One of ITV’s best-known and most popular networked series for children, Magpie (Thames), has now been running for more than nine years. The programme’s informative magazine format allows for the coverage of a wide range of diverse topics, the boundaries of which are stretched even further by extensive use of outside broadcasts. But the most notable feature about Magpie is that unlike most television programmes – which, being steeped in the sophisticated technicalities of modern television, are often pre-recorded – it is still transmitted live from its studios in Teddington.

Tim Jones, Mogpie’s producer, reflects that: ‘Back in the good old days of black and white when to edit you needed a pair of scissors and a secret fluid, which I never knew the name of, the one thing all studio or outside broadcast based programmes had in common was that they were live and the viewers saw everything, including all the fluffs.’ Today, however, no TV station exists without its sophisticated video-tape operation and few programmes are, in fact, planned to be live.

Not so with Magpie. Twice a week, every week, for nine months of the year, the red light outside Studio 3 at Teddington means ‘On Air’. Of course, the whole programme isn’t live – recorded studio and outside broadcast inserts and film are used, but the presentation is live and, quite often, the whole programme has no recorded material at all.

Magpie consumes 42 hours of original material each year so, since it started on the ITV network in 1968, it has gobbled up over 350 hours of original thought. Being a programme for children there is no way of getting away with ‘making do’. Children are the most discerning of viewers, and maintaining the high standard of the series demands the involvement of many dedicated and specialised production team members.

Magpie is first and foremost an entertainment and the programmes always aim to be as lively as possible. However, most items are designed to provoke more than just a passive response and where possible children are stimulated into doing things for themselves. For example, cookery has become a very popular subject and the programme has recently taken an interest in the local fare prepared in different parts of the country.

There is also scope for dealing with current topics of interest in the news and Magpie has been able to relate to children the significance of such national crises as the 1976 drought or the deteriorating economic situation.

The presenters, Jenny Hanley, Mick Robertson and Tommy Boyd, get very involved in the studio activities and they also regularly travel with film crews to locations of special interest to the programme’s networked audience. Apart from the summer trip each year, which provides film inserts for a number of editions of the programme, the team also manage to fit in other occasional visits abroad and have already explored such countries as Egypt, USA and Kenya. These films show young viewers cultures and ways of life different to their own and give them a chance to see places they may themselves be fortunate enough to visit one day.

Competitions always create a favourable response from Magpie viewers, but here again they are designed to stimulate the child and to increase his interest, knowledge and general awareness. A road safety poster painting competition, organised in collaboration with the Department of Environment, not only encouraged thousands of children to be creative with a paint brush but also made them think about the whole question of road safety. Magpie then took things one stage further and, instead of offering a prize of material value, invited the winners to see their entries pass through all the processes of printing. Naturally, the camera team were there to record the event and a further film was made to show the printed posters being hung on hoarding sites all over Britain.

Of course, linking all these items together with the live presentation from the studio does present problems. But, as producer Tim Jones points out, ‘when that “On Air” light goes on the pulse moves a little faster and one is that much sharper’.

The post Live from studio 3 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Perusing Tuesday’s TV listings in that day’s paper I noticed that Sooty had moved over to ITV and a new magazine show ‘Magpie’ was on at 5.10. There had been something billed earlier that afternoon as Opening Of Thames but that meant nothing to me. The set warmed up during the ad break and then a very unfamiliar face appeared in the announcer’s chair (I was later to discover this was Sheila Kennedy) in front of a very different backdrop. It was when she said something along the lines of “Now we start today’s children’s programmes on Thames…” that it sunk in; change had come, it was all becoming a little exciting!

I hadn’t been completely unprepared for this, some months back my parents had mentioned something they’d read in the paper that ITV in London was changing and the name ‘Thames TV’ came up. I just assumed it was to be a straight name change, Redvers Kyle, Muriel Young, Jon Kelly and Laurie West would all still be there with a ‘Thames TV’ logo pinned on the front and back of the programmes instead of ‘Rediffusion’. But seeing Sheila Kennedy followed by the plain text version of the FROM THAMES ident playing into The Sooty Show it became clear that it had really happened and it was all going to be very different, subsequently I sat through ‘Sooty’ anticipating more Thames graphics and announcements at the end of the programme. I mention ‘graphics’ but up to this point it was just down to plain text, no station symbol at the start or end of the programmes, just a simple FROM THAMES.

Magpie was up next which immediately presented itself as an ITV version of ‘Blue Peter’ and, as often noted, a tad more hip and trendy, although I also recognised it as a near replacement for Rediffusion’s Come Here Often which, in retrospect I feel was the better show.

