A contemporary image of a Production teamat work in an Editing Gallery in BroadcastingHouse, Belfast. BBC Copyright. 2002.

Messiah 2, a gripping and critically acclaimedpsychological thriller from BBC NI Drama.ThisNetwork production starred Ken Stott, NeilDudgeon and Frances Grey.BBC Copyright. 2003.

A busy scene from Studio One, BroadcastingHouse during a Children in Need broadcast in1986. Pudsey Bear made his first televisionappearance in this year and has since becomethe mascot for the BBC’s official charity.Childrenin Need provides over £2million of support toprojects involving children and young people inNI each year. BBC Copyright. 1986.

A contemporary image of BBC BroadcastingHouse in Belfast. Copyright – Chris Hill.

Contacts

BBC Information08700 100 222*Text phone for people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment is: 08700 100 212*Calls charged at national rate and may be recorded

BBC NI Archive at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum028 90 428 428Email: archives.ni@bbc.co.uk

Credits

This exhibition has been produced by: Grainne Loughran, Lynda Atcheson, Margaret McKee,Tracey Leavy, Paul Sharkey,Neville McKelvey, Geraldine McCourt, Caroline Cooper, Lisa Kelso and Mark Adair. Historical and other information hasbeen drawn from Rex Cathcart’s A Most Contrary Region and Dr Jonathan Bardon’s Beyond the Studio (Blackstaff Press).

Professor Fabian Monds CBENational GovernorBBC Northern Ireland

This exhibition tells the story of a changing BBC and itsrole at the heart of community life and creativity. It recordsthe transition from crackling wireless broadcasts to digitalradio and television services and captures some of theprogrammes and personalities that have helped keep usinformed, educated and entertained over almost 80 years ofbroadcasting in Northern Ireland.

Whilst much has changed in that time, BBC NI’s corecommitment to putting audiences first has remainedconstant.This has been reflected in the volume anddiversity of material that has been produced by, for andabout local people, and also the BBC’s use of new

technologies to improve and extend the service that itoffers to licence-fee payers.

From One Small Room to Everywheretells a big, fascinating and still evolving story. Itencourages us to reflect on past achievementsand to imagine what broadcasting might look

and sound like in the future.

www.bbc.co.uk/niNorthern Ireland

BBC NI borrowed a mobile recording unit fromLondon for a period in the late 1930s. Thisprovided local staff with an opportunity tocollect sound recordings from locations acrossthe region, including the Belfast shipyards. BBCCopyright. 1936.

A BBC NI Cameraman captures “live” sportsaction from a Belfast Giants’ Ice Hockey matchat the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. BBC Copyright.

A contemporary image of the BBC NINewsroom - one of the busiest in Europe.BBC Copyright, 2003.

“from one small room toeverywhere”

Northern Ireland

(Rodney Bennett, The Wireless)

A studio scene from Let’s Talk – a topicaldiscussion programme which deals with a rangeof issues affecting local people. Pictured is theprogramme’s presenter, Mark Carruthers.BBC Copyright.

David Curry was appointed Conductor of theNorthern Ireland Light Orchestra in 1949.The orchestra made regular contributions toprogrammes including Morning Music. Curry wasalso conductor of the Irish Rhythms Orchestrawhich was hugely popular with BBC HomeService listeners. Pictured are the NorthernIreland Light Orchestra with conductor DavidCurry and leader William McNulty in StudioOne, Broadcasting House, Belfast.BBC Copyright. 1955.

A tense shipyard scene from Stewart Love’stelevision drama, The Big Donkey. Tom Bell andJoseph Tomelty featured in the principal parts.As well as being a successful actor,Tomelty wrotethe scripts for the popular 1950s radio series, TheMcCooeys. He also wrote many short stories forthe BBC Home Service. BBC Copyright.

Former BBC NI Controller Richard Francisemerges from a bomb-damaged BroadcastingHouse, Belfast on 14th June, 1974. The buildinghad previously been the focus of bomb-attacks in1972 and 1973. BBC Copyright.

