{{Short description|BBC arts programme (1958-1965)}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox television | country = United Kingdom | network = BBC | first_aired = {{Start date|1958|02|02|df=yes}} | last_aired = {{End date|1965||}} }}
'''''Monitor''''' is a British arts television programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 on BBC and ran until 1965.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p013h1s5 |title=BBC One - Monitor, 02/02/1958 |website=BBC}}</ref>
==History== Huw Wheldon was the editor from 1958 to 1962. He was also the principal interviewer and anchor until 1964.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/473425/ |title=BFI Screenonline: Wheldon, Sir Huw (1916-1986) Biography |website=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> Wheldon set about moulding a team of talents, including W. G. Archer, Melvyn Bragg, Humphrey Burton, John Berger, Patrick Garland, Peter Newington, Ken Russell, John Schlesinger, Nancy Thomas, and Alan Tyrer.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news |first=Anne |last=James |title=Nancy Thomas obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/15/nancy-thomas |work=The Guardian |date=15 January 2015|access-date=24 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="TNA">{{cite web |title= Correspondence about the making of the BBC Monitor film on Avinash Chandra |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/6e2c5723-12a6-4615-b001-819a567ba4fd |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref> ''Monitor'' ranged in subject over all the arts.
The role as editor of the series was passed to Humphrey Burton in July 1962, lasting a year. He was succeeded by David Jones who had worked on the series since the beginning.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/david-jones-theatre-television-and-film-director-bqd7wt527ng |title=David Jones: theatre, television and film director |work=The Times |date=24 September 2008 |access-date=29 November 2020}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
The hundredth programme, made in 1962, was a film directed by Ken Russell and written by Wheldon, the celebrated ''Elgar''.<ref name=elgarscreenonline>{{Cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/482790/index.html |title=BFI Screenonline: Elgar (1962) |website=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> The ''Elgar'' film was innovative because it was the first time that an arts programme showed one long film about an artistic figure instead of short items, and it was the first time that re-enactments were used.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/november/monitor-elgar |title=Monitor - Elgar by Ken Russell |website=www.bbc.com}}</ref> Before this, only photos or location shots had been used in programmes. Russell, however, still met resistance from Wheldon in allowing actors to play the subjects of his films.<ref name=elgarscreenonline/> The ''Elgar'' film includes sequences of the young composer riding his bicycle on the Malvern Hills accompanied by Elgar's ''Introduction & Allegro for Strings''. Russell had a particular empathy with Elgar's music because, like the composer, he was a Catholic.<ref>''BBC Music Magazine'', June 2007.</ref>
Wheldon's ''Monitor'' lasted until he had "interviewed everyone [he was] interested in interviewing", and he was succeeded by Jonathan Miller for the series' last season in 1964/65.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/468508/index.html |title=BFI Screenonline: Miller, Jonathan (1934) Biography |website=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> Miller was both presenter and editor.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b746d98c9 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309065711/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b746d98c9 |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 March 2016 |title=Monitor[15/12/64] (1964) |website=BFI}}</ref>
The theme tune was "Marcia" from ''Serenade for String Orchestra'' (Op. 11, 1937) by Dag Wirén.<ref>{{cite web |title=British 1950s TV and Radio |url=http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/adults/other/british.htm |website=www.whirligig-tv.co.uk |access-date=25 December 2023}}</ref> The book ''Monitor: An Anthology'', edited by Huw Wheldon, was published by Macdonald in 1962.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6l2DwAAQBAJ&q=Monitor%3A+An+Anthology%27%27%2C+edited+by+Huw+Wheldon&pg=PA265 |title = A Writer of Our Time: The Life and Work of John Berger|isbn = 9781786637420 |last1 = Sperling|first1 = Joshua |year = 2018}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{BBC programme}} * {{IMDb title|tt0259792|Monitor}} * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/britaininabox/pip/gn1z9/ Britain in a Box: Art for Art's Sake]
Category:BBC television documentaries Category:1958 British television series debuts Category:1965 British television series endings Category:1950s British documentary television series Category:1960s British documentary television series