Grace Wyndham Goldie at the BBC: Reappraising the ‘first lady of television’

Abstract

This working paper explores the significance of the work of the assistant head of BBC Television Talks and Features, Grace Wyndham Goldie, in the development of current affairs and documentary television which took place at the BBC in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Wyndham Goldie was central to these processes. She was passionately committed to the creation of a ‘neutral’ current affairs television, built upon the veracity of the live image. This same passion was not evident in her attitude to the production of documentary television, and she disdained the carefully crafted process of documentary filmmaking. Notably, while Wyndham Goldie was one of a very few women to reach the top of the BBC management ladder, she offered limited encouragement and support to other women working at the corporation.