Abstract

The paper analyses the brief star presence of Jennifer Gay as the face of early BBC children’s television and bridge to the child audience as in-vision continuity announcer from 1948-1952. This period of BBC children’s television history is largely a footnote in the standard histories of the department, as scholarly and industry emphases are focused on the stewardship of Freda Lingstrom, who took over the role from the acting Head, Cecil Madden in June 1951. Drawing on material from Left Staff and artist files, internal memoranda, and policy reports from the BBC Written Archives as well as press articles, this paper looks at how Gay was crafted, in particular by Madden, into a television personality; a status that was underpinned by the Corporation putting her under contract. Putting her under contract, and the debate this generated within BBC middle and senior management and administrative ranks indicated the complexities involved, due to the legal and ideological construction of childhood as one defined by schooling rather than by employment. More specifically to internal politics, this debate demonstrated the Corporation’s continuing unease with the linkage of its public service broadcasting duties and remit to notions of fame, particularly when embodied by the female child. The presence of Gay and two other female child in-vision announcers in a lesser capacity, Janette Scott and Elizabeth Cruft, as guides, mediators and representatives of the child-on-screen will be analysed, in what will be argued to be the context of a wider cultural relevance of the ‘girl’ and constructions of girlhood in post-war Britain.