Open Door (TV programme)

Open Door was a programme produced by the BBC's Community Programme Unit. It was first broadcast on 2 April 1973 and ran for a decade until September 1983. The programme gave people brief control of transmission and was a platform for the public to talk about its own issues and give their own views without editorial input from the BBC.^[1] The programme was later replaced by Open Space.

The Community Programme Unit was initiated by David Attenborough, the BBC Director of Programmes from 1969 to 1973,^[2] in collaboration with television producer Rowan Ayers. The two were interested in promoting public television as a space for participatory democracy.^[3][4] Ayers was appointed to run the Community Programme Unit (CPU).

The CPU had a base, deliberately distanced from the BBC Television Centre, in a terraced house owned by the BBC on Hammersmith Grove. William Fowler and Matthew Harle write that this was to ensure the Unit was visible to the community and that it was a less intimidating space for people to enter without having to go through security checks, for instance.^[5]

The CPU broadcast programmes both live with a studio audience and with pre-recorded elements. Programmes were styled on the format of popular talks shows and news reports of the day, but with a focus on social activism because community groups would be given editorial control over content.^[6] In a research article discussing the creation and legacy of the CPU, Jo Henderson argues:^[7]

The CPU's importance is threefold. Firstly, it created the broadcaster-as-publisher model in the UK, subsequently adopted by Channel 4, and now by streaming sites such as YouTube and post-mediated social media platforms such as Twitter. Secondly, it created innovative content that extended the topics and subjects on British television. Finally, it used the new technology of video to develop and refine techniques that have now become familiar elements in the television grammar of reality television and in first-person documentary

— Jo Henderson, Let the people speak – The Community Programmes Unit 1972–2002, Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies (2022)

Open Door, the first programme for the CPU, was initially brought to the attention of Robin Scott, who had been controller of the Light Programme and then BBC2, after reading about the idea from Frank Gillard, former director of BBC Radio, who had written about an American "people's radio show" in Boston.^[8] Attenborough appointed Scott and Ayers to create a BBC television version.^[8][9] In a Board of Management Meeting on 7 December 1972, Attenborough presented Community Programmes,^[10] a five-page report that proposed an experimental series, overseen by the CPU, to start in April 1973 (this would become known as Open Door). Attenborough argued that the network could benefit from community programmes by bringing "unheard voices to a mainstream audience" and by also challenging traditional ways of creating content. Thereby "new editorial attitudes that do not derive from the assumptions of the university-educated elite who are commonly believed to dominate television production."^[10] However, Attenborough also addressed the possible concerns of broadcasting such programmes, and he outlined these as including: (1) the potential to disrupt BBC impartiality, (2) the risk of programmes leaning too heavily in one political or social direction, (3) content may be boring and bring in low viewership, (4) programmes may be deliberately controversial, and (5) the potential for the BBC to be liable in libel proceedings or contempt of court.^[10] To counter this, Attenborough argued that the CPU should investigate applications "and make formal recommendations supported with a summary of their research and reasons for commendation to a Selection Committee".

Mike Phillips, interviewed by David Hendy for the University of Sussex - BBC Centenary Collection recalls that, at the time, there was a problem within and outside the Corporation for self-representation.^[11] Phillips describes his colleagues as being "all nice people" but criticises the lack of black and working-class representation not just on screen but behind it as producers and broadcasters, saying "the sense of who was entitled to speak and who was not entitled to speak was stifling."^[11][9]

Originally titled 'Open House', Open Door was approved and commissioned in April 1973 by Director-General of the BBC, from 1969 to 1977, Charles Curran. By February 1973, more than fifty community groups had applied and as part of the application process they pitched their premises to the CPU staff team who voted on the ideas they liked the most.^[7] The CPU decided they had enough content for 6 initial programmes. Of the groups that were successful, they were assigned their own producer who assisted them with formatting, styling and editing their programme.

Open Door was to be the final transmission on Monday night on BBC Channel Two, a decision that was partly made because it was felt this late-slot would minimise the risk of offending a large audience.^[7] Each programme would aim to follow the same format where four contributors would present information about the episode's topic. Every fourth programme in the series was initially planned to be a response programme where both a studio and home audience could respond to the previous transmissions.

Viewership for the first series of Open Door was not large, however, it was recommissioned for a second series in the same late Monday night slot. One of the earliest episodes to receive larger audience figures was 'The U & I Club' with a combined audience of 396,000 (from the original transmission and repeat), and 12,000 audience members wrote to the organisation regarding the episode.^[12]

Open Door was last broadcast in September 1983, after a decade on the television. It was succeeded by Open Space, and furthermore Video Diaries and Video Nation when there was increased availability to quality domestic video equipment. Budget cuts led to the end of the CPU in 2002.

At the time of its original transmission, Open Door received poor critical reception. Fowler and Harle argues that the series, in hindsight, "remains a major social and cultural history collection that deserves consideration."^[5] Indeed, when the series ended in 1983, The Sunday Times observed:^[15]

If you were looking for suitable material for a time capsule to represent the last ten years in Britain, you might do worse than bury a list of the 250-odd Open Door programmes that have been broad- cast by the BBC since April 1973.

