The photograph above is indexed as follows: 1 is a rough ground plan for our new building; 2 is the ICL block; and 3 the Euston Tower. The illustrations below are marked similarly.

This photograph shows the shell of the studio and technical areas. While work goes on with the upper floors, the interior of this area will be finished. Already the studio floors and walls are made, windows are being fitted to enclose the operational areas and the ventilation plant is being installed.

The sketch shows the full depth of the building – longer than Television House – from the Euston Road front door to the back overlooking Drummond Street. The part built extends only to the first ‘roadway’ passing through the building and only goes up to the second floor ceiling.

It is this first section with office space for some 50 people (phase 1), which will be completely ready for colour in November – the whole will not be ready for occupation until June or July of 1970.

There is still some shuffling of office areas going on and will probably go on until May 1970, but the general layout is now settled.

The second floor, starting from the Euston Road end, has wardrobe office/workroom, Telecine, VTR, Sound Maintenance, the Telephone Exchange, Technical Film Department offices, and then the Film Department, taking the major slice, right to the end of the floor.

The Film Department also have areas on the floor below and a vault in the basement, all joined by a goods/staff lift.

The third floor is entirely Programme Department, except for a cluster of Preview Theatres and viewing rooms, and overflows on to the fourth and fifth floors too. The fourth floor is mainly Sales, complete with Press, Research, Promotion and other closely-allied departments. On each of these floors the Director in charge has his office and immediate staff – thus there is no ‘executive floor’ as such.

The fifth floor does have the highest executive concentration, however, for instance the Board Room and Conference Rooms are all up there. The Restaurant and Club take up about one-third of the area and should have a good view over the whole site. A lot of thought has been applied to finding a layout for this area in which the cross-traffic is reduced to a minimum, and our architects’ experience on previous jobs like the Hilton Hotel (if not the Bunny Club – another of their designs) is proving valuable.

“Three teams of architects are working on the project and the co-ordination of all the contractors and sub-contractors is quite a major headache” says Phil Berkeley Head of Engineering Projects for Thames. “Team One is designing the building shell for the development company, Team Two is adding the internal work to make it a Television Centre, while Team Three are looking after the Technical areas where all the acoustic and other specialised problems occur.”

Philip’s job is to find out what people in Thames want (or think they will want in 1970/75) and feed this information in architectural terms to these teams. And of course to keep a co-ordinating eye on all the Engineering Department people planning technical facilities in detail. Currently we have Bob Warren looking after the Master Control, Presentation and C.A.R. areas – the heart of the system, Gunter Karn looking after Sound and Talkback – the nerves of the studio complex, while Alan Blockley looks after Telecine and VTR area – the eyes and memory if you like. The sole survivor of Engineering in Television House, Len Sutton, is looking after Film Department equipment requirements, and pretty major their changes are for colour.

Dozens of other people are involved, adds Philip, and the number will increase as the months go by.

Ken Pike is involved in the internal telephone and intercom systems, Fred Atkinson and Mike Coxhill with the GPO lines joining us to the Tower (right opposite but still needing 18 months’ notice to get the cables installed) and of course Stuart Sansom keeps an overall eye on engineering principles, policy, money, the ITA requirements and such ‘seeing the wood from the trees’ matters.

This leaves out all those at TVH who are actively helping to define the requirements, lay old ghosts and warn of new developments – have a new look at the familiar problems and try to anticipate how colour will affect all this. As Philip says, “Colour does indeed penetrate almost every aspect of our work, and we are continually using Boris Townsend and his team as a sort of talking encyclopaedia and instant idea testing station!”

Their work is beginning to show results at Teddington, where Studio One is most of the way to colour operation.

The post Euston – a bird’s eye view appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Most of these people will be invisible to us. They don’t get their names in the end credits of the programmes. They don’t get a namecheck on air. We don’t see them on screen. We don’t even see or hear what they’ve produced to make the programme appear. Yet they’re all vital.

THS19800326
[Download PDF to follow this article in detail]

At Thames in 1970 there’s a group of people absolutely vital to making television happen for the viewer and yet utterly invisible: the transmission control staff and the technicians that work with them. Everybody has a vital job to do, from the person lining up the reels of commercials to the person with a stopwatch seeing what space is available for promotions and announcements. They pool this information and another vital, invisible specialist types it up on special paper and has it duplicated using a manual Gestetner machine, turning the handle to produce each copy, then collating them, stapling them and distributing them to dozens of people in the Euston studios – and sending copies to the head of presentation of each of the other ITV companies (and ITN) so that everybody knows what everybody else is doing.

These presentation schedules, also known as routine sheets, are then used by the transmission controllers and the continuity announcers to run each evening’s broadcasts to the second, from starting the station up at 2.44pm (and 31 seconds) through to the epilogue, closing announcement, national anthem and “don’t forget to switch off your set” starting at 11.59pm (and 50 seconds).

These routine sheets are complicated and technical, but tell us an amazing amount of useful detail of what happened on a specific day.

On Thursday 26 March 1970, Roger Rowe was the transmission controller at Euston. With him that day were Sheila Kennedy and Philip Elsmore splitting the continuity announcing job between them. If there are problems to do with the commercials – one to be pulled or one to be added – then Mr G. Smith is in the building until midnight to manage the process. Mrs Pam Durrant is available on extension 651 if the press office is required – if someone says a rude word on Today or if tomorrow’s newspapers could run with something that Thames has put out. At home but still on call is Transdiffusion’s Honorary President, Geoffrey Lugg, available on 01 977 4053, ready in case a programme becomes unavailable or disaster strikes.

