Introduction

This short introduction to Part I makes a few general points about factual programming and its producers on British television.

The sheer quantity of factual material on British television is indicated by Table 1.1. Only one conventional channel (ITV) in 1991 devoted much less than half its output to factual television. The ‘minority’ channels, BBC2 and Channel Four, both carried a higher proportion of factual programming than did the large-audience channels, BBC1 and ITV. BBC1 also spends about twice as much as BBC2, and ITV outspends Channel Four by a larger margin.