主播大秀

Twenty years after the launch of the 主播大秀’s helplines, 主播大秀 programmes, and drama in particular, have had a significant impact in encouraging people to seek help for a wide range of problems, such as domestic abuse, debt, and mental health issues. More than 1 million people have sought help via the and its online support webpages since 2012.

Part of the 主播大秀’s public service role is to report on difficult issues and how they affect people’s lives. Sometimes we dramatise them, showing the dilemmas they can raise in realistic situations, to bring them to wider public attention. Seeing how alcoholism or debt can affect people and families, either fictionally or for real, doesn’t just help explain the experience but also explores some challenges which face us all.

It can also share and demystify the experiences and show how other people survive them, or at least kindle an awakening that others have been through this too, that we are not the first to face or fear them alone when crises strike.

Bringing real issues to life on-air engages the interest and concern of viewers and listeners. It ranges from Radio 1’s weekly The Surgery to dementia as dramatised in Holby City, or the experience of having a stroke in EastEnders. Or it can be initiatives such as 主播大秀 Three’s recent Mental Health season, and of course the regular investigative journalism of 主播大秀 News and programmes as Panorama.

Our programmes and producers cover these topics, day in and day out, as a regular part of the 主播大秀’s work. Indeed many other radio or TV channels just don’t explore such difficult issues in their output, often it’s not their commercial model. It can make for very uncomfortable listening or viewing. And it can really touch a nerve if you’re affected, so you may need confidential help. How do we support you when that happens?

When I was a producer, in pre-internet days we produced written ‘factsheets’ with information about organisations we’d liaised with and checked according to our criteria. We’d end the programme by inviting you to send us a stamped addressed envelope for more information.

Every week, the wonderful Alice in our team devoted a whole day to despatching hundreds of them to those who didn’t just need more information, but wanted desperately to know how to get more help and support. It worked, but took time and in truth was a bit ramshackle – but it was all we could do.

By 1995 the developing call centre industry had reached a stage where 主播大秀 Radio stations could launch their new Radio Helplines. You could suddenly get such information far more quickly, still confidentially. But it was an expensive investment for the licence fee to support.

Besides, if hundreds of people called at once, you might have to call again later. And if it was a particularly sensitive subject, you might need to use the callbox round the corner. For example if you suffered from domestic violence you didn’t want your partner overhearing or scrutinising the phone bill.

Twenty years on, everything is transformed by the internet and other changes in technology. You can watch or hear our programmes for 30 days if you missed the details, or look it up on our  and hide your browsing history. If you don’t have internet access you can call free anytime 24/7 to hear our recorded information – now even when hundreds of others are calling at the same time. And do so anonymously using your own mobile phone.

All this means that for far less money we now regularly help thousands more people more quickly and safely than we ever could in the days of Alice and her stuffed envelopes or the helplines. In 2014-15, over 385,000 people used us to get information or find out about organisations which could help further.

Twenty years on this is a very significant public service for us, reaching many thousands of people. But there’s more to it. It’s also a partnership between the 主播大秀, its audiences and the voluntary and public sector.

We are not a helpline, but . We provide details of charities and other organisations which meet our criteria and are willing to offer specialist support, information or guidance – quite confidentially. By doing so we also help organisations reach the very people they exist to help.

Those people may later also volunteer if they want, using their experience to help others. In effect it’s a three-way partnership which can help bring organisations and people together.

Whatever the topic may be, today the off-air 主播大秀 Action Line supports hundreds of thousands of people, as the figures on this page demonstrate.

I hope you’ll be informed and sometimes moved by the topics we raise in our programmes, but not experience some of the issues we uncover. Although if you ever do need support, the Action Line information is there online or to listen to - 24 hours a day. 

Keith Jones is Head of Communications & Complaints, 主播大秀 Audience Services.