Galbraith Plans T.V. Series for BBC

John Kenneth Galbraith, Warburg Professor of Economics, will develop and narrate a major new television series for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), sources reported and Galbraith confirmed yesterday.

The series, entitled "The Age of Uncertainty," of 13 hour-length shows will explore the rise and characteristics of industrial civilization.

Galbraith said he anticipates taking the "next couple of years" off from his teaching duties to work on the programs. Production is scheduled to begin in the middle of this year with completion expected in the first quarter of 1977, sources said.

The series format will resemble the BBC's highly successful "Civilisation" and "America" productions, which have been shown on American television.

Galbraith said he will have a "very free hand" in determining the content of the series. Like its predecessors, the "Age of Uncertainty" series will be a personal view by a noted expert who will write the script and narrate both on and off-camera.

The content of the shows has not yet been fully defined, Galbraith said, but themes covered will include the development of capitalist and socialist societies in this century, imperialism and colonialism, Keynesian economics, and what Galbraith called the "uncertainty of the twentieth century."

Tentative titles for each episode have been assigned and plans are underway for filming in diverse locations, possibly including China, according to one source.

A Trip to London

Galbraith said discussions about the series have taken place with BBC officials here and will be continued in London when he arrives there later this week.

Negotiations have taken place with several European networks for distribution of the series, but as yet no American network has been involved, sources said.

However, a spokesman for Time-Life Films, which co-produced three earlier BBC series, indicated that the BBC had approached them to help finance the Galbraith production. A decision has not yet been made, he said.