How the BBC Began

Episode 1

Accident and Opportunity

89 mins

The eyewitnesses and participants in the BBC's early history recount some of the triumphs and disasters as new frontiers of broadcasting were mapped out - often by accident rather than design. Presenter James Burke tells how the Queen Mother helped to shape the BBC's coverage of one Apollo space mission. BBC executive Sir Huw Wheldon describes the tension of producing Sir Winston Churchill's one appearance on television. And June Spencer, famous for her role as Peggy in The Archers, shows the letter she received from a listener who was worried that she didn't know about her unmarried daughter's pregnancy.