BBC iPlayer launches new “From the Archive” category
David Farnor | On 26, Sep 2017
BBC iPlayer is launching a new “From the Archive” category, adding hundreds of old BBC programmes to the streaming platform.
Content is key to the success of a streaming service, and with exclusives becoming more common in the war for viewer attention, the Beeb has a whole back catalogue of original shows to delve into. Now, that catalogue is being unleashed, with the “From the Archive” section giving users access to 450 shows from the BBC’s vast archives.
Highlights include Louis Theroux UFOs from his Weird Weekend series, Leaving The Cult from the Storyville strand and the full series of Killing For Love.
The BBC plans to add more titles in the coming years, ranging from 1946 to present day. It will feature footage which hasn’t been shown since first broadcast, including collections such as the Great War Interviews, a series of interviews with World War I veterans and civilians filmed in the 1960s. Until now, many of these programmes were only available to watch on the BBC’s website. Today’s launch brings them to viewers on computers, the BBC iPlayer mobile and tablet apps and on connected TVs.
BBC documentary strands such as Horizon, Storyville and Imagine will be available, alongside popular classics and programmes from legendary BBC stars, including Parkinson, Frost, Attenborough and Wogan. It will also include interviews from sport icons and artists, such as Muhammad Ali, Alex Higgins, Henry Moore and Salvador Dali, as well as profiles on historical figures, such as Martin Luther King, Orson Welles and Paul Getty.
Dan McGolpin, Controller, Programming & Daytime, says: “For millions of people, BBC iPlayer is a reliable place for finding something good to watch whenever they choose to look. It will now provide an even richer choice of quality BBC programmes with this new category, From The Archive, making available hundreds of gems from the past including some historic documentary series and interviews with cultural and sporting icons.”