The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa #107 On-Air Criticisms, Comedy, James Cary and Miranda Hart
October 1923: The BBC's on-air critics go national...
These aren't critics OF the BBC (there were - and are - plenty of those), but critics ON the BBC - a literary critic, a music critic, a drama critic, a film critic... Think Front Row, Barry Norman, The Old Grey Whistle Test, but decades earlier.
These weekly shows went national via simultaneous broadcasting - SB - and the BBC's London-centric regular programming started to take over the regional schedules.
On London 2LO from 14 June 1923 - and nationally on Thursdays from 18 October - was music critic Percy Scholes.
On London 2LO from 18 July - and nationally on Fridays from 19 October - was film critic G.A. Atkinson ('Seen on the Screen').
On London 2LO from 8 August - and nationally on Wednesdays from 17 October - was drama critic Archibald Haddon ('News and Views of the Theatre'), and later James Agate.
On London 2LO from 3 September - and nationally on Mondays from 15 October - was literary critic John Strachey.
And in more recent years, we add comedy criticism to the list - with some comedy writers. James Cary has written BBC sitcoms for TV and radio, inc his own Bluestone 42, Hut 33, Think the Unthinkable, and for others Miranda, My Hero, My Family and more. He joins us with his opinions on comedy, the BBC, and what he'd do if he were DG.
And Miranda Hart - once our boss (I also wrote for the show Miranda) - joins us in a conversation I had for my previous podcast, The Heptagon Club (a podcast of conversations with 7 guests per episode - it was exhausting, so I stopped, for the simpler task of chronicling the history of the BBC...)
And our latest clue to our audio festive treat. Ooh...
SHOWNOTES:
- Original music is by Will Farmer.
- James Cary's books include The Gospel According to a Sitcom Writer and The Sacred Art of Joking, and his podcasts include The Stand-up Theologian.
- Our survey of what you like/don't about this podcast is here - do please spare 5mins to let me know your thoughts: http://tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey
- Thanks to Andrew Barker, our Newspaper Detective, for finding the press extracts.
- Paul's Substack: https://paulkerensa.substack.com/
- Paul's live show on the BBC origin story visits a variety of tour stops: www.paulkerensa.com/tour... INCLUDING new show Four Monarchs and a Mic: The BBC's Royal Engineer at Leicester Comedy Festival on Sat 8th Feb 2026.
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Next time: Episode 108: An Evening of Mass Telepathy - a centenary dramatic re-enactment of a lost legendary broadcast!
More on this broadcasting history project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio