Afternoon of Discussion: Public Access Television, the Community Programme Unit and the BBC

25 Mar 2023 2-4pm

Overview

In partnership with Raven Row, please join us for an afternoon of discussion and screenings exploring the Community Programme Unit’s role in bringing public access television to the UK, and the legacies and tentacles of its achievements.

Set up by BBC2 in 1972, the Community Programme Unit (CPU) provided a camera crew and studio, and handed over complete editorial control, to groups and individuals with ‘voices, attitudes and opinions’ hitherto ‘unheard or seriously neglected’, so they could make their own programmes.

Raven Row’s exhibition People Make Television (28 January – 26 March 2023) celebrates the CPU’s first series Open Door (1973–83) for its emphasis on community activism and the freedom given to its programme makers.

This landmark event will convene producers from the BBC’s Community Programme Unit alongside Open Door programme makers, community activists, media historians and theorists to consider its remarkable life and legacies.

Tickets are £5

Book now