ADWA WA ASWAT  
 
 
The Overseas Information Services of the Foreign Office attached considerable importance to reaching television audiences in the Arabic speaking world as evidenced by the number of programs produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Jim Fares referred to in other parts of this account. The creation of the London Line group of programs provided an opportunity to increase the amount of material offered to television stations in the Arab world and in a television format. Hence the creation of Adwa Wa Aswat. 
 
All the earlier programs in Arabic had essentially been documentary films set in the UK and voiced in Arabic. Adwa Wa Aswat was a much more ambitious project since it was presented by presenters from the Arab world about subjects which reflected links between the Arab world and the United Kingdom.  
 
Producing Adwa Wa Aswat presented a number of difficult issues, especially language and cultural differences, which required very sensitive handling. It was important to avoid causing offence by unwitting use of language or pictures that crossed cultural or religious lines. 
 
The program employed Denys Johnson Davies who had considerable experience of the Arab world. He was both fluent in the language and a Arabic scholar. He was contracted to advise on sensitive questions and to provide the all important translations. He worked closely with the program Producer and Director, Janice Kay. Denys provided detailed advice on the program content together with accurate translations into classical Arabic that was the lingua franca for television stations across the Arab world.    
 
Janice Kay was to play a pivotal role in the successful production of this series as Producer and Director. Janice was an experienced television director and was the first to bring the necessary experience of television studio production to the COI Film Division.  She demonstrated, with great skill, how the relatively limited resources of the Granville Studio could be put to the best effect.  
  
Studio material for the first issue of Adwa Wa Aswat was recorded on 25 November 1964. The series was to continue in production of some 300 programs until 1970 when it was discontinued during the overall reorganization of the Overseas Television Services.  
 
It was a considerable achievement that so many programs were produced and then transmitted by television stations from Morocco to the Lebanon. Given the sensitivities of the region it was also very surprising that no criticisms or complaints about the program content or the handling of it were received from any of the television stations or the UK Embassies about any of the programs. 
 
As with the other programs in the London Line group each issue of Adwa Wa Aswat consisted of 3 to 4 items. The emphasis of each program was  to demonstrate UK links with the Arab world as well as material about Britain as an innovative and friendly country. 
 
The destruction of records for this series by COI was almost complete. There are no records in the National Archives and only one program survived to be taken into the National Film Archive. 
 
1967: Adwa Wa Aswat: program lead story was about Atlantic College in Wales and the international students studying there including students from the Arab World.  (NFA ID N-621160) 
 
When the series was discontinued in 1970 several Foreign Office Posts complained. They said that the program had been popular both with television audiences and the television stations thus serving a useful information purpose.  
 
If anyone viewing this account has more information about Adwa Wa Aswat please write in through "Contact Us" so that the information can be added to the records.   ​