Delighted to be giving an online talk about British television in the 1920s and 1930s for the Art Deco Society on the evening of 17 March; tickets £5 for non-members. artdecosociety.uk/events-2/

A month on from publication my book 'Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain' remains available from publishers Bloomsbury with discounts on the hardback, paperback and e-book versions. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/magic-ray...

Today's post is largely a link to my polemic on The Conversation about the paucity of the arts on BBC television... www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-arts-on-...

Our BFI Southbank screenings linked to the publication of Magic Rays of Light continues on Sunday, 25 January. This is a rare large-screen outing for the 1934 satire Radio Parade of 1935, with Will Hay as John Reith. Programme note reporduced here: www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/magic-rays-a...

Wake up, Westminster:after May, the Scottish and Welsh parliaments will likely be for independence | Will Hayward www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Excellent interview with Michael Sheen by daughter (mine, not his) Kate Wyver www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/j...

A Welsh language campaign group has repeated calls to devolve broadcasting powers to Wales amid concerns about the impact of a new agreement between S4C and BBC iPlayer

The successful series of screenings at BFI Southbank continues on Sunday, 18 January, with the first of three programmes of British feature films that offer imagined versions of television at its start. First up is the silent version of High Treason... www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/magic-rays-a...

The Government finally published its Green Paper on the BBC today. So here’s a very timely piece from Tom Chivers on the future of the BBC as we go into the Charter Review. 'The choice is a democratic BBC or no BBC at all.' fabians.org.uk/whose-bbc/

Delighted to be presenting alongside international colleagues in the MeCCSA Policy Network "Future of Public Service Media" series. The event is apparently sold out.

"For a century, the BBC has been our classroom, our concert hall, our stage, our storyteller and our window on the world. Politicians need reminding: its much more than a news channel."

TG4, BBC Northern Ireland and S4C have announced a milestone co-commission of the first ever animated Christmas movie, created through a tri-nation co-production

Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.

Today marks World #Television Day! 📺 Discover more about the struggles and successes of #Welsh broadcasting in 'A History of Independent Television in #Wales' by @jimbomed.bsky.social and 'Broadcasting for Wales' by Elain Price. 📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/history... 📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/broadca...

Was thrilled to help consult for this fantastic John Oliver segment on the tragic plight of U.S. public media and why, if we hope to be a democracy, we still need public media for so many things that commercial media will never provide. Deserves a wide viewership. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yknM...

No one should have to face such threats. It would’ve been nice if Greene had realized this before she amplified and endorsed calls for executing Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten. "I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

Important contribution from Lewis Goodall, who describes in devastating detail his own personal experiences - and suggests Robbie Gibb and David Grossman should be removed from their current posts.

@naomialderman.bsky.social's new book: "A friend - who’s read the book - texted me yesterday to say “I see they’ve decided to burn Tim Davie at the stake today”. And so I thought it was probably the right time to put this extract on Substack." naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...

Extract from report in the Guardian on the right wing manoeuvres that have led to the resignation of the DG Tim Davie

Welsh-language broadcaster S4C now supports more than 2,500 jobs across Wales, according to new independent research that highlights the channel’s growing economic impact

On this day in 1936: The start of the BBC’s regular TV service from Alexandra Palace. See programme archive, oral history interviews - and some amazing images from those pioneering days:

Some background to Peter Watkin's extraordinary 'The War Game' ... ... as revealed through oral history interviews with senior BBC figures - including Huw Wheldon and Hugh Carleton Greene - as well as Tony Benn. Part of the @sussex.ac.uk research project 'Connected Histories of the BBC'

Concerns have been expressed that Reform UK could have an in-built advantage in terms of broadcast coverage in the run-up to next May’s Senedd election ✍️Martin Shipton

I'll have a new piece for the BBC coming out this weekend, when the clocks change. It's about the BBC's role as the nation's timekeeper. In the meantime, I'm going to repost links to my four most recent pieces - starting with a brief history of TV's most influential comedy priests ...

A reminder. Only 6.9% of people in Wales were born overseas. Just 2.9% of people in Caerphilly were born overseas. Whereas 38% of medical consultants in Wales were born overseas. Immigrants are not holding our NHS back, they are propping it up.

And this is part of the populist right wing playbook, lie about stuff, repeatedly.

BBC Director General Tim Davie urged the industry to “fight for public service broadcasting” but admitted the “jeopardy is high” as he closed the Wales Screen Summit 2025

Writing for @uk.theconversation.com, @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social, @maxwellmodell.bsky.social and @perkinskeighley.bsky.social outline what viewers complain to Ofcom and the BBC about most 👇 theconversation.com/bob-vylan-gl...

S4C’s chief executive called for increased visibility for Welsh content on online platforms in his opening address at the Wales Screen Summit 2025

Reform UK are pushing immigration hard as an issue in the Caerphilly by-election. Just for context, Caerphilly has the THE LOWEST, immigration rate of all Wales' 22 councils. 97.1% of people there were born in the UK. Only Cardiff and Newport have move that 10% born overseas.

A new exhibition has opened at the National Library of Wales to mark sixty years since the flooding of the Tryweryn valley to create a reservoir for Liverpool

Yn falch iawn o gael f'apwyntio i Is-Banel 34 FfRhY 2029 - edrych 'mlaen! Very pleased to have been appointed to REF Sub-Panel 34 (Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management) and look forward to working with colleagues.

A little reminder for everyone, particularly our friends in the Labour government:

I wrote this yesterday, seems even more important today... talkingwales.co.uk?p=1095&amp=1

Diolch i'r Cymmrodorion am y cyfle i draethu at un o'm hoff bynciau fis Ionawr nesaf (68 mlynedd ar ôl i TWW ddarlledu am y tro cyntaf). Thank you to the Cymmrodorion for the opportunity to speak about one of my favourite topics next January (68 years after TWW went on air for the first time).

Letter of the day (in the Times)

And the website also features extended interview with two other big figures in BBC children's TV - Edward Barnes and Joy Whitby - who both have things to say about Biddy Baxter:

You can watch the full 47-minute 2010 interview with Biddy Baxter talking about her life and TV career - complete with transcript - here at the 'Connected Histories of the BBC' site created at @sussex.ac.uk connectedhistoriesofthebbc.org/play/?id=418

Reposting this from LinkedIn news.sky.com/story/if-the...

‘Trump and Jeffrey were extremely close’ says Epstein’s brother www.channel4.com/news/trump-a...

OTD in early British television You can sense from Alexandra Palace’s schedules that August was the cruellest month for those running the service in 1938 and 1939 (and remember that Television shut down for three weeks in 1937). www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...

OTD in early British television In the weeks just after The Man with the Flower in his Mouth, John Logie Baird’s campaign to extend awareness of the potential of television next took to the stage of the London Coliseum.

OTD in early British television The late-night 45-minute broadcast in the BBC’s low-definition television service on Wednesday 31 July 1935 promised ‘an illustrated natural history talk’. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...