BBC Radio 3

For a whole generation, the image of music hall was fixed by the faux Edwardian kitsch of the 1970s TV series The Good Old Days. The truth was a lot more complex and interesting than that. With its origins in street balladry and 'industrial song', music hall became the dominant form of popular culture in the nineteenth century, and a battleground between three contending forces - authentic working-class expression, the anxieties of middle-class reformers, and a nascent mass entertainment industry. Singer-songwriter Billy Bragg explores the hidden history of Victorian and Edwardian music hall and the way its development parallels our own modern music and entertainment business.