In 1995, hearing that the ITV Network Centre, Britain's dominant commercial broadcaster, was seeking formats for a night-time schedule, I pitched a weekly show about an odd new trend: "The Internet".

 

With less than 2% of Brits online, and just 23,500 websites worldwide, there was scepticism about connected computing. Wasn't this just another communications fad like citizens' band radio that flared then faded in the 1980's? But I managed to show a new tool was emerging for people seeking provocation, connections, help, or sex. There was a mine of material to be grabbed for TV before the rival BBC realized its value.

 

Eventually cyber.cafe was commissioned for a trial first season on condition that if online activity fizzled, we would pivot to reviewing software.

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Tech. Less

There were other TV shows looking at the internet in the nineties. We were predated by earnest, technology-focused, BBC series "The Net", starting in 1994. Stateside, PBS put out an hour-long special "The Internet" in 1995. Spin-off Net Cafe followed in 1996. Discovery Channel launched Cyber Life the same year. We were all usurped by a 1993 edition of Computer Chronicles, funded by Intel, which had an episode about net possibilities.

 

But cyber.cafe remained clear about its niche. We didn't report on technology; only how its livelier users were enjoying the possibilities it enabled - with enough explanation of the mechanics for non-users to make sense of this broiling new world of passion, help, humour, and outrage. 

 

The edginess of so much web content terrified our lawyers. I appear humourless in some interviews. It's because I was told not to be seen to give any sign of approval of a guest. A planned item on disaffected Disney animators who put up a site full of beloved, and copyrighted, characters in bizarre sexual activities was one story we were just not allowed to cover.

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Born to Buffer

Much of the cyber.cafe archive can be a surprise today. Nineties web users sat upright and paid minute-by-minute dial up fees. Everything was slow. Nick (compilation 4 on next page) talks about "leaving the internet because of the cost". Dialogues had none of today's algorithmic intermediation. When David (compilation 5) put up his site about President Bush running mind-controlled sex slaves, he did it because that's what he believed, not to gain followers. Jenny (compilation 7) installed webcams in her bedroom to demonstrate female empowerment, not to charge for the sex scenes.

 

With digital cameras or scanners rare, Sean (compilation 2) didn't know what his online girlfriend of 9 months looked like, her photo hadn't arrived in the mail. His schoolfriends branded him a loser for being online. Many guests, led by Sir Patrick Moore (compilation 8) claimed the internet was useless. Chris and Anna-Marie (compilation 1) had to explain how online sex worked when everything was just scrolling text between two people.

 

We did see early signs of internet problems emerging. Andrew (compilation 6) was proud to be a spammer. Phillipa, 17, (compilation 2) had been going to meet men off the web for 4 years. Nathan, 13, (also compilation 2) may have had internet addiction. But there was so much joy. Ros, our alien abductee (compilation 1) found others after she was "given the internet for Christmas". Nick (compilation 4) had to go to his college computer room to pursue an online love live, but then discovered Sharon.

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End in Sites

By 2000, the web was gaining mentions in the TV mainstream and 27% of Brits were online. (In 2002, it reached 50%.) As reports emerged of leaps in usage, I assumed it was good for us; a path to big budgets and a mainstream slot. We were, despite the early uncertainty, riding a trend.  

 

But those rises were accompanied by cratering TV viewing. I was increasingly summoned to meetings to re-explain "online" to executives who no longer needed any convincing it was actually a thing.  

 

As cyber.cafe wound down, I missed its connections and joy of discovery. I had found a new direction in possibilities for online technologies, which continues to occupy me today. My team dispersed to other shows, enjoying the final years of broadcasting's dominance over popular culture that it had enjoyed since displacing cinema in the 1960's. 

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