The day starts at 14Hours.44Mins.31Secs exactly with the fade up of the ITA ‘flag’ caption. On the Brighter Side and Pizzicato Rockalong by Johnny Hawksworth play. At 14.48.02, Philip Elsmore – on tape – says “This is Thames Television, operating on the London transmitters of the Independent Television Authority.” Then more Hawksworth – Salute to Thames (known as the March internally) and we’re into Sheila Kennedy saying hello at 14.49.50. She has exactly ten seconds to welcome the viewers to Thames and throw forward to a repeat of Mad Movies.

There’s more time available after the programme ends at 15.14.05 with 5 seconds of the From THAMES slide. 50 seconds are given to her here, allowing time for her to run through the early evening’s programmes before the 7-second Thames ident at 15.14.53 and the Outside Broadcast. This OB is also being taken by Harlech, which may explain why the Thames ident is being run before the programme start rather than as part of it – it’s allowing the Wales and West company to not show it. Although quite why is in itself a mystery.

We’re back to the announcer’s booth at 16.16.30 for 15 seconds and a “Childrens Opening” – billed as being the announcer, so it’s Sheila Kennedy again and not some special ident or title sequence. The next programme is from Yorkshire Television in Leeds, coming down the GPO co-axial cable and being taken by Thames, Granada, Westward, Grampian, Channel and Southern.

Our first advert break of the day occurs after Diane’s Magic Theatre ends at 16.27.55. It’s for Mackintosh’s Quality Street – on black and white – followed by Findus Fish Portions in colour. This is a feature of the time – less than 6 months into colour on the main ITV regions – with the advertisements unselfconsciously swinging back and forth between colour and black and white. The ITV companies were not permitted to charge more for handling colour advertising, so had little incentive to push the advertising agencies into switching. Long-running campaigns for major brands had been prepared in black and white up to two years ago, were expensive to make, and there was little incentive for companies to remake them in colour – an expensive business.

There’s no accounting for which adverts are in colour and which are not. Mars, one of the world’s largest advertisers, is firmly in black and white throughout the evening across most of its brands – Pedigree Chum, Mars bars, Marathon, and Twix all getting a plug before 7pm without a hint of colour anywhere (Revels, however, are in colour). But smaller brands like Brolac paint and Meakin Pottery are in colour. Even brands that would benefit from colour in their commercials – ICI’s Dulux Paint – are in monochrome, yet followed by a colour commercial for Filigree Curtains (who?).

Skipping forward, Magpie at 17.19.00 is going out to the entire network except ‘HAR 2’. This is the former Teledu Cymru, the Welsh- and English-language service of Harlech – ‘HAR 1’ is the former TWW, the Harlech General Service for Western England and South Wales in English alone. Clearly Harlech Wales is putting out a children’s programme in Welsh in that part of its dual contract area.

The ITN news is at 17.50.00, and is being routed through Thames facilities in Euston – which is why this slot (later the 5.45pm and 5.40pm ITN programmes) was always the best chance of glimpsing the Thames clock or hearing part of a Thames announcement when your regional company was a tad early into the news (or Thames was a tad late). It also allows Thames to network at 30 second promotion for This Week after the news finishes – but the other companies need to get out at precisely 18.01.30 or they’ll be showing the Thames weather.

Everything now is locally produced at Thames until 20.59.00, when ITN gets 30 seconds to plug tonight’s News at Ten. This is done in a complicated way – ITN’s live promo comes in to Thames and is then sent on the standby line (not the over-the-air line; ATV had bought a second private direct line between Foley Street in London and Aston in Birmingham from the GPO back when they had two ITV contracts) to ATV to network. ATV then keeps control of the network for the next programme, except for Grampian, who opt-out for a local programme.

The ATV programme is a repeat of The Jimmy Tarbuck Show, at 20.59.30. Pre-publicity and the TVTimes have boasted that this is in colour. It isn’t, and an announcement will need to be made to apologise. It looks like that has been left to ATV to do, meaning that the apology for it not being in colour will go out across the network – the majority of which is still in black and white only anyway.

More networking shenanigans at 21.59.15, as Granada plugs Cinema to the network, but does it by sending the trail down the line to Thames to distribute to the network. Since both of the Harlech regions, and Grampian, Southern and Tyne Tees, are opting out of Cinema, their local continuity will have to run something in its place; they, and all the other regions, are going to have to fill the next 15 seconds as well, as Thames is doing its standard “station identification” at this point, a full 7-second ident held for a further 7 seconds and Philip Elsmore saying something like “This is Thames, from London. And now, the ITN News at Ten.”

At the end of the long run of commercials starting at 22.29.05, Philip Elsmore does what is in effect a leftover practice from the 1950s – a ‘clock spot’. These were cheap 7-second plugs for a product done over the station clock (or with the clock either side and a slide in-between) read by the duty announcer but were deplored by the Independent Television Authority as it looked like the station itself was being sponsored by the product in question. All that’s left of them by 1970 is the announcer coming in live at the end of a standard commercial break and doing a plug over a slide – in this case for this week’s TVTimes.

Once Cinema has run – direct to the participating network from Granada – the rest of the evening is all locally originated. The main programme is NBC’s I Spy, starring Robert Culp. The episode number 21 from season 3, previously shown on NBC in the States on 4 March 1968. That’s followed by the epilogue, 8 minutes and 7 seconds long, at 23.59.50, on videotape, and then the closedown.

The closedown isn’t given any timings, and aficionados of this particular sub-genre of presentation will know how this time was used – informally, with the announcer chatting about what we saw tonight and what we can see tomorrow, possibly thanking the transmission crew and sometimes naming the transmission controller. The national anthem is played, there’s a period of silence, and then the announcer gently fades his mic back up, reminds us to switch off our sets, and wishes us a good night again.

And the day is done.

The post Far from routine appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

‘Know what a lens is lad?’

‘Er, yes.’

‘Ever seen a television camera before?’

‘Er, I think so.’

