In 1981, BBC Video began selling programme content to the general public in a way that hadn't been possible before: prior to this, only audio material on LP record or cassette tape had been sold. Initially, all the main video formats of the day were supported - laserdisc plus the three videotape formats around at the time, VHS, Betamax and V2000 - although not all titles were available on all formats, and some titles had the different formats released at different times.

At the time, the BBC didn't have all the copyright clearances required to release entertainment material on home video, so the early BBC Video releases were restricted to factual material, some of which was specially produced for BBC Video.

Library numbers of early BBC video took the form:
BBCVsnnnF - s representing the series number, running from 1 to 9, nnn the title number in the series, starting at 0, and F being a letter representing the format - L for laserdisc, B for Betamax, and nothing for VHS. I don't know what the code was for V2000, but I'll try to find out.

Later - by 1983, possibly earlier - the format suffix was dropped and the "V" was retained for VHS releases, being replaced by L or B for laser and Beta formats of those catalogue numbers.

This section is all about my collection BBC Video laserdiscs, which I am gradually trying to collect - please click on the picture links above to learn more.

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