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In 1963, an unknown schoolteacher with a strong Christian faith began campaigning for higher moral standards from the broadcasting services.

Her ‘Clean up TV’ campaigns gathered huge support from like-minded viewers and listeners who were appalled by the unedifying content that was often channelled into living rooms during the earlier part of the evening when families were having tea. 500,000 signed her petition to the Queen, a record number at the time, all of whom believed in a Christian way of life, wanting to protect their children from the ‘disbelief, doubt and dirt that is poured into our homes by TV’.

Watershed

It is hard to pinpoint her victories, but she certainly brought the issue of the need for censorship to the government’s attention and laid the blame for the immoral output at their door. The actress Julie Walters, who played Whitehouse in BBC2’s recent dramatisation of her ‘Clean up TV’ campaign made a point of finding out more about her: ‘We have a watershed because of her and it was she who started to lobby about child pornography. At the time people were going: “No, there is no such thing, is there?” All that sort of thing was swept under the carpet and kept in the dark.’

The BBC drama drew almost three million viewers, well above the average of 1.7m for a BBC2 programme. Given that, until now, any reference to her has been almost entirely negative, the programme was, on the surface, surprisingly sympathetic. Here was a woman with high morals who wanted to defend and protect not only her own children but every other child in the nation. She is shown trusting God to provide for her when she leaves her job and loses her pension in order to run the campaign full-time. She is prepared to stick her neck out in a way that brings ridicule and contempt on her even though it means enduring gross and offensive caricatures of her personally.

Right after all

Dramatic differences are shown between the homely, no-nonsense resolve of Whitehouse and the bullish, lecherous behaviour of Sir Hugh Greene, the Director General of the BBC. When he quits his job, purportedly because of the pressure that Whitehouse put on him, it seems as though he is the sleaze that the corporation is well shot of. Yet, as James Walton has reported in the Daily Telegraph, Greene is recognised throughout the media world as the great liberal hero of 60s mythology, one who moved the BBC on from the ‘ivory towered stuffiness’ of Lord Reith’s moral vision to become something ‘more revolutionary’, something ‘more distinctive and controversial’.

There are many who are asking themselves, ‘Was Mary Whitehouse actually right after all?’ Julie Walters has said that, although she came away from the project feeling that Whitehouse was genuine, rather than just a busybody, she still thinks she was wrong. Rather than trying to improve the morality of a nation and restrict free speech, she says, she should have accepted that art simply reflects life, rather than the other way around.

A bit na•ve

The Filth script gave plenty of indication that, although she was a noble and genuine woman who was unjustly maligned, she was still na•ve to the real world. She tells the Postmaster General that the entire nation is not like swinging London, yet, throughout the shots of Whitehouse striding along the paths of her country village, there are clandestine goings on which she seems utterly oblivious to, not least the disrobed male couple in the woods to whom she cheerfully shouts, ‘Hello Colin and Alan! Nature study? Well done!’ There are shots of phallic-looking artwork that her students have submitted and many other subtle but knowing nods within the script to indicate that she didn’t quite get it. The message is clear; she didn’t really understand how the world works.

Challenging

Yet Mary Whitehouse is a very challenging figure to Christians today. Her Association has been renamed mediawatch-uk and its website, with an enduring Christian ethos, continues to be active in identifying areas within the media that need to be challenged.

So much has changed in the world of censorship, with watersheds and restrictions, as well as the regulatory bodies necessary to enforce them. Yet pressure groups still play an important part in bringing these areas to the attention of those who are in place to protect our children. For example, a victory has just been won to criminalise violent internet porn. John Beyer, mediawatch-uk director said: ‘We hope that this will be a first step on the road to restoring decency and respect in our society. We remain of the opinion that the scope of the new legislation is too narrow and we will continue to press for further strengthening of the Obscene Publications Act.’

Mary Whitehouse was impassioned by a desire to see Christian values upheld. She wanted the good, pure things that empower and edify to win out over the disbelief, the doubt and the dirt.

Paul said a similar thing in his letter to the Philippians: ‘Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things’ (4.8).

Filth: the Mary Whitehouse story

Watershed

Right after all

A bit na•ve

Challenging

Eleanor Margesson

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