Observations on coverage of VE Day anniversaries

The 80th anniversary of VE Day highlighted the need for the BBC.

It seems strange to think that such a significant moment in national life received scarcely any attention outside of news programmes on other major channels.

BBC One’s schedule was, of course, dominated by coverage of the actual events connected to the anniversary.

Nobody would suggest nowadays that duplication on another channel would serve any worthwhile purpose.

Besides, when events are duplicated – for instance the World Cup or FA Cup finals – the BBC has the lion’s share of the audience.

What is more debatable is the apparent lack of interest in acknowledging such a key moment in other programming.

BBC One ran special editions of programmes such as The One Show, Antiques Roadshow and The Repair Shop. EastEnders also marked the occasion.

Over on ITV 1, topical programmes such as This Morning and Loose Women included VE Day related items.

Does this matter?

Well as veterans dwindle in number and as the war years fade from living memory, it should be a given that it does.

It is important to understand the events which shaped our society – indeed our continent – and important to understand the journey we have been on since then. 

Part of the BBC’s role is to try to bring us together as a society. It is possible to celebrate what brings us together and celebrate our differences.

In an era of fake news – or where people can live in bubbles – that is more important than ever. 

It is interesting to reflect on how both main channels marked the 40th anniversary of peace in Europe in 1985. This was the first time the anniversary was widely celebrated.

There was some special programming on both channels. In particular, BBC One showed a superb Newsnight documentary which featured rare colour film to tell the story of the last year of the war in Europe.

But arguably ITV’s coverage of the anniversary itself was better than the BBC’s. 

To begin, the BBC ran an extended edition of Breakfast Time – then a magazine programme. It attempted to capture the mood of the day and stayed on air until the national service of thanksgiving began at 11.15am – pausing, awkwardly, for Play School which you might have thought could have moved over to BBC Two for the day.

Still this was an appropriate start. 

We don’t know how TV-am marked the anniversary but given the problems facing the company, I doubt if it amounted to much of note. The IBA was seriously concerned about TV-am’s pathetic coverage of the Brighton Bomb six months earlier and was even warning of the risk it could lose its franchise.

But when ITV itself came on the air at 9.25am, the BBC got competition and viewers got s choice. 

Two wartime episodes of Yorkshire’s schools series How We Used to Live were repeated to set the scene.

Both channels covered the service of thanksgiving but ITN and the ITV companies also mounted a special programme taking in events around the UK and Europe.

This included a memorable contribution from the Channel Islands (and Channel TV) which endured German occupation. 9th May is marked there as Liberation Day. 

Highlights were shown too on ITV in the early evening.

The BBC left the day’s events to news programmes, though it showed a crafted documentary looking back on celebrations in 1945.

Both main channels marked the anniversary well but it is arguable that ITV had the edge on the day itself.

That seems unthinkable now.

But it is a reminder that the public was once served by two mainstream public service broadcasters.

ITV then was more than a commercial channel with specific regulatory requirements. 

And the extent of coverage surely meant there were few who were oblivious to the occasion. 

Acknowledgements