Multicultural Programmes from BBC Birmingham

Photo by Lynda Kettle, described as 'Asian Music and Dance

Photo by Lynda Kettle, described as ‘Asian Music and Dance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a list of some of the multicultural programmes produced at BBC Birmingham, from before and during the Pebble Mill period. The list is included in a document housed in the BBC Written Archives at Caversham.

Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye

(Make Yourself at Home) Radio – Home Service 1965

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/0d248bbb13934a6293989ac1744ede8b

Made at Gosta Green and introduced by Aley Hasan

 

Nai Zindagi-Naya Jeevan

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/799760c890544c27a9f408fafcd77784

BBC1 Sunday morning programme (late 1960s-early 1970s) which is roughly translated as ‘New Life’ (ran for 14 years)

 

Gharbar

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/17f97d1ad04e484e9d403bfb27004555

BBC1&2, Women’s magazine show, transmitted on Wednesday mornings from 1977-87

 

Asian Magazine

BBC1 Sunday mornings 1983-87

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f3b01c62804743388df183a729484ef3

New Life and Gharbar then became one programme in the early 1980s, called Asian Magazine, which then became Network East

 

Network East

BBC1&2 Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings (1987-2003)

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c0918d9079d8460488d012c3c1d7e000

 

Ebony

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/34a20f1624ad4a57bc6873ca1f0c3c6b

BBC2, 1983-1990, Afro-Carribean Magazine

 

Behind the Beat

http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a05e0e41e87c4754a00599de8a0c3fba

BBC2, 1988-9, Music Programme

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Keith Brook (aka Scouse):”‘Nai Zindagi-Naya Jeevan’ was the Urdu and Hindi for ‘New Way -New Life’ but was generically called ‘New Life’. It wasn’t renamed, it stayed like that into the 80s.

I worked on it as a cameraman, of course, but I also did a year or so directing it.

It was great fun, if a little disorganised. Getting everyone from our side into the studio was a little like herding cats.

Still, the real upside was that Ashok Rampal, Saleem Shahed and Mahendra Kaul and I were frequently invited to Indian and Pakistani houses for ‘real’ curries. Absolutely delicious!!

The best one was Madhur Jaffrey’s rather swish place. Best food of all!!

Still, I got a lot of pleasure out of it because it was a programme FOR Asians rather than about. At that time there were many elderly relatives who couldn’t speak English and it was their half hour of entertainment. For that reason alone, it was a delight.

I had the same feeling of fulfillment when I did a stretch on Open University. There wasn’t a big audience for each course, but every programme had an RI of 100%.

Still, every programme we did in Pebble Ill was fulfilling and it was a joy to work with such talented people.”

Terry Barker: “I worked for Nahrendra Morar as his PA from 92 to 94 and remember the diversity of programmes that came out of the multicultural department then. Charles Bruce and Farah Durrani made some terrific documentaries. Had a great time.”

Bridget Catherine Vaughan: “My first staff post, after 2 years of “temping” was in Asian Unit with Lisa Sommerville, Chris Hardman, Jayne Savage…..fab time”

Simon Edwards: “I recall working as camera assistant on the titles (on 16mm) for a programme called “All Black”. Not sure if that was a working title but it would have been early 90’s. We shot some of it in the studio at the Mill and then locations in London. Chris Weaver was the lighting cameraman and Wilfred E-J directed it.”

Keith Brook: “‘Nai Zindagi-Naya Jeevan’ was the Urdu and Hindi for ‘New Way -New Life’ but was generically called ‘New Life’. It wasn’t renamed, it stayed like that into the 80s.

I worked on it as a cameraman, of course, but I also did a year or so directing it.

It was great fun, if a little disorganised. Getting everyone from our side into the studio was a little like herding cats.

Still, the real upside was that Ashok Rampal, Saleem Shahed and Mahendra Kaul and I were frequently invited to Indian and Pakistani houses for ‘real’ curries. Absolutely delicious!!

The best one was Madhur Jaffrey’s rather swish place. Best food of all!!

Still, I got a lot of pleasure out of it because it was a programme FOR Asians rather than about. At that time there were many elderly relatives who couldn’t speak English and it was their half hour of entertainment. For that reason alone, it was a delight.

I had the same feeling of fulfillment when I did a stretch on Open University. There wasn’t a big audience for each course, but every programme had an RI of 100%.

Every programme we did in Pebble Milll was fulfilling and it was a joy to work with such talented people.”

Save

50 Years of BBC Asian Programmes

The article below is taken from: http://www.desiblitz.com/content/5-bbc-asian-television-shows-to-remember

“The BBC is celebrating 50 years of its programming for South Asian immigrants which started in the 60s and for the subsequent new British Asian generations into the 80s, 90s and onwards.

Programming for Asian immigrants who arrived in Britain started at 9.00am on 10th October 1965 on BBC1.

In Logon Se Miliye was the first programme which was then replaced by Apna hi Ghar Samajhiye known as Make Yourself at Home in 1966.

The programme produced by David Gretton was also repeated on BBC2 and on BBC radio.

Offering a mix of language lessons in everyday English and popular music from Indian and Pakistani films, the programme aimed to help Asians cope with everyday life.

Subsequently, shows like Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan and Gharbar for women, appeared on BBC television.

Both radio and television progressively began to broadcast shows targeting Asians living and now settled in Britain.

