When Television Came to Britain: From the First Broadcasts of 1936 to the First TVs at Home

Imagine a world where there was no television in the living room. No evening news on a screen, no Saturday-night entertainment shows, no televised sporting events and no familiar faces appearing in people's homes. For entertainment, families might gather around the wireless, visit the cinema, attend a theatre performance or music hall, or catch up with the day's events in a newspaper.

It sounds like a distant age, but the arrival of television in Britain happened within living memory. There are still people alive today who remember a time before television became part of everyday life, and families who can recall the excitement of seeing moving pictures arrive in their own homes for the first time.

It began with an extraordinary broadcasting experiment in north London in 1936. But the story of how television became part of British life is about much more than a date in broadcasting history. It is a story of changing habits, wartime interruption, technological ingenuity and the excitement of ordinary families discovering something entirely new.

Britain Before Television: The Wireless, Cinema and Music Halls

Before television, entertainment was something people listened to, read about or went out to experience. The wireless, as radio was commonly known, had become an important part of British home life during the 1920s and 1930s. Families could listen to news bulletins, comedy, drama, music and sporting commentary without leaving their homes.

Radio offered a shared experience, with families gathering around the set to hear their favourite programmes. The pictures, however, had to be supplied by the imagination. A listener could hear a dramatic story unfold, but the characters and scenes existed in their mind rather than on a screen.

The cinema, often called the pictures, offered a very different experience. Going to the cinema was a popular outing, with newsreels keeping audiences informed about events at home and abroad, alongside feature films and comedy. For many people, it was one of the few ways to see moving images on a large screen.

Theatre and music halls also remained important sources of entertainment. Audiences could enjoy live comedians, singers, dancers, variety acts and dramatic performances. These traditions would later influence television, with variety shows and live entertainment becoming familiar features of the new medium.

Newspapers played their own essential role. They brought readers reports of national and international events, local news, sport, advertisements and the latest developments in public life. If something important happened, people might hear about it on the wireless, read about it in the newspaper or see a newsreel at the cinema.

None of this meant that Britain lacked entertainment or information. Quite the opposite. But there was no television screen bringing all these experiences together in the home. That was about to change.

2 November 1936: The BBC Launches Television

On Monday, 2 November 1936, the BBC launched the world's first regular public high-definition television service from studios at Alexandra Palace in north London. Today, many people know the building by its affectionate nickname, Ally Pally, and as the venue for the World Professional Snooker and Darts Championships and other major events.

In the 1930s, however, Alexandra Palace was becoming the home of a revolutionary new technology. Studios were installed in part of the building, and engineers worked to turn experimental television into a regular broadcasting service.

The official launch took place at 3pm. Television announcer Leslie Mitchell introduced the new service, welcoming viewers to a form of broadcasting that was still unfamiliar to almost everyone. The opening included a formal ceremony, entertainment and a British newsreel.

For the first time, a regular public television service was bringing live performances and moving pictures into people's homes. The programmes were limited by modern standards, but the significance of the moment was enormous. Instead of merely listening to a voice coming from a wireless, viewers could see a person speaking and watch performers on a screen.

It is difficult to imagine the curiosity that must have surrounded those first broadcasts. What would it be like to see a singer performing in a studio miles away? Would the picture really work? How clear would it be? And what would television eventually become?

The audience was small. Reception was largely confined to London and the surrounding area, with the signal reaching only a limited distance from Alexandra Palace. Television sets were expensive, and few households owned one. The number of people who actually watched that historic first broadcast was tiny compared with the audiences that television would eventually reach.

How Much Did an Early Television Cost?

For anyone hoping to watch the new service at home, the price of a television was a major obstacle.

One early model, the Baird T5 receiver, was priced at 85 guineas in 1936. That was £89 and 5 shillings in the currency of the time. Other models were more expensive, with contemporary television receivers advertised at prices reaching 135 guineas.

These were not the inexpensive household appliances we know today. Early sets were substantial pieces of furniture, with small screens and complicated electronic components. Some designs used mirrors to make the picture easier to view, and the technology was still developing.

To put the cost into perspective, a television could represent a very large household purchase, equivalent to many months of income for some families. Depending on where people lived and what they paid in rent, the cost could amount to several years' rent. For most households, buying one was far from an everyday decision.

Television was therefore something many people first encountered elsewhere. They might see a demonstration in a shop window, visit an exhibition or be invited into the home of someone fortunate enough to own a set. The excitement came not only from the programmes themselves, but from the remarkable fact that pictures could be received from somewhere else and watched in the living room.

For those early viewers, even an ordinary broadcast must have felt extraordinary. Yet the new service was still in its infancy, and its progress was soon interrupted by world events.

Television Falls Silent as Britain Goes to War

On 1 September 1939, the BBC television service was abruptly suspended as Britain prepared for war. The final programme was the Disney cartoon Mickey's Gala Premiere, which had originally been released in 1933. The transmission was brought to an end as the country moved into a very different period of its history.

Two days later, on 3 September, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced on the wireless that Britain was at war with Germany. His announcement became one of the defining broadcasts of the era, but it was heard on radio rather than watched on television. By then, the television service had already been taken off the air.

There were practical reasons for the decision. One concern was that television transmissions from Alexandra Palace might provide a signal that enemy aircraft could use to help locate London. The BBC's engineers and technical staff were also needed for the war effort, where their skills could contribute to vital communications and developing technologies such as radar.

For the small number of people who owned television sets, the sudden silence must have been disappointing. A new form of entertainment had arrived with enormous promise, only to disappear almost as quickly as it had begun.