That first edition was not without excitement though, a filmed report of a balloon flight taken by Susan Stranks included footage of the balloon bursting into flames not long after landing and Susan had safely stepped away. Later in the show fellow presenter Tony Bastable introduced us to the concept of the various Magpie badges, inviting viewers to collect the complete set of eleven (I still cherish my ‘Four For A Boy’ badge to this day), while Pete Brady took us on a pre-filmed helicopter trip along the Thames around Teddington Lock and the weir, complete with an aerial view of the studio buildings. Also appearing in that first edition was the start of a short run of Captain Fantastic lifted straight from Rediffusion’s Do Not Adjust Your Set which seemed a bit weird really and at odds with the rest of the show.

Children’s programmes over, another commercial break and it’s ITN News time with, for the first time for me anyway, a sighting of the Thames clock, now with Philip Elsmore signing on as our evening announcer. The clock doubled as a calendar, I’m sure I’d seen something similar hanging on the wall in our local branch of Barclay’s Bank. Main story on the news was the arrival of Thames Television during which I noticed the skyline ident being played. Now that looked really impressive and I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t use that in front of the programmes.

The new regional news programme Today held very little interest for me as a nine-year-old and anyway, it was a summer evening so I was back outside playing with my mates until later in the evening when, along with the rest of my family I settled down to enjoy Tommy Cooper’s King Size show. During the commercial break the screen went blank cutting an advert part way through.

Around ten seconds later another commercial started playing but this was also faded abruptly as the screen went blank again and stayed that way, prompting my father to grumble about the poor organisation of this ‘young upstart of a company’. Little did he know! The apology card that followed at least went some way to explain. That was the last I would see of our new TV station that day, nine o’clock was bedtime for me and my siblings, after which I assumed my parents would be switching to BBC-1 for their further televisual entertainment.

The following morning I just had to reassure myself that, after the previous night’s fiasco Thames would still be there. As my little sister finished watching Play School on BBC-2 I quietly turned the dial to Channel 9 where I was greeted by the familiar Test Card D with the wording ‘ITA Thames Television London Weekend Television’ which somewhat confused me; Thames was London’s WEEKDAY television, how could they have got that one wrong?

After Rediffusion’s solid and paternal method of presentation it took a little while to get used to the slightly more ‘showbiz’ and lightweight approach from Thames. At nine years old I was totally unaware that we were really watching ABC in different clothes and I really had no idea as to why things had changed in the first place.

A few days into the new regime though it did occur to me to check out the other station that we could pick up in Crawley from a place called Chillerton Down. Sure enough, there on Channel 11 was Southern Television, dependable as ever and totally unaffected by what had been going on in London, armed with the reassurance that they would NEVER go away…

The post A new service for London appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

BROADCASTING licences are reviewed every six years by the Independent Television Authority. The major shake-up, which comes into effect today, 13 years after the start of ITV, is a severe warning to the various independent companies that there is no room for complacency.

The very fact that the oldest independent company of them all, Rediffusion, has not retained complete control of London’s weekday programmes is an indication that licences will not automatically be renewed.

Today, it has merged with ABC TV, and as from now your programmes from Monday to Thursday [sic] inclusive are coming to you by courtesy of Thames Television

At a Mansion House luncheon, the service was launched in the presence of figures prominent in London’s Government and business, in London’s music, art and sport, and in the nation’s Press and Parliament which reflect the life and power of the capital.

Speakers included the Lord Mayor, Lord Aylestone, chairman of the ITA, Sir Philip Waster [sic – Warter], chairman, and Howard Thomas, managing director of Thames Television.

Eamonn Andrews introduces recorded highlights of the luncheon at 11.30 tonight. Andrew Gardner describes the scene and talks to some of the distinguished guests present at the Mansion House.

At the weekend – Friday [sic] through to Sunday – programmes will be controlled by the London Television Consortium (London Weekend). This is the company that attracted Michael Peacock away from the BBC and has David Frost as one of its star men.

Then, as in the past programmes made by regional companies will be fed into the schedule for the London area.

Coronation Street, for instance, will continue from Granada, as will University Challenge, What the Papers Say and other well established programmes.

But there will be additional material from the north – from Yorkshire Television. For the territory up there has been divided down the Pennines: Granada hold the rights for the county of the red rose, Yorkshire Television – the company that attracted Alan Whicker away from the BBC – for the county of the white.

It was 18 months ago that Lord Hill, then chairman of the ITA, announced plans to change the face of ITV.

The richest and most sought after prize was London. The contract winners were announced first over a year ago.

Lord Hill said of the London weekday contract “With our principle of programme quality in mind, we felt that Independent Television would gain benefit if the abilities of ABC and Rediffusion were to combine in providing the weekday service. The combination of these two companies seemed to ihe Authority to offer the possibility of a company of real excellence.”

Unlike Thames Television, there will be no opening ceremony for London Weekend Television. And unlike other companies there will be no station symbol – just the name.

London Weekend Television is backed by an impressive line-up of television professionals: men such as Aldan Crawley, Michael Peacock and David Frost.