‘Right. You start first thing in the morning.’

An occasional young cameraman might conceivably have started his career in television like this fifteen or twenty years ago. Recruitment into the industry then was sometimes a haphazard and irregular affair and even once in the job formalised training was not always available – you often learned as you went along.

Things today are very different. The video communications business has become a large and sophisticated industry. In addition to the broadcasting organisations and the host of small, private film and TV companies, virtually every university, technical college and art school as well as most of the larger education authorities have full-scale television systems in operation; the industry’s techniques and equipment have become highly advanced. Against such a background it was inevitable that regularised, planned training programmes, college courses and recruitment schemes should have sprung up. Young hopefuls entering the industry today will have to have at least some qualifications under their belts before they start and then after joining will more than likely embark on a planned course of learning and instruction.

In Independent Television, a number of the larger companies have instituted such schemes for all their recruitment and staff training. One company to have done this is Thames Television in London. Its training scheme began in its present form some three or four years ago and is still developing. Thames has set up a special Training Department with its own staff and its own Training Centre at Teddington studios. The centre includes a library of books, tapes and cassettes, a study area and special facilities which can be used as a lecture room, viewing room or television studio. The scheme has a number of sides to its operation and is not designed just for technical staff. There are courses for, among others, secretaries, programme directors and production assistants as well as staff from the business and administration sides. Recruits from both inside and outside the industry find they have a large number of courses available to them.

One of the most comprehensive training courses Thames undertake is the Technical Training Scheme. Student trainees in camera and sound work, operational engineering, film and other technical fields take one-year courses which include a period in the training centre followed by a period as operational trainees. The courses are devised on a modular basis covering a wide number of areas and each trainee follows the full course through. They begin to specialise during the operational phase and as vacancies occur are progressively absorbed into the company. The courses include lectures, demonstrations, visits and production projects, and a number of days a week working in a small closed-circuit studio and control room.

On the production side there are training programmes for production assistants and trainee directors, the latter spending most of their time working closely with other directors but also undertaking several weeks of concentrated instruction. In addition there are special courses for vision mixers, graphics department trainees, engineers specialising in quality control and digital techniques, plus external courses for VTR operations, lighting control, 16mm. film production and colour photography.

As well as the production and engineering courses, there are those catering for people specialising in the business and administration sides. There is a trainee secretaries’ course for recruits joining from secretarial college, and Thames’ trainee manager scheme covers most aspects of management and business administration. Short specialist courses for established managers cover labour relations, interviewing methods and industrial safety.

Another feature of the Thames approach to recruitment and training is the induction course. All new people joining the company go on a one-day induction course which includes a welcome from an executive director and tours of the Teddington and Euston centres as well as a look at some of Thames’ programmes and talks with personnel and welfare staff.

Yet another valuable and in some ways novel part of the overall scheme is the regular studio training sessions Thames organises for all its employees. These sessions are specially designed to give staff a chance

to do jobs they,would not normally do and so as well as being of great value they are needless to say great fun too. For some staff the sessions present a good opportunity to see if they really would like to be a cameraman or production assistant; others are able to test their prowess at such work as sound balancing, which a boom operator for example would not normally be able to do. Others find their experience usefully broadened by having to work in unfamiliar conditions and many of course appreciate the chance to sense the excitement of programme making. Anyone in the company from the newest recruit to the most established executive can apply to take part. An obvious advantage of the studio sessions is that they prove to some people that they will never make a cameraman, production assistant or whatever else it was they’d had ambitions for!

The broad thinking behind the entire scheme is one of fostering and developing talent. Young people coming into the industry are given the opportunity of receiving high quality training designed to suit specifically their talents. The right type of training must be given in the right areas. Care is taken not to deny job opportunities to those already in the industry, and those whose skills and abilities have been overtaken by technological change are offered re-training. The twin issues at stake in training are the short-term needs of individuals and the long-term needs of the industry.

The post So You Want to Work in Television… appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

My other objective was of course to break down those barriers created by any merger when it brings together executives from rival companies of totally different philosophies. This was only the beginning of a long and tortuous process, for the loyalties of Rediffusion staff were deep and it took several years to overcome their natural resentment of ABC control being forced upon them. I knew that total integration of the two companies could only be attained by joint achievements, when everyone would be proud to work under the banner of the new company, Thames. Therefore this was a further inducement (if any were needed) for Thames to emerge as the leader in current affairs and informational programmes, in addition to its acknowledged strength in entertainment and drama.

The highspot, I decided, would be The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten which had been a Rediffusion creation. Once having decided to play this as a trump card and break away from the ITV network practice of putting on documentary series at off-peak time I tried to induce ATV, Granada and Yorkshire to follow Thames’ lead and run the series at 9 p.m. This proposal was gently supported by the Authority (although not made a ‘requirement’) but it was not found acceptable, and others slotted the programmes for 10.30 p.m. directly after News at Ten, athough eventually one or two of the regions did follow our lead.

In a despairing effort to coax the two most powerful executives, Cedi Bernstein and Lew Grade, into nine o’clock networking with us I harnessed the driving force of the dauntless Lord Mountbatten. During one of the social events we cornered Lew and Cecil, and Lord Mountbatten went straight into the attack. Lew was immovable: ‘Howard must be mad, putting on your programme against the BBC at nine! That’s when the BBC put on all those sexy plays with bad language. You’ll get slaughtered. Now when I put on the programmes, after the news at 10.30, there’ll be no opposition.’ (No opposition, I thought, only football matches and feature films.) Lord Mountbatten did not withdraw from his attack until Lew Grade told him: ‘I guarantee, Lord Mountbatten, that ATV will get better ratings than Thames. In fact, I’m so sure I’ll bet on it. If Thames get higher ratings than ATV I’ll pay you five hundred pounds.’ In fact, Thames did achieve higher ratings at 9 p.m. than ATV at 10.30 p.m. and I reminded Lew Grade of this bet. ‘I know, I’ve already sent Mountbatten my cheque.’ He lit a new cigar and added ‘Cheap at the price, wasn’t it?’

