''One Day in the Life of Television'' is a documentary that was broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 1 November 1989. Filmed by over fifty crews exactly one year earlier, it was a huge behind-the-scenes look at a wide range of activities involved in the production, reception and marketing of

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

. The project was funded by th Markle Foundation and organised by Richard Paterson and Janet Willis at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

and produced and directed for television by

Peter Kosminsky Peter Kosminsky (born 21 April 1956) is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as ''White Oleander'' and television films like ''Warriors'', ''The Government Inspector (television drama), The Government In ...

. The documentary opens with

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

's industrial conflict, with picketers outside of the studio at Camden Lock. The documentary also looks at '' Breakfast Time'', ''

Lucky Ladders ''Lucky Ladders'' was a United Kingdom daytime game show based on the American format titled ''Chain Reaction (game show), Chain Reaction'' that was produced by ITV Anglia, Anglia and aired on ITV (TV network), ITV from 21 March 1988 until 14 May ...

'' and ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

''. Reactions to the latter's representation of a prison storyline were garnered from inmates in

HMP Dartmoor HM Prison Dartmoor is a Category C men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. The prison is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, and is operated by ...

. The documentary also showed the marketing of

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

, and the availability of

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

through

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

during the early evening. A book by Sean Day-Lewis was published to accompany the documentary. It contained the thoughts selected from more than 20,000 participants throughout Britain, including more than 3000 industry professionals, who recorded their feelings and experiences of television viewing on 1 November 1988, the day that the documentary was filmed. (Hardcover)

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0872013
One Day in the Life of Television
at BFI Film & TV Database
Watch One day in the life of television
at Extrageographic. 1980s English-language films 1989 in British television 1989 television specials Films directed by Peter Kosminsky ITV (TV network) original programming Television series by ITV Studios