Close down of Television service for the duration of the War

On 1 September 1939, with war looking unavoidable, the BBC took steps to prepare for the conflict. Shortly after noon the television service was unceremoniously shut down, following the cartoon Mickey’s Gala Premiere. It was said that the strong signal from the transmitter at Alexandra Palace would provide a navigational aid for enemy aircraft. At the same time the radio service was re-organised, with the National and Regional Services brought into one Home Service. While television remained silent during the war, BBC Radio – after an initial hiccup when the airwaves were filled with organ music - provided a welcome distraction.

Extract from 'Imagine...And then there was Television' first broadcast 2011. Since this edition of Imagine was made, research has found that Mickey's Gala Premier was not cut, but ran to its end. Programmes closed as normal on 1st September 1939, but no closing announcements were made.

Only 20,000 households had television sets, and as television programmes were expensive to produce, it was felt the resources saved could be better used elsewhere during wartime. Fifty engineers were redeployed to work on radar projects.

Television started again on 7 June 1946, with a brief opening ceremony and a repeat of the Mickey Mouse cartoon that preceded the closedown. The post-war television audience was almost non-existent and - although the service was a monopoly – the BBC had to work hard to convince sceptics it could offer an alternative to the radio, which had proved so successful during the war.