Joan Gilbert was an English television broadcaster for the BBC. She began working at the BBC as a shorthand typist in 1933 and became secretary of the radio programme In Town Tonight four months later. In 1938, Gilbert moved into television as a scout and assistant editor to producer Cecil Madden on the weekly programme Picture Page. She was at the BBC's Overseas Unit Light Entertainment presenting radio broadcasts for British troops stationed overseas during the Second World War. Upon the resumption of television broadcasting in the United Kingdom in 1946, Gilbert became editor-in-chief and presenter of the afternoon and evening editions of Picture Page and various programmes aimed at women.