The BBC is launching a new searchable Programme Index with details of almost 100 years of TV and radio programmes.
Programme Index builds on the corporation’s BBC Genome project, and can be used to browse nearly 10 million network and regional BBC radio and TV listings, including scans of the earliest Radio Times magazines, and search more than 200,000 programmes available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.
According to Susannah Stevens, senior journalist with the BBC’s Archive Editorial department, one of the challenges of adding the new rich data has been how to show it alongside the BBC Genome data. “It has taken time and we’ve thought carefully about how to show the extent of the new listings without undermining the structure of our existing listings,” she said.
“For those who have already used BBC Genome, you will find that all the functionality and features remain intact, but we now have a more sophisticated search function and more ways of searching across the two data sets.”
New search filters enable users to either include or exclude specific genres, brands, channels and contributors from searches – using a simple toggle button in the shape of an eye.
Stevens said that the next phase of the project will further enrich the existing data with more items from the BBC Archive. “We have plans to fill in the first year of the BBC’s broadcast history, which pre-dates both PIPs and the Radio Times magazine, as well as filling in the schedules where there are currently gaps,” she added.
Programme Index is available to use here.