Of this company Lord Hill said: “Of the applicants for the weekend, the London Consortium impressed us most, particularly because of its creative talent.”

At a recent luncheon in London, managing director, Michael Peacock promised: “There will be a lot of charges in your weekend viewing. New shows, new faces and new times to remember”

Well, what is in store for the viewer?

Thames Television

DRAMA

Frontier: New adventure series set in the North West Frontier when the British Army kept the peace in the Asian equivalent of the Wild West.

90-Minute Dramas: Three plays adapted by William Marchant from short stories by Noel Coward. Already in production, Star Quality, starring Glynis Johns and Robert Hardy, to be followed by Bon Voyage and The Kindness of Mrs Radcliffe. A new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous Frankenstein by Robert Muller and an adaptation of Uncle Silas the ghost story by Sheridan Le Fanuare planned.

Premiere: Live, one hour television dramas will be presented through October with top directors, distinguished casts and writers.

The Sex Game: Romantic 60-minute plays. Trials and tribulations of lovers who ultimately merge to live happily ever after.

The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder. Adaptations of Edgar Wallace stones starring Hugh Burden and Willoughby Goddard.

CHILDREN

The Tyrant King: A London adventure for children. The first modern colour film TV serial made in Britain for children.

The Queen Street Gang: A new children’s adventure series in which a professor is captured by criminals and rescued by the Queen Street Boys, a highly organised gang, led by his own son.

Once Upon A Time: A series of 15-minute programmes in which celebrities will tell classic or original stories to a children’s audience.

The Sooty Show: Harry Corbett, Sooty, Sweep and the rest of the gang in a children’s entertainment series recorded at The May Fair Theatre.

Pinky & Perky: A series of 15-minute shows featuring the famous puppets Pinky and Perky and their colleagues.

COMEDY

Best of Enemies: Situation comedy written by Vince Powell and Harry Driver about two members of Parliament: a young Labour newcomer to the House of Commons and a wily old Tory. Tim Barrett and Robert Coote star.

Father, Dear Father: Patrick Cargill stars as the divorced father of two very highly nubile mini-skirted teenage daughters with Sally Bazely as his literary agent and good friend.

Comedy Tonight: A season of six new comedy plays written by top authors including Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, Vince Powell and Harry Driver and Dave Freeman.

Sid James: A new series, as yet untitled, written by Vince Powell and Harry Driver, starring Sid James.

Horne-a-Plenty: Comedy-Revue starring Kenneth Horne assisted by Sheila Steafel and Kenneth’s friends, which might well bear an amazing resemblance to the radio series Round the Horne.

SPECIALS

Already announced are two one hour specials starring Tommy Cooper; The Max Bygraves Show; Liberace in London; An Evening with Jack Benny, in which comedian Jack Benny conducts and stars with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall; a comedy concert with Victor Borge; The Frankie Howerd Show and, of course, The Goons, a half-hour radio show for television starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

Hughie Green’s Opportunity Knocks! returns for a new season and The Eamonn Andrews Show takes a completely new look when it comes from the May Fair Theatre in the heart of the West End.

FEATURES

Today: A live, dally topical entertainment and information show about people and places in and around London with Eamonn Andrews.

Robert Kee Reports: A series of monthly 45-minute documentaries on important issues of the day.

Applause! Applause! A series of six documentary programmes on great stars of variety and the music hall including Grade Fields, Max Miller, George Robey, Sid Fields, George Formby and Lucan McShane.

Magpie: A weekly magazine programme for children, Forty minutes of information and entertainment plus the serial story of Captain Fantastic.

ADULT EDUCATION

Ballet For All: A series of six half-hour programmes to help bring appreciation of this unique art to a wider audience.

So You’re Going on Holiday: An in-depth appreciation of the countries of Europe – the historical and cultural background behind the holiday facade.

The Tools of Cookery: A new series in which top TV cook Philip Harben demonstrates the importance of using the right tools for the job in the kitchen, from knives and saucepans to ovens and mixers.

World of Crime: Eight new programmes which examine specific cases of the victims of crime in Britain and North America.

RELIGION

A new ten-minute series entitled Last Programme – this will be shown seven nights a week, London Weekend Television will show the series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

THE AVENGERS

A new series starring Patrick Macnee and introducing Linda Thomson [sic – Thorson] as John Steed’s new partner, Tara King.

Among the successful programmes which will carry on in the new schedules are This Week, Armchair Theatre, Hullaballoo, Callan, The Eamonn Andrews Show, Sexton Blake, Opportunity Knocks!, and Public Eye.

So far as London Weekend Television is concerned plays return to Sunday night; David Frost has three shows; and there is an abundance of comedy to suit all the family. Concerts by Leonard Bernstein, Yehudi Menuhin and Benny Goodman are planned. So are productions of the Beggar’s Opera and Benjamin Britten’s The Golden Vanity.

