100 BBC Gamechangers
100 landmark shows to mark 100 years of the BBC.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories
To mark the BBC’s centenary, the British Film Institute has listed the ‘BFI 100 BBC Television Gamechangers.’
The list includes productions such as Doctor Who, Pennies from Heaven, Call the Midwife, Eurovision Song Contest, Top of the Pops, Strictly Come Dancing, Absolutely Fabulous, The Office, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, I May Destroy You and more -many produced by BBC Studios.
Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, says: “The BFI has compiled an extraordinary list of gamechanging programmes, the vast majority of which BBC Studios has been able to bring to the world, and re-create in some markets. As the BBC celebrates 100 years, BBC Studios is proud of our BBC heritage in supporting the Corporation and showcasing the best of British creativity to audiences around the globe. They have enabled us to be at the forefront of content innovation and will continue to distinguish us in a market where content ownership and creation is everything.”
| 1936 | Television Comes to London |
| 1946 | Ballet Negres |
| 1947 – | BBC Proms |
| 1952- | Sooty |
| 1953 | The Quatermass Experiment |
| 1953 | Panorama |
| 1953 | Coverage of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II |
| 1954-61 | Zoo Quest |
| 1956 | A Man from the Sun |
| 1956-60 | Hancock’s Half Hour / Hancock |
| 1957 – | The Eurovision Song Contest |
| 1957 – | The Sky At Night |
| 1958-2007 | Grandstand |
| 1958-65 | Monitor |
| 1958 – | Blue Peter |
| 1957 | Morning in the Streets |
| 1959-62 | Face to Face |
| 1960 | An Age of Kings |
| 1962-63 | That Was the Week That Was |
| 1962-74 | Steptoe & Son |
| 1962-78 | Z Cars |
| 1963 – pres | Doctor Who |
| 1964- | Top of The Pops |
| 1964-76 | Vision On |
| 1964 | The Great War |
| 1964 | The Colony |
| 1964 – | Horizon |
| 1964-1988 | Play School |
| 1965-82 | Man Alive |
| 1965-70 | Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye |
| 1966 | The Wednesday Play |
| 1966 | Theatre 625: Talking to a Stranger |
| 1966 | Camberwick Green |
| 1967 | The Forsyte Saga |
| 1968- | Gardeners World |
| 1968-77 | The Morecambe and Wise Show |
| 1969 | The Liver Birds |
| 1969 | Civilisation |
| 1969 | Nationwide |
| 1969 | Monty Python’s Flying Circus |
| 1970 | The Six Wives of Henry VIII |
| 1970-84 | Play for Today |
| 1971 | The Generation Game |
| 1971- | Open University |
| 1971-2004 | Parkinson |
| 1972 – | Mastermind |
| 1972-present | Newsround |
| 1972 | Ways of Seeing |
| 1974 | The Family |
| 1974 – | Pobol y Cwm |
| 1974 | Shoulder to Shoulder |
| 1975 – | Arena |
| 1976 | I, Claudius |
| 1976 -82 | Multi-Coloured Swap Shop |
| 1978 | Pennies from Heaven |
| 1978-2008 | Grange Hill |
| 1978-79 | Empire Road |
| 1979 | Life on Earth |
| 1979-1999 | A Change of Sex |
| 1981-1994 | 40 Minutes |
| 1981-1982 | The Chinese Detective |
| 1982 | Boys from the Blackstuff |
| 1982 | Police |
| 1982-84 | The Young Ones |
| 1982 | Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery |
| 1984 | Threads |
| 1984-2005 | The Lenny Henry Show |
| 1985 – 1987 | Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV |
| 1985 | Live Aid |
| 1985 | EastEnders |
| 1985 | Real Lives: At the Edge of the Union |
| 1985 | Edge of Darkness |
| 1990 | Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit |
| 1991-96 | The Real McCoy |
| 1992 | Ghostwatch |
| 1992 | Absolutely Fabulous |
| 1993 | The Buddha of Suburbia |
| 1994 | Video Nation |
| 1994-96 | Cardiac Arrest |
| 1995 | The Death of Yugoslavia |
| 1996-2001 | Goodness Gracious Me |
| 1996 | This Life |
| 1996 | Our Friends in the North |
| 1997-2001, 2015-pres | Teletubbies |
| 1997-2002 | I’m Alan Partridge |
| 1998 – 2000 | The Royle Family |
| 1999 – 2005 | Chewin’ the Fat |
| 2001-2003 | The Office |
| 2001 | The Blue Planet |
| 2003 – | Something Special |
| 2004 | Strictly Come Dancing |
| 2005-2012 | The Thick of It |
| 2009 – | Horrible Histories |
| 2010-2016 | The Great British Bake Off |
| 2012- | Call the Midwife |
| 2012 – 2018 | People Just Do Nothing |
| 2016 | Exodus: Our Journey to Europe |
| 2020 | Bitesize Daily |
| 2020 | I May Destroy You |
| 2020 | Small Axe |
You can read in more detail here.