A scene from A Matter of Choice for Billy, thesecond in Graham Reid’s acclaimed triology ofplays for BBC NI. The plays were filmed andproduced in Belfast for Network television.Pictured are Mark Mulholland, Brid Brennan,James Ellis,Tracey Lynch and Aine Gorman.BBC Copyright. 1983.

Broadcasting House, Belfast opened on 5thMay, 1941. During the war years, BBC NIoperated with a skeleton staff. Programminggradually increased in the following decade withthe introduction of local television broadcastsand popular radio programmes, including TheMcCooeys. BBC Copyright. 1955.

BBC NI’s Cicely Mathews was a familiar voiceto local children for many years in her role aspresenter of Children’s Hour. This programmeincluded a mix of features, talks and music andencouraged the involvement of young listeners asguests and contributors. BBC Copyright. 1952.

Final studio preparations for an edition of SceneAround Six, BBC NI’s television news programme,which began in 1968. Pictured are journalistsBarry Cowan and David Capper, make-upartist Kath Carruth and floor manager JohnArdrey. BBC Copyright.

James Young’s broadcasting career includedthe role of Derek the Window Cleaner in TheMcCooeys and his celebrated television seriesThe Young Idea in which he satirised thecomplexities of community life in NorthernIreland. He is pictured with Derek Marsden,the presenter of Date with Derek.BBC Copyright. 1970.

Work on the foundations of BroadcastingHouse, Belfast began in the autumn of 1938. Itssteel framework was completed in early 1939and construction was sufficiently advanced bySeptember of that year for building work tocontinue despite the outbreak of war.Ulster Folk and Transport Museum Collection.

A picture showing the site of Broadcasting House,Belfast. In the foreground is the Thompson MemorialFountain which was built as a memorial to ThomasThompson of the Home of Incurables. Decked outwith gables, tracery and tablet flowers, much of thefountain’s design would seem to have been inspired bythe Eleanor crosses of the late 13th Century.Ulster Folk and Transport Museum Collection.

Cecil Taylor joined BBC NI as its first televisionnews journalist in the mid-1950s. One of his earlyroles was to organise film coverage for a 5minregional news bulletin at 6.10pm.The volume andrange of local news programming expandedsignificantly in the following decades. Cecil Tayloris pictured with the BBC NI news team.BBC Copyright.

Kate at Eight was a new magazine-styleprogramme for local television audiences.Broadcast between 1966-68, it featured a mix ofinterviews and performances reflecting the arts,entertainment and community life in NI. BBCCopyright. 1968

Royal Belfast Academical Institute, winners ofBBC NI’s popular inter-schools’ programme, Topof the Form. BBC Copyright. 1963.

Ulster Mirror was a monthly magazine programmeproduced by Charles Freer for the NI HomeService. Staff from the BBC’s Recording Unit arepictured on their way to the Marble Arch Cavesin County Fermanagh where Professor EstynEvans was presenting a programme on theextraordinary geological formations that can befound at this site. BBC Copyright. 1946.

BBC NI’s Sports team make final preparationsfor an edition of Ulster Sports Bulletin. RonaldRosser, the programme’s presenter, standsready at the microphone. In the room beyondthe studio it is possible to see the Producer,Kenneth Best, Secretary, Pat Lee and BillMcClelland a broadcast engineer.BBC Copyright. 1949.

Patrick Kielty’s first television series for BBC NI,PK Tonight,won him a Royal Television Society Awardfor Best Regional Television Presenter in 1995. Hehas since hosted Fame Academy and Patrick KieltyAlmost Live, a Network entertainment programmewhich is now in its 5th series on BBC ONE.Kielty ispictured during a recording in BBC NI’s BlackstaffStudio with singer Craig David. BBC Copyright.

Radio Ulster began broadcasting on 1stJanuary, 1975 with four hours of local outputeach day. Good Morning Ulster and A Taste of Hunniquickly became flagship programmes for the newservice. Pictured are two of the station’s regularpresenters, Gloria Hunniford and GeorgeHamilton. BBC Copyright.