Saturday specials are planned to broaden the range of cultural programmes. And sports fans are catered for with Sports Arena on Fridays and World of Sport on Saturdays.

All we have to do is wait and see.

The post The new look appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

D Day help for Staff

For some people the first sign that decimalisation was with us came with the arrival of the Jictar Report for the week ending 10 January. The cost per thousands, previously expressed in shillings, were in new pence.

Sales Department and their clients are already getting used to the new type of information. Example: a 30 second commercial slotted at the end of This Is Your Life on 6 January reached 1,920,000 homes in the London ITV area at a cost per thousand of 83 new pence (previous cost per ’000 would actually have been 16/7d but rounded up in the ‘old’ reports to 17/-).

For most of us Decimalisation is still something to be grappled with.

D Day, Monday 15 February, is however only a fortnight away, and Chief Accountant Max Lawson and his department are making their final preparations in a process of changeover and indoctrination that has been going on for almost two years.

Change Stations

One move will affect us all. From Monday 15 February, our restaurants, bars and trolleys will only accept the new decimal coins. This will avoid confusion and cut down delays in service. But to make purchases easier for the staff, Accounts Department is establishing a number of ‘change stations’ at crucial points. Old pence and threepenny pieces may be changed in multiples of 6d or 1/- for the new 2½p or 5p coins.

The change stations will be located at the following places:

Teddington

Chief Cashier’s office during normal working hours. Reception desk in the main hall during normal working hours. The ground floor of the Restaurant from 12 noon to 2 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

Euston

The Petty Cashier’s office (3rd Floor) during normal working hours. The Reception desk in the main hall during normal working hours. The cafeteria from 12 noon to 2 p.m. daily from Monday to Friday.

Hanworth

Mrs. Luccarini will change old pence for new during normal working hours.

Thames to screen next moon walk

Apollo 14 is due to land on the moon on the morning of Friday 5 February, and the astronauts will attempt a moon walk that afternoon. The team at ITN Moonbase will be Alastair Burnet, Peter Fairley, Paul Haney, Dr. Robert Jastrow, Head of the U.S. Institute of Space Studies, and Sqdn./Ldr. Gordon Sharp, of the Institute of Aviation Medicine at RAF Farnborough. Robert Hargreaves will be at Houston Space Centre in America.

Thames will be screening the moonlanding at 8.00 am and the moon walk at 2.30 pm and 6.30 pm. During these transmissions viewers will be able to telephone the ITN Moonbase on a special hot-line to the studio to have their questions answered on-air by experts.

Look-In off to good start

The first two issues of Look-in, the new Junior TV Times which went on sale earlier this month, were a virtual sellout. Alan Fennell, the new paper’s editor, reports preliminary figures of 470,000 and 435,000 for numbers one and two respectively. Both issues were supported with strong Magpie give-aways (cardboard models of the studio and production team). Each issue will feature Magpie, and Wreckers at Deadeye is being serialised during the first six weeks.

Thames on SFTA short-list

Magpie, The Benny Hill Show, Writer’s Workshop and producer Reg Collin have all reached the short-list of nominations for the 1970 Society of Film and Television Arts Awards.

Benny Hill has been short-listed for the Light Entertainment award; Magpie and Writer’s Workshop as two of four official ITV entries for the Rediffusion Star Award for children’s programmes, and Callan producer Reg Collin for the Producer/Director Production Award. This is the second year running that both Magpie and Reg Collin have reached the finals in their respective categories. The awards will remain a secret until 4 March when the winners will be announced at an Awards Ball at the Royal Albert Hall.

Top Ten and Twenty

The JICTAR figures for the first two weeks of the new year (ending 17 January) show that Granada jumped ahead of Thames into second place – a position which we occupied throughout the last 9 weeks of 1970. Top Twenty positions to date are: BBC with 11 programmes, Granada 9, Thames 7, ITN 6, Yorkshire 5 and LWT 3.

In London we maintained our lead in the list of the Top Ten programmes screened in the area (Thames 13, LWT and BBC 7 each), but lost our lead to the BBC in the table of the top ten originated programmes. Figures for this chart were: BBC with 7 places, LWT 6 and Thames 5.

In the Top Twenty chart for week ending 17 January, This Is Your Life was the highest Thames entry (equal third with 7-85 million network homes). Man At The Top leapt up 9 places from the previous week to 9 with 7.35 million homes and Shadows Of Fear entered the chart for the first time at 12 with 7.10 million homes.

Emergency measures for GPO strike

Special arrangements during the postal strike have been made by Teddington and Hanworth Manager Ken Pike. They include special delivery to all ITA premises and stations, all ITV companies and the Independent Television Companies Association, all advertising agencies, Post Office Telecommunications HQ and the Post Office Tower, Rediffusion Television and EMI. Urgent mail for overseas is also being accepted.

