, and cheapened its memory.

Whatever the reasons, and with one exception, the bfi TV 100's top factual programmes are dominated by history, by expert presenters, by the arts and sciences, and by the best of current affairs journalism. The factual top 20 contains a range of outstanding programmes from five decades which would all, by and large, stand up to the closest scrutiny by today's standards - the very standards which they helped to shape.

At the top of the tree comes the grand-daddy of the archive-based historical series, Thames's The World at War, a massively ambitious (26-part) survey of World War II which set the tone and structure of the genre in a way which is still dominant today in series like Timewatch. Other programmes from the top 20, such as The Death of Yugoslavia and The Nazis owe it a debt. It was, of course, itself influenced by another series which appears at number 14 in the factual top 20 (though just failing to make the overall 100), the BBC's The Great War. This is interesting because, though obviously influential in television, The Great War was criticised by many historians. The World at War also set the standard for the identification and historically accurate use of archive footage, which is a particular source of contention in this genre. Laurence Rees, producer of The Nazis, has doubts over the future of long historical series on television and Jeremy Isaacs, having set the standard with The World at War, may also have had the last word with Cold War.

The only other archival programme in the top 20, The Rock 'n' Roll Years, displays a very different approach to the use of its material. With no commentary or interviews, just the popular music of the day, it presents its footage in a way which allows the viewer to make whatever connections and judgements he or she cares to, and is thus arguably the most historically 'accurate' of them all.

The Death of Yugosalvia (Brian Lapping Associates for BBC)

Of course, television news and current affairs output was the main source of material for programmes like The Death of Yugoslavia and The Rock 'n' Roll Years, and current affairs programming is represented in the factual top 20 by several famous titles. Newsnight and Panorama exemplify the BBC's immensely significant contribution, both still going strong after 20 and 47 years respectively, though it is Granada's World in Action which takes the top current affairs slot, possibly because its more campaigning nature resulted in so many memorable triumphs. Its more populist approach may be a factor too, as this made it seem relevant to a broader range of viewers without in any way compromising its journalistic integrity. The other ITV current affairs programme in the factual top 20 (and indeed, the overall 100) is Thames's This Week, though it is represented by a single edition, the notorious Death on the Rock, clearly admired within the profession for its bravery in standing up to hostility from government and press as much as for the quality of its journalism. Its presence surely reflects the long tradition of independent current affairs broadcasting in Britain, established in the 1950s and still with us, despite being diminished somewhat by the media-savvy tactics of politicians and more ratings-conscious approach of channel controllers.

The arts are well represented in the factual top 20. Pride of place goes to Ken Russell's Elgar, filmed for the most influential arts series of all, the BBC's Monitor, which began in the 1950s. It is possibly strange to find a film by Russell near the top of a list of factual output, but it was precisely his ebullient approach which liberated the presentation of the arts on TV and paved the way for an innovative series like Arena, which also appears in both this top 20 and the overall 100. Channel 4's Without Walls was another innovative arts series, yet the programme which represents it in our list (which is also Channel 4's second highest entry in the 100) is quite unique. To call it an interview is to underrate it as the major television event it was: in fact, it was Dennis Potter's electronic testament, and stands as one of the most remarkable pieces of television in any genre. More conventional, though highly influential, interviews are represented by John Freeman's Face to Face series.

The other arts programmes in the top 20 could also be described as conventional, though of very high quality: Kenneth Clark's survey of Civilisation and Melvyn Bragg's The South Bank Show. Civilisation was the first in a long line of prestigious, high quality, factual series in which an expert in a field presented a personal view of his subject. Two of the science programmes in the top 20 fall into this category: David Attenborough's Life on Earth and Dr Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. These represent the apogee of the Reithian broadcasting mission to educate, as does the recent Walking with Dinosaurs, which has reinvigorated that mission at a time when educative prime-time television was desperately seeking a new direction. The ever-reliable Horizon completes the scientific canon.

Which leaves the one 'exception' mentioned above - a programme which falls into none of the sub-genres of factual television given at the start of this commentary, but which embraces several of them and comes closest to representing the observational documentary tradition. The series which led to 28 Up and beyond actually started as an edition of World in Action. It gained its strength from the cumulative effect of the passing years, represented by both memory and archival footage from the series itself. Ultimately it is about our own lives, hopes, disappointments and recollections, and stands as a social history of our times. It is unsurprisingly recognised by the voters in our poll as a classic in both format and execution.

The top 20 factual programmes represent the best not only from the whole span of British television history, but also across the four main terrestrial channels. Indeed it is the one area, perhaps surprisingly, in which ITV matches and even surpasses the BBC, taking the top two places and winning the current affairs battle. Some may see this as an indication of a declining tradition - today's ITV can find no place for World in Action or This Week, and Granada now makes the successor programmes to 28 Up for the BBC, rather than the network of which it is a major part.

The list should, of course, be subject to debate and revision, but we really couldn't do much better if we are looking for a canon of the true classics to teach future generations the value of factual programming on British TV in its first half century. It seems that, in this genre section at least, the voters were asking themselves which programmes best represent the enduring milestones of British TV history.

The position of factual programming within the overall bfi TV 100 is more problematic. Only the top 13 factual titles make it into this list and the highest, The World at War, only just scrapes into the overall top 20. This could well be the result of the voting system, as the votes were spread more thinly across a wider range of programmes, although voters could have added more factual programmes had they so chose. It seems that personal favourites from drama and comedy took these extra votes and that those cast for factual programmes were given more out of respect than affection.

Steve Bryant