Pioneering television food and cooking programmes: overlooked content, controversy, and contributions to innovation in British television production 1936-1976

Geddes, Kevin

Abstract

Early television food and cooking programmes from the period 1936-1976 remain a neglected area of media history research, despite their inclusion in the broadcasting schedules from the very beginning of television broadcasts in Britain. This thesis centres on archival research conducted mainly at the BBC Written Archives Centre and is supplemented by other primary sources such as the archives of the Radio Times, The Listener, TV Times, TV Mirror, the British Newspaper Archives, and examples of popular magazines of the time, published books, photographs and a selection of advertising, promotional and other materials. This thesis examines the content of these early television food and cooking programmes to challenge existing thinking on their design, appeal, and potential audiences, ultimately presenting a new historiography and exploration showing a key role for the presenters as innovators who in9luenced the design and established the format, style, variety, and content of the television food and cooking programmes we still watch today, a role which has not been previously credited. Although my focus is on the programmes, presenters and archives held mainly by the BBC, this research briefly shines a light on early ITV programmes and presenters, and the role the connections, competition, challenges, and opportunities both channels provided. The thesis offers an insight to the early days of television in Britain, especially programmes and presenters which are often considered to be too ‘ordinary’ to be celebrated, both at the time and since. Far from ‘ordinary’, these programmes and presenters inhabited the space between ‘everyday’ television and ‘spectacular’ programming, offering a space for innovation to flourish, providing a fresh perspective on a set of programming often assumed to be ‘for women’ and ‘by women’. This thesis proposes an original contribution to knowledge to early television history in Britain, and to interdisciplinary research on food, gender and to broadcasting production and innovation. This thesis further challenges assumptions about early television and early television food and cooking programmes and their presenters, reinstating them as pioneers who developed a blueprint for the genre and plethora of television food and cooking programmes which followed.

Citation

Geddes, K. Pioneering television food and cooking programmes: overlooked content, controversy, and contributions to innovation in British television production 1936-1976. (Thesis). Edinburgh Napier University

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 23, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 23, 2024
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17869/enu.2024.3789769
• Award Date: Jul 3, 2024