The Essay

The historian of broadcasting, David Hendy, explores the ways in which the electronic media have shaped the modern mind. Two seminal TV programmes: the American drama Marty, broadcast in 1953, and the BBC's Face-to-Face, from 1960, used unflinching close-ups to reveal human beings as flawed individuals. Did they make us more compassionate - or just more obsessed with the private lives of others? Producer Matt Thompson.