BBC One
The BBC One logo
Launched	2 November 1936[1]
Owned by	BBC
Picture format	576i (PAL) 576i 16:9 (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audience share	20.2% (August 2011, BARB)
Country	United Kingdom
Formerly called	BBC Television Service (2 November 1936 – 8 October 1960) BBC tv (8 October 1960 – 20 April 1964) BBC1 (20 April 1964 – 3 October 1997)
Sister channel(s)	BBC Two BBC Three BBC Four BBC News BBC Parliament BBC HD CBBC CBeebies
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone
Availability
Terrestrial
Analogue	Normally tuned to 1 (to be phased out nationwide by 2012)
Freeview	Channel 1 Channel 50 (HD) (Currently being rolled out)
Digitenne (Netherlands)
Satellite
Freesat	Channel 101 Channel 108 (HD) Channels 950–967 (regional variations)
Sky (UK)	Channel 101 Channel 143 (HD) Channels 971–988 (regional variations)
Sky (Ireland)	Channel 141 Channel 234 (HD)
Astra 1N	10773H 22000 5/6 10847V 23000 8/9 (HD)
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 101 Channel 108 (HD)
Smallworld Cable	Channel 101 Channel 106 (HD)
UPC Ireland	Channel 108 Channel 140 (HD)
UPC Netherlands	Channel 50
Ziggo (Netherlands)	Channel 601
Numericable (Belgium)
Naxoo (Switzerland)	Channel 213
Cablecom (Switzerland)	Channel 155
IPTV
TalkTalk TV	Channel 1
Belgacom TV (Brussels)	Channel 67
Belgacom TV (Flanders)	Channel 23
Belgacom TV (Wallonia)	Channel 213
Bluewin TV (Switzerland)
KPN (Netherlands)	Channel 23
Internet television
BBC iPlayer	Watch live (UK only)

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution.^[2] It was later renamed BBC TV until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon it was known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997.

The channel's annual budget for 2011/12 is £1,166.6 million.^[3] Along with the BBC's other domestic television stations, and many European broadcasters (and some in Asia), it is funded principally by the television licence fee, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming with no commercial advertising at any time. It is currently the most watched television channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership, ITV1.

As of 2012^[update] the channel controller for BBC One was Danny Cohen, formerly controller of BBC Three. Cohen replaced Jay Hunt following her departure from the BBC in late 2010 to join Channel 4, where she took up her position in January 2011.^[4] Jana Bennett, head of BBC Vision, took temporary control of BBC One between Hunt's departure and Cohen's appointment.^[5] Cohen briefly held controller positions of both BBC One and BBC Three until former ITV digital channels head Zai Bennett was confirmed as the new controller of BBC Three.

History[link]

The early years[link]

The transmission mast above the BBC wing of Alexandra Palace

Baird Television Ltd. made Britain's first television broadcast, on 30 September 1929 from its studio in Long Acre, London, via the BBC's London transmitter, using the electromechanical system pioneered by John Logie Baird. This system used a vertically-scanned image of 30 lines — just enough resolution for a close-up of one person, and with a bandwidth low enough to use existing radio transmitters. Simultaneous transmission of sound and picture was achieved on 30 March 1930, by using the BBC's new twin transmitter at Brookmans Park. By late 1930, 30 minutes of morning programmes were broadcast Monday to Friday, and 30 minutes at midnight on Tuesdays and Fridays, after BBC radio went off the air. Baird broadcasts via the BBC continued until June 1932.

The BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. The studio moved to larger quarters in 16 Portland Place, London, in February 1934, and continued broadcasting the 30-line images, carried by telephone line to the medium wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, until 11 September 1935, by which time advances in all-electronic television systems made the electromechanical broadcasts obsolete.