Television would remain off the air for nearly seven years. During that time, radio continued to play a central role in British life, carrying news, announcements and entertainment through the war years. For a nation living with uncertainty, the wireless remained an important connection to events unfolding across the world.

Television Returns in 1946

With the war over in Europe, television eventually returned. On 7 June 1946, the BBC resumed its television service from Alexandra Palace, broadcasting on the day of the Victory Parade in London.

The return was a welcome milestone, but Britain was still dealing with the aftermath of war. Resources were limited, homes and industries were being rebuilt, and many families had more pressing priorities than purchasing a television set.

Television was back, but it was not yet a fixture in most living rooms. The next stage in its development depended on extending the signal beyond London and making the technology more accessible to people elsewhere in the country.

17 December 1949: Television Reaches the Midlands

For people living outside London, one of the most important developments came on 17 December 1949, when the BBC's new transmitter at Sutton Coldfield began regular television broadcasts. It was the first television transmitter outside London and the Home Counties, opening the way for viewers across the Midlands to receive the service.

For Leicester and the surrounding communities, this brought the prospect of television reception much closer to home. The arrival of the signal was an important step, although reception could still depend on location, equipment and aerial installation.

Imagine hearing that television was now being broadcast in your part of the country. You might have read about it in the local newspaper, noticed television sets appearing in electrical shops or heard neighbours discussing the new technology. Perhaps you would visit a shop to watch a demonstration, or be invited into the home of somebody who had managed to buy a set.

There was still relatively little programming compared with the television schedules we know today. There was only one BBC television service, and programmes occupied a limited part of the day. But that was hardly the point for a first-time viewer. The novelty was being able to see events, performers and presenters on a screen in a way that radio could never provide.

The television set itself was often a talking point. It could be a large and expensive piece of furniture, purchased after careful saving or bought through a hire-purchase arrangement. For families who had grown up with the wireless as their main source of home entertainment, television represented a very different kind of investment.

It is easy to look back and assume that television simply arrived and everyone bought a set. In reality, the change took place gradually. Some families became early adopters, while others waited until sets became more affordable and reception improved. In many neighbourhoods, television ownership remained unusual enough to bring people together.

In the early days of television, buying a set was beyond the reach of many households. For those with the necessary technical knowledge (or the patience to learn), building one at home offered a possible alternative. Some assembled their televisions from individual components, while others used kits that supplied many of the parts needed. But this was no quick weekend project. Depending on the design and the builder's experience, it could take weeks or months to complete, perhaps becoming a project that occupied much of a long winter.

Imagine the process involved: studying circuit diagrams, connecting dozens of individual components, checking every connection and gradually bringing the set to life. Even once everything had been assembled, there was still the challenge of testing and adjusting the circuits to get a clear, stable picture. It wasn't simply a matter of plugging a few ready-made boards together, as we might imagine when thinking about electronics today. It's hard to even imagine starting on such a project, but for someone with the right skills and patience, it was a way of bringing television into the home without necessarily having to pay the full price of a ready-made set.

There was no internet to turn to if you got stuck, no online videos to watch or step-by-step guides to follow. You were largely reliant on the instructions and diagrams supplied with your kit, along with technical articles in magazines such as Practical Wireless. If something went wrong, you had to work through the problem yourself, perhaps with help from another radio enthusiast.

One popular kit was advertised as "Premier - The Television Kit You Can Build for £17 17s"*. The advert confidently explained that "All you need to build a complete Television Receiver is a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a soldering iron and the ability to read a theoretical diagram." Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?

*Practical Wireless January 1950.

Anyone who has ever looked at one of those circuit diagrams might beg to differ! What appears on paper as a collection of lines, symbols and connections had to be translated into a working television, with components fitted correctly and every connection made as it should be. For someone attempting this at home, especially without much previous experience, it must have been a formidable undertaking. And even after the construction was finished, there was still the challenge of getting the receiver properly adjusted and producing a picture.

There were also serious dangers involved. Early television receivers used incredibly high voltages, and working on them required considerable care and knowledge. A mistake could result in a dangerous electric shock, so building a set was not something to be undertaken lightly.

When you consider the time, effort and technical understanding involved, it makes the achievement all the more remarkable. For a family waiting to see their first moving pictures appear on a screen at home, those long weeks or months of work must have made the moment the television finally worked especially rewarding.

From a Rare Luxury to the Centre of the Living Room

The spread of television continued through the 1950s. More transmitters were built, more households acquired sets, and programmes gradually became a more familiar part of home life. The televised coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 helped bring television to wider public attention, encouraging many people to consider buying or borrowing a set so they could watch the historic event.

Television was still developing. The launch of ITV in 1955 gave viewers a second television service in areas where it was available, while BBC Two followed in 1964. Colour television arrived on BBC Two in 1967, bringing another major change to the viewing experience.

What had begun as an expensive and experimental service in 1936 had become a defining part of British culture within a few decades. Television changed how people followed major events, watched sport, enjoyed comedy and drama, and spent their evenings together.

But perhaps one of the most interesting things about its history is how recent the change really was. Many people remember visiting a neighbour's house to watch television, sitting close to a small black-and-white screen, or waiting for a favourite programme to begin because there was no catch-up service and no choice of hundreds of channels.

For some families, the first television was a treasured purchase. For others, it was something they experienced at a friend's house or through a shop window. And for people like my grandfather, it was a challenge to be tackled with practical skill, curiosity and a willingness to try something new.

Do You Remember When Television First Came to Your Home?