BBC broadcasts first sci-fi program - February 11, 1938

On this day in 1938, the BBC broadcast the first known science fiction television program, "R.U.R."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This
Day in History Class, a podcast where we rip out
a page from the history books every day. Today is
February eleven. The day was February eleventh, nineteen thirty eight.

(00:29):
The BBC aired the first known science fiction television program
and adaptation of part of the play Are You Are?
Are You Are stands for Rosslam's Universal Robots. It's a
science fiction play by Check writer kardel Chopic, written in
nineteen and first performed in Prague in ninety one. The

(00:51):
play popularized the word robot, so robots in the play
are not how we think of them today. The word
robot comes from the Check word robots uh, which means
forced labor. The robots in Are You Are are not mechanical.
They are living beings with artificial flesh and blood. Topic
himself was dismayed by the mechanical and chemical weapons used

(01:13):
in World War One, and he did not see the
progression of technology as a holy positive force. In the play,
a scientist named Rawsum figures out how to make artificial people,
and he opens a factory to produce these robots. By
the time the play takes place, these robots are popular
around the world. They are cheap and make production way

(01:36):
less expensive. A man named Doman is the general manager
of Are You Are, the company that makes the robots.
Are You Are wants the robots to replace humans in
the workforce. While the robots at first seem like they
are subject to the whims of humans, they begin to
rebel all over the world. They imprison people and murder

(01:57):
some of the higher upset Are You Are. In the epilogue,
almost all humans have been killed and robots have taken
over the world. The play was popular in Prague, so
it was translated into many languages, including English, and shown
in England and the US. Once the play made it
to the US in ninety two, it had its critics

(02:18):
and fans. But just two years after the BBC started
its regular service of TV broadcasts, the BBC showed a
thirty five minute long adaptation of the play. It aired
on February eleventh, ninety eight, at three pm. It featured
Derek Fond, Harvey Braben, and William Leon Brown. The Radio Times,

(02:40):
a British magazine that provided radio and television listings, said
the play was one that quote should lend itself very
well indeed to television from the point of view of effects.
A ninety minute version of the play was broadcast in
nineteen No known recordings of either program exist. I'm Eve

(03:00):
chef Cote and hopefully you know a little more about
history today than you did it yesterday. If you've seen
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Podcast and you can send your thoughts are comments to
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(03:22):
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