After a series of test transmissions and special broadcasts that began in August, regular BBC television broadcasts officially resumed on 1 October 1936, from a converted wing of Alexandra Palace in London, which housed two studios, various scenery stores, make-up areas, dressing rooms, offices, and the transmitter itself, now broadcasting on the VHF band. BBC television initially used two systems, on alternate weeks: the 240-line Baird intermediate film system and the 405-line Marconi-EMI system, each making the BBC the world's first regular high-definition television service, broadcasting Monday to Saturday from 15:00 to 16:00 and 21:00 to 22:00.^[6]

Broadcast time	Broadcast programmes
14:50-14:59	Test pattern
14:59-15:00	Clock ident
15:00-15:11	Station ident, television listings then opening of the BBC Television Service
15:11-15:19	Interval, time then weather forecast
15:19-15:20	Clock ident
15:20-15:30	British Movietone News
15:30-15:55	Variety show
15:55-16:00	Television listings, weather forecast, clock ident, national anthem then sign-off
16:00-20:59	Test pattern
20:59-21:00	Clock ident
21:00-21:05	Station ident then television listings
21:05-21:20	Television Comes to London
21:20-21:49	Picture Page
21:49-21:50	Clock ident
21:50-22:55	British Movietone News
21:55-22:00	Television listings, weather forecast, clock ident, national anthem then sign-off
22:00-22:01	Test pattern

The two systems were to run on a trial basis for six months; early television sets supported both resolutions. However, the Baird system, which used a mechanical camera for filmed programming and Farnsworth image dissector cameras for live programming, proved too cumbersome and visually inferior, and was dropped in February 1937.

Initially, the station's range was officially a 25-mile (40 km) radius of the Alexandra Palace transmitter—in practice, however, transmissions could be picked up a good deal further away, and on one occasion in 1938 were picked up by engineers at RCA in New York, who were experimenting with a British television set.^[7]

Wartime closure[link]

On 1 September 1939, two days before Britain declared war on Germany, the station was taken off air with little warning;^[8] the government were concerned that the VHF transmissions would act as a beacon to enemy aircraft homing in on London. Also, many of the television service's technical staff and engineers would be needed for the war effort, in particular on the radar programme. The last programme transmitted was a Mickey Mouse cartoon, Mickey's Gala Premier (1933), which was followed by test transmissions and an announcement of the afternoon's programmes, which were in the event not broadcast; this account refuted an urban myth according to which broadcasting was suspended before the end of the cartoon.^[8]

According to figures from Britain's Radio Manufacturers Association, 18,999 television sets had been manufactured from 1936 to September 1939, when production was halted by the war.

Postwar[link]

BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15:00. Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, 'Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh?'. The Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later.^[9]

Postwar broadcast coverage was extended to Birmingham in 1949 with the opening of the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station, and by the mid-1950s most of the country was covered, transmitting a 405-line interlaced image on VHF.

Alexandra Palace was the home base of the channel until the early 1950s when the majority of production moved into Lime Grove Studios (closed in 1991), then in 1960 to the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London, where the channel is still based.

Television News continued to use Alexandra Palace as its base—by early 1968 it had even converted one of its studios to colour—before moving to purpose-built colour facilities at Television Centre on 20 September 1969.

The BBC held a statutory monopoly on television broadcasting in the United Kingdom until the first ITV station was launched in 1955. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a large reduction in its audience.

The station was renamed BBC1 when BBC2 was launched in April 1964, transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. BBC1 and ITV continued transmitting a 405-line image on VHF for several years. The only way to receive all channels was to use a very complex "dual-standard" 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver, with both a VHF and a UHF aerial. This continued until some time after the introduction of colour on BBC2 in 1967; dual-standard colour sets were yet more complex.

In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark.^[10] Colour transmissions could be received (in monochrome) on monochrome 625-line sets. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete, but dual-standard ones, though no longer produced, remained compatible until the end of analog broadcasting.

