As It Happens is a British documentary television series made by Barraclough Carey Productions for Channel 4, broadcast between 2 January 1990 and 3 November 1992. The series was transmitted mostly live, with a presenter and a single camera following a story, event or location without editing or second takes.

It ran in two distinct forms. From 1990 it was a weekday-morning strand built around blocks of consecutive editions from a single British location. In 1991 it returned as a weekly late-evening series of self-contained editions from locations around the world.

Format The British Film Institute describes the series as one "in which viewers are invited to watch presenter and a single camera follow a story, with no editing or second takes". The BFI catalogues it under the genres fly-on-the-wall documentary and travelogue.

The live format was not universal. The BFI record for the 1991 edition from Kuwait notes that, unlike most episodes, it was taped several days in advance, though it was still "filmed continuously on one camera without any editing".

Production Wendy Sturgess produced or series-produced across the whole run; Jenny Barraclough is credited as producer on early editions and as executive producer from 1991. Other producers included Andy Mayer, Sandra Greenwood and Lorraine Heggessey.

Presenters changed with each location block rather than each series. Michael Groth fronted the London Zoo, River Thames, Scotland, Birmingham and Gulf editions; Victoria Studd the Barbican Centre and St George's Hospital editions; Paddy Haycocks the streets of London and Cowes Week editions; Andy Kershaw the Wormwood Scrubs, seaside and several 1991 editions; Richard Jobson the Israel editions; and Pete McCarthy four of the 1991 editions.

Daytime series (1990) Throughout 1990 the programme occupied a weekday morning slot on Channel 4 at 11:00. Editions were grouped into blocks of consecutive transmissions from a single location, each block opened by a numbered first edition. Subjects included London Zoo, the River Thames, the streets of London, the East of England Show at Peterborough, HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs, the Barbican Centre, Cowes Week, Scotland, the seaside, St George's Hospital in Tooting and hospitals in Birmingham.

The earliest edition catalogued by the BFI is dated 2 January 1990. A run ended on 11 April 1990, the record for which is annotated "Last programme in the current series". A further series opened on 3 July 1990, annotated "First programme in a resumed series", and closed on 14 September 1990. A third series, annotated "First of a new series", began on 10 December 1990 and consisted of five editions from the Gulf followed by five from Israel, ending on 21 December.

The Gulf editions were described by the BFI as the work of "the first television crew to be allowed to transmit extended coverage of the situation there", covering forces stationed in Saudi Arabia, the minehunter , the Desert Rats and Wrens serving with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Some editions were catalogued without a location title and are listed below as untitled.

Editions Date Time Network Title Presenter BFI ref TVRDb listing London Zoo (1) 363420 Not listed London Zoo (5) 502223 The River Thames (1) 367766 Untitled edition Not recorded N-10347255 The Streets of London (1) 502238 The Streets of London (2) Not recorded 5866228 The Streets of London (3) 502239 The Streets of London (4) Not recorded 5866260 The Streets of London (5) 502240 East of England Show, Peterborough (1) 500028 East of England Show, Peterborough (2) Not recorded 5866330 East of England Show, Peterborough (3) Not recorded 5866352 East of England Show, Peterborough (4) 500030 East of England Show, Peterborough (5) 663980 HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs (1) 500036 HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs (2) 500038 HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs (3) 500039 HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs (4) 500040 HM Prison, Wormwood Scrubs (5) 500043 Barbican Centre, London (1) 500020 Barbican Centre, London (2) 663981 Barbican Centre, London (3) 663982 Untitled edition 500021 Untitled edition 500022 Cowes Week (1) 500024 Cowes Week (2) 663984 Cowes Week (3) 663985 Cowes Week (4) 663986 Cowes Week (5) 500027 Risky Business (1) Not recorded 502224 Risky Business (2) Not recorded 663992 Risky Business (3) Not recorded 663993 Risky Business (4) Not recorded 663994 Risky Business (5) Not recorded 663995 Scotland (1) 502225 Scotland (2) 663996 Scotland (3) 663997 Scotland (4) 502226 Scotland (5) 502233 The Seaside (1) 502234 The Seaside (2) 663999 The Seaside (3) 664000 The Seaside (4) 502235 St George's Hospital, Tooting (1) 664002 St George's Hospital, Tooting (2) 502237 St George's Hospital, Tooting (3) 664004 St George's Hospital, Tooting (4) 664005 Untitled edition 664006 Untitled edition 664007 Untitled edition 664009 Untitled edition 664010 Untitled edition Not recorded 502241 Gulf (1) 500031 Gulf (2) 500032 Gulf (3) 500033 Gulf (4) 500034 Gulf (5) 500035 Israel (1) 500046 Israel (2) 500049 Israel (3) 502207 Israel (4) 502209 Israel (5) 502210

Late-evening series (1991–1992)

The programme returned on 3 August 1991 in a weekly Saturday late-evening slot, its record annotated "First in the resumed series". Nine editions ran to 28 September 1991, each self-contained and shot in a different location: Las Vegas, Kuwait, Palma de Mallorca, Brighton, Tallinn, Bandera, Texas, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Berlin. The Berlin edition is annotated "In the last of the series". Start times varied between 22:30 and 23:40. The Tokyo edition was transmitted within Channel 4's "A Night in Japan" themed evening.

Two further editions followed outside that run. On 31 December 1991, days after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, an edition reported from Red Square in Moscow on reactions to "their first year of freedom". The final edition covered the 1992 United States presidential election on 3 November 1992, with Andy Kershaw reporting from Little Rock, Arkansas, Shyama Perera from Washington, D.C. and Richard Denton from San Francisco; it continued past midnight into 4 November.

Editions Date Time Network Title Presenter BFI ref TVRDb listing Las Vegas 379591 Kuwait 511789 Palma De Mallorca 511823 Brighton 511772 Tallinn, Estonia 511829 Bandera, Texas 511765 Japan 511777 Hong Kong 511774 Berlin 511771 Moscow 511816 US Presidential Election , , 396499

Awards

In their 1992 Annual report, Channel 4 listed the 'Moscow New Year' edition as having received the award of Best Outside Broadcast

Archive status The BFI National Archive holds material for most editions, in formats including 1-inch videotape, VHS, Betacam SP, Digital Betacam and digital masters. Several editions are recorded as having no material held, including the earliest catalogued edition of 2 January 1990 and the third Israel edition of 19 December 1990. The BFI record for the streets of London block notes that "the Archive acquired 1, 3 & 5" of five editions, and that for the East of England Show block that the "Archive acquired parts 1 & 4 only"; the remaining editions were catalogued separately at a later date. The fourth Cowes Week edition of 9 August 1990 has two BFI work records, one recording held material and one recording none.

A number of editions are available to view in the BFI Southbank Mediatheque.

References

Further reading

External links