The 'responsible' woman: the BBC and women's radio 1945-1955

The BBC's women's radio in the British post-war period (1945 – 1955) is still a very much neglected area of historical research, although the BBC after the Second World War continued to produce many talks and programmes that were specifically aimed at women, such as the factual Woman’s Hour (1946) and the fictional Mrs. Dale’s Diary (1948). By building on archival research conducted mainly at the BBC Written Archives Centre, and further work carried out at the Mass Observation Archive, this thesis addresses the production side, as well as the text, and the audience; in a sense a very multifaceted approach. Focus has been laid on women's programmes such as Woman’s Hour and Mrs. Dale’s Diary. But other talks and discussions have also been considered not necessarily with just a focus on women. Throughout the research the editorial process has been of major interest; the thinking behind; the production process. The thesis will demonstrate the importance played by BBC women's programmes in this period but also in the general development of British broadcasting. The thesis also offers a detailed insight into the internal culture of the BBC, and its women's programmes, at a time when questions about culture and taste were surfacing. The thesis will therefore be an original contribution to knowledge to British broadcasting history, but due to its interdisciplinary nature using radio as a 'Historian', this work is further challenging previous assumptions about the post-war housewife, and the perception of the immediate post-war years as a particular stifling and conservative period, with no feminism.