Putting You Through, Caller

Original version

BBC Radio 4 Extra

Factual

14/10/2017

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Putting You Through, Caller

Shaun Ley explores the old-fashioned world of telephone operators.

Shaun Ley uses drama and comedy from the BBC archives to demonstrate how the telephone operator became a valuable dramatic device.

In 1958, the Queen made the first direct trunk telephone call. 

It was the beginning of the end for the female operators known as the 'Hello Girls'.

Telephone operators had connected callers since the earliest days of the telephone, 80 years before. Despite the intimacy of 'phone conversations, subscribers willingly accepted the presence of a third voice on the line.

In this three-hour showcase, Shaun Ley uses drama and comedy from the BBC archives to demonstrate how the telephone operator became a valuable dramatic device.

 With the aid of the recordings from the GPO (General Post Office) and the BT archive, Shaun explores the role of the operator, the strict rules governing their work and some official secrets.

Featuring:  

*    Extracts from 'Liz and Sally' - a 1960s Post Office recruitment film

*    Burn Your Phone - a radio drama by Andrew Wallace

Alan Cumming plays a telephone operator beset by voices, requests and problems. With Jonathan Keeble  
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995
.
*    If You’re Glad, I’ll be Frank - a radio drama by Tom Stoppard
     
What happens when Frank recognises the voice of the GPO speaking clock as that of his long-lost wife?  
Starring Timothy West and Patsy Rowlands
First broadcast on the BBC Third Programme in 1966.    

*    Ballylenon - an extract of the Irish village comedy set in County Donegal

Producer: Adam Bowen 

Made for BBC for Radio 4 Extra and first broadcast in October 2017.

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