A new £3 million gallery opens in Bradford tomorrow devoted to the past, present and future of television and its impact on society and our lives. T&A Reporter Emma Clayton visits Experience TV at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.

It was built from an old tea chest, hat box, knitting needles and part of a bicycle and was held together with string and sealing wax - but it was the world's first working television system.

In January 1926, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird used it to give the first public demonstration of television, using the head of a dummy called Stooky Bill'.

Those flickering 30-line images went on to change the world - and now they are on display in Experience TV which takes visitors on a fascinating journey from the invention of television to current developments.

Also on display are cameras from early mechanical designs through to modern ones tiny enough to fit into cricket stumps.

And there is the first video recorder - which looks like a twin-tub washing machine.

Along the way you can make your own episode of Emmerdale and take a delightful dip into telly nostalgia with the likes of Zippy and George, the Wombles and a Dalek.

Taking up a floor of the museum, the gallery is split into five sections:

  • The Production Zone - where visitors can make TV programmes and appear in front of cameras
  • The Race for TV - looking at the history of television and showcasing early equipment
  • Business Principles - looking at the funding and marketing of TV
  • The Power of TV - focusing on the social, political and cultural side
  • TV Heaven - a nostalgic journey through television, from Muffin the Mule to Big Brother
The Production Zone is the place to head if you want to read the news, direct a soap opera or film a television drama.

It's like being in a proper TV studio, with sets laid out and an array of cameras and lights hanging overhead. A sitting-room set has been created for a drama production which visitors can film or be in themselves.

"People are fascinated by TV studios so we've created a space where visitors can get a taste of working behind the scenes," said Experience TV curator Martin Lenton. "Previously at the museum we had a TV set of Beauty and the Beast, but visitors weren't allowed onto the set. With this one they can walk on and see themselves on screen from different angles."

Opposite is an office layout: a desk and shelves full of files that include original documents from EastEnders and The Bill.

"This is the pre-production space," said Martin. "We want to get across the point that pre and post-production is an important part of making a TV programme. It's not just about the finished product on your telly. You have to do the pre-production before you reach the set and that takes place in offices like this."

The production process takes place in the TV gallery where a vision-mixing desk stands in front of a row of screens, each showing scenes from Yorkshire soap Emmerdale.

"The Emmerdale team has given us scenes specially filmed for the gallery," said Martin. "You can zoom in and cut them to create your own episode."

It's not just TV drama in the Production Zone. In a news studio, visitors can sit in front of a backdrop of Bradford city centre and read the local news, following a recorded link from BBC1 newsreader Huw Edwards.

There's also a virtual studio where a bright blue backdrop is transformed on screen using a technique making it look as though the person in front of camera is somewhere else - from the Teletubbies landscape to Number 10 Downing Street.

"Once something is shot in the studio it doesn't end there," said Martin. "In the post-production area visitors can edit programmes and add soundtracks, to determine a programme's pace and mood."

After production comes transmission. By simply pressing a button marked Web', Terrestrial', Satellite' or Cable' visitors can see how TV travels to homes through different routes. Press Cable' and lights flash through a pipe in the ground, press Terrestrial' and lights go from a transmitter to an aerial on a specially-built domestic roof.

The Race for TV Zone comprises one of the world's biggest collections of televisions, from a 1936 Marconiphone - a huge contraption in a wooden cabinet reflecting a horizontal screen image onto a mirror - to a state-of-the-art Samsung flat screen.

There's a 1970 JVC Videosphere - just 12 inches high and designed to hang on a chain - and a 1950 Bush 22, the kind of set people acquired for the Queen's Coronation in 1953. A selection of cameras includes a BBC TV colour camera used on EastEnders, standing next to a screen showing the last episode it filmed. Screens positioned in front of the TVs enable visitors to find out about each set and the period they're from.

This zone traces the invention and development of television from John Logie Baird's early flickering image of a man's face.

"High definition television (HDT) is nothing new," said John Trenouth, the museum's head of television. "In 1925 Baird produced the first true television', with shades of grey rather than just an outline. That was the breakthrough."

The story of the race for TV, which eventually left Baird penniless and dying in obscurity, is charted through the gallery. A small unit will house temporary exhibitions on changing developments - the first one is on HDTV, provided by Pace Technology in Saltaire, the gallery's technology sponsor.

The power and influence of television remains unmatched by any other 20th century invention and the Power of TV Zone looks at its social impact, while Business Principles explores its funding, scheduling and marketing.

Visitors can see BBC radio and television staff at work (the BBC had supported Experience TV), and a TV advertising section features a showreel of historic and contemporary ads.

There's also a showreel of iconic TV moments - from the September 11 attacks to Gareth Gates losing out to Will Young on Pop Idol - inspiring visitors to recall where they were when they watched them and how they felt. "These are moments we all watched," said Martin.

"They raise questions about how they affect our society, television, opinions and lives."

Walking through TV Heaven is a wonderful journey into the past half-century of children's TV. You'll find such characters as Wallace and Gromit, Gordon the Gopher, the Play School toys and Captain Scarlet.

And you can choose from more than 1,000 programmes, from classic comedies to memorable documentaries, to watch in a new screening room.

"It'll be used by school and adult groups too," said Martin. "The educational value of TV Heaven shows the power television has had on the development of society, politics and programming. It inspires us to think about TV's impact on the society we live in."

Funding for Experience TV has come from Bradford & Bingley, which ploughed £500,000 into it; regional development agency Yorkshire Forward (£900,000); the European Regional Development Fund (£700,000); the Heritage Lottery Fund (£400,000) and the DCMS/Wolfson fund (£200,000).

Mike Hammond, head of corporate social responsibility at Bradford & Bingley, said: "For many people the TV is the box that sits in the corner. We take it for granted and watch a show like Emmerdale without realising that there are hundreds of people working on it.

"This gallery not only shows the science, history and future of TV and how programmes are made, it's also a superb hands-on facility, allowing people to learn more about TV, have a go behind-the-scenes and even go on to become part of the industry themselves."

e-mail: emma.clayton@bradford.newsquest.co.uk