Jason Okundaye highlights the difficulties in researching Black British history and particularly archive television material in our supposed “age of digital plenty” (My hunt for a missing TV episode – and what it shows about being Black in Britain, 13 May). He kindly mentions the BFI’s Black Britain on Film collection, which is available online. This collection shows a small selection from the BFI National Archive and UK partner archives related to 20th-century Black British history, and there is much more to discover offline.
The programme discussed in the article, Blackout, is available to view for free in the BFI Southbank Mediatheque in London, along with other editions from the series The Black Bag (1991). These were recorded from original Channel 4 broadcasts and are preserved in the BFI National Archive. Work is ongoing to digitise these historical videotape collections.
