Portal:BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state with its current name on New Year's Day 1927. The oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, the BBC employs over 21,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 17,900 are in public-sector broadcasting.
The BBC was established under a royal charter, and operates under an agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts or to use the BBC's streaming service, iPlayer. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and is used to fund the BBC's radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. Since 1 April 2014, it has also funded the BBC World Service (launched in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service), which broadcasts in 28 languages and provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic and Persian.
Some of the BBC's revenue comes from its commercial subsidiary BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), which sells BBC programmes and services internationally and also distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English-language news services BBC News, and from BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd. In 2009, the company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its international achievements in business. (Full article...)
Selected article
The Quatermass Experiment is a British science fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television during the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first crewed flight into space, supervised by Professor Bernard Quatermass of the British Experimental Rocket Group.
When the spaceship that carries the first successful crew returns to Earth, two of the three astronauts are missing, and the third – Victor Carroon – is behaving strangely. It eventually becomes apparent that an alien presence entered the rocket during its flight, and Quatermass and his associates must prevent the alien from destroying the world. (Full article...)Selected image
![A publicity still showing the characters Big (right) and Small from the CBBC preschool comedy Big & Small. Both characters are represented by puppets, and are voiced by Lenny Henry.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Big%26Small_edit_1.jpg/300px-Big%26Small_edit_1.jpg)
Selected list article
HolbyBlue is a British police procedural drama which was created by Tony Jordan. The show is set in the fictional city of Holby, and focuses on the daily lives of police officers working at Holby South police station. The show's ensemble cast for series one consisted of Jimmy Akingbola, Joe Jacobs, David Sterne, Cal MacAninch, James Hillier, Kacey Ainsworth, Richard Harrington, Zöe Lucker, Chloe Howman, Kieran O'Brien, Tim Pigott-Smith and Elaine Glover. Pigott-Smith departed the drama in the final episode of the first series at the conclusion of his character's storyline. Actors Oliver Milburn and James Thornton joined the drama for series two.
The creation of HolbyBlue was announced on 27 April 2006 by the BBC. It was revealed that the show would have links to British medical drama Holby City. Tony Jordan was recruited to write scripts for the show and work out "how storylines between the police station and the hospital could be intertwined." The first series began filming at the end of January 2007, commenced airing on 8 May 2007 at 8 pm, one week later than scheduled for unknown reasons, and concluded on 26 June 2007. On 21 June 2007, it was announced that HolbyBlue would air a second series in 2008, this time for an extended run of twelve episodes. Filming recommenced in late 2007 in Surrey, and the second series began airing on 20 March 2008, concluding on 5 June 2008. Two series of HolbyBlue aired in total. (Full article...)Related portals
Selected biography
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson CBE (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years.
Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series Sunday Night at the London Palladium. He went on to host several game shows, including The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, The Price Is Right and You Bet!. He co-presented Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 to 2013. (Full article...)Selected building
The BBC Birmingham national network production centre is based in The Mailbox in Birmingham. The Mailbox also serves as the headquarters for BBC English Regions and is the home of BBC West Midlands.
Did you know
Highlights from Wikipedia's Did you know
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a0/Updated_DYK_query.svg/50px-Updated_DYK_query.svg.png)
- ... that author Jacqueline Wilson described Dustbin Baby, the BBC dramatisation of her novel of the same name, as the best ever film adaptation of her work?
- ... that Olivia Colman bonded the cast of Beautiful People by arranging a visit from a mobile blood donor unit?
- ... that a 1927 Wolseley motor car used in the 2008 BBC television adaptation The 39 Steps was previously used in the 1960s BBC television series Dr. Finlay's Casebook?
- ... that the composer Zbigniew Preisner wrote the title music for the monumental BBC documentary People's Century, which spans 26 parts?
- ... that the BBC Sound Archive was founded in 1936 by Marie Slocombe while she was working as a temporary secretary disposing of sound recordings?
- ... that Dahiru Musdapher, the 12th chief justice of Nigeria, was once a BBC World Service contributor for West Africa and Hausa?
- ... that François Glorieux was a Belgian pianist and improvisor, conductor of the BBC Radio Orchestra and Stan Kenton's band, and arranger for Michael Jackson?
- ... that South African physician Tlaleng Mofokeng is the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, and was named one of the BBC's 100 Women?
- ... that working broadcast journalists were used as extras for the portions of the Doctor Who episode "73 Yards" that were filmed at the BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House?
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