The Secret Story of the BBC Christmas Tapes

In 1978 the BBC Christmas party had a secret tape of bloopers, mistakes and outtakes. It was compiled by the VideoTape editors in BBC television centre. It was only for the eyes of BBC employees.

For the following year, the VT editors went a bit more outlandish. Word had leaked to the press that a member of the Royal family was being lampooned. Some special clips were made especially for the Christmas party.

I first saw some of these outtakes on Noel Edmonds The Late Late Breakfast Show. I did not know it at the time, Noel knew of these clips and realised there were laughs in these bloopers and put them out there.

The secret tapes were made until 1998, some of the them were a bit rude. A few of the sketches were maybe prophetic. A mock John Birt dressed up as Davros who bought market forces to the BBC. In effect it was his reforms that led to the end of the secret BBC tapes. BBC television centre started to make less and less programmes, hardly any drama and eventually the BBC left the building.

This was an interesting and informative program. It was fun and the tapes mirrored the changing landscape of broadcasting as the years went by. An era that went from the hands of the creative types to the bean counters.