The company’s despatch riders are continuing to carry out their normal duties and in addition are also delivering important letters which would normally go by post.

All other post is being held by the secretaries in each department, to avoid a pile-up in the Post Room.

Postal Supervisor Bert Short and Travel Officer Don Heaven report “no panic and no problems to date.”

Previews at NFT2

After almost two years of research and filming, Till I End My Song will be seen on the network at 9.00 pm on Tuesday 16 February. It will be previewed at the National Film Theatre’s No. 2 cinema on 11 February. Written and produced by Jeremy Isaacs and directed by David Gill, this documentary records the sights and sounds of the Thames. It looks at the varied activities of the people whose lives centre around the river – from swan-upping to garbage disposal. It is the first Thames programme to be shown in the new peak time documentary slot of 9.00 pm.

Early in March the exciting Thames documentary exclusive on the ascent of Annapurna’s south face will also be previewed at NFT2. The programme, The Hardest Way Up, will be seen on the network on 16 March at 9.00 pm.

New officers sought for Club Committee

The Annual General Meeting and Elections of the Club will be held on Monday 1 February at 6.30 pm in the Teddington restaurant. Neither Club Chairman Ron Walsby nor Secretary Bernard Burke are standing for re-election. Urgent nominations are required for these posts and the rest of the committee.

The Club Committee is responsible for the Club bars (opening hours, service, prices, catering, etc.) and various social activities during the year. It is important therefore that as many as possible vote at Monday’s AGM.

The post Newsletter – 29 January 1971 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

So how do the people who actually make children’s television programmes set about it? How do they deal with their awesome responsibility, not only to please all the adults (or at least not offend them too much) but also entertain, inform, interest and stretch the vast number of children for whom their programmes are intended?

The Children’s Department of Thames Television is the largest in ITV, supplying an average of 142½ hours of networked programmes each year. It caters for children ranging from the very young (Rainbow for the under fives) through to the 5-6 year olds (Paperplay, Issi Noho, King Wilbur III, …And Maisy Too), the 7-8 year olds (The Sooty Show, Michael Bentine’s Potty Time), the 9-12 year olds (Magpie, All Together Now), teenagers (You Must Be Joking!), and it hopes that its drama appeals to children of all ages (The Tomorrow People, The Molly Wopsies, The Feathered Serpent, Shadows, Horse In The House).

Not only is this output geared across a wide age range, but the types of programme are also immensely varied. Sue Turner, Thames’ Controller of Children’s Programmes comments: ‘Children are, after all, simply people who have not been alive very long. They have as much (maybe more) intelligence, imagination, enthusiasm and eagerness as adults. All they lack is experience (and the prejudices that often come with it). They are also a demanding audience – unrestrained by the social politeness of adults, they write and tell us precisely what they think of us and our programmes!’

Magpie, twice a week every week (except for a short summer break), is probably the best known of Thames’ children’s programmes. Transmitted live, Magpie aims to be an all round magazine programme, with items of topical interest for children of approximately 6-12 years. It began in 1968 with the start of Thames Television itself. Its award-winning documentaries have given it an international as well as a national reputation.

The pre-school programme Rainbow (winner of the British Academy Award for the best children’s programme in February 1975) aims to help children below school age to expand their experience of the world and the people around them. Rainbow is believed to be unique in the world, in that it began in 1974 making full length documentaries specially for the under fives. Dealing with potentially traumatic experiences for the very young child, so far ‘Rainbow goes to Hospital’ and ‘Rainbow Starts School’ have been presented and work is beginning on a ’Special’ which will deal with the arrival of a new baby.

A department of this size has plenty of opportunity to experiment. You Must Be Joking! (of which two series have now been made) was entirely written and performed by a cast of East End children, ranging in age from 11-17. It has been both hailed as a new departure in ‘access’ programming and condemned as giving children false ideas of their own importance. Following this programme, work is in hand on Pauline’s Quirkes, starring 16-year-old Pauline Quirke (known to adult audiences for her outstanding performance in Jenny Can’t Work Any Faster). This time Pauline and her friends take a swing at the remaining male chauvinist bastions in the name of girls’ lib!

Last year Thames launched a series of seven plays with a linking theme of ghostliness, under the title of Shadows. They included a play specially written by J B Priestley. The second series of Shadows, with an over-all theme of fantasy and including specially commissioned plays by such outstanding writers as Joan Aiken, Susan Cooper and Ewart Alexander, was transmitted this summer. The Molly Wopsies (transmitted in Spring 1976) was entirely shot with Thames’ small mobile outside broadcast unit on location in Henley; and this same unit is being used to shoot Horse in the House (adapted by Rosemary Anne Sisson from the book by William Corbin).

