BBC Third Programme Radio Scripts

The Third Programme of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was inaugurated on September 29, 1946, as part of the BBC's post-war restructuring of radio into three networks. Responding to the public's growing interest in the arts, which BBC programs during World War II had helped to foster, the BBC instituted three complementary networks designed not only to inform and entertain, but to educate the public as well: the Home Service, the Light Programme, and the Third Programme. The BBC Third Programme radio scripts collection consists of 3.3 linear feet of 232 radio scripts as produced by Douglas Cleverdon for the BBC's Third Programme from the 1950s through the 1970s. The collection also includes 57 production documents such as billing sheets, program records, and notes; and a paper and report by Douglas Cleverdon entitled A Historical Survey of Radio Documentary and The Treatment of Documentary Material from the Author's Point of View: Reality and Subjectivity, respectively. The scripts document the nature and diversity of the program's offerings as well as the modifications made to the program after its 1957 scheduling curtailment. The scripts also reflect how the program functioned as a "literary magazine of the air" and a sponsor of contemporary literature.