Stereo audio transmissions, using the NICAM digital stereo sound format began on BBC1 at some point in autumn 1987, to coincide with the sale of the first consumer NICAM-enabled equipment, a year after BBC2, and were gradually phased in across BBC TV output, although it took until August 31, 1991 for the service to begin officially on both channels. During this time, both commercial analogue broadcasters, ITV and Channel 4 had officially begun stereo transmissions using the BBC-developed NICAM system.

In terms of audience share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973–1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45 per cent.^{[citation needed]} This period is still regarded by many as a golden age of the BBC's output, with the BBC achieving a very high standard across its entire range of series, serials, plays, light entertainment and documentaries.

By the 1980s, the channel had launched the first breakfast television programmes and returned to its previous form under the controller of the channel at the time, Michael Grade. Wide-screen programming was introduced on digital platforms in 1998.

2000s[link]

Joining the channel as Controller in 2005, Peter Fincham oversaw the commissioning of several successful BBC One programmes including Robin Hood (2006–2009), Jane Eyre (2006) and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, which was followed by similar shows Any Dream Will Do and I'd Do Anything because of its success.^[11] His first full year in charge of the channel saw a year-on-year growth in the audience share, with a rise from 22.2% in August 2005 to 23.6% in August 2006.^[12]

Fincham also directly initiated the creation of both The One Show (2006–present), an early evening, current-affairs and lifestyle programme, which now runs all but two weeks of the year, and Davina (2006), a prime time chat show, the latter hosted by Davina McCall, who presented Big Brother.^[13] However, Davina was a critical and ratings disaster,^[14] which Fincham subsequently admitted was personally his fault, although he defended the strategy of experimenting with the BBC One schedule. This he continued in January 2007, when he moved the current affairs series Panorama from its Sunday night slot back to the prime time Monday evening slot from which it had been removed in 2000, most likely in response to a demand from the Board of Governors of the BBC for the channel to show more current affairs programming in prime time.^[15]

Fincham's judgement was again called into question, this time by The Telegraph, for his decision to spend £1.2 million replacing BBC One 'Rhythm & Movement' idents, which had been introduced by his predecessor Lorraine Heggessey several years earlier, with the 'Circle' idents, a set of eight ten-second films, some of which were shot abroad in locations such as Mexico and Croatia.^[16] Fincham later found himself having to publicly defend the £18 million salary that the BBC paid Jonathan Ross in 2006,although Ross's BBC One work—primarily consisting of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross—formed only part of his overall BBC commitment.^[17]

The channel was named Channel of the Year at the 2007 Broadcast Awards.^[18]

In May 2007, Fincham took the decision to drop Neighbours, an Australian soap opera, from BBC One after 21 years on the channel, when its producers significantly raised the price they wanted the BBC to pay for it in a bidding war.^[19] Fincham commented that it was 'a big loss', but that BBC One would not pay 'the best part of £300 m'.Neighbours left the channel in spring 2008 to move to Channel 5.^[20]

Fincham was involved in a further controversy in July 2007, when he was accused of misleading BBC One viewers. The incident involved a clip from forthcoming documentary A Year with the Queen which was shown to journalists during a press conference. It apparently showed the Queen storming out of a session with American photographer Annie Leibovitz over a disagreement about what she should wear, but the BBC subsequently admitted that the scenes used in the trailer had been edited out of their correct order, meaning that a false impression was given.^[21] Fincham admitted the error, but rejected calls that he should resign from his position as a result.^[22] His future was deemed uncertain following critical comments from Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust and he resigned on 5 October 2007.^[23]

In 2012 the BBC out bid ITV for show "The Voice UK" that already had made a stamp in other countries. The BBC paid £22 million for the rights to broadcast the show in the UK for two years. The Voice UK lifted the BBC's ratings once again as "The Voice UK" became more popular than ITV's "Britain's Got Talent." The latter then moved to a later time slot to avoid clash. Recently However "Britain's Got Talent" regained it's foothold of viewers due to controversy that surrounded The Voice UK.

