Jason Okundaye’s article (My hunt for a missing TV episode – and what it shows about being Black in Britain, 13 May) reflects the concern of many of us who were involved in radical programme-making on UK television in the 1980s and 90s. This is particularly true of programmes on Channel 4, which brought to our screens previously unheard voices from a wide range of perspectives – Black and Asian, lesbian and gay, women and working-class communities. The rich history of the period contained in these programmes is largely invisible precisely for the reasons that Okundaye has identified.
I worked at Channel 4 from 1985 to 1995 in the independent film and video department, commissioning series such as Out on Tuesday (later Out), the first networked series in the UK for and by lesbians and gay men. Programmes like these provide unique cultural and political records, but are often absent from TV histories of the time.
Copies to view are often difficult to track down, and even harder to find for wider public dissemination now. Specific archives relating to programme strands or communities, such as the ukus! collection, are a step in the right direction, but a comprehensive policy for digitised archiving of less mainstream film and TV should be a national cultural priority before all the original tapes under the bed disappear.
Caroline Spry
London
Jason, you’re welcome to travel to Birmingham if you wish to watch VHS tapes on our machine.
Linda Gresham
Birmingham
I think I’m probably feeling as excluded, disempowered and, quite frankly, hurt and as sad as Franklyn Addo must have been until Top Boy won a Bafta (Why are some critics vexed by Top Boy’s Baftas? Because it’s the Britain they don’t want to talk about, 13 May). His lumping together Happy Valley with series such as The Crown is unfair. Happy Valley isn’t simply a showcase for Sarah Lancashire’s wonderful acting – a portrayal of how we, as damaged and flawed human beings, overcome tragedy – but a spotlight on how the towns of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire have become overwhelmed by drugs. Yes, this is another English community ravaged by crime. We are all in this together – point-scoring won’t alleviate our woes.
Desmond Hewitt
Marlborough, Wiltshire
