showing of The House, the documentary series has done Covent Garden enormous good in terms of public interest; requests to join the mailing list have poured in, and ticket sales are up. Whatever the backstage controversies the programme exposed, it also revealed the true glamour and excitement of an opera house's work, which has nothing to do with tedious arguments about elitism." Keith Cooper, the Opera House's public-relations director, seen dismissing staff in The House, reappeared on TV for a seventh episode in July 1998. The Royal Opera House refused to co-operate. "the cameras were denied entry to the building, and the new chairman, Sir Colin Southgate, forbade staff from participating." The House débâcle is still remembered. In 2010, Laura Battle, in an article in The Financial Times about an outreach initiative by Glyndebourne Festival Opera, remarked "Ever since The House – the notorious BBC documentary series on the Royal Opera House in the mid-1990s that revealed embittered staff and shocking mismanagement of finances, and had disastrous consequences for the company – arts institutions have been very guarded about television exposure." Awards In 1996, the series won the Emmy Arts Documentary award at the International Emmys, and was nominated for a RTS Television Award for Best Tape & Film Editing - Documentary & Factual. In 1997, it won the award for Best Factual Series in the British Academy Television Awards 1997 and the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Documentary Series, and was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Editing (Factual). It also won the Royal Philharmonic Society 1996 Music Award for Radio, Television and Video. Available recordings The series has never been released on DVD, although it was released by Kultur on VHS tape in 1997. Nor, despite its many awards, was it ever repeated on TV. The entire series is currently available digitally on line. References Notes Sources Bruzzi, Stella. (2006) New Documentary, 2nd ed. London: Routledge. Kaiser, Michael M. (2008) The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations. Lebanon, N.H: Brandeis University Press. External links 1996 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings 1990s British reality television series BBC television documentaries Royal Opera House 1990s British television miniseries English-language television shows