— D Campbell, Sunday Times Supplement (24 July 1983)

An early episode of Open Door, featured in the first series, was hosted by members belonging to the Transex Liberation Group. It featured four speakers discussing together their experiences of transitioning, covering issues around discrimination, using public bathrooms, employment, as well as positive aspects of their lives such as romantic relationships.^[16][17] In a 1973 memo discussing the running order for the first series, Rowan Ayers cites the episode for broadcast and describes it as a "serious attempt to present the problems facing those who undergo a sex change operation" and says the group wish to make the programme "to break down the prejudices that must exist."^[18]

Broadcast in February 1976 by the right-wing The British Campaign to Stop Immigration group, this episode of Open Door put forth the argument for greater freedom of speech for all. The programme was a controversial because the group were linked with the fascist group the National Front. Adding to the criticism was the BBC's decision to air a repeat of the programme despite the initial backlash.^[9] In a document containing the minutes for a Board Room meeting on 5 March 1976, BBC representatives and anti-racist campaigners discussed the decision to repeat the programme.^[19] In attendance was Sidney Bidwell MP, a representative for the Indian Workers' Association, a representative for the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen, a representative for the Standing Conference of Pakistani Organisations, John Ennals, then Director of the United Kingdom Immigrants Advisory Service, Debbie Page from the National Union of Students, Kenneth Lamb, Director of Public Affairs at the BBC, P.H. Scott, Chief Assistant to the Director General at the BBC, and D.B. Mann the Secretariat. Those against the episode's repeat contested that it constituted an incitement to racial hatred, which would be criminal.^[20] The BBC argued that lawyers had approved the episode's transmission and dismissed the idea that a single programme could have the effect being claimed. As a solution the BBC said they would provide a 'right of reply' to anti-racist campaigners, and as a result commissioned the episode 'It ain't half racist, Mum' in 1979.^[19]

One of the most well-known episodes of Open Door was aired in March 1979 entitled 'It ain't half racist, Mum' and presented by the Campaign Against Racism in the Media (CARM). The episode is thirty-minutes in length and comments on racism in the British media. The episode features British sociologist Stuart Hall giving a close reading of the 1970s sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum and arguing that the show perpetuates racism. Hall further presents examples of racism from current affairs and news programmes, including a clip from Tonight where Denis Tuohy interviews American white supremacist David Duke asking for his message to the audience of Britain.^[21] Duke replies "One of the main things is that they are not alone, that there are white people all over the globe who sympathise with them." In another clip from an interview by the BBC political correspondent Robin Day, Hall explains that Day essentially frames his questions to advocate for immigration.^[21] British actress Maggie Steed narrates the programme and she opens the episode explaining:^[22]

We hope to show you that many of the programmes that are under the editorial control of the BBC and ITV are themselves biased and unbalanced, especially in the coverage they give to Britain's black community. Not only is a lot of this coverage not neutral but it actually reinforces racism.

— Maggie Steed, 'It ain't half racist, Mum', Open Door (1979)

Interviewed, by BBC Radio 4, about the episode Maggie Steed explained she didn't feel the BBC took on board the criticism levied at it and other institutions in the programme, saying "it [the episode] was greeted with a sort of disdain."^[6] Indeed, during production, the BBC and ITV both refused access to some of their footage being used. Then head of BBC News, Alan Protheroe complained, in a committee meeting of news and current affairs editors, "[...] why should an organisation that campaigns against racism in the media, which might well accuse myself and my staff of racism, be given privilege treatment?" ^[23]

Three months after the broadcast of it 'It ain't half racist, Mum', the BBC issued a statement distancing themselves from the programme. The BBC explained:^[6]

The BBC regrets that the ‘Open Door’ programme broadcast on the 1st and 4th March this year by the ‘Campaign against Racism in the Media’ could be taken as implying that Mr Robin-Day had conducted a programme about immigration with a racist bias. The BBC considers that any such indication would be wholly unjustified.

— BBC (1979)

Open Door was the subject of an exhibition entitled 'People Make Television' at Raven Row, a non-profit contemporary art exhibition centre in London.^[24] The exhibition ran from 28 January to 26 March 2023 and was curated by Lori E Allen, William Fowler, Matthew Harle and Alex Sainsbury. Visitors were able to browse production material from Open Door designed by Jonas Neville, and watch archival footage in a mediatheque. In a review reflecting on the importance of both 'People Make Television' and 'Open Door' itself, J.J Charlesworth wrote for ArtReview it "draws our attention to the emerging character of the new cultural and political forms that, seeded during the 1970s, have come to define and dominate politics and culture now."^[25] Curators of the exhibition, Fowler and Harle believe that Open Door is culturally and historically significant writing that it should be remembered "as an affective political history of a period that bridges the unravelling of the post-war settlement to Thatcherism."^[5] Indeed, Harle and Fowler believe that the catalogue of Open Door episodes should made more widely known because it could play a vital role demonstrating how citizens can have an active role in television and media.

Access to Open Door and some of its archival footage, including episodes, were rediscovered and released as part of 'The Connected Histories of the BBC' project. The project was led by the University of Sussex in collaboration with the BBC, Mass Observation, the Science Museum Group and the British Entertainment History Project, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).^[26] Open Door was featured in the 'BBC - Oral History Collection' also known as "100 Voices that made the BBC: People Nation and Empire' curated by Emeritus Professor David Hendy and Dr Alban Webb, among others.^[27] Hendy explained the legacy of Open Door as "the BBC effectively abandoning its traditional concern with ‘balance’ and handing over total editorial control to groups who rarely get a voice – certainly not on a national institution such as the BBC. Nothing like it had been seen on TV before.” ^[17]

• Open Door programme made in 1974 about the community of Jericho, Oxford
• One of us? Opening Doors In 1973, the BBC launched Open Door, a bold experiment in 'access' TV
• "Jericho" episode of Open Door, aired in 1974, and uploaded to YouTube in 2013
• BBC Rewind, Open Door
• BBC Genome Project