The BBC at the Watershed

In the wake of the attempted assassination of Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, then head of the civil service in Northern Ireland, on September 11, 1988, Margaret Thatcher issued a gag order and broadcasting ban in order to prevent Gerry Adams and the IRA from carrying out plans to warn all other civil service “collaborators” that they were under threat. Though he did not advocate the ban, that moment unexpectedly marked Kenneth Bloomfield’s first major role in the contemporary history of the BBC—an organization for which he would eventually serve in several positions, including as chair of the Northern Ireland Broadcasting Council from 1991 to 1999. This fascinating account of Bloomfield’s tenure at the BBC captures a period of uncertainty and change, accompanied by Bloomfield’s own rich remembrances of the entire period—a volume not to be missed by anyone with an interest in popular media and political history.