大象传媒

Watching at home

What did people make of television in the 1940s, and how did they think it would impact their lives?

Professor Helen Wood

Professor Helen Wood

Professor of Media and Communication, Leicester University
Dr Jilly Boyce Kay

Dr Jilly Boyce Kay

Lecturer in Media and Communication, University of Leicester

Today, television is an everyday technology 鈥 it is an established feature of our homes, and an ordinary part of our domestic routines. But what did people make of television in the 1940s, when for the vast majority it was still a strange, new and unfamiliar medium? How did people think that television would impact on their everyday lives, their family relationships and their domestic habits?

Some answers to these questions can be found in the archives of Mass Observation, the pioneering social research organisation that was launched in 1937 to document everyday life in Britain. In 1949, it asked how people felt about having television in their own homes, and how this might affect their "home leisure pursuits".

Typewritten sheet with two questions - 1: How do you feel about having television in your own home? 2: If you had a television set how do you think it would affect your home leisure pursuits?
Mass Observation section 1 - scope and method.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, women were much more likely than men to express concerns about how television might impact their ability to do domestic work: O. Barritt, a 28-year-old housewife, wrote that: 鈥渢he worst of television, from a housewife鈥檚 point of view, is it requires a darkened room, so that knitting or mending is out of the question鈥.

Page of a form with quote saying 鈥渢he worst of television, from a housewife鈥檚 point of view, is it requires a darkened room, so that knitting or mending is out of the question鈥
O Barritt's survey

Other women were apprehensive about television because it might rob them of opportunities for dressing up and getting out - such as Mrs P. Green, who wrote that: "a television set in the home would tend to make one lazy whereas if you go out to a show it means extra sprucing up (a joy to a woman who has been busy around the house most of the day)."

Handwritten page with quote saying 鈥渁 television set in the home would tend to make one lazy whereas if you go out to a show it means extra sprucing up (a joy to a woman who has been busy around the house most of the day)鈥
Mrs P. Green's survey.

As well as those who were ambivalent or anxious about television, there were also more positive evaluations of its potential to enrich or even to transform the experience of being at home. There was often a sense of wonderment at television鈥檚 miraculous abilities to 'transport' its audiences to far-flung places, or to allow them to witness public events like the Grand National, Wimbledon, and royal processions - all from the comfort of their living rooms, and all for free.

For 27 year-old Elizabeth A. Dorward, television was "such a wonderful invention" that held out "great possibilities for broadening and enriching my outlook".

Typewritten page which says "I feel the interest value of having television would be tremendous. I should love to see Royal Processions and pieces of pageantry. I should like to see Test Matches, the Grand National and the Derby, Davis Cup matches etc. Being a complete country bumpkin as far as television is concerned I don't know what type of programmes are transmitted so I can only assume they consist of the equivalent of outside broadcasts."
Elizabeth Dorward's survey.

Forty-two year-old Esther Home could not afford to buy tickets for Wimbledon or other sporting events, but having a television set now meant that "in comfort I will watch the Ascot races, and also see the dresses of the women walking in the paddock".

Part of Esther Home's survey which says 鈥淚 watch the matches on my set, the same applies to racing - in comfort I will watch the Ascot races, and also see the dresses of the women walking in the paddock"
Esther Home's survey.

So, alongside apprehension, fear and derision towards this new cultural phenomenon, television was also deeply valued for its promise to grant ordinary people access to public spaces for the first time, and to bring the pomp and pageantry of national life into the home.

In this way, the Mass Observation survey of 1949 captures both the unease and the sense of awe that television inspired as it helped to transform the boundaries between public and private - and the very notion of what it meant to be 'at home'.

Documents supplied by the Mass Observation Archive, University of Sussex

Pre-war TV audiences - an early 大象传媒 report

The Mass Observation directive of 1949 provides a vivid insight into television viewing in the early years after the war. The attitudes of viewers before the war are harder to come by 鈥 mostly because there were so few of them. But the 大象传媒 began systematic audience research in 1936, and in January 1937 its new 鈥楲istener Research Section鈥 was asked to investigate the opinions of viewers of the two-month old television service. The 44-page report 鈥 marked 鈥楶rivate and Confidential鈥 was circulated to 大象传媒 managers in February.

The first page explains how the information was gathered 鈥 revealing that the 大象传媒 had communicated with 118 set-owners, and received replies from 74 of them. It was also acknowledged that many of these included people connected with broadcasting. In sampling terms, therefore, this was a small and somewhat unrepresentative group 鈥 though clearly it was all the 大象传媒 had to go on.

The report itself found that three-quarters of those viewers who commented on 鈥榣ight entertainment鈥 programmes 鈥 namely variety and cabaret shows 鈥 were positive about them. Dramas and outside sporting events were also discovered to be overwhelmingly popular. Ballet, however, divided opinions for and against roughly equally. There was some disgruntlement about news films being repeated too often 鈥 and that they presented their information too quickly.

鈥楽tudio demonstrations and talks鈥 came off worst. They were disliked by two-thirds of the sample. The report noted that, 鈥淒isapproval concentrated largely upon demonstrations of cooking, washing, ironing, etc., which were condemned as of little interest to those who could afford television sets鈥 鈥 an acknowledgement that, in 1937, ownership of a TV set was still very much a middle-class affair.

Apart from all the feedback about programmes, the research also revealed one other interesting feature of early TV viewing: that passing motor cars almost always interfered with reception.

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