Whereas the documentary must distinguish carefully between fact and fiction and have a structure which separates fact from opinion, the feature programme does not have the same formal constraints. Here all possible radio forms meet, poetry, music, voices, sounds – the weird and the wonderful. They combine in an attempt to inform, to move, to entertain or to inspire the listener. The ingredients may be interview or vox pop, drama or discussion and the sum total can be fact or fantasy. A former Head of BBC Features Department, Laurence Gilliam, described the feature programme as ‘a combination of the authenticity of the talk with the dramatic force of a play, but unlike the play, whose business is to create dramatic illusion for its own sake, the business of the feature is to convince the listener of the truth of what it is saying, even though it is saying it in dramatic form’.
It is in this very free and highly creative form that some of the most memorable radio has been made. The possible subject material ranges more widely than the documentary since it embraces even the abstract. A programme on the development of language, a celebration of St Valentine’s day, the characters of Dickens. Even when all the source material is authentic and factually correct, the strength of the feature lies more in its impact on the imagination than in its intellectual truth. Intercut interviews with people who served in the Colonial Service in India mixed with the appropriate sounds can paint a vivid picture of life as it was under the British Raj – not the whole truth, not a carefully rounded and balanced documentary report, it is too wide and complicated a matter to do that in so short a time, but a version of the truth, an impression. The same is true of a programme dealing with a modern hospital, the countryside in summer, the life of Byron, or the romance of the early days of aviation. The feature deals not so much with issues but with events, and at its centre is the ancient art of telling a story.
The production techniques and sequence are the same as for a documentary – statement of intent, planning, research, script, collection of material, assembly, final editing. In a documentary the emphasis is on tire collection of the factual material. Here, the work centres on the writing of the script – a strong story line, clear visual images, the unfolding of a sequence of events with the skill of the dramatist, the handling of known facts but still with a feeling of suspense. Some of the best programmers have come from the producer/writer who can hear the end result begin to come together even as he does his research. It is only through his immersion in the subject that he is qualified to present it to the rest of us. Once again, because of the multiplicity of treatment possible and the indistinct definitions we use to describe them, an explanatory subtitle is often desirable.
‘A personal account of . . .’ ‘An examination of . . .’ ‘The story of . . .’ ‘Some aspects of . . .’ ‘A composition for radio on
