Underplayed Gems

One Day in the Life of Television (1989)

One Day in the Life of Television poster
Directed by
Peter Kosminsky
Genre
documentary film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
1h 54m
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

This documentary captures a single day in British television in 1988 using footage from over 50 camera crews. It shows everything from studio conflicts and game shows to soap operas and early satellite TV marketing.

observationalbehind-the-scenesneutralvariedinformationalwide-rangingfactual

What happens

One Day in the Life of Television is a documentary that was broadcast on ITV on 1 November 1989. Filmed by more than 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. The project was funded by the Markle Foundation, and organised by Richard Paterson and Janet Willis at the British Film Institute; it was produced and directed for television by Peter Kosminsky. The documentary opens with TV-am's industrial conflict, with picketers outside the studio at Camden Lock. The documentary also looks at Breakfast Time, Lucky Ladders and EastEnders. Reactions to the representation of a prison storyline in the last mentioned were garnered from inmates in HMP Dartmoor. The documentary also showed the marketing of cable television, and the availability of pornography through satellite television during the early evening. A book by Sean Day-Lewis was published to accompany the documentary. It contains the thoughts selected from more than 20,000 participants throughout Britain, including more than 3,000 industry professionals, who recorded their feelings and experiences of television viewing on 1 November 1988, the day that the documentary was filmed. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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