Every weekday in the London area, Thames Television’s distinctive skyline symbol tells viewers that Independent Television is on the air.

But Thames is more than a transmitter of ITV programmes to London. The Company is also one of the world’s biggest independent programme producers, with a host of international awards to its credit.

This means that a large proportion ofThames programmes are seen not only in London, but across the nation on the ITV network, and in more than a hundred countries around the world.

As television technology develops, Thames maintains its position with continuing advances not just in programme making, but in TV engineering, studio design, electronic news gathering (ENG), advertising, publishing, home video and other fast-growing allied fields.

Thames Television is a community of over two thousand people who work together to bring a wide range of talents to the wide range of activities, needed in a busy television programme-making company.

This section is about their work: as local broadcasters, as international programme makers, and as major contributors to the national cultural institution known as Independent Television, ITV.

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Fifteen are responsible for providing programmes in particular regions. The sixteenth, Independent Television News (ITN), supplies news programmes for viewers in all the regions.

Because the ITV network operates federally the companies benefit from national unity while retaining a substantial measure of regional autonomy. The companies agree to show some programmes simultaneously across the network, and these provide the basis of ITV programme schedules. But the system still leaves plenty of room for each company to serve its region’s individual needs through local programmes made expressly for local audiences.

Like all ITV companies, Thames operates under the eye of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, set up by Parliament to administer independent television and radio. The IBA owns and operates all the ITV transmitters, and is responsible for the overall standard of programmes, as well as the acceptability of the advertisements that accompany them.

The IBA is also responsible for the recently established Channel 4, which operates as a television service quite separately from ITV and commissions its programmes from a wide range of sources, including Thames. However, its programme policy is entirely its own. Like all other ITV companies, Thames is responsible for Channel 4 airtime sales in its own area, and pays a subscription towards the Channel’s programme costs and upkeep.

Another new service that the IBA will oversee is breakfast television, which will bring regular early morning programmes to ITV viewers. The contract to provide the service was awarded to the TV AM company and transmissions are expected to begin during 1983.

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What’s more, the company gives them a wide range of the very latest facilities, based on both film and videotape. Thames operates six studios: three in the main production complex by the river Thames at Teddington, and three more including the specially designed Thames News studio at the company’s headquarters in Euston Road, London. The Teddington studios are used mainly for drama and entertainment programmes, while the Euston facilities are devoted almost exclusively to news, current affairs and feature programmes.

For location work outside the studios, Thames maintains a large Film Department and a Mobile Division with six outside broadcast (OB) vehicles equipped to bring superb studio standards to ‘outside programmes’ like Wish You Were Here…? and London Night Out. In constant touch with Thames’ main facilities through microwave radio links, the OB units can record programme material on videotape for later transmission or insertion into other programmes. And, of course, they also provide live coverage of sporting events, state and other major occasions.

Many studio programmes, too, are transmitted live. Reporting London and Thames News are examples. But most are pre-recorded in sequences which can be edited together later, which allows time for corrections to be made, and therefore ensures the highest possible quality.

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The Prix Italia Presented by RAI, Italy’s public broadcasting organization, the Prix Italia has been described by The Times as ‘the most honoured prize a programme can receive. Awarded in three categories, drama, documentary and music, the Prix Italia generates fierce competition among the world’s programme producers. Thames is the only ITV company to have won the Prix Italia in all three categories.

• 1972 We Was All One Best Documentary
• 1976 The Naked Civil Servant Best Drama
• 1976 Beauty, Bonnie, Daisy, Violet, Grace and Geoffrey Morton Best Documentary
• 1977 St. Nicolas Cantata Best Music Programme
• 1980 Creggan Best Documentary

The Prix Jeunesse Equal in stature to the Prix Italia, the Prix Jeunesse is awarded solely to children’s programmes.

• 1972 Magpie – My Brother David UNICEF Prize
• 1974 Magpie – Like Ordinary Children
• 1982 The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Emmy Award The Emmy is America’s top television award. It is given in two categories: the national Emmy (for programmes transmitted in that year on American television); and the international Emmy, awarded to programmes made outside the United States of America.

• 1974 The World at War National Emmy for ‘outstanding documentary achievements in programmes dealing with artistic, historic or cultural subjects.’
• 1976 Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill National Emmy for ‘outstanding achievement in costume design for a drama series.’
• 1976 The Naked Civil Servant International Emmy for ‘outstanding achievement in entertainment programming.’
• 1979 Palestine National Emmy for ‘outstanding programme achievement.’
• 1980 Edward and Mrs. Simpson National Emmy for ‘outstanding limited series’

BAFTA Awards The British Association of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) are Britain’s answer to the American Oscars for outstanding achievements in film and television production.

