Archive release from BBC includes ground-breaking programme in which a group of Trans women activists were given complete editorial control over the content of the broadcast providing they remained within the law.
IN THE episode from the Open Door series, broadcast on June 2, 1973, the Transex Liberation Group were given a free platform to address misunderstanding, stereotyping and discrimination around transsexualism and to present a case for acceptance and change in both people’s attitudes and the law. This was a real first for British television.
Back in 1973 The Radio Times listing for the programme read: “Jokes about ‘the operation’ are all that most people know about transsexualism. Tonight’s group discuss their situation in a more serious and comprehensive way, and draw attention to the many difficulties they endure”.
Further context is given on the BBC website where the programme is now available to watch: “Looking at the work of programme makers or reading the ideas of commentators of the time, it would seem they found it impossible to comment on, or construct a programme about the trans community in any way other than in the context of there being ‘a problem’ or a difficult issue to be solved. To some extent this edition of Open Door changes that, allowing Trans Women community editorial control over their own programme. Whilst the then current problems of the Trans community are addressed, there is more a sense of celebration in this all-Trans Women presented programme.”
Though the programme is very much of it’s time and only includes male to female trans people, it remains a genuine piece of LGBT social history which also reminds us of how far the LGBT+ communities have come today in terms of their rights and diversity.
David Hendy, curator of the collection and Professor of Media and Cultural History at the University of Sussex, said: “There’s a real thrill in piecing together the behind-the-scenes story of ‘Open Door’s launch in 1973, not least because even now the programme feels so revolutionary in conception. When we pull together the different evidence – the written memos, oral history interviews, and the programme archive – the picture we get is quite stunning. Here we have 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.”
To watch the full Transex episode of Open Door along with a number of other landmark BBC archive LGBT programmes, click here:
They are all part of a wider project entitled ‘100 Voices: People, Nation and Empire’.
The full oral history collection ‘100 Voices that made the BBC: People Nation and Empire’ is available online at https://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/people-nation-empire
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