BBC North West Catalogues
Discover BBC TV news items and documentary programmes made in Manchester between 1966 and 1986 for broadcast in the North West.
About the catalogues
We have stories filmed for the BBC daily regional news magazine programme for over 3,000 dates between August 1973 – May 1986, including over 15,000 separate news and feature items.
We also hold 687 separate titles of documentary series and one-off programmes, broadcast from the 1960s through to 1986.
The stories cover everything from industrial action, economic development, health and welfare, policing and vandalism, environmental issues, to fads, fashions, tourism, and inventions.
The North West Film Archive has had this unique collection in its safe custodianship for over 30 years. Its historical value is likely to grow since broadcasting companies often regarded such film as ephemeral, disposing of it after broadcast. The collection covers years of significant social, economic, political and cultural change which saw a considerable political shift in the national culture, from the radicalism of the 1960s to the Conservatism of the 1980s.
The successful completion of a 3-year project in 2008 opened up access to the material through preservation, online catalogues, and digitisation. The collection’s a valuable resource for researchers across several disciplines: social/economic/political history, cultural geography, cultural studies, the history of art/design/architecture, as well as film, television, communications and media studies.
Searching the Catalogues
The two catalogues enable you to discover television coverage of places, people and events through a simple keyword search.
Use the Search Help function to get tips on searching the catalogues more effectively and interpreting the results.
Search the BBC North West News Catalogue
Search the BBC North West Documentaries Catalogue
Viewing and using the material
Viewing the material
You can arrange to watch programmes from this collection on site here at Manchester Central Library by contacting us with details of the news dates and/or programme numbers that you’d like to see.
Should this not be possible other arrangements can be made subject to permission being given by the BBC.
Using the material
Use of the collection is subject to separate prior written permission or authority from the BBC.
We can help to facilitate this so please get in touch to discuss your requirements.