Thus when Thames next offered a series of equal importance – The World at War – the companies all agreed to follow our lead and network this at 9 p.m. The programmes were rarely out of the top ten. For once, we did bring out the brass band to launch The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten with a flourish of trumpets and drums, for this series clearly had the stamp of success. We decided to have three ‘premieres’ at the Imperial War Museum, which had been such a valuable source of material for us. The first showing was for Lord Mountbatten’s military colleagues, the other for the Queen and her family, and the third for the press. The premiere for Her Majesty was probably more royal than any previous occasion, attracting the entire royal family with the exception of the Duke of Gloucester who was ill.

I found with Lord Mountbatten that in spite of his forceful personality he was susceptible to reasoned resistance, and there were several occasions when he gave in to determined argument. Our opinions differed about the values of various episodes depicting his career. For the press screening he wanted to show the episode he had selected for the Queen, his magnificent days in India. I agreed that nothing could be better for the Royal screening but it was not the right episode for the press. I wanted the second of the series, The Kings Depart, which told the story of his marriage to Edwina Ashley and their honeymoon in Hollywood, where they had made a picture which was preserved in his astonishing collection of Mountbatten films. The honeymooners had stayed at the home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford and taken part in a film Nice and Friendly, with Charlie Chaplin and the ‘Kid’, Jackie Coogan. It was funny and touching and was inevitably a hit with the newspaper men. Lord Mountbatten agreed afterwards that it was the correct decision. Our sales organisation went on to distribute the series on behalf of his Trust throughout the world.

For the first time we were able to break into French television. Only Mountbatten could have gone direct to De Gaulle to have the series shown in France. He then proceeded to re-record the commentaries in French, and indefatigably went through the same process to record a German version when German television also took the programmes. Our only failure was in the United States, where in spite of all the pressures and efforts the networks once again refused to find time for a series of British documentaries. Lord Mountbatten had Henry Ford as his house guest at Broadlands, for what I anticipated would be the most expensive outing of Mr Ford’s life, to sponsor the series in America. Although Mr Ford was willing, the American network concerned would not accept the programmes because they thought it would be disadvantageous to their ratings.

This series helped to consolidate the network, as well as Thames. Weekdays were now firmly established, partly because of the variable performance of the week-end schedules. The unpredictability and unreliability of Friday evening and week-end programmes disturbed the advertisers, who always wanted to be sure that their commercials would reach a known and countable audience. This could be guaranteed only on weekday television.

Thames could now claim leadership of the network, for the most effective programmes were concentrated from Monday to Thursday, based on Thames’ formula of the best of ABC and Rediffusion, plus new programmes, reinforced by the cream of the output of the three major regional companies. All this we celebrated at our first staff dance in January 1969, symbolising the union of the two companies. We had to take the huge Lyceum ballroom in the Strand to accommodate the staff of 1,600 plus their wives, husbands and friends, jubilant and secure after two years of doubts and hazards. All this gave me some satisfaction – not least that after twelve years of journeying from London to Manchester and Birmingham it was a joy to have my travels limited to Teddington.

Thames had moved into its new building on the Euston Road, which had been designed for the next phase of television, and we went forward with confidence into the world of colour. Now we set ourselves new sights with large-scale programmes which would take two or three years to mature.

Yet all was not well in the pastures of Golden Square. For years there had been trepidation about the inevitable sale of Warner Brothers’ share interest in ABPC; with Jack Warner’s advancing years speculation and rumour had opened up all sorts of possibilities. Then came a stranger at the door. At the end of January 1968 Electric & Musical Industries Ltd, had informed the Associated British Picture Corporation that they had agreed to purchase from Warner Brothers four million Ordinary Stock Units and thus acquired twenty-five per cent of the issued Ordinary Capital of the Corporation. Sir Philip Warter announced that the two companies had agreed to co-operate in the ‘full development of their combined resources in the field of entertainment at home and overseas. To this end the Board of the Corporation has invited EMI to nominate two directors for the Board of the Corporation.’ The two directors were John Read and Bernard Delfont.

Now the solid Associated British Picture Corporation began to feel the tremors of changes ahead. But Thames Television was consolidating its position in the television industry.

The post Consolidations appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

I was growing more interested in the world around me, watching TV news and reading the papers. I had been aware for some time that big changes were afoot within Independent Television. I knew that in Wales and the West for example, Harlech Television was the new incumbent, with glamorous stars like Richard Burton, Geraint Evans, Stanley Baker and Wynford Vaughn-Thomas on board, as part of the reshuffle of ITV companies announced the year before.

I had become particularly interested in television presentation and I switched on each day to see the ITA caption and hear the inspiring music leading the late afternoon start of Rediffusion.

I had enjoyed many of its youth programmes like ‘Five O’clock Club’, ‘Tuesday Rendezvous’, and ‘Ready Steady Go’, but new arrival Thames was promising programmes “specially for Londoners” and I became very excited about it all. I had no idea then that Thames came about when the ITA forced ITV stalwarts ABC and Rediffusion to jointly create a new company for the weekday franchise.

For the ‘Friday evening to Sunday’ franchise, a new company called London Weekend replaced the former Saturday-Sunday ATV operation. I knew that David Frost, who had presented several series on Rediffusion, was to be a key figure in the new weekend set up.

Rediffusion had not given a high priority to regional news. Their nightly show ‘Three After Six’ though only shown locally, concerned itself rather more with matters of national interest. The ITA was unhappy with this.

