Aside from Nigel, when it comes to British culture,
few things are more iconic than the classic red phone box.
But in today's digital world, they are gradually disappearing.
For some people, they're still a vital lifeline,
and broadcaster Rick Adams has been to meet a 90-year-old who fought
to keep his community connected.
Ah, the humble phone box, an iconic structure
and landmark in Britain's towns and villages
for more than a century, quietly connecting the nation.
But hold the line, caller.
Around 90% of the UK's phone boxes have been decommissioned
since their peak in the 1990s, with about 8,000 shutting
in the last two years alone.
That's because most of us now carry one of these,
making one of these feel somewhat obsolete.
But in some communities, the phone box can still be a lifeline.
Such as Sharrington in Norfolk, which has a poor
mobile phone service.
So back in October 2020, for 90-year-old resident
Derek Harris was horrified to learn it was earmarked for closure.
Derek, tell us about the role that this telephone box
is played in this village.
Absolutely vital because in the '50s it was
an isolated community and it gave them,
for the very first time, connection with the outside world.
And how did you feel about the fact when you learned
that the phone box was going to be taken away?
I was not going to have it.
It's got a dual function.
It is a means of connection to other people.
And secondly, it looks beautiful.
Back in 2002, we spent 800,000,000 minutes on calls from phone boxes.
By 2020, that dropped to just four million.
But here's the important bit - of those calls
150,000 were emergencies, 25,000 were to Childline
and 20,000 to the Samaritans.
But all was not lost for the Sharrington phone box.
Ofcom says a phone box needs at least 52 calls
a year to stay in service, so Derrick enlisted
the help of his neighbours.
With the help of our MP, got 50 people to turn out,
all of whom made about three calls each.
So we had our mass phone in.
And when you saw those people in the line, how did that feel?
Elated, I was elated.
It's good to talk.
It's good to have a bright and enthusiastic community,
which Sharrington is.
And thanks to Derrick's campaign, Carrington's box hit 146 calls,
resulting in him receiving a letter in March 2025 confirming
that the phone box would stay.
How did that feel when you read those words?
More enthused and I thought, well,
success breeds success, so why not have it refurbished?
Derrick, you are going through something
really quite challenging at the moment for your health.
Yes.
It is terminal inoperable cancer.
So, it's motivated me.
If I couldn't save my own life,
I would jolly well make sure the kiosk's life was saved.
So it will go on as a legacy, if you like.
I'm also meeting some of the other Sharrington residents
who joined Derek's campaign.
Chris, tell us what this phone booth means to you,
this kiosk that you're preserving.
The phone reception is just really bad,
it's there and it's an essential part of what we have.
So at least we can rely on it.
Tell us about the day when everybody came out to use the phone booth.
Well, it was just nice to see this great big line
of people down the road, because we don't see that very often.
And, it was just nice to see the support that we had then.
It was just amazing.
There were so many people there and a lot weren't villagers.
A lot had heard about the campaign and came to support us
because their phone box had been removed.
So they felt it was extremely important
to support us so that they knew in the area there was
a working phone box.
What has been funny since was I was there one day
and it looked like we had some Japanese tourists
taking photographs of the phone box, which,
you know, so it's obviously a major tourist attraction now,
like the Eiffel Tower or stuff like that, you know?
The majority of public service phone boxes in the UK are operated by BT,
apart from in Hull, where they are handled by KCom.
It's Ofcom's job to regulate these companies
and stop essential phone boxes from being shut down.
Katie Hanson is its senior consumer services manager,
who explained to me more about the criteria
that need to be met before a phone kiosk can be removed.
It needs signal from all four UK networks before BT can remove
the last call box in an area, and also if a call box has made 52
or more calls in the last year, that will prevent it from being removed.
If it doesn't meet any of those criteria,
BT can propose it for removal.
But they do have to tell the relevant
local authority and they have to put up a notice at the box so that
local residents know it's proposed for closure,
and then they can make a case for keeping it
if they think there are special circumstances.
There are currently about 13,000 public call boxes
in operation in the UK, and last year BT proposed about 1600
for removal and then of that 1600, 28 were kept after local
residents successfully made a case for keeping them.
Are there any other ways to approach the problem?
If people feel it's vital to have a working phone,
they can make the case for why that particular call box
should be kept open.
If they care about the heritage kiosk,
which is quite a common thing.
BT does have a scheme where local organisations,
maybe a parish council or a local charity can adopt the kiosk.
And what happens then is BT removes the phone but leaves the kiosk.
Since BT introduced the Adopt a Kiosk programme in 2008,
around 7400 phone boxes have been taken on
by communities across the UK for just £1 each.
Housing everything from libraries to art installations.
Times change, technology moves on and you can't
save everything from the past,
no matter how tempting.
But for some, phone boxes are more than just nostalgia.
They're a lifeline.
So, it's great to see communities like this answering
the call to save the ones that matter most.
PHONE RINGS.
I better get that.
Hello?