Creationism and Non-Darwinian Ideology in British Broadcasting

This chapter explores the occasions when broadcasters in the UK have aired content that has criticised evolution, incorporating and contrasting broadcasts on both scientific criticism of evolutionary consensus and anti-evolution movements. The chapter demonstrates how in the 1980s an increased coverage of US creationism inadvertently gave a platform to an issue that was not part of mainstream discourse in the UK. The chapter argues that in using creationism as a narrative device to attract an audience, BBC science broadcasters sought to demarcate the boundary between science and pseudoscience, and in turn reinforced a dichotomous framing between evolution and religion.