Portal:BBC
The BBC Portal
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state with its current name on 1 January 1927. It is the oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, with a total staff of 22,000.
The BBC was established under a royal charter, and operates under an agreement with the secretary of state for culture, media and sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts or to use the BBC's streaming service, iPlayer. The fee is set by the British government, agreed by Parliament, and is used to fund the BBC's radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. Since 1 April 2014, it has also funded the BBC World Service (launched in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service), which broadcasts in 43 languages as of 2026.
Some of the BBC's revenue comes from its commercial subsidiary BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), which sells BBC programs and services internationally and also distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English-language news services BBC News, and from BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd. (Full article...)
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Ruth Archer (also Pritchard) is a fictional character from the British BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers, played by English actress Felicity Finch. She made her debut in the 15 July 1987 episode. The character was created and introduced to The Archers as a love interest for established character David Archer (Timothy Bentinck), whose then girlfriend was deemed unsuitable for the role of mother to the next generation of the Archer family by the editor of the show Liz Rigbey. Finch was cast as Ruth after a successful audition.
Ruth is portrayed as being strong-willed, determined and loyal. She is also a New Woman and a farmer, traits that made her stand out from the other female characters in The Archers at the time of her introduction. In later years, Ruth has mellowed and is more open to negotiation. Her storylines have often revolved around her marriage to David and her work on Brookfield Farm. In the early 2000s, the scriptwriters had Ruth and David isolate themselves from the community during a foot-and-mouth outbreak. Ruth was also diagnosed with breast cancer, a storyline which Finch undertook extensive research for and later named as one of her Archers highlights. (Full article...)
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BBC journalist, presenter and newsreader Huw Edwards during an outside broadcast for BBC News. He joined the BBC in 1984, and since 2003 he has been the main presenter of the BBC Ten O'Clock News.
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Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Having ceased broadcasting in 1989, it resumed in 2005. The 2005 revival traded the earlier multi-episode serial format of the original series for a run of self-contained episodes, interspersed with occasional multi-part stories and structured into loose story arcs.
Doctor Who depicts the adventures of an extraterrestrial being called the Doctor, part of a humanoid species called Time Lords. The Doctor travels in the universe and in time using a time travelling spaceship called the TARDIS, which externally appears as a British police box. While travelling, typically with companions, the Doctor works to save lives and liberate oppressed peoples by combating various enemies. The Doctor has been played by various actors; the transition between actors is written into the plot with the concept of regeneration, a plot device in which a Time Lord's cells regenerated when they are fatally injured or weakened from old age and they are reincarnated into a different body. Each actor's distinct portrayal represents different stages in the Doctor's life and, together, they form a single lifetime and narrative. (Full article...)
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Kate Silverton (born 4 August 1970) is an English child therapist. She formerly worked as a broadcaster and newsreader for the BBC. Silverton was a regular presenter of BBC News at One and BBC Weekend News, as well as making occasional appearances on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. In 2018 she participated in series 16 of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec and finished in 8th place.
In 2023 she became a qualified child therapist and stated the following year that she had been able to overcome decades of distress due to being sexually abused as a child. (Full article...)
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The Egton Wing of Broadcasting House was completed in 2005 on the site of Egton House. A memorial sculpture, Breathing, for those killed whilst reporting on wars is situated on the roof.
Did you know
Highlights from Wikipedia's Did you know
- ... that despite attracting the highest ratings ever for a comedy show debut on BBC Three, Horne & Corden was described by one critic as, "about as funny as credit default swaps"?
- ... that Newman and Baddiel in Pieces was the final show on which the comic partnership of Robert Newman and David Baddiel worked together before going their separate ways?
- ... that Clothes-Line, aired in 1937, was the first television programme on fashion history and also probably the first to feature a heavily pregnant female presenter?
- ... that crime novelist P. D. James listed the 2007 series Help Me Anthea, I'm Infested as one of the most embarrassing television programmes the BBC has ever produced?
- ... that Dahiru Musdapher, the 12th chief justice of Nigeria, was once a BBC World Service contributor for West Africa and Hausa?
- ... that Sarah Gibson, who formed a piano duo with Thomas Kotcheff, composed warp & weft inspired by the art of Miriam Schapiro, to be played today by the BBC Philharmonic at The Proms?
- ... that working broadcast journalists were used as extras for the portions of the Doctor Who episode "73 Yards" that were filmed at the BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House?
- ... that the pilot episode for a BBC series on a suicide prevention charity made some critics laugh?
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