23rd January 2026
John Wyver writes: Our series of screenings at BFI Southbank linked to the publication of Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television continues on Sunday, 25 January, with the second of three programmes of British feature films that
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22nd January 2026
John Wyver writes: To mark Monday's Centenary of television in Britain, BBC Four this week played two programmes from the archives, The Birth of Television from 1976 (a scene from which is above) and JLB: The Man who
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20th January 2026
John Wyver writes: Sunday on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer saw the start of a thrilling season of classic dramas by, and documentaries about, Henrik Ibsen. The full programme, to be broadcast over the coming weeks, is now available
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12th January 2026
John Wyver writes: Tonight in the Reuben Library at BFI Southbank, I am in conversation with BFI Television Curator Lisa Kerrigan talking about, of course, Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of British Television, which was published
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8th January 2026
John Wyver writes: Publication day! And just in time, my copies of Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain arrived yesterday. Unsurprisingly perhaps, I am thrilled. The book feels substantial but not (I hope) intimidating;
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7th January 2026
John Wyver writes: The Magic Rays of Light season at BFI Southbank kicks off tomorrow night, Thursday 8, with a programme of four documentaries made for the early television service. On what is also publication day for the
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2nd January 2026
John Wyver writes: With the new year upon us, and with less than a week to go before the first screening, I thought it might be a moment to look at the sales for the BFI Magic Rays of
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21st December 2025
John Wyver writes: Stuff from the past week that has engaged and informed me, with a bias this time towards the USA (but not all of it bad). There is television and film, a trial from the 1920s, a Soviet
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17th December 2025
John Wyver writes: Once again, since I have contributed here more than a year of near-daily posts recognising 'on this day' events in the first decade of British television, I am now contributing a weekly reprise round-up. All of
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16th December 2025
John Wyver writes: My visit to the troubled Louvre on Friday to see the glorious Jacques-Louis David exhibition, about which I posted on Saturday, prompted me to return to Leslie Megahey's 1986 film about the artist,
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