Sketching the British Broadcasting Landscape: From Experimentation to the Blooming and Shaping of a Self-perpetuating BBC Culture

This chapter details how the BBC emerged from technical experimentation to become a metaphor for Britishness with a dual dynamic. On the one hand, its programmes reflect the state of society at their time of broadcasting, as well as the tastes and expectations of the audience, sometimes with a seemingly organic approach. On the other, they illustrate the Corporation’s ambition to foster cultural change and progress, in a positivist perspective. This study explores the BBC’s “cultural ethos” and how it contributed to promoting a “cultural revolution” not only for the audience, but, first and foremost, for broadcasting itself in terms of identity and representation.