A very thin week for contemporary British history on terrestrial TV and radio. We have a repeat of a BBC4 history of the grammar school (I have included a short review of the first part under the link below) and a Radio 4 profile of the black comedian Charlie Williams, who perhaps broke down barriers by being a black mainstream entertainer (seen as host of The Golden Shot above) while erecting them again with his willingness to pander to racism in his audience.
Details can be found on the TV and Radio page.
British Contemporary History 
Having just watched BBC4’s Grammar Schools: A Secret History, I found it is even worse than I recalled. Although there is some genuflection to these schools being socially divisive with the stories of those who did not pass the scholarship exams or could not afford the hidden costs, on the whole these schools are presented as meritocratic conveyor belts for at least some members of the working class. There is no serious attempt to substantiate this view. Instead we are offered insipid nostalgia vaguely dressed as social history. Inevitably, there is a large amount of such material on the Second World War which has little relevance to grammar schools.
This is sadly typical of BBC4 history output, right-wing opinions supported not by evidence by a sepia wash of nostalgia.