BFI Replay: At a Library Near You
An innovative new way to open up the BFI's archive
It’s been a while since I last logged on to Substack, so apologies for the radio silence. I’ve been working on a few other projects, as well as continuing with the main Curious British Telly site, but I recently discovered the BFI Replay project and thought it was worth sharing on here.
So, BFI Replay, what is it? Well, ever since I discovered the various BFI services such as the viewing rooms on Tottenham Court Road and the BFI Mediatheque, I’ve been cock-a-hoop that watching old, archive television was possible. However, it always involved a trip down to London which, for me, is only 90 mins or so on a train. But, for others, it’s a significant trek. Accordingly, I’ve always wished that there was something closer to home.
Sure, there were some regional Mediatheque sites, but as far as I’m aware, these have all now closed down. Thankfully, the emergence of the BFI Replay project, whilst not being perfect, does provide an option, one which is full of potential. Available in many public libraries up and down the country - click here to see where in your local area - BFI Replay aims to tell stories from across the the UK. And this involves making part of the BFI’s archive available, with a certain amount of archive television involved.
All you have to do is log on via a PC at your local library and you can gain access to numerous videos which can be streamed. Luckily, my local library has access to it so I popped down to take a look. Now, I’ll be honest and tell you that it’s far from the rich offerings provided by the Mediatheque at the Southbank (which holds around 95,000 files). In fact, I’d be surprised if there’s more than a thousand videos on offer here. And many of these fall outside the remit of television, with a number being videos procured from community projects, public information films and promotional videos.
Nonetheless, there is some archive television provided within the service. I had time to spare, so dug fairly deep into BFI Replay to see what I could find. If you’re a fan of soaps then you’ll be pleased as there’s just over a dozen episodes of Coronation Street, Crossroads and Garnock Way. That’s probably the richest area of TV covered, but there are several old news clips as well as some other programmes.
Interestingly, these included some regional oddities which I decided to watch. First up was Think Tank from 1981, a Granada-only production that featured Tony Wilson quizzing sixth formers - aided by a Viewdata computer - in a fast paced format. Next, I digested an episode of the long-running Central arts programme Here and Now from 1984, an episode which found presenter Zia Mohyeddin introducing robotic dance duo Tronic (dancing to Waiting for a Train by Flash and the Pan) and a rather lengthy feature on the recent efforts of art students at Birmingham Polytechnic.
Finally, I watched an episode of It’s Fun to Read, a Granada children’s production from 1971 which sought to teach children about the alphabet. An episode of it can be found here, but I have to say its mostly static approach to education bored me to levels hitherto unseen with archive television. However, if it’s something you watched as a child then I’m sure it would have some nostalgia value.
Hopefully, as time goes on, more and more content will be uploaded to the service. As it is, I may pop back to watch a few of the community videos on there (when I haven’t got my Curious British Telly hat on) but at present I’ll be in no real rush. But it’s an excellent service and one that I’m happy to see being rolled out. It has the potential to make the BFI’s mammoth archives more accessible, and that can only ever be a good thing.