About BBC World Service

BBC World Service is an international news service available on radio, television and online. It provides impartial news reports and analysis in English and 27 other languages.

Please tell us what you think of our programmes by emailing worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk

How BBC World Service is Funded

BBC World Service has been funded by the Licence Fee since 1 April, 2014.

This was agreed as part of the UK government's Spending Review in October 2010. Previously, the BBC World Service was funded by a Grant-in-Aid from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

How BBC World Service is Run

BBC World Service is part of BBC World Service Group headed by Mary Hockaday.

The BBC World Service Group includes the BBC World Service, BBC Global News Ltd (which comprises the BBC World News Television Channel and bbc.com/news), BBC Monitoring and BBC Media Action (the BBC's international development charity).

Our Partners

The BBC World Service is available through a range of radio, TV and online outlets. These relationships enable the BBC to offer a selection of its content to a wider audience. Click here to find partners that carry BBC World Service content in English.

The BBC World Service seeks to work with trusted and high quality providers across the world. For further information on becoming a BBC affiliate please contact us.

What is the BBC World Service Digital Archive Project?

Before the World Service moved out of its old headquarters, Bush House, thousands of tapes were digitised. The BBC World Service Digital Archive Project aims to put around 24,000 of these digitised programmes onto the website.

Archive Contact Information

Many programmes restored as part of the World Service Digital archive project belong to series which are no longer broadcast, and as such any postal or email addresses, or any other contact details read out during the programme are no longer relevant and your query will not be dealt with. If you wish to contact the BBC, please email us. 

Archive Competitions

All competitions mentioned in archive programmes are now closed. Please do not try to enter via any method referenced in the programme, your entry will not count and you may incur a charge in attempting to do so.

Why are there some programmes with out-of-date views on the site?

Both contributor opinions and broadcasting standards have changed over time. The world has changed and the archive reflects how things were seen at the time, both in terms of language and depiction of society.

The language used throughout the archive reflects the tastes and standards at the time of original broadcast, and some of it may not be acceptable now. However, our broadcasts are a record of the BBC's history and as such, it is of historical and cultural interest, which the BBC has not sought to rewrite.

Audio from the BBC World Service archive should be listened to in the context of the past, remembering that it reflects the attitudes and standards of its time - not those of today.

Why does the archive stop in June 2008?

In June 2008 the BBC World Service began to make programmes available online in their current format.

What audio has been made available from the archive?

Not all audio has been restored as part of the BBC World Service archive project. A few programmes have been found and restored from the 1970s and 1980s, a more significant number of programmes from the 1990s and 2000s have been made available.

What is not included in the archive?

Some programmes have not been included for technical reasons - for example the main reason that programmes have not been restored is that the magnetic audio tapes on which programmes were recorded were reused or lost. Other programmes have not been included for legal reasons, and some audio has not been made available for other privacy or editorial policy reasons.

Do you have something to add to the programme information?

Do you know something about a programme that we do not? Can you identify contributors featured in a programme? You can also let us know whether a programme was actually broadcast as scheduled, or share any additional information you have about a programme.

Please email us, it would be great to hear from you. We will not share any contact details or personal information.

Have we got something wrong?

We would very much like to hear from you to let us know about any errors, gaps or anomalies by contacting us, because it helps us make sure we are picking up all the problems. Please email us. We will not share any contact details or personal information.

Are the broadcast times accurate?

Not always, no. The dates on programmes have come from the original audio tape label - these dates may have been a broadcast date, or equally, may have been the date a programme was recorded.

Schedules then, as now, were subject to change. In the early years of BBC broadcasting, technical breakdowns, as well as other difficulties, prompted changes to the published schedule. Throughout the BBC's broadcast history, changes in live broadcasts and major world events have meant that programme details did not always remain accurate. The scheduling of programmes on BBC World Service, for different time zones means that identifying a date of broadcast can be difficult.

You can let us know about accurate broadcast dates by emailing us.

How can I complain about something in the archive?

If you would like to make a complaint, please fill in the form on this page.

Contact BBC World Service

If you would like to make a complaint about any BBC World Service output, please fill in this form.

For general comments, you can contact us by email, or on Facebook or Twitter.

You can tell us what you think of BBC World Service programmes by getting in touch with the radio show Over To You.

You can also help shape the future of international BBC programmes by joining the BBC Global Minds online discussion forum.

Or you could write to us at:

BBC World Service,

Audience Relations Team,

1st Floor Brock House,

19 Langham Street,

London

W1A 1AA