{{Short description|UK current affairs television programme}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | genre = Documentary and current affairs | director = | editor = Darcus Howe. Tariq Ali | presenter = Darcus Howe, Gita Sahgal and John Buckley | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = | num_episodes = 92 | executive_producer = Greg Lanning, David Cohen, Roger Thomas | runtime = 60 minutes | channel = Channel 4 | first_aired = {{Start date|1985|09|12|df=y}} | last_aired = {{End date|1991|08|13|df=y}} }} '''''Bandung File''''' was a UK series of documentary and current affairs television programmes that aired on Channel 4 between 12 September 1985 and 13 August 1991,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3646052/?ref_=ttfc_ov_bk|title=The Bandung File|publisher=IMDb|access-date=4 February 2026}}</ref> made by Bandung Productions with Darcus Howe and Tariq Ali as joint series editors.<ref name="Screenonline">{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1303360/|title=Bandung File (1985-91)|website=ScreenOnline|publisher=British Film Institute|first=Tise|last=Vahimagi|access-date=4 February 2026}}</ref> Presenters of the show were Howe, Gita Sahgal and John Buckley.<ref name="Screenonline" /> ''Bandung File'' featured topics from an Afro-Asian perspective and with particular relevance to the UK's ethnic minorities.
==Background== ''Bandung File'' was commissioned by Farrukh Dhondy in his role as Commissioning Editor for Multicultural Programming from 1984 to 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://secondsightessays.co.uk/2020/03/11/what-channel-4-had-to-do/|title=What Channel 4 had to do|first=Farrukh|last=Dhondy|website=Second Sight|date=11 March 2020|access-date=4 February 2026}}</ref> The programme's name derived from the 1955 Bandung Conference held in Indonesia, the first large-scale meeting between newly independent Asian and African states.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/final_communique_of_the_asian_african_conference_of_bandung_24_april_1955-en-676237bd-72f7-471f-949a-88b6ae513585.html |title=Final Communiqué of the Asian-African conference of Bandung (24 April 1955) |date=3 January 2017 |format=PDF |publisher=Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe}}</ref><ref name="Guardian Bakare">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/feb/03/tariq-ali-claims-bfi-has-frozen-him-out-of-multicultural-tv-season|title=Tariq Ali claims BFI has frozen him out of multicultural TV season|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Lanre|last=Bakare|date=3 February 2026|access-date=4 February 2026}}</ref>
''Bandung File'' featured news and investigative documentaries from the Third World and the black and Asian populations of Britain, with an Afro-Asian perspective and of particular relevance for Britain's ethnic minorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/columnists/farrukh-dhondy-haiti-is-the-face-of-total-anarchy-why-west-indies-did-not-federate-886167|title=Haiti is the face of total anarchy: Why West Indies did not federate|first=Farrukh|last=Dhondy|website=Deccan Chronicle|date=22 March 2024|access-date=4 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/political-parties-and-ideologies/history/you-cant-please-all-review/|title=You Can’t Please All – review|first=Sheila|last=Rowbotham|author-link=Sheila Rowbotham|website=Red Pepper|date=15 April 2025|access-date=4 February 2026}}</ref>
Tariq Ali has said: "The whole thing about Bandung File is that we did it in a way which unified the West Indian and South Asian communities, while looking outwardly as well; 50% of the viewers were white and 50% non-white, our philosophy was that white people also needed to be educated."<ref name="Guardian Bakare" />
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandung File}} Category:1985 British television series debuts Category:1991 British television series endings Category:1980s British documentary television series Category:1990s British documentary television series Category:Channel 4 documentary series Category:English-language British television shows