Sue Turner says her team had a great deal of fun and raised a lot of eyebrows by demonstrating that an all-action adventure series, set in ancient Mexico, could be shot entirely in Studio 2 at Teddington. The end result was The Feathered Serpent, transmitted this summer – with music specially written by David Fanshawe, sword fights and a great deal of ritual and splendour. She also hopes it helped to make viewers aware of the rich and fascinating history of pre-Columbian America.

This is a brief outline of just one Children’s Department – using film, studio and outside broadcast to make documentaries, current affairs, drama, light entertainment and comedy programmes. Did you know that children have such a wide choice of programmes available to them?

The post Making children’s programmes appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

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The post Next on Rediffusion: Thames appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

The first networked “skyline” ident, shown just before the first edition of Magpie, on 30 July 1968.

The post The first skyline ident appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Indeed, the ITA had prepared plans to void their contract with the new entity and hand complete control to ABC – Rediffusion being thought of as the “bad guy” whenever things dragged.

This accusation is unfair, but not entirely untrue. Rediffusion was, in effect, a family business. The people in charge of the parent were the children of the previous management. The Wills family, hereditary Managing Directors, would continue the tradition on the death of Rediffusion’s John Spencer Wills – his son Colin S Wills taking his father’s place on the Thames board.

This meant that Rediffusion management were hurt by their company being “handed” to ABC. That they occasionally showed this hurt was unsurprising. Many of the complaints and tough choices they forced on the new company were simply sound business sense. Others looked like petulance.

The new ITV contracts began on Tuesday 30 July 1968. In its own act of petulance, TWW had stalked out of the system back in March, so Harlech was already on air by this date.

ATV in Birmingham was simply taking the two days from the week previously denied to it (although losing those two days in London, of course). They would have been on air on Monday 29 July anyway; nevertheless, they celebrated their new contract on the last day of the old – the Monday.

Granada wanted a fresh start with its new 7-day, north-west only contract. A single day in the old Yorkshire region wouldn’t get things off to a nice enough start, so they sold that odd Monday to YTV for a peppercorn amount.

YTV therefore had a decent launch on the Monday, heralded by a mention at ABC’s final closedown the night before, plus got to establish its identity free of Granada’s northern dominance.

LWT’s contract began on the first Friday in August, so their fate need not detain us here.

That left Thames. They were taking over from Rediffusion, one of their parent companies, so following the pattern of the rest of ITV and celebrating “the new era” on the Monday seemed likely.

Rediffusion had other ideas. They simply refused to sell their final day, coming on air as normal on the Monday and doing all their farewells whilst the rest of ITV was welcoming newcomers. (This leads to the interesting anomaly where the new Yorkshire Television can boast having had a programme networked out to Rediffusion – the only such overlap between new and old.)

This meant that Rediffusion staff who should have left their old jobs on Friday and started their new ones on Monday missed the first day at their new stations.

Chief announcer Redvers Kyle closed Rediffusion down for the last time, then reappeared in the same job at YTV – but not on their first day.

Thames therefore had to come on air on Tuesday. Worse than that, their opening would not be the grand afternoon affair they had hoped for. Instead, they would come on early in the morning for an OB of the cricket.

Resigned to that fate, they opened quietly for the cricket from YTV at 11:30am on Tuesday 30 July 1968, went off air just as quietly at 1.30pm.

The big splash was made at 1.55pm, with a televised Inaugural Luncheon at the Mansion House.

From that it was into the racing coverage at 2.45 from Tyne Tees – although an hour later the technicians downed tools at TTT and ITV, with nothing to show, went off-air until 4.10pm.

The first Thames production to air was The Sooty Show at 4.40, run off from Television House. The second followed immediately after – Magpie at 5.10, run off from Teddington.

After the ITN News, the new “London programme for London” (a deliberate dig at Rediffusion’s ‘local’ news output being national in character) called Today went on air; it was followed by the first showing in London of Carry On Nurse.

This was followed at 8.15pm by Thames Television’s big hitter of the night, Tommy Cooper’s Cooper King-size! with a cast of comic and variety turns designed to make people look in.

Those who did look in were to be disappointed. The screens went black at the end of part one and Thames went off the air as a strike broke out amongst technicians. The service resumed at 10.30pm, but by that time the Thames opening night was in tatters.

Whichever way you look at it, Thames’s first day on air was never going to be perfect. But this they could live without.

The post Lights, camera, inaction appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

TWW lost their contract to Harlech; Telefusion Yorkshire gained a foothold and half of Granada’s service area: ATV was to end their Midlands weekday/London weekend split and entrench themselves solely in the Midlands.

The most significant of the changes was that there would be no weekend contracts in either the North or Midlands, and ABC – undoubtedly the most distinctive of all ITV incumbents – had put their bid in for the weekends at London, a move they had been well-prepared for over a long period of time, and the award of which appeared to be merely a formality.

However, two events changed the course of ABC’s fate.