BBC Radio shows like East and West, Midlands Masala and the emergence of BBC Asian Network as a station, all contributed to this programming.

It was the late 80s and 90s when BBC programming for Asians took a new direction, to appeal to new generations of British Asians.

The television programmes were produced by the BBC Asian Programmes Unit (APU), based at Pebble Mill in Birmingham.

The APU was headed by Narendhra Morar and subsequently taken over by Paresh Solanki during this era of BBC’s multicultural programming.

Other members of the team included Narinder Minhas, Tommy Nagra, Fatima Salaria, Farah Durrani, Sangita Manandhar, Gurdip Bhangoo, Jane Dunning and Sara Kozak.

We remember five popular shows from this special era of BBC Asian television.

NETWORK EAST

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(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

This weekly lifestyle and entertainment programme was launched in 1987 on BBC2 on Saturday mornings.

It was the first programme to be fully broadcast in English.

This lively show had a series of well-known presenters through its time, including, Valerie Vaz and Samantha Meah, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Mo Dutta, Shahnaz Pakravan, Sudha Kumari (now known as Sudha Bhuchar), Sanjeev Kohli and Sonia Deol.

It featured lots of major stars and acts including Amitabh Bachchan, Mehmood, Salman Khan, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Gurdas Maan and Shobu Kapoor (Geeta in EastEnders).

With Bhangra bands being huge at the time, Azaad, Alaap, Heera, Apna Sangeet and many more were featured on the show.

The Network East Mega Mela event was the first major indoor mela held at the NEC in Birmingham.

The show featured and supported live acts and upcoming bands.

In 1998, Asia 2 was used to group Asian programmes shown on BBC 2 on Saturday mornings, starting with Network East: Big Talk, a show discussing Asian issues.

A late night version of the show called Network East Late was aired in 2001.

EAST

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(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

This was a programme produced to address current affairs and controversial issues affecting the South Asian communities in Britain.

Aired weekly from 1990, on BBC2 on Tuesday evenings, it tackled many areas of Asian life in its episodes. Including:

The increasing number of young Asians choosing mainstream pop over the traditional Asian music market after success of Babylon Zoo.
Growing numbers of elderly Asian parents who expected to be cared for by their children are finding themselves alone or in homes.
Increasing numbers of Asian women in Britain becoming involved in prostitution, after running away from sheltered and unhappy homes
EAST – tackled issue of prostitution

Some episodes of the series instigated complaints for their hard-hitting nature.

CAFE 21

The newer generations of British Asians had many social and personal issues to deal with during the 90s.

Cafe 21 was targeted at this youth and debated topics and matters concerning them.

The setting was usually a ‘student common room’ with an audience of young guests who debated topical issues with the presenter Rajesh Mirchandani.

Participants frequently discussed education, careers, religion, racism, relationships, politics, multiculturalism, integration and lots more.

It was aired on Saturday mornings on BBC2 from 1997.

BOLLYWOOD OR BUST

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(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission)

This programme was shown on BBC2 on a Saturday morning from 1994 and was an amazing concept of a gameshow using Bollywood as its theme.

Presenters of the show were first Mo Dutta and then Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Four contestants were invited into the studios to take part in a series of question and Bollywood trivia rounds.

Each round was introduced with a dramatic piece of Bollywood film music and each round was named in Hindi and English.

Each episode progressively led to a semi-final and then a final.

The winning prize was a fully paid trip to Bollywood itself and a chance to meet some of the biggest stars at that time, including, Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Dev Anand and many more.

FLAVOURS OF INDIA

At the time this was one of the first cookery television shows of its kind. It used the concept of on location cooking with the hugely popular, Madhur Jaffrey, as the cookery star, travelling across India.

The six-part series was directed by Navin Thapar and produced by Sara Kozak and a team from the BBC and India. It was aired from 1995.

Different cuisines were brought to you in each episode featuring a specific state of India and its speciality dishes. Including, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Madhur narrated her visits and provided historical facts about each place and made the dishes outside on location.

A book was published to accompany the series.

Most of the above shows were aired on Saturday mornings on BBC 2, which was dominated by BBC Asian programmes – a history in the making, in its own unique way.

Although Asian programmes today are still part of the BBC agenda, the Asian Programmes Unit was closed in 2008. So, it’s unlikely that we shall ever witness another era of domination by shows like the ones we remember here.’

 

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Tony Jover: ‘I recall we used to do a Top 10 Bollywood movies section, a fashion section and more. At one stage it was presented by Sanjeev Bhaskar. I used to edit Network East with Paresh Solanki.’

Viv Ellis: ‘I worked on the very first Network East under Narendhra Morar, as a director, doing studio and location shoots and editing. We recorded the show in the small studio (can’t remember what it was called) [Studio B] with a “band days” in studio A. We had all sorts of amazing music.’

Gordon Astley: ‘I remember my first TV job was boom op. at Gosta Green about 1970. I remember trying to get as near to a sitar as possible. Must have been one of the first of these shows?’

Bridget Catherine Vaughan: ‘I worked in the days of Ashok Rampal.’

Asian Unit Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

The photo dates from the early 1980s, and is possibly from Mahendra Kaul’s leaving party. It includes from left to right: Yousuf Aziz, Christine Hardman, Mahendra Kaul, Ashok Rampal, Jayne Savage, Karen Hewson, Krishan Gould and Bridget Catherine Vaughan.