WBBC Jam was an online educational service operated by the BBC from January 2006 to 20 March 2007. The service was available free across the United Kingdom offering multi-media educational resources. Jam was the BBC's provision for the Digital Curriculum, an initiative launched by the British Government to provide computer-based learning in UK schools, and had a budget of £150 million. The service was shut down due to a legal challenge concerning fair trading by the BBC.
WCardiac Arrest is a British medical drama series made by World Productions for BBC1 and first broadcast between 1994 and 1996. The series was controversial owing to its cynical depiction of doctors, nurses, and the National Health Service (NHS), although it has often topped polls of the UK medical profession as the most realistic medical drama of all time.
WIn October 2012, Dame Janet Smith was appointed by the BBC to lead an inquiry into the corporation's connection to the sexual abuse committed by Jimmy Savile, a popular television and radio host. The final report, titled The Dame Janet Smith Review Report, was published on 25 February 2016.
WIn 1997, the BBC soap opera EastEnders broadcast three singular transmissions that were filmed on location in Dublin, Ireland. The episodes involved the Fowler and Beale family travelling from London to Ireland to meet their long-lost relatives. The episodes were badly received by viewers and heavily criticised in the media. The BBC was inundated with complaints from angry viewers from Ireland for negative stereotyping, portraying Irish people as "dirty, rude, and drunk". Complaints were made by the Irish Embassy and there were fears that the episodes would have a negative effect on the Irish tourist trade. The BBC was forced to issue an apology for causing offence.
WGhostwatch is a British reality–horror/pseudo-documentary television film, first broadcast on BBC1 on Halloween night, 1992. Written by Stephen Volk, and directed by Lesley Manning, the drama was produced for the BBC anthology series Screen One by Richard Broke, Ruth Baumgarten and Derek Nelson.
WBBC v Harper Collins (2010) EWHC 2424 was a 2010 case in English law, in which the BBC applied for an injunction to prevent HarperCollins publishing a book by Ben Collins, which was to reveal his identity as the racing driver known as 'The Stig' on the BBC's Top Gear programme.
WJerry Springer: The Opera is a British musical written by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, based on the talk show Jerry Springer. It contains irreverent treatment of Christian themes, extensive profanity, and surreal images, such as a troupe of tap-dancing Ku Klux Klan members.
WBBC v Johns [1965] Ch 32 is a case in UK administrative law.
WMonkey Dust is a British adult animated satirical sketch comedy series created by Harry Thompson and Shaun Pye. The series is characterized by its dark humour, frequent shifts in animation styles, and handling of taboo topics such as bestiality, murder, suicide and paedophilia. Three series were broadcast on BBC Three between 2003 and 2005. Following co-creator Harry Thompson's death, no further series were made.
WMonty Python v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. was a case where the British comedy group Monty Python claimed that the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) had violated their copyright and caused damage to their artistic reputation by broadcasting drastically edited versions of several of their shows. An appeals court found in favor of Monty Python, directing a ban of further broadcasts by ABC on the basis of violation of the Lanham Act, which could provide protection in the United States similar to that provided by moral rights in Europe, and gave the opinion that the group's copyright had probably also been infringed.
WNelson v BBC [1980] ICR 110 is a UK labour law case, concerning unfair dismissal and the role of contributory fault.
WRoss Andrew Parker, from Peterborough, England, UK, was a seventeen-year-old white English male murdered in an unprovoked racially motivated crime. He bled to death after being stabbed, beaten with a hammer, and repeatedly kicked by a gang of British Pakistani men. The incident occurred in Millfield, Peterborough, ten days after the September 11 attacks.
WPopetown is a British adult animated sitcom, billed by its producers as "Father Ted meets South Park". The series was internationally controversial, and was not screened by BBC Three, the channel which commissioned it.
WThe Question Time British National Party controversy occurred in September and October 2009, due to an invitation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party (BNP), to be a panelist on Question Time, one of its flagship television programmes on current affairs.
WThe Radio 1 Madonna controversy was a series of events that occurred as a result of BBC Radio 1's decision not to playlist American singer Madonna's single "Living for Love" in February 2015. Despite receiving moderate airplay from commercial radio in the United Kingdom, the single was not added to Radio 1's playlist, leading to accusations of ageism. The controversy stemmed from an article in the Daily Mail, which quoted an unnamed Radio 1 insider describing Madonna as "old" and "irrelevant". In response, the singer's fans posted numerous requests for the song on Radio 1's social media accounts, and several artists criticized Radio 1's music policy, prompting the station to release a statement defending their decision not to play the track.
WJimmy Savile (1926–2011) was an English media personality who, during his lifetime, was well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentricities and was generally respected for his charitable work. He was knighted in 1990. In late 2012, almost a year after his death, reports surfaced that Savile had sexually abused hundreds of individuals throughout his life, with alleged male and female victims, ranging from prepubescent to adult. Savile often came into contact with these alleged victims through his creative projects for the BBC and his charitable work for the National Health Service.
WSound Effects No. 13 – Death & Horror is an album produced by Mike Harding of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and released in 1977 by BBC Records & Tapes. It is the thirteenth instalment in the label's Sound Effects series and contains over 80 sound effects related to horror and death, so that producers may use them in amateur film and stage productions. Mike Harding and label staff man Ian Richardson picked numerous "classics" from the BBC Effects Library and from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but also created many new sound effects for the album themselves, many of which were created by "mistreating large white cabbages." The effects are arranged throughout the album into six distinct themed sections.
WThe War Game is a 1966 British pseudo-documentary film that depicts a nuclear war and its aftermath. Written, directed and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC, it caused dismay within the BBC and also within government, and was subsequently withdrawn before the provisional screening date of 6 October 1965. The corporation said that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting. It will, however, be shown to invited audiences..."