The David Frost-Aidan Crawley London Television Consortium (later London Weekend) was bright, intelligent, cultured, and promised much for the future, and under the ITA’s ethos that the system had to be open to newcomers, the LTC were awarded the weekend contract for the capital that had been ABC’s by right.

Secondly, Rediffusion had, for a long time, appeared to be creating a number of problems between themselves and the ITA, culminating in an interview that was disastrous for them.

The Authority then decided to suggest that a joint company to provide London with a weekday service could be devised from the resources of Rediffusion and ABC.

This was Thames Television.

New ITV contractors needed to sign up the best talent they can find, as well as devising ratings-winning programmes, so as to establish a reputation for quality.

Thames had an advantage over all the new companies, as well as many of the older ones, in that they could develop new programme strands as well as incorporate elements from the outputs of both ABC (showbusiness, drama) and Rediffusion (current affairs, children’s and schools programmes).

They also had a number of artists on contract, ensuring that they had access to creative talent, and technical expertise and experience.

Added to this, they had Teddington Studios, a riverside location that they would use to the full in years to come.

The share split in Thames – ABC 51%, Rediffusion 49% – inevitably effected a number of decisions made in the company to the point at which Thames was, effectively, ABC in disguise.

From the first day, Thames was attempting to establish a loyal audience by scheduling a brand-new magazine programme “Magpie”, guaranteeing that viewers would tune in by incorporating episodes of the “Captain Fantastic” serial into it – itself previously a feature of Rediffusion’s “Do Not Adjust Your Set”, soon to be revived by Thames.

Eamonn Andrews would now be the anchor of “Today”, from Monday-Thursday. “This Week” would continue. There were a few sitcoms, like “Never Mind the Quality, Feel The Width” that had begun in the ABC era, and “The Avengers”, “Callan” and “Public Eye” would be mainstays of Thames drama.

However, there was one disadvantage for the new company. The previous London weekday contract was for Monday-Friday, morning to closedown.

Now LWT had extra hours from Friday, 7pm to close, which meant that Thames had, at best, four evenings a week in which to build an audience and to gain vital advertising revenue.

This led to some oddities in scheduling: “Opportunity Knocks”, an ABC Saturday night talent show, was to be slotted into a 6.45 slot on Monday evenings.

Eamonn Andrews’ chat show, on which he had previously interviewed “Sunday Night People”, was scheduled for Thursday evenings.

“Just Jimmy” with the Clitheroe Kid himself had been moved from Saturday teatime, where it had been a family show, to Friday teatime, as a children’s show.

Over time, Thames planning staff worked out the best network slots for many of their programmes and out of the three mentioned, only “Opportunity Knocks” survived in its original Thames timeslot.

8pm Wednesday became the slot for variety specials and one-offs, drama was featured at 9pm, and 7pm became a time for sitcoms.

“Armchair Theatre” was moved into various places throughout the week, but never quite fitted, and never really regained its hard-won reputation: there were, however, attempts to update it, notably “Armchair Cinema”.

In June 1974, “Regan” was shown in this strand, to unanimous praise, and this film led to commissions for “The Sweeney”. “Armchair Cinema” later became “Armchair Thriller”, and was allowed to disappear from the screen forever.

One thing that should never be overlooked is that Thames, with roots in ABC and connections to EMI could make use of those relationships to the full. Thames were able to reap rewards from cinema films of “Callan”, “Sweeney!” and “Sweeney 2” and, most lucratively, “The Best of Benny Hill” – made for very little, using video-to-film transfer of the best of the early Thames series.

The best years of Thames were probably from its inception to 1979, when there was still a great deal of the ABC staffing on board and when production values were maintained at a high level.

They had signed most of the major talent, such as Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper, Mike Yarwood and Kenny Everett, and had won a number of international awards.

The company was also about to make significant inroads into the US, thanks to Don Tuffnell’s sales of “The Benny Hill Show” and an entire week of programmes shown in the USA in September 1976. It might also be true to say that Thames lost their way in trying to establish themselves as world players.

What a pity that at yet another ITV franchise round, the company lost its contract to Carlton.

The legacy of Thames lives on now in both the name of an independent production company and an archive of programmes that has continued to be shown, frequently, on satellite and terrestrial television.

These programmes show, to both those who saw them first time around and to younger viewers just discovering them, that Thames had plenty of grace and style – qualities that both ABC and Rediffusion had in endless supply.

Not at all a bad thing.

The post Take me to the river appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

• 1:30 Closedown till 1:55

Looking back from today’s perspective it seems hardly worth closing down for only 25 minutes.

Surely a caption and music would suffice? But no, we must look at it from the point of view of the perceived corporate needs of Thames.

An interlude would have no dramatic or iconic import. Things would merely carry on where they left off. A closedown however, required a start up to resume the programmes.

