House of Lords Marks 40 Years of TV Cameras Bringing Peers’ Parliamentary Debates to the Public

On 23 January 1985, its proceedings were televised for the first time. Former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, so-called ‘Supermac’ who was ennobled in 1984 as the Earl of Stockton, spoke without notes, aged 90, as “a very new boy in your Lordships' House”. Lord Stockton, who served in both World Wars, was said by commentators to have “stolen the show”. A Hansard transcription of the debate on the economy, broadcast on BBC1, is here.

The following four decades have seen many memorable Lords moments - while the most-watched event remains the State Opening, the formal start of the parliamentary year. The monarch delivers a speech from the Lords, and the event is watched around the world.

Lord McFall of Alcluith, the Lord Speaker, said: “The House of Lords is often the first to break new ground and embrace the latest technologies. This includes being the first chamber of the UK Parliament to allow TV cameras to broadcast our proceedings back in January 1985, almost five years before the Commons.

“Transparency and accountability are a crucial part of how we operate, and it’s important that everything that happens here, from debates on major legislation and scrutiny of Government ministers through to State Opening, is available for the public to watch and listen back on demand.”

The Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit (PBU) will be showcasing its team's work behind the camera and publishing archive material that reveals the lesser-known history of broadcasting across Parliament. Michael MacFarlane, PBU Director, said: "The House of Lords broadcast anniversary is one of several in the evolution of Parliamentary broadcasting - a process which spans many decades, societal shifts and technological advancements. We look forward to sharing some of the lesser-known, and lesser-seen, moments over the coming months."

Apart from TV and radio, the House of Lords is available online at parliamentlive.tv with regular livestreams on YouTube. It is active across social media including on X, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Details of how to follow, and get involved with, the online conversation about the work of the House of Lords, are here.

The Lords also has a Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast, where Members are interviewed by the Lord Speaker about momentous events in their lives. Interviewees have included Lord Dubs, recalling his arrival to the UK from occupied Prague in 1939 aged six on the kindertransport train, and Lord Sedwill being held at gunpoint trying to gain access to one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces as a UN Weapons Inspector. The insightful podcast frequently makes news headlines.

The Lords led the way on televising Parliament on 8 December 1983 by voting in favour of a television experiment. Lord Soames, a former Leader of the Lords, explained that while in the 1960s colour television was in its infancy, by the 1980s it had become the "most important and influential medium of communication - and certainly not one to be ignored if we wish attention to be paid by the general public to our business in this House". While the House of Commons was televised nearly five years after the Lords, its debates had been broadcast on radio before the Lords’ TV debut.