Constructed, Told, Spoken: A Counter-History of Britain on TV

‘The fact is ‘black’ has never been just there either. It has always been an unstable identity, psychically, culturally and politically. It, too, is a narrative, a story, a history. Something constructed, told, spoken, not simply found.’
– Stuart Hall

As British society changed, a multicultural perspective emerged. Out of political advocacy multicultural television grew in parallel. A radical television movement that institutionalised a multicultural counter-positioning in Britain. This reached its height in the media with the advent of multicultural programming units – collectives of Black and Asian media workers – that were formalised in broadcasting institutions (BBC, ITV – as ATV and LWT – and Channel 4). The units underwent constant transformation, downsizing and reinvention, often addressing similar issues and themes across the decades. These shifts in tone and context create a distinctive archive of programming that leaves behind an alternative televisual counter history of Britain that cyclically considers the nation through a Politically Black (Black and South Asian) and multicultural perspective.

The archive of multicultural programming reflects community anti-racist resistance, investigation institutions and the state and the emergence of a global diasporic culture that fostered connections back to the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. This programming was created through advocacy creating new spaces that pushed back against Britain’s imperial mindset. It tells a story of Britain as it really was – a cultural terrain where multiculturalism was won.

Xavier Alexandre Pillai, season curator

With thanks to

Dick Fiddy

List of the units

BBC: Immigrant Programmes Unit, African-Caribbean Unit, Asian Programmes Unit, Multicultural Department, Channel 4: Multicultural Programming Unit, ITV: London Minorities Unit