British Science Documentaries: Transitions from Film to Television

Abstract

The relationship between documentary films made for projection and television documentaries has not been studied in any sustained way. This is partially a product of the weakness of the literature on both postwar documentary and of the development of the form within the new medium. This article uses a combination of biography and formal analysis to begin to address this lacuna in the literature as it relates in particular to films and programmes with scientific themes. It examines four individuals who worked in documentary film before spending varying amounts of time in television: Duncan Ross, Paul Rotha, Michael Orrom and Ramsay Short, who joined the BBC respectively in 1947, 1953, 1954 and 1963. The analysis shows that those who stayed long term at the BBC (Ross and Short) adapted their technique to the new medium, while Rotha and Orrom – who both left after a comparatively short time – mainly sought to use TV as a medium for broadcasting existing documentary styles. It concludes that the approach of taking biographical details and formal qualities is useful, but that larger samples of programme-makers would be required to reach firm conclusions about the relationship between documentary films made for projection and television documentaries

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