Comments on: Far from routine

By: Joseph Holloway

Joseph Holloway — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 02:40:36 +0000

as with their presentation style at the time, when did Thames stopped using the national anthem at closedown? (that was a practice done by its predecessors ABC and Rediffusion London).

By: Dave Rhodes

Dave Rhodes — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 12:57:44 +0000

There’s no time given for that centre-break in Today – presumably the timings were flexible.

The first parts of Crossroads and Peyton Place look very short – 5 to 7 minutes before the middle break.

Only three trailers that I can see listed – for Cinema, News at 10 and This Week – although it’s possible another one was part of the extended ‘Promo/Intro’ billed for 19.11.43. Of course, anything after 7 the next day would have been under the London Weekend banner, so opportunities to throw forward were limited.

Curious to see the anthem at the end of the day – when did Thames drop it?

By: Steve Bentley

Steve Bentley — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 07:24:48 +0000

Wouldn’t the ident into the OB have been separate because the OB wouldn’t have had facilities to play it in, and it wasn’t worth trying up a studio gallery to put it on the front?

Also, the point about the rest of the network seeing the Thames clock is surprising, I’m fairly sure their MCR would have sent ITN to the network cleanly. The only time they would have sent a dirty feed is when the THS announcer was doing a plug for a “book which accompanies this series” or introducing a PPB.

By: Pete Singleton

Pete Singleton — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 00:26:14 +0000

This is a really fascinating insight into a Thames daily ‘routine’. (I can almost smell the Gestetner stencil).

I particularly like the description of the ‘clock spot’, something I hadnt given much thought to before.

Now, who IS the mystery member of the Transdiffusion crew studying TV Times at the announcer’s desk? (My hair was that long too in 1970).

By: Warren

Warren — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 21:21:46 +0000

Interesting to see this. Surprised to see that Thames were playing Peyton Place from 16mm.