Museum of Science and Industry

Hilda Ogden's curlers and Bob the Builder star alongside early BBC studio equipment, telephones and printing machines in a new permanent gallery dedicated to communications at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).

Connecting Manchester, which is sponsored by BT as part of its Connected Earth initiative to give wider access to its heritage, will be opened today by Culture Secretary James Purnell. The VIP audience is expected to include Coronation Street stars Kate Kelly (who plays Becky in the series) and Samia Smith (who plays Maria).

The new gallery reveals the little known story of Manchester's pivotal role in British and international communications. It charts the history of communications, from the spoken and written word, the linotype machines which revolutionised printing, through photography, radio and TV, to today's digital communications.

Amongst the collection items are original props from Nightmare Before Christmas and The Sandman, made by Manchester-based animator Paul Berry, as well as the set and characters from Bob the Builder. Items from iconic TV series such as Coronation Street are also featured in the gallery, as well as the analogue studio equipment used by Gordon Burns and generations of BBC news teams in North West Tonight.

Pauline Webb, Collections Manager of MOSI, said: "The Connecting Manchester gallery gives visitors the opportunity to see objects spanning the full spectrum of our communications collections for the first time. It will remind visitors how much has changed in the way we communicate in the last 10 years, let alone the last two centuries!"

Mike Carr, BT's Chief Science Officer said: "BT has a long history of innovation in communications technology. The new Connecting Manchester gallery is an opportunity for people of Manchester - and visitors to the city - to see some of the icons of innovative communications from the past, as well as gain an insight into how we might communicate in the future."

The gallery includes a fascinating range of telecommunications equipment, from a two needle telegraph made in 1846, to contemporary devices like the BT Fusion telephone, which enables users to move seamlessly between fixed line and mobile networks, and an interactive photo which reacts when people look at it. Connecting Manchester will showcase new technology, including a state-of-the-art handheld guide, developed with the University of Salford, and new telecommunications equipment.

Manchester has been at the forefront of many innovations in communication, from the very early adoption of the telegraph and telephone, to print, radio, TV and computing. The city was home to the second telephone exchange in Britain, after London, in 1879 (although some argue that Manchester was first). By the early twentieth century Manchester had become the provincial newspaper capital of Britain. Kemsley House, now largely rebuilt to form the Printworks retail and leisure complex, was the largest newspaper printing house in Europe.

In 1922 the second BBC broadcasting station was established at the 2ZY at the Metropolitan-Vickers factory in Trafford Park. Manchester- based ITV Granada is 52 years old and still remains the largest commercial broadcaster outside the capital producing world class award winning drama including Brideshead Revisited, Jewel in the Crown, Cracker and of course, Coronation Street, the longest-running British television serial.

Connecting Manchester is housed in the Museum's 1830 Warehouse, one of the original buildings of the world's first passenger railway. The railways marked a turning point in the history of communications as the telegraph system that developed with the railways helped to revolutionise trade and industry. Innovative communications from the earliest days of the technology to the present day have transformed Manchester from a regional into a world city, and this is reflected in MOSI's Connecting Manchester gallery.

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