''Children Calling Home'' was an English-language radio programme, with the first episode on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

, 25 December 1940 as a collaboration between the United Kingdom's

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Home Service Home Service is a British folk rock group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album ''Alright Jack'', and has had a ...

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

of Canada, and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

of the United States, and broadcast simultaneously in all three countries. The following day, an episode made by the BBC in collaboration with the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

, the New Zealand Broadcasting Service and the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

, was broadcast simultaneously in all four of their countries. The presenter for the BBC was Roy Rich; their producer was Enid Maxwell. The programme allowed children evacuated to the host countries from the UK, due to bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, to talk with their parents. The series continued, with various permutations of the involved networks, until at least 31 May 1944. The journalist

Mark Lawson Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme '' Front Row'' between 1998 and 2014. He is also a '' Guardian'' ...

identifies it as the first example of co-production.

References

{{Reflist

External links

25 December 1942 episode
in the BBC archives. Featuring children in New York, Capetown and Toronto.
1941 newsreel footage
from

Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as "British Pathé". I ...

, showing guests in the radio studio. BBC Home Service programmes CBC Radio programs NBC radio programs 1940 radio programme debuts ABC radio programs New Zealand radio programmes South African radio programs 1944 radio programme endings English-language radio programs Home front during World War II Children's radio programs 1940s Canadian radio programs 1940s American radio programs 1940s British radio programmes