Whitehouse, Mrs. Mary

Mrs. Mary Whitehouse (1910–2001) was a moral crusader who mobilized opposition against the increasing volume of sex, violence, and bad language on British television in the post- Chatterley era. Insisting on the harmful effects of such material on the young and on the moral fiber of the nation, she mounted a high-profile campaign against the British Broadcasting Corporation (B.B.C.) and the Independent Television Authority (I.T.A.). A retired teacher and housewife, she organized national petitions, Private Members’ Bills in Parliament, private lawsuits, and used personal criticism, notably of Sir Hugh Greene, director general of the B.B.C. (1960–1969) whom she attacked as “the man I hold most responsible for the moral collapse in this country.” In 1965 she formed an organization initially called “Clean Up TV,” which had 165,000 paid-up members, and within a year she claimed to have won the support of “half a million housewives, the Chief Constables of Britain, MPs, bishops, leaders of all churches, city councils and people of standing throughout the country.” The following year the organization was renamed the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association, and in 2001 mediawatch-uk.

Historically the stance of Mrs. Whitehouse is paralleled by that of Jeremy Collier, the author of the broadside A Short View of the Profaness and Immorality of the English Stage (1698). Mrs. Whitehouse showed the same qualities of determined articulate Puritanism. Although regarded as narrow and obsessional, satirized, and pilloried, she was a formidable opponent and robust debater, who in 1986 carried the motion for debate in the Cambridge University Union that censorship was a lesser evil than pornography by 331 votes to 151. The B.B.C. would not allow her on its programs, and Sir Hugh Greene refused to see her.

She and her organization could claim a number of successes, such as the withdrawal of the sitcom “Till Death Do Us Part” in February 1968 and a conviction against Gay News for blasphemy in 1977. Her objection to Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange (1971) led to the director withdrawing the film from showing in Britain. She was influential in the generation of various pieces of legislation, including The Protection of Children Act (1978), the Indecent Displays Act (1981), the Video Recordings Act (1984), and most important, that establishing the Broadcasting Standards Council (1988). The Council monitors programs and issues reports on “the portrayal of violence, sexual conduct and matters of taste and decency.” She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1980, and in 1989 both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the prime minister publicly thanked her for her “indefatigable work.” She represented what the Daily Telegraph called in its obituary “the puritan heart of Britain,” and to Professor Richard Hoggart she was “the authentic voice of middle England” ( The Guardian , November 24, 2001).

However, despite these successes and the constant pressure forcing broadcasters to justify their programs, the campaign failed in its general aim to clean up television. The Archive of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association (NVALA) is held at the Albert Sloman Library, University of Essex.