The bfi receives annual grants from ITV, Channel 4 and C5 to record about 25 per cent of their programmes off-air for preservation, and this has built up to form a unique record of TV as it is seen by viewers. TV Acquisitions staff select the programmes to be recorded, following a set of guidelines, and staff at the the Archive's video unit, which is manned from noon to midnight 365 days a year, record the programmes and all linking material on to master tapes, and VHS tapes for access purposes. It's not just serious and heavyweight programming that is recorded either. Although news and current affairs and documentaries are all archived, along with major dramas and comedy series we also preserve those programmes which are popular with viewers, like soaps, and examples of quiz shows, magazine programmes, and daytime television. We also rely heavily on donations of older material from the TV companies, as well as from private individuals, be they collectors and fans of vintage television, or programme makers who entrust us with cherished copies of programmes which they worked on many years ago.
TV holds a very special place in the national consciousness.
Although very few programmes are now able to command the vast audience figures of the past, where the whole country would be united round the TV screen, we are still joined together by our memories of Del Boy and Rodney, Morecambe and Wise, and debates about whether it was cooler to watch Magpie or Blue Peter , or favourite moments on Coronation Street . The TV screen has held a mirror up to the changing face of the British nation, and whether we like what we see or not, the record is there in the archives, waiting for future generations to discover what helped to make them what they are.