Programming[link]

BBC One’s remit is to be the BBC’s most popular mixed-genre television service across the UK, offering a wide range of high quality programmes. It should be the BBC’s primary outlet for major UK and international events and it should reflect the whole of the UK in its output. A very high proportion of its programmes should be original productions.

— BBC One remit^[24]

In 2010, the top five watched programmes, at their peaks, according to BARB were:^[25]

1. EastEnders 16,410,000
2. World Cup 2010 England Vs Germany 15,810,000
3. Strictly Come Dancing 14,280,000
4. Come Fly With Me 12,470,000
5. Doctor Who 12,110,000

Repeats made up 8.4% of peak programming in 2010/11, up from 8.0% for 2008/09.^[26] Programming on this channel costs an average of £162,900 per hour.

With a mission to provide big programmes for all licence-fee payers, it has sport, news, current affairs, and documentaries. It has historically broadcast children's programmes (now taken from CBBC and CBeebies). The channel remains one of the principal television channels in the United Kingdom and provides 2,508 annual hours of news and weather, 1,880 hours of factual and learning, 1,036 hours of drama, 672 hours of children's, 670 hours of sport, 654 hours of film, 433 hours of entertainment, 159 hours of current affairs, 92 hours of religion and 82 hours of music and arts.^[27]

2,508 annual hours of news and weather (293 in peak, 1,049 of BBC News simulcasts) are provided by regular news programmes BBC Breakfast, the BBC News at One, BBC News at Six and the BBC News at Ten each including BBC regional news programmes. All three main news bulletins have a lead over their rival programmes on ITV and other terrestrial or cable channels. During the weekend period, three separate bulletins around these three time periods are broadcast and vary in length from 10–25 minutes. BBC One has broadcast overnight simulcasts from the BBC News channel since 1997; the latter in turn simulcasts the majority of all regular BBC One bulletins.

Each year 159 hours of current affairs programmes are broadcast on BBC One, including Panorama and Watchdog. Politics is also covered, with programmes including Question Time and This Week shown. Crimewatch, a programme appealing for help in unsolved crimes, is broadcast monthly.

Whilst nature documentaries such as Planet Earth are the most familiar part of the 1,880 annual BBC One hours of factual and learning, this also includes lifestyle-format daytime programmes and a number of reality television formats and the One Life strand.

BBC One broadcasts 1,036 hours of drama each year, more than any other BBC channel. There are four half-hour episodes of EastEnders each week (not shown on Wednesdays), with an omnibus episode at the weekend, plus hospital dramas Casualty and Holby City. Other popular dramas on BBC One include crime dramas such as New Tricks, a programme of which even episode repeats have beaten ITV ratings on numerous occasions.^[28]

BBC One has traditionally been the home of children's television, Blue Peter had been broadcast on the channel prior to the Children's BBC strand, and sections such as Watch with Mother airing previously on the channel. This became more pronounced with the launch of Children's BBC, later renamed "CBBC". This new strand was broadcast primarily on BBC One in the late afternoons, as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings also such as Going Live! and Live & Kicking, each lasting two to three hours. The launch in 2002 of dedicated digital channels for this content —the CBBC Channel and CBeebies—did not affect this provision. Combined with BBC Two, the channel broadcast 2,195 hours of children's programmes in 2010, mostly in the late afternoons on weekdays.^[26] Saturday morning children's programming moved to BBC Two in 2006 following a three month trial.^[29]

Sports coverage on BBC One includes Premier League football highlights on Match of the Day, The Championships, Wimbledon, horse racing such as the Grand National, the London Marathon, and other international athletics and swimming events, the Olympic Games, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Snooker tournaments, and more. The BBC shows The Football League Show for Football League highlights and League Cup coverage. Formula 1 motor racing is also shown, Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's main race.

On 18 January 2010, the BBC introduced a local Football League highlight show called Late Kick Off. The BBC also shows the Football League Cup final, and ten Football League matches live from the 2009/10 season. The BBC showed the 2010 FIFA World Cup, splitting the group stage matches with ITV. The BBC had first pick of matches from the second round.