Thames however were promising magazine shows and feature specials. They also planned more late night social affairs programmes, continuing a long standing Rediffusion tradition.

So it was with a great fanfare that Thames came on air that Tuesday afternoon with an opening lunch from the Mansion House where the Lord Mayor was welcoming “London’s new Television Service”. This was perhaps rather a fraudulent description as it was really a fresh contractor newly providing an existing service, but the press office allowed itself some licence on the matter!

The public banquet was attended by Councillors, Aldermen, leading city figures and journalists, ITA board members, Directors of the Rediffusion company, the Associated-British Picture Corporation, the new Thames executives, the Postmaster General and Post Office board. It is a measure of the perceived public service role of Independent Television in those days that the bill for the whole celebration was met without question by the ratepayers of the City! “A new television service for London” was assumed then to have major significance for the life of the whole nation.

The banquet was televised live, with recorded highlights repeated at 11pm. Clips were included on the National News for viewers in the other regions (who had not carried the live broadcast). This indicated a degree of viewer interest that would be unthinkable today. There was even a live commentary by Andrew Gardiner who described the scene, interviewed the dignitaries between courses and presumably gave commentary on the guests eating!

After the Lord Mayor’s dinner there was horse racing from Redcar networked from Tyne Tees Television but this was affected by a technicians’ industrial dispute for some of the programme. This was a precursor to a major strike that was to take ITV off air later in the week.

Thames had inherited two main programme production bases. The former ABC studios at Teddington Lock in Middlesex, was to be used for drama, light entertainment and children’s shows. Television House in Kingsway, the principle London ITV facility remained in Rediffusion’s company ownership but was provided for Thames’ use as part of Rediffusion’s dowry to the new company. The Rediffusion signwork on the building itself remained in position for many more years. ITN and some of the TV Times offices were also housed in this complex.

Television House concentrated on live feature and topical programmes such as the new daily ‘Today’ magazine with Eamonn Andrews and ‘This Week’, the networked political magazine. Current Affairs and Schools programme departments continued to be based here, the staff largely unchanged from the Rediffusion payroll.

New central London studios were being built with the approach of colour television in mind and gradually the various departments would move to the new purpose built studios on the Euston Road in NW1. The new facility was to be called “Thames Television House” and was due to open by 1970.

The company maintained an outside broadcast base at Hanwell in Middlesex, inherited from ABC Television, garaging the fleet of mobile broadcasting vans for sporting or other events, such as regularly covered Theatre Awards and Royal Film and Theatre Performances. It was the production base for Thames’s motoring programme ‘Drive In’. Steve Minchin, Bob Service and Grahame Turner ran a well-remembered and efficient Outside Broadcast Operation, which was regarded, from ABC days as amongst the best in the network.

‘Today’ was presented every weekday from Rediffusion’s Television House in Kingsway and passers-by could stand and peer through the ground floor pavement window of the studio as Eamonn Andrews and the team put out the show. The crowd outside the window were often seen on the show in the lighter summer months when cameras panned in the direction of the street.

The ITA had long thought Rediffusion’s local programming too national in scope, seemingly having little regard to what was going on in London itself. Thames opted to better this record with a range of programme improvements for the metropolis.

From the former ABC Northern and Midland weekend operation they imported a team of highly polished continuity announcers linking programmes “in-vision” with a lighter and wittier touch than Rediffusion had permitted.

Mainstays of the former ABC team, Philip Elsmore, David Hamilton, Sheila Kennedy and John Benson spent the Autumn of 1968 bedding down the new Thames image with considerable success, and using the long standing ABC flair for corporate identity to stamp the new company on London viewers minds. Tom Edwards and Peter Marshall later joined the team.

Thames’s first networked programme for children and successor to Rediffusion’s ‘Five O’clock Club’ was ‘Magpie’, a racier version of BBC’s ‘Blue Peter’. Presented by Susan Stranks, Tony Bastable and Canadian ex pirate radio deejay Pete Brady, it was to revolutionise children’s magazine programming. Gone were the mildly condescending middle class uncle and aunt figures and in came groovy young presenters who did not patronise.

Other shows that first night included Cooper King Size with Tommy Cooper who proved to be a huge star for Thames over the years, his contract inherited from ABC, though part of his first networked Thames show was also lost to industrial action.

Traditionally around the ITV network (though never on Granada in the North) it fell to an ageing cleric in a dog collar to present a mildly religious “Epilogue” programme before transmission ceased each night around twelve. Thames chose to pursue and develop Rediffusion’s long standing interest in social affairs content and chose to develop Rediffusion’s existing series ‘The Last Programme’ to a rather more ‘activist’ social affairs agenda.

Presented by regulars Llew Gardener, Joan Shenton and Ivor Mills , the show ran across the week at closedown and was curiously the only Thames programme shown on London Weekend to give it seven day continuity.

Three producers each took a week at a time on the show. Jon Woods, Mavis Airey and Anthony Stancombe subsequently forged notable careers in “issues” television. ABC stalwart Margery Baker produced some editions including a prize-winning series on the Russian Orthodox Church and its icons, arts and musical specials, a special performance of Bach’s St Nicholas Cantata and a presentation of The London Contemporary Dance Company in ‘Kontakion’. It is unimaginable that these programmes would be seen on ITV today.

For almost two more years Thames used Rediffusion’s Television House in Kingsway for its schools, religious, adult education and current affairs departments.

From 1970 Thames Television House in Euston was the company’s new headquarters and within that office and studio complex the sales teams planned and rehearsed their presentations to London businessmen and potential advertisers.

Inherited from ABC, this sales group was long regarded as one of the most successful in the industry and quickly established Thames as the most profitable of the major new ITV contracts. This was as much due to inspired hard work as any marketing secrets. The ITA had expected ATV’s new seven day contract in the Midlands to be the most lucrative of the major regions but the ex ABC salesmen at Thames proved the Authority wrong.

