DIY TV: The History and Influence of the BBC’s Community Programme Unit

Welcome to 'DIY TV: The History and Influence of the BBC’s Community Programme Unit'

The London School of Film, Media and Design at the University of West London is delighted to announce a new project, ‘DIY TV: The History and Influence of the BBC’s Community Programme Unit’, made possible with generous support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

What is the project?

Three people being filmed for Open Door with the All London Teachers Against Racism and Fascism (ALTARF) in 1982. DIrector: Sue Davidson/ DOP: Remi Adefarasin.

‘DIY TV: The History and Influence of the BBC’s Community Programme Unit’ is a 12-month pilot project led by Professor Helen Hester and Dr Jo Henderson, which began in October 2023. The project concentrates on preserving and disseminating the 30-year history of the Community Programme Unit (CPU) – an initiative started in 1972 to expand the range of voices on the BBC by handing resources and editorial control to members of the public. The CPU enabled people to produce their own TV shows on topics they chose, ranging from pollution to poverty, gay rights to race relations. Its innovative model went on to inform numerous changes within the media landscape – particularly those around public access and user-generated content. The CPU’s work was technically, culturally and institutionally innovative, and has substantial historical significance.

A man on set filming with camera and lighting equipment around him.

Although there has been a recent flurry of activity around the CPU – since the recent ‘People Make Television’, exhibition at Raven Row gallery in east London – precious insights into its work are at risk of being lost. While limited historical material is currently available, some archives concerning the unit’s work are largely closed to non-specialists. With ‘DIY TV’ we will produce a fuller account of the content created by the CPU, the challenges it faced and the contexts in which it operated, and make this accessible to a wider public. In addition to safeguarding the media and national heritage involved, ‘DIY TV’ will follow some of the CPU’s original aims by training people in how to make and disseminate content, preserve their own stories and use various media to campaign for what matters to them.