Lisnagarvey transmitting station with itsdistinctive 475ft mast was opened on 20thMarch, 1936. It allowed BBC broadcasts to beheard in Derry, Omagh and Enniskillen for thefirst time. The radio series Provincial Journeyheralded the launch of region-wide broadcastingand included programmes from different townsacross Northern Ireland. BBC Copyright.

A Technical Assistant receiving instruction in“maintaining gramophone pick-ups”.BBC Copyright. 1943.

City Hall, Belfast provided a spectacular backdropfor BBC NI’s first Proms in the Park event.This outdoorconcert involved the Ulster Orchestra and a range oflocal musicians and attracted a capacity crowd of 8,000people.Highlights were televised on local and Networktelevision and the programme on BBC TWO securedthe largest-ever audience for an Ulster Orchestraconcert on that channel.BBC Copyright.2002.

Harry McMullan joined BBC NI in 1931 andwas appointed Programme Director in 1945. Heis pictured (in Naval uniform) providing acommentary on street scenes in Belfastfollowing Winston Churchill’s VE Day broadcastin May 1945.

BBC NI Cameraman Bob Unsworth picturedmaking adjustments to a studio televisioncamera in June 1959. BBC Copyright.

The first live Network television broadcast of areligious service in NI came from St James’Parish Church in Belfast in February, 1962. Thepreacher was Canon Graham Craig.BBC Copyright. 1962.

Sam Hanna Bell was appointed as a FeaturesProducer with BBC NI in 1945. His programmesaimed to capture the voices and experiences ofpeople from across the region and includedVillage Picture, Provincial Journey and Fairy Faith. Heis pictured with local people shortly before arecording for a programme in the series It’s ABrave Step. BBC Copyright. 1948.

Sir Tyrone Guthrie started his broadcastingcareer as an Announcer and Producer with theBBC in Belfast in 1924. He recorded ananthology of his favourite poetry and prose witha group of local schoolchildren shortly beforehis death in 1971. BBC Copyright.

The cast of Give My Head Peace on location inDublin for the filming of the 50th episode of thishugely popular series. The programme’scharacters first entered our living rooms in 1995after an appearance on BBC Radio Ulster.Give My Head Peace regularly attracts 40-50% ofthe available television audience in NI.

BBC NI was originally located in Linen HallStreet, Belfast. Its studio occupied the firstfloor of a disused linen warehouse. TyroneGuthrie (who had a lifetime association withthe BBC) is pictured with his colleagues in anearly staff photograph.At that time there wereapproximately 30 people employed by theBBC in Belfast, including the station’sorchestra. BBC Copyright.

Your Questions was a regional variation of thepopular Network programme Any Questions. Itwas first broadcast in 1954 and was recordedin locations throughout NI. BBC Copyright.

W.D. Flackes joined BBC NI as a PoliticalCorrespondent in 1964. He providedauthoritative comment on the changingpolitical scene for almost 20yrs, and was afamiliar face on Scene Around Six, Inquiry andnumerous election programmes.BBC Copyright.

2BE’s Control Room was located in an atticabove the Albert Bridge Power Station inBelfast. The transmitter aerials were slungbetween its tall chimneys and the firstbroadcast was made on 15 September, 1924. Itinvolved an opening announcement by TyroneGuthrie and (after some technical hitches) alocal news bulletin and 1.5hrs of music.

Michael Baguley was a familiar face to localtelevision audiences. He presented a numberof programmes, including Six Ten and ForcesFavourite. He is pictured introducing ComeDancing from the Plaza Ballroom in Belfast.BBC Copyright. 1965.

Thomas H Holden at the keyboard of thefamous carillon in Armagh Cathedral. Hemade the first of many St Patrick’s Daybroadcasts featuring the bells in March 1926.BBC Copyright.

The McCooeys, Joseph Tomelty’s celebratedradio drama about a working-class Belfast family,was first broadcast in May 1949 and continueduntil 1957. The programme reached a regularaudience of 500,000 listeners, including NI’sPrime Minister, Lord Brookeborough, who isreputed to have asked that its broadcast slotshould be moved to avoid clashing with hisevening dinner arrangements. BBC Copyright.