Head of Commercial Sales was the late Paul Cheffins, one of the most respected figures in the industry. He worked closely with Muir Sutherland the Programme Coordinator at Thames Television International, selling Thames programmes worldwide.

The last departments to transfer to Thames Television House in 1971 were Current Affairs and Schools Television. The schools department under Edwin Whitely continued the pioneering work established by Rediffusion’s Enid Love who took up the newly created post of Head of Education at Yorkshire Television.

Thames presented many schools programmes at both junior and senior levels, including ‘Seeing and Doing’, ‘Finding Out’, ‘The World Around Us’, ‘Viewpoint’, and ‘King Lear’, in a ‘Shakespeare for Schools’ initiative. Thames full time education officer, Fernau Hall, developed direct relationships with schools in the London area and appointed Community Education Officers, fulfilling a long standing Rediffusion ambition.

Thames screened a wide range of adult education programmes, including the visually stunning ‘Treasures of the British Museum’. The Educational series ‘A Place in the Country’ and ‘Water Wise’ were successful enough to be repeated for mainstream viewers.

As part of Thames’s commitment to ‘social action television’ the company set up a programme called ‘Help’, highlighting various social problems of the day and continuing a tradition started by the former North and Midland weekend contractor ABC, in their “ABC at Large” series of the mid sixties.

These new Thames programmes often appealed for volunteers to assist in social projects of various kinds. Presented by Joan Shenton and Viv Taylor-Gee, short spots were backed with leaflets and booklets that could be written or phoned for and viewers with specific problems were referred to appropriate agencies for support. With the advent of independent production companies Shenton later opted to form her own medical and social based television company, Meditel.

‘Help’ covered many topics from adoption to birth control, drugs and the skills needed for looking after homeless teenagers. Advice programmes on taxation, home finance and debt made in association with London Citizens Advice Bureau were particularly popular.

As London’s own magazine programme, ‘Today’ went from strength to strength. In the summer of 1976 my own youth group had featured in the London Evening News and thus we were invited to appear live on the ‘Today’ show that evening. Sandra Harris met us in reception and we were ushered into the studio without any time for rehearsal and found ourselves live on air. For me it was a wonderful experience to see the inner workings of Thames at first hand, something I was privileged to do on more than one occasion.

‘Today’ hit the national news on 1st December 1976, when use of the then dreaded “F” word live on television, shocked the region during a now famous altercation between programme presenter Bill Grundy, and the alternative punk band The Sex Pistols, led by Johnny Rotten. The incident inadvertently promoted the emerging punk phenomenon, but truncated Grundy’s long ITV career.

Thames had a first-rate documentary department, inherited wholesale from Rediffusion, which continued to supply ITV with award winning material. One memorable example was ‘Beauty, Bonnie, Daisy, Violet, Grace and Geoffrey Morton’. Directed by Frank Cvitanovich and produced by Jolyon Wimhurst, Yorkshireman Morton was shown farming 40 acres using his eponymous shire horses to deploy old fashioned farming methods long since generally abandoned. In 1974 Thames collected the British Academy (BAFTA) award for Best Documentary.

Jeremy Isaacs, formerly of Rediffusion, long standing producer of This Week, after many years at the helm was asked to take charge of another mammoth project which brought Thames more awards and kudos than anything else in its 25 years as an ITV contractor, the 26 part history series The World At War. So much material was amassed that the video sold in shops later had 32 episodes – more than had been transmitted originally!

From late 1972 the long-standing Post Office broadcasting hours restrictions were relaxed by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. ITV and later the BBC developed afternoon programmes and extended children’s programmes to Saturday mornings for the first time. ITV’s new weekday afternoon schedule had a lunchtime bulletin from ITN at 1240 (which the BBC had been doing at 1.25 for over 15 years) and a new breed of rather cheap and cheerful daytime programming made its debut. Schools programmes were newly restricted to mornings only and general programming now began at noon.

Thames paid much attention to new look programmes for housewives, still then a clearly designated group within society. By today’s standards, male unemployment was low during the early seventies and so daytime strands could be specifically targeted at women and the retired.

One innovation featured Michael and Mary Parkinson in ‘Tea-Break’. The programme was an unusual mix of features and entertainment and was later relaunched as ‘Afternoon Plus’ with Mavis Nicholson and Elaine Grand. These series launched the television careers of a range of new presenters like Mary Berry, Anna Raeburn and Jill Tweedie. The shows were produced by Catherine Freeman and Mary McAnnally.

Thames presented a range of current affairs and specials, most notably continuing Rediffusion’s long standing ‘This Week’, which ran side by side with Granada’s equally famous ‘World in Action’. ‘TV Eye’ was a brief revamp of ‘This Week’. One edition, ‘Death on the Rock’, produced by Roger Bolton, caused a major row with the Conservative government and is widely alleged to bear part of the blame for Thames losing its ITV contract to Carlton in 1992.

Feature programmes included the long running ‘Wish You Were Here’, with Judith Chalmers and ‘This Is Your Life’ presented by Eamonn Andrews and later Michael Aspel.

Thames proved that it was able to respond to unexpected events with the death of Elvis Presley in Memphis on 16th August 1977. At short notice ITV cleared its evening schedules and Thames’ ‘This Is You Life’ team mounted a live tribute show at 7pm the same day.

By the early eighties, Thames daily regional magazine had become more news orientated, and was renamed Thames News. Regional news bulletins were provided for the London Weekend company to use.

In 1986 after an LWT ‘London Programme’ special about the drug problem in South London, I organised a public conference in my then role as community worker, to discuss the issue. Interest escalated and Thames asked to cover the event live. Reporter Paul Greene presented the coverage. That night Robin Houston relayed the decisions from the conference on the Thames ‘Late News’.

