One Hundred Years of Television
This year’s themed publication is titled One Hundred Years of Television and our academic scholars have been busy delving into all that this entails.
2025 marks one hundred years since the first television image was transmitted by Scottish inventor, John Logie Baird. The first television picture was a greyscale image featuring the head of a ventriloquist’s dummy nicknamed ‘Stooky Bill’. Later, Baird fetched office worker William Edward Taynton to demonstrate how a human face would look in the same picture: Taynton became the first person to be televised.
Needless to say, with the variety of media that television encompasses in the 21st Century – from Smart TVs to phone screens; VR headsets to games consoles – Baird could scarcely imagine the advancements made since Stooky Bill was televised one hundred years ago.
For most of us television is ubiquitous. It is a significant aspect of daily life, with morning news providing a start to the day, daytime television guaranteeing its audience a light-hearted sojourn through hordes of antiques, Netflix offering the newest bingeable drama – even the guilty pleasure of addictive reality TV delivers endless escapism.
The 21st Century has been described as ‘The Golden Age of Television’, largely resulting from significant advances in media distribution technology and streaming services, which ensure a wide – and high-quality – range of content for audiences to enjoy.
With recent instalments of so-called ‘modern classics’ such as The Wire, Game of Thrones, and Breaking Bad scooping Emmy awards left, right, and centre, it is little wonder that television is beginning to become the prevalent medium for large-scale adaptations, rather than the traditional choice of film. Television simply provides wider scope for detail, and its episodic approach builds anticipation from viewers, guaranteeing viewing numbers.
The popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, and Prime Video have demonstrated the willingness of modern viewers to invest in a series through ‘binge-watching’, and with the variety of genres on offer – from comedies to documentaries, thrillers to musicals, period dramas to science fiction – the choice is endless.
Like the myriad themes that encapsulate modern television, our scholars’ offerings are diverse, allowing each pupil to find their own interest within ‘Television’.
Articles will be published in batches on this page over the rest of the academic year. At the end of the project, a final publication will be created to sit alongside our other pupil publications on the College website.
We hope you enjoy the breadth and depth of these articles, and that they reflect the passion and dedication of our pupils and their ability to question even the most ordinary of media.