British and international films are broadcast for 654 hours each year on BBC One.^{[citation needed]} This is mainly late-night fillers with some box office hits at Christmas and holiday periods.^{[citation needed]} Films are sometimes used to fill the Saturday evening slot when no sport or entertainment programmes are due to be aired.

Entertainment programming on BBC One includes game shows such as the National Lottery, Total Wipeout, Strictly Come Dancing and chat shows such as The Graham Norton Show.

The annual 92 hours of religious programming comprise weekly editions of recorded Songs of Praise, Christian services and other shows from independent production companies. Mentorn Oxford produces Heart and Soul, described as “a new multi-faith programme featuring a panel and a studio audience”, followed by Life from the Loft which is made by the Leeds-based company True North.^[30] In 2005 BBC One was criticised for reducing the amount of religious programming, previously 101 hours per year.^[31]

BBC One broadcasts many comedy programmes, often on Friday nights. These have included the stand-up comedy show Live at the Apollo, sitcom Outnumbered, and satirical quiz show Have I Got News For You.^[32] Saturday evening is also a popular slot for a comedy show such as Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and The Armstrong and Miller Show.

As the weekly popular music chart programme Top of the Pops was discontinued (except for the Christmas Day edition), BBC One broadcast 49 hours of music and arts programming in 2010.^[26] The majority of this was Imagine, presented by Alan Yentob, and classical music concerts such as the BBC Proms.

BBC One's daytime line-up was a major factor in it overtaking ITV as the most popular channel in 2000, a position it has held ever since. The morning daytime line-up consists of lifestyle shows, such as Homes Under the Hammer and Bargain Hunt, the afternoons contain drama with daily soap Doctors and classic US drama, such as Diagnosis: Murder. Sometimes a drama such as Land Girls is shown in the afternoons.

Between 15:05 and 17:05 is the CBeebies/CBBC broadcasting strand, with its own visual identity. Historically, BBC One's most popular daytime programme was Neighbours, with audience figures approaching five million. On 11 February 2008, BBC One dropped Neighbours and the programme has since been broadcast on Channel 5.^[33] In its place the quiz show The Weakest Link, moved from BBC Two, later replaced in 2011 by Pointless.

On 16 May 2012, the BBC announced the children's block of shows would be moved permantely to CBBC and CBeebies after the Digital Switchover.^[34]

Quotas[link]

For the first fifty years of its existence, with the exception of films and imported programmes from countries such as the United States and Australia, almost all the channel's output was produced by the BBC's in-house production departments. This changed following the Broadcasting Act 1990, which required that 25% of the BBC's television output be out-sourced to independent production companies.^[35] By 2004 many popular BBC One shows were made for the channel by independents, but the in-house production departments continued to contribute heavily to the schedule.

Although the statutory target remains 25%, 33% of output was made by independent production companies in 2010/11.^[26] The Quota of original programming in peak times is set at 90%, however 100% of peak programming was original in 2010/11.^[26] Over the whole day, the total for the same year was 89%, against a quota of 70%.^[26]

Presentation[link]

BBC One's identity has been symbolised by a globe shown on its idents for much of its existence.^[36] In 1962 this was represented as a map of the UK shown between programmes, but in 1963 the globe appeared, changing in style and appearance over the next 39 years.

Most notably, on 18 February 1985, the "Computer Originated World" was introduced. This was a computer-animated globe with the land coloured gold and the sea a transparent blue, giving the impression of a glass globe. This was replaced by the "Virtual Globe" on 16 February 1991. On 4 October 1997, the globe became a red, orange and yellow hot-air balloon, coloured to resemble a globe. It was filmed flying around various places in the UK.

