SPREADING WISDOM: British post-war light entertainment, the BBC and the emergence of television

The monopoly enjoyed by the BBC Television Service in the UK prior to the introduction of ITV in 1955 led to accusations that the BBC was unprepared for competition and was reluctant to provide popular programming of the kind transmitted by its commercial rival. Using an archival case study of one popular entertainer, the comedian Norman Wisdom, this paper argues that sections of the BBC Television Service, notably Variety and Light Entertainment, worked hard from 1947 onwards to provide programming that relied on notions of ‘celebrity’ and ‘stardom’ in ways which anticipated the later success of ITV. Though hampered by financial constraints, entrenched institutional values and technical limitations, as well as competition from live variety, the film industry and radio, key personnel within the BBC Television Service did much to establish television as a popular medium even before the introduction of commercial broadcasting in 1955.