The This Week Project gives information on data and materials held partly at the National Film and Television Archive and partly in the FremantleMedia archive. It is based on the research into these archives by Dr. Victoria Wegg-Prosser and Patricia Holland at Bournemouth University, and also includes information from other sources such as the FremantleMedia archive, published books and articles, and interviews with many of those involved in the series.

The This Week database gives an in-depth view of almost every programme in the series, from January 1956 to December 1992. It includes five types of information:

• basic identification with title, alternative titles and broadcast date;
• information about the personnel, both production personnel and those who appear in the programme;
• information on content, with a brief synopsis;
• information on the technology with which each programme was produced, and on its style;
• finally it includes information about the documentation which supports the programme, with notes on whether this is available to researchers and where it can be found.

Some of the programmes, particularly in the early years, were made up of several segments. In this case, each segment has a separate record.

A number of VHS tapes and programme scripts have been deposited with Bournemouth University and this is indicated in individual records.

Bournemouth University library holds about 150 VHS copies of programmes together with scripts and some documents in its Special Collections section, where they form part of the Bournemouth University Research Collection. The University will provide access to the Research Collection only for bona fide researchers from other institutions. Researchers will require a letter of introduction, proof of identity and must have agreed an appointment.

More information about the Bournemouth University Research Collection can be found here.

Most of the original This Week programmes and documentation about the series are located in the FremantleMedia archive. For more information please consult the FremantleMedia website here. Some of the earlier material is held by the National Film and Television Archive [NFTVA]. For more information consult their website here.

The data has been assembled from various sources and inevitably there are some gaps and inaccuracies. We welcome comments and suggestions from users of the project and the database.

“This Week played a major role in current affairs broadcasting in Britain and its coverage of domestic and foreign political and social questions set the agenda in representing issues of the day. For the first time this database enables researchers to access important information such as the topics of each programme, its production team and its scheduling, using methods of simple and more complex searching developed in the team’s earlier successful project on the TV Times database. The This Week database will make possible new kinds of research into television factual programming and provide substantive information that will both underpin existing ways of thinking about British television as well as suggesting new lines of enquiry. It is a major and significant resource.”

Prof Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading

We would like to acknowledge the support of the following people and organisations.

Researchers

Pat Holland, Bournemouth University

Dr Victoria Wegg-Prosser, Independent Researcher

Project Support

British Universities Film and Video Council [BUFVC]

James Fryer, Invocrown

Matt Holland, Bournemouth University

Gabriella Menni, Bournemouth University

Ron Burns, Bournemouth University

We are grateful for the support of FremantleMedia and the Arts and Humanities Research Council [AHRC].

Pat Holland wishes to thank the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation which generously supported the first phase of her research and the Shiers Trust which gave a grant towards the writing of her book which is based on this data.

Reference

HOLLAND, P., 2006. The Angry Buzz: This Week and Current Affairs Television London: I.B.Tauris.