• 1972 The Benny Hill Show Best light entertainment programme
• 1975 Beauty, Bonnie, Daisy, Violet, Grace and Geoffrey Morton Best factual programme
• 1977 Rock Follies Best drama series/serial
• 1979 Edward & Mrs. Simpson Best drama series/serial
• 1979 The Kenny Everett Video Show Best light entertainment programme
• 1982 The Pied Piper of Hamelin Best children’s programme

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Thames has developed a computerised airtime booking system, Enterprise, that places the Thames Sales Department at the forefront of the industry, and has led other ITV Companies to follow suit. By cutting out the massive amount of paperwork that used to complicate airtime selling, the computer gives Thames sales executives instant access to the detailed information they need to service their advertising clients. A recent development called Adnet enables advertising agencies and their clients with computer terminals to benefit from direct access to much of the information contained in the Enterprise database, eliminating time consuming telephone calls and personal contact.

In addition to the services available for mainstream advertisers, a special unit, the Thames Task Force, helps smaller businesses to use television as an advertising medium in the London area.

Thames has also been instrumental in bringing direct response advertising to the television screen, so that viewers can make immediate mail order purchases of goods advertised in commercials.

Since its inception in 1955, ITV has been a commercial broadcasting system, regulated by the IBA. For example, the law limits television advertising to an average of six minutes an hour, and the IBA defines and enforces advertising standards.

All television commercials presented for transmission on Thames are checked by Thames and the Independent Television Companies Association (ITCA), to ensure they comply with the rules laid down by the IBA. There are very strict rules, for example, governing the promotion of goods and services in the medical, legal and financial fields. There are many safeguards against misleading advertising of any kind, and children, especially, are protected against undue or adverse influence by commercials.

A leaflet giving advice on how and where to make comments or complaints about any broadcast material can be obtained from Thames Television, Broadcasting Complaints, 306-316 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB.

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Thames Television International, the company’s subsidiary for overseas distribution, maintains a network of agents across the globe. It participates in all the important international television festivals, and even runs one of its own, The London Screenings, which regularly draws nearly two hundred delegates to London from countries as far apart as Rumania and Hong Kong.

Thames International is also a major distributor of programmes from other producers, and has achieved further successes with versions of British programmes for the American market. For example, Thames International re-edited Benny Hill’s shows into half hours specifically for the American market with the result that he has become a cult for viewers from coast to coast. Similarly the situation comedies Man About The House and Keep It In The Family have been developed in new US versions achieving top ratings such as ‘Three’s Company’ and ‘Too Close For Comfort.’

Technological advance, bringing new media like cable TV, video discs and cassettes, means that there is always a new market for programmes from Thames, and nowhere more than in Britain’s growing home video market. Since March 1981, when Thames Video began operations, videocassettes including The Royal Wedding, The Benny Hill Show, Kenny Everett, The World at War and The Naked Civil Servant have made a considerable impact. And worldwide, Thames videocassettes are securing the high reputation for quality that is already associated with Thames programmes.

Thames also has a considerable interest in publishing, largely but not entirely as a follow-up and reinforcement of Thames on-air output. Books like The World at War and The Troubles make the information presented in the series available to the interested viewer in more detail; in the same way, Thames published Rainbow stories and Theatre Box plays for children.

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Thames also contributes to the ILEA careers advisory service, by making expert advice available at the regular Open Days. Thames also has one of the few training centres in the industry situated at the Teddington Studios.

But Thames’ interest in the life of London goes beyond the television business. In Jubilee year, the company mounted a conference London Looks Forward, which brought together planners, politicians and people from all walks of life to consider the future of the nation’s capital. The conference was opened by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who subsequently asked Thames to look further into the question of London’s derelict land. The resulting research was published as Wasteland, and this was the title of a follow-up conference in 1980, again opened by Prince Philip, which considered the options open to planners, developers, people and politicians in dealing with derelict ground.

A close relationship with the British Film Institute following the success of Thames’ Hollywood series led to the rediscovery and first full-scale presentation of Abel Gance’s monumental silent masterpiece Napoleon. Complete with a musical score by Carl Davis and performed live by the Wren Orchestra, the 1927 film was a central feature of the 1980 London Film Festival. Indeed, so successful was the presentation that another silent classic, King Vidor’s The Crowd, was shown the following year, again with the Wren Orchestra playing a Carl Davis score. 1982 sees the presentation of Clarence Brown’s masterpiece Flesh And The Devil, the film that created the Garbo-Gilbert legend, together with another King Vidor classic from 1928, Showpeople. It is planned to continue these silent film performances every year as a regular part of the London Film Festival.

In 1980, Thames produced Britain’s first-ever Telethon, a marathon fund-raising programme broadcast over two days. It raised more than a million pounds for charities in the London area.

…and into the future

With so many advances being made in home entertainment, and information technology, Thames will continue to play its part, by taking an interest in life beyond the screen as well as striving for excellence in what appears on it.

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