In the single most unhappy event in the company history of ITV, the public was genuinely shocked when Thames lost its London franchise to Carlton at the end of 1992. This was a result of a new ‘sealed bids’ franchise auction system, inspired by the growing free market orientation of the government. This may have been a suitable paradigm for the sale of washing powder but had detrimental consequences for the unique mixture of commercial and public service broadcasting that ITV represented.

This was the end of the line for Thames as an ITV programme contractor but subsequently it did plenty more production work as an independent, continuing to supply ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Bill’ to ITV, ‘This Is You Life’ to the BBC, and the ‘Family Affairs’ soap to the last ‘new’ terrestrial channel, Five.

Thames no longer needed the Euston Road premises and focused on Teddington. In the mid 90’s Thames Television House was partly demolished to make way for a new public sector building project. Only the centre ground floor facade of Thames’ former reception area survived and was incorporated into the new building. The revolving doors that once admitted so many stars to the old reception area, now admit only civil servants to their new offices.

The building that for 25 years played a key part in making Thames’ skyline logo a herald of quality network programmes from London is now just a memory. One thing that will not be forgotten however is that Thames, as it once proudly told us, truly had a talent for television.

The post This is Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

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.

The post The heart of Thames: making programmes appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Chairman
Howard Thomas CBE

Managing Director
Bryan Cowgill

Executive Directors
Jeremy Isaacs – Programmes
Ian M Scott CA – Administration & Finance
James F Shaw – Sales & Marketing

Other Board Members
Mrs Mary Baker
Lord Brabourne
John T Davey FCA
R R W Dicks
H S L Dundas CBE DSO DFC DL
John M Kuipers
Sir John Read FCA
Colin S Wills FCA

Executives
Ben E Marr CA – Company Secretary
R G J Godfrey – Engineering & Technical Director
John Hambley – Planning & Development Director
John O’Keefe – Industrial Relations Director
J A Muir Sutherland – Managing Director, Thames Television International

F J Atkinson – Technical Controller
Donald Cullimore – Controller, Public Relations
RJ Hughes – Sales Controller
Derek Hunt – Chief Accountant
Philip Jones OBE – Controller of Light Entertainment
Verity Lambert – Controller of Drama
Max Lawson – Financial Controller
Sam Leitch – Head of Sport
Geoffrey Lugg – Controller, Programme Planning & Liaison
Ian Martin – Controller of Features, Education & Religion
Malcolm Morris – Controller, Programme Department (Administration)
Peter Pagnamenta – Controller of Current Affairs
A C Parkinson – Controller of Administration
Eric Parry – Controller, Programme Services
Mike Phillips – Controller, Advertising & Publications
Grahame Turner – Controller of Outside Broadcasts
Sue Turner – Controller of Children’s Programmes
Mike Wooller – Controller of Documentaries

HEAD OFFICE AND LONDON STUDIOS
Thames Television
306-316 Euston Road
London NW1 3BB
Telephone: 01-387 9494

TEDDINGTON STUDIOS
Teddington Lock
Teddington
Middlesex TW11 9NT
Telephone: 01-977 3252

MOBILE DIVISION
Twickenham Road
Hanworth
Middlesex
Telephone: 01-898 0011

REGIONAL OFFICE
Norfolk House
Smallbrook Queensway
Birmingham B5 4LJ
Telephone: 021-643 9151

The post Inside Thames appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Associated Rediffusion took over the building in 1954, and began the conversion from what had been the wartime Air Ministry to the home of the infant ITV. Studios and technical areas were installed where steel shelters had stood for Winston Churchill and headquarters RAF staff. One member of the Marconi planning team which supervised the conversion was Phil Berkeley, now Head of Engineering Projects for Thames.

Since TVH went on the air on 22 September 1955, it has been the base of ATV, ITN, Rediffusion, Southern, Scottish, TV Times and Thames.

Now the building is to be ripped apart again, for IPC, and given a new name.

… and at the Lyceum

The Lyceum has been associated with staff parties for almost as long as TVH with television. Many Rediffusion parties were held there, and Thames continued the tradition for its first two years.

But now that Thames has moved to Euston, the Board has decided it would be inappropriate to hold parties there any longer. Chief advantage of the Lyceum was its closeness to Television House, particularly for staff involved in transmissions on the night of the party.

Announcing the change this week, the Managing Director stated “We will not have a Christmas Party at the Lyceum this year, but instead consideration is being given to either a summer or autumn function at a more suitable location within the Greater London area. A committee to plan this, and discuss the form and frequency of future parties, will be set up under the chairmanship of Colin Wills. It will consist of representatives of various departments of the company and members of the Social Club committee.’*

Euston move completed successfully

The careful and elaborate plans made over several months by Administration and Engineering Departments have paid off. The Euston move has been completed more or less without mishap and on schedule.

The last departments moved earlier this week, and all central London staff are now in their new accommodation — with the exception of Betty who opens the shutters of her new Club bar at 6.00 pm on Friday 13th!

Casualties of the move included Maintenance Foreman Derek Drury (slipped cartilage) and the electric typewriter of Sales Director’s secretary Betty Wilson (smashed carriage).

First reactions from the staff to their new home and to the smoothness of the move were good. Sue Mathiesen, Secretary to Sales Controller Jim Shaw: “There’s so much more space and light, and the cleanliness after Television House is marvellous. I used to work in the area before when I was with Rank Xerox, and I like being back. It’s so much easier to get to the shops at Oxford Circus by getting on the Victoria Line.” Bob Hurley was one of the team of duty officers who worked around the clock throughout the move. He praised the job done by Vanguard, the removal contractors. “They were ahead of schedule and goods were pouring into Euston at such a rate that we had to work hard to keep up with them.”

