100 years of TV at the British Film Institute

[ppppenguin]

In January 2026, the British Film Institute will celebrate the centenary of TV with a short season of films at the National Film Theatre, Waterloo.

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=early-television&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id

Baird first demonstrated television in light and shade on 26 January 1926:

I was definitely able to transmit the living image, and it was the first time it had been done. But how to convince the sceptical, hide-bound, select and exclusive scientific world? ... Would they admit that a wretched nonentity working with soap boxes in a garret had done something which many of them had stated was not possible?

Baird invited, among others, members of Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times to witness his achievement.

The first screening in the series, on 8 January 2026 will show:

• Television Comes to London(1936)
• BBC Television Demonstration Film (1937)
• The Coronation Broadcast - George VI, not Elizabeth II - (1937)
• Television Is Here Again (1946)

Other screenings will include Fools on the Hill, a gentle comedy by Jack Rosenthal, that was made in 1986 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the start of the 405 line service from Alexandra Palace. I was part of a small audience at the recording and have a copy of the script.

Please note that the October 2025 date that has been promoted by the RTS and IET is regarded by most TV historians as spurious. The 90th anniversary was celebrated in January 2016.

[peter scott]

Yes, 2026 will definitely bring the 90th anniversary not the 100th.

Peter

[ppppenguin]

2026 is the 90th anniversary of the "High Definition" service from AP, 100th for Baird's first demonstration.

[Mike Watterson]

Baird did a lot to promote TV, but his mechanical system was nothing new and a dead end. There was mechanical colour TV in 1924. Radio Fax news was also in some countries in that era after speech programs in the evening. Baird's big technical contribution was the near-instant hybrid Film & Scan to TV as the problem since 1905 proposal (and why Farnsworth's camera was a failure) was the electronic camera. Baird's film "processed in the camera" to TV went on to be used in spy satellites to avoid the "Ice Station Zebra" scenario which was loosely based on real events.

The 90th anniversary of AP electronic TV is the significant one. Or RCA demos.