It was silly. It was addictive. For decades, millions of kids would gaze at the same people and laugh at the same jokes at the same time. How did children’s TV shape their minds? And what will it look like in a world of unlimited digital content? Ros Taylor talks to Anna Home, who joined the BBC in the 1950s, and screenwriters Chitro Soundar and Angela Salt. Anna Home was an English TV producer and executive and is the chair of the Children’s Media Foundation. She is the author of Into the Box of Delights: A History of Children’s Television. Chitra Soundar is the author of Nikhil & Jay and a writer for children’s books, TV and theatre. Angela Salt is a screenwriter for international children’s TV. Herbert Morrison was speaking in the Commons in 1952 about the BBC charter. The BFI and the Science and Media Museum have useful resources on early kids’ TV. This is the first episode of Play School. Episodes of Grange Hill, Jackanory, Basil Brush, Thunderbirds and many other series are available on YouTube. The BBC interviewed people about Grange Hill in 1980.
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An announcement, and a request
More Jam Tomorrow is taking a two-episode break. We'll be back in less than a month, on 28th August. In the meantime, I have one big ask. Please let me know if you would support a fifth series of Jam. Just go to morejamtomorrow.com and hit the link at the top of the page that says "Have Your Say on Series 5." Or just click here: https://tally.so/r/wv85Xd See you on 28th August, when we'll be back with episode eight.
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Fish
Pound for pound, fish is small fry for the British economy – but it has long been vital to our sense of sovereignty. From skirmishes with Dutch boats to the Cod Wars and Brexit, Ros Taylor finds out why fish matter so much to us. Maritime historian Richard Blakemore and marine biologist Bryce Stewart join the show. Richard Blakemore is an Associate Professor in social and maritime history at the University of Reading. He’s the author of Enemies of All: The Rise and Fall of the Golden Age of Piracy, published by Pegasus Books. Bryce Stewart is a senior research fellow at the Marine Biological Association. Voiceovers are by Seth Thévoz. The MPs quoted are James Johnson (Kingston-upon-Hull West), Patrick Wall (Haltemprice) and John Prescott (Kingston-upon-Hull East). The extract from the Shipping Forecast is from a five-hour YouTube compilation. I drew on The fishing industry (Commons Library), The Cod Wars Explained (Imperial War Museum), Rethinking Sovereignty and Security at the Maritime Frontier (Coventry University), Fisheries Management in United Kingdom Waters After Brexit (Robin Churchill), Eaux britanniques: les poissons de la discorde (France Culture), and The Sovereignty of the Sea (T W Fulton). MORE JAM TOMORROW was written and presented by Ros Taylor. The producer was David Turnbull. Music was by Dubstar. MORE JAM TOMORROW is a KTC production.
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37:59
Servants
“No matter how hard you work or how capable you are, you can't do it all yourself. You have to seek reliable help.” Those were Margaret Thatcher’s words in 1990. Who are the ‘help’? How did they enable women to have successful careers? Ros Taylor talks to Lucy Delap and Emma Casey about how the servant died out after the two world wars – but domestic help never went away. Lucy Delap is Professor in Modern British and Gender History at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Knowing Their Place: Domestic Service in Twentieth Century Britain. Emma Casey is the author of The Return of the Housewife: Why Women are Still Cleaning Up. She is a reader in sociology at the University of York. Voiceovers were by Seth Thévoz. The Hoover ad (1987) is at The Laundry Lab YouTube channel. The Findus Crispy Pancakes ad is part of a YouTube compilation. I drew on Lucy Delap’s ‘Yes ma’am: domestic workers and employment rights’, Mistress and Maid at the Wiener Holocaust Library, Helen McCarthy’s chapter on feminism, family and work in The Neoliberal Age: Britain since the 1970s (UCL Press, 2021), Margaret Thatcher’s Pankhurst Lecture (1990), Silvia Federici’s Wages Against Housework (1974), and the University of Aberystwyth’s Domestics - Refugees from National Socialism in Germany.
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Cannabis
Cannabis. It’s illegal in the UK without a prescription – and despite decriminalisation abroad, it’s likely to stay that way. When did people start smoking cannabis in Britain? Why is the law against it so patchily enforced — but apparently impossible to repeal? Ros Taylor talks to Prof Toby Seddon and former stoner Ian Dunt about the weed. Keep More Jam Tomorrow going by contributing to our tip jar at Ko-fi. Sweet. Toby Seddon is Professor of Social Science, head of the UCL Social Research Unit and the author of Rethinking Drug Laws: theory, history, politics (Oxford University Press). Ian Dunt is a journalist and author. Audio clips are from This Week: Cannabis (1967), Hyde Park London Pot Rally and Keir Starmer interviewed by ITV. The politicians’ speeches voiced by Seth Thévoz can be found in Hansard. I drew on the 2024 Crime Survey, extracts from Dope Girls: the birth of the British drug underground by Marek Kohn, figures on drug seizures, the Irish National Drugs Library, The cannabis class: what happened when the legal status of cannabis was reclassified (Ian Hamilton) and the London Literary Society’s blog on Colin Macinnes. Getty has pictures of people dancing at the Paramount Dance Hall in 1949.
From teeth to Trident — post-war British history as you've never heard it before.
In each episode, Ros Taylor delves into the truth about how our lives changed after World War Two — and what it means for politics now.
Now independent, this is the sequel to the hit "Jam Tomorrow" podcast.
UK