On 29 March 2002 the globe was replaced by a series of visual identities, "idents", consisting of people dancing in various styles. These were replaced on 7 October 2006 by the present 'circle' idents. According to the BBC, the circle symbol both represents togetherness and acts as a link to the old globe logo used for 39 years.^[37]

Regional variations[link]

BBC One has individual continuity and opt-outs for Scotland,^[38] Wales^[39] and Northern Ireland.^[40] Each variant maintains the BBC One logo with the addition of the country name beneath it.

In England,^[41] each region has an individual regional news and current affairs programme opt-out as well as a limited amount of continuity. During these opt-outs, the region name is displayed as with the national variations, beneath the main channel logo. UK Today, a news programme, was shown nationally to digital viewers in place of regional programmes when they were unavailable to broadcast on analogue television. The programme was discontinued in 2002 and replaced by a transmission of BBC London News until all BBC regions were made available digitally.

BBC One Scotland has the greatest level of variation from the generic network, owing to BBC Scotland scheduling Scottish programming on the main BBC Scotland channel, rather than on BBC Two. BBC One Scotland variations include the soap opera River City and the football programme Sportscene, the inclusion of which causes network programming to be displaced or replaced.

BBC One Wales was considered a separate channel by the BBC as early as its launch in the mid-1960s, appearing as BBC Wales.^[42]

Accessibility to viewers with vision or hearing problems[link]

The BBC announced in May 2008 that it had achieved its aim for all programming to have subtitles for viewers with hearing difficulties.^[43][44] The BBC also offers audio description on some popular BBC One programmes^[45] for visually impaired-viewers. The percentage of the BBC's total television output with audio description available is 10%, having been increased from 8% in 2008.^[46]

High-definition[link]

BBC One HD logo

BBC One HD, a simulcast of BBC One in high-definition (HD), launched on 3 November 2010 at 19:00.^[47] The channel simulcasts a network version of BBC One in High Definition, with HD versions of programmes including Holby City, The One Show, Strictly Come Dancing, The Apprentice, The Weakest Link and Doctor Who. EastEnders was also made available in HD as from Christmas Day 2010. All programmes still made in standard-definition are upscaled on the channel and it is intended that by 2012 the vast majority of the channel's output will be in high-definition.

BBC One HD, however, does not offer regional variations, and therefore the channel cannot broadcast during regional programming slots, most noticeably the local news programmes. The BBC Trust admitted that this is due to technical and financial constraints,^[48] but the BBC announced on 6 June 2011 that the national variations of BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC One Scotland and BBC One Wales, would become available in 2012.^[49]

BBC One HD is available on all digital television platforms offering HD channels – Freesat, Freeview HD, Sky, Smallworld Cable, UPC Ireland and Virgin Media. It is available in addition to the existing BBC HD channel, which continues to broadcast HD programmes from the BBC's other television channels.

On 3 November 2011, BBC One HD launched on Sky Ireland on channel 234 or 141 for HD pack subscribers.

See also[link]

BBC portal

• Prewar television stations
• List of television programmes broadcast by the BBC

Notes and references[link]

	Book: BBC Channels (UK)
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

External links[link]

• BBC One at BBC Online
• BBC One Service Licence BBC Trust, July 2009

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Will Smith
Smith in 2011
Born	Willard Christopher Smith, Jr. (1968-09-25) September 25, 1968 (age 43) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Other names	The Fresh Prince
Occupation	Actor, producer, rapper
Years active	1985–1993, 1997–2005 (rapping), 1990–present (acting)
Spouse	Sheree Zampino (m. 1992–1995) «start: (1992)–end+1: (1996)»"Marriage: Sheree Zampino to Will Smith" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Will_Smith) Jada Pinkett Smith (m. 1997) «start: (1997)»"Marriage: Jada Pinkett Smith to Will Smith" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Will_Smith)
Children	Trey Smith Jaden Smith Willow Smith
Website
www.willsmith.com

Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968),^[1] also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood.^[2] Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.

In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office and the only one to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.^[3]

Fourteen of the nineteen fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and four took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. As of 2011, his films have grossed $5.7 billion in global box office.^[4] His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.