A last word from Colin Wills, who was in charge of the move. “The Executive Directors are most appreciative of the way in which the staff tackled this difficult changeover. Without their cooperation and readiness to roll up their sleeves to get on with the job, we should not have succeeded. I should also like to thank the members of the co-ordinating committee who planned the move.”

On the lighter side, Wanstead police telephoned on Monday, 2 November, to tell the company that old files were seen drifting down Wanstead High Street! In view of the recent council workers’ strike they are not pressing charges against Thames or against the refuse contractors who should have delivered them safely to a dump.

The post End of an era at TVH… appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

By Saturday night some order was beginning to appear out of apparent chaos. Operational crews reported early on Sunday morning and prepared for the full-scale dry run transmission in the afternoon. Concurrent with the activity in Master Control and Presentation similar scenes were taking place in Telecine, VTR and the mobile control room attached to Studio 5. Whilst Master Control Engineers were trying to locate all their pieces of equipment and set them up correctly they were also endeavouring to deal with such requests as, “Studio 5 – Master, can I have Telecine 7 please?” The usual reply was, “Yes, when I find Telecine 7.”

The fact that tempers did not reach boiling point, though they were sometimes slightly frayed, reflects considerable credit on the Canteen, which managed to cope with incessant demands for large quantities of coffee and tea.

The run-through started according to schedule and was going so smoothly that by 4.30 p.m. a secret decision was taken to create a breakdown since no serious problems were occurring as a result of the new installation. At 5 p.m. a mains failure “occurred” on the Presentation Mixer. We were “back on the air” in 33 seconds – under the circumstances a remarkable achievement. Included in the dry run was a ‘Today’ programme “live” from the Studio.

At 6.30 p.m. everyone retired to the Canteen for a well-earned glass of beer with the Managing Director. At 7.00 p.m. a meeting between interested parties took place in Studio 5 and as a result, Installation Engineers worked yet another night to correct minor discrepancies which had arisen.

Now, one week later we are firmly on the air and our audience have not noticed the minor faults which have caused major headaches for Presentation and Technical Staff. Considerable credit is due to all Thames Staff who were involved in making everything operate successfully on Colour Day.

The post First Colour Day at Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

By Monday the building was transformed into an efficiently operating Television Studio.

Jane’s new reception area in the foyer is designed to impress. Jane, herself, describes it as, “Rather elegant.” The wall behind her is lined in sage-green suede. “The first few days,” says Jane, “have been hectic but fun. This area is still buzzing with workmen and the foyer becomes increasingly impressive daily as yet another section is completed.”

The new Switchboard (pictured above) under Mrs Laycock’s supervision is much more compact than the one at Television House. For the time being the Switchboard is operated by four girls – with Mrs Laycock in the photograph are Sheila Noonan and Christine Rayment.

The ‘Today’ team also appear delighted with their new wall-to-wall carpeted surroundings and their room is already well endowed with ‘Today’s’ unmistakable stamp of busy chaos.

Opposite ‘Today’ on the third floor, Graphics have a bright spacious office. It seems to have inspired an unexpected house-proud streak in Jim Bainbridge, which has even brought a smile to the lips on his wastepaper basket.

A temporary canteen has been installed on the fifth floor under the supervision of Miss Lovell. The canteen is catering for approximately 164 people but Miss Lovell is still trying to work out how that number consumed 400 cups of coffee on the first morning!

Much of the building is still incomplete as the bottom central picture of the fifth floor illustrates. The reaction so far from people now working at Euston has been one of approval. When the workmen have finished, the building will not only be functionally well designed but also an impressive showpiece.

The post Day Number One at Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

On 7 July the Executive Directors visited the site accompanied by the two architects – John Ware, responsible for the Control Rooms and Studios; and Marshall Levy for the overall conversion of the building. Dave Dunn, in charge of the move, our Clerk of Works, Ted Mathews, and Philip Berkeley acted as guides to the Directors.

The tour of inspection started in the foyer – still a shell of brick and concrete. Marshall Levy had prepared perspective sketches showing two different colour schemes made after consultation with Alan Kaupe, and the choice was made on the spot. The second decision was how to use the small shop which we have, just adjoining the foyer, and this was much easier to visualise on the spot. It will become a newspaper, magazine and tobacconist’s kiosk.

The party then examined the dressing rooms, the two studios and so up to the Central Apparatus Room, where the installation of equipment racks had begun. The control rooms are planned very much like those at Teddington, but with rather more acoustic isolation because of traffic noise and the possibility of noise from tube trains running below Warren Street.

These air-conditioned technical areas, the vast telecine area with its open booths for the individual machines were very favourably compared with the cramped layout at Television House. The party then had a look at one of the office floors, still raw concrete but with the windows glazed. These again are a complete contrast to Television House but still difficult to visualise in their final form.

As the builders moved out, it became the responsibility of a team led by ‘Rick’ Rickards and Peter Smart to get the cables laid and the equipment installed and working. This will be one long rush job – as by 17 November colour programmes must pass through our new London Centre to the GPO Tower and the Croydon and Crystal Palace Transmitters. The whole technical operations staff of Television House will by then be working from Euston – together with a small film and administration group.

Phase II of the building scheme provides the additional accommodation for these people, including a temporary canteen and will be complete before November. It will not be until September 1970 before all the remaining office, film, restaurant and other areas are completed and ready for the final move out of Television House.

To look after administrative matters, Dave Dunn has been appointed Manager at Euston and took up permanent residence on 21 July, with Sue Shields as his Secretary – the first girl on site.

From the photographs it is possible to get a good idea of the extent of the building, the service roadways passing through it and the relationship with our new neighbours. There is no doubt about our proximity to the GPO Tower – the No.1 reason for choosing a site in that part of London.

The post Progress at Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.