Around nine of the ten ‘gamechanging programmes’ identified in the list were either produced by the BBC’s inhouse production teams over the years (which subsequently merged with BBC Worldwide to become BBC Studios in 2018), or have been exported internationally by BBC Studios as tape sales or formats. The BBC began distributing its content globally in the late 1950s, with a single business manager fulfilling the role. Today BBC Studios is a multi-award-winning global distributor-producer with offices in 20 markets, producing around 2,000 hours of content a year and offering an extensive catalogue of over 42,000 hours. It is the UK’s most awarded producer and most commissioned creator of new content and has been recognised as the biggest distributor of TV content outside of Hollywood and Bollywood.
The longevity of some of these titles – including Sir David Attenborough’s genre-defining natural history series Life On Earth (1979) which is estimated to have been watched by half a billion people globally and the iconic Absolutely Fabulous (1992) which continues to be a hit around the world – demonstrates the power of impactful content to continue thrilling audiences internationally for decades.
Other key BBC Studios titles that featured in the BFI BBC Television Gamechangers list include:
• Dancing With The Stars (format of British show Strictly Come Dancing) – has been licensed to 60 countries with 420 seasons and over 4,000 episodes worldwide. In the U.S., it celebrated 30 seasons in 2021 and has been honoured with 18 Emmy Awards.
• Doctor Who – the world’s longest running Science Fiction series, which set a Guinness World Record in 2013 when the 50th anniversary episode simulcast across 94 countries in 15 languages.
• Love Productions’ The Great British Bake Off – over 130 seasons, 1,500 episodes worldwide (excluding spin offs) and licensed to 35 countries.
• The Blue Planet – award-winning series from 2001, the first-ever series on the natural history of the world’s oceans. A follow up series in 2017 has received 300m album plays on Ten Cent Video in China alone.
• The Office – first on air 20 years ago, but in 2020 it was the most-streamed show in the US (Netflix) with 57.13bn minutes watched.
9 Responses
Just found 1978 Pennies from Heaven…on youtube…binging tomorrow…👌
“Theatre 625: Talking to a Stranger” was one of the greatest pieces of drama ever televised and it cemented Judi Dench as an actress to be watched … I saw it when it first aired on BBC2 in 1966 and hoped that I would be able to meet Ms Dench one day … however we emigrated to Oz the following year so all hope was dashed … except that in my first week on the studio crew at the ABC in 1970, I was working as a lighting assistant setting up a program about the Adelaide Festival of Arts, sitting in each chair in turn so the lighting director could make adjustments when the interview talent walked into the studio and a familiar husky voice said laughingly “I think you’re sitting in my seat” … so I got my wish after all … Judi Dench was appearing in the Festival and I got to meet her !!!
What a great memory for you…thank you for sharing…Sharing is Caring…
Found it on youtube…watching 👌
It’s a great list. I agree that Keeping Up Appearances should definitely be on the list, even above some of the shows listed, as great as these shows are. It’s exactly what I thought and I hadn’t read the comments yet when the thought came to mind. I can’t imagine why. It’s absurd that was left out. They’re great shows in the list though I can’t imagine how Keeping Up Appearances was overlooked. It appealed to all ages and all backgrounds, even though the characters were more on the elderly side. Even when I was in primary school, it was a favourite amongst school friends. Can you believe that? That’s how good it was. That’s saying something. It’s one of those shows that was so classic that it appealed across the board. Yes it’s absolutely scandalous and shameful that it hadn’t been included. And where’s Antiques Roadshow? This list needs to be expanded beyond 100.
Oh gosh…my life in a list …I recall so many of them…so many favorites ❣…
It is absolutely scandalous that Keeping Up Appearances is not on the list.
Left off the ‘bucket’ list 😁
Z-Cars was too early for me to have seen more than a few clips on YouTube. Doctor Who was repeated on the ABC endlessly and that clearly impacted TV SF. Civilisation and Life On Earth established that TV could seriously present complex systems of thought if you put effort into them, but that is rarer today as most documentaries are based around slick footage and repetitive recaps before and after every ad break for people flicking between channels. Edge of Darkness was an impressive TV drama. Cardiac Arrest modernised medical dramas, but ER was much more influential. This Life revolutionised serial drama for younger audiences. How many sitcoms aren’t workplace mockmentaries after the Office? But trying to claim for the success of the 201 episodes NBC later churned reeks of desperation. ITV with The Avengers, Brideshead Revisted, Pride And Prejudice 1995 (which freed period dramas from stuffy drawning room scenes with stilted BBC accents) actually had more effect on global TV.
And on top of that, most episodes of Z-Cars (as well as Doctor Who episodes from William Hartnell and Patrick Throughton eras and some episodes from the Jon Pertwee era) were sadly wiped due to policies at the time, but in the case of Doctor Who, parts of some serials has since been recovered by recordings off the television (and believe it or not, the regeneration from the First Doctor to the Second Doctor somehow survived the wiping, therefore entering television folklore.