This was an opportunity to promote the corporate identity of the (new) station, to show off the newly composed Salute to Thames march, and oddly to remind the cognoscenti of the ABC heritage of the company, with continuing use of the ABC startup theme Perpetuum Mobile – selected by Thames for a further ‘life after ABC’.

In this instance the next programme was the Grand Opening Luncheon of Thames Television – live from the Mansion House – something that would be at its most resonant after playing of the new Salute to Thames march just beforehand.

So the trivial “1.30 Close down until 1.55” was no minor coincidence. It was very much part of the plan…

• 4:40 Children’s Television – The Sooty Show

The legacy of Rediffusion can be easily discerned within the Thames output – for the early years at least. In this particular even the TV Times entry is pure Rediffusion thinking.

It was only in the London area that kids programmes had been traditionally grouped separately in the TV Times under the general heading “Children’s Television” and it seems that this was the first of many Rediffusion traditions that Thames carried forward.

Indeed it may even have been unthinking continuation by a sub editor of a habit long established. It may not have been Thames policy at all.

The Sooty Show, perhaps only a footnote in television history now, was at the time a legendary and wildly popular part of the junior culture. Sooty had appeared on BBC television since the fifties.

When it transferred to ITV it was a national newspaper story of supposed cultural significance. It was treated by the press as something of a coup for Rediffusion to have brought the glove puppet star across from the BBC and as of this date it appeared that Thames would continue to exploit the property.

The show is here produced by Daphne Shadwell, a long standing Rediffusion producer (and daughter of the ITMA radio band leader Charles Shadwell), and came from Television House.

• 5:10 Magpie

Magpie had been trailed in the press, well before the launch of Thames, as the ‘new look’ ITV’s response to the long standing Blue Peter on BBC Television.

With Blue Peter owning Mondays and Thursdays, Thames chose Tuesdays (and later Fridays as well from 1969) for their new show. From the outset the programme was conceived as a more hip, adolescent and indeed “laid back” event than the earnest middle England tone of Blue Peter could ever allow.

The tabloids liked to imply a class rivalry between the viewers of the two shows but many children watched both shows. Some adults later claimed to have been “Blue Peter children” or “Magpie kids” but the tribalism was undoubtedly exaggerated.

The engagement of more youthful figureheads than the BBC was using in children’s programmes was a revolutionary start. The new faces were hardly teenage but opposite the ‘mumsy’ tones of Valerie Singleton and Christopher Trace on Blue Peter, they probably seemed very young.

To bring real novelty to the programme, one of the presenters was ex-pirate DJ and Canadian (wow!) Pete Brady – though he had already earned some respectability with his new Radio One and Two afternoon show which had followed on after his career on the offshore Radio London had ended, along with the station.

One regular item within Magpie was the spin off feature “Captain Fantastic”. This was a character from the former Rediffusion show Do Not Adjust Your Set, a surreal forerunner of Monty Python.

• 5:50 News

The long standing eleven minute news bulletin at 5.55pm on weekdays was brought forward to 5.50 and extended to fourteen minutes as part of the ITA-led commitment to expanding ITN’s bulletins.

This followed on from the successful development of News at Ten, which had started during Rediffusion’s final year, with the transfer of the main evening news from seventeen minutes at 8.55 to half an hour at 10pm.

On this day, the lead story of the 5.50pm bulletin was the launch of Thames Television. Yorkshire TV had premiered the previous day and Harlech Television earlier in the year – London Weekend was to come later in the week – so Thames remained a solo launch story.

Local viewers had seen the Lord Mayor’s welcoming luncheon from the Mansion House that afternoon and would also be treated to recorded repeats of the speeches at 11.30pm in a round up called “London’s New Television Service”.

This was perhaps misleading as it was a new contractor on an existing service – but the TVTimes was playing the ‘Outside Broadcast’ (still then an exciting phrase) for all it was worth.

Viewers in the regions had not seen the Outside Broadcast from the Mansion House and so the ITN bulletin included clips from the speeches and a commentary for the innocent provincial viewer outlining the media excitement of the London event. And this was reasonable enough.

In our modern multi-channel society, these matters would be assumed of little interest to the viewer – but in an age with just three television services being available to the majority of viewers, the launch of a new ITV contractor for London, even ‘just’ two former contractors with a new name, was considered worthy of being the lead story on the national bulletin. Even the BBC covered it.

How times change.

• 6:04 Today with Eammon Andrews

Under Rediffusion, the space between the news and the programme that followed was filled by Commander Laurie West presenting a full, informative weather forecast with maps and charts and statistics. Thames replaced this with the duty announcer reading a headline forecast over a caption, and the weather bulletin disappeared as an item in its own right from the pages of the TVTimes.

Thames Television’s new Today programme was conceived as the jewel in the crown of their local programming – it was one of the items specified in advance in the original ABC franchise application for the weekend contract.

It had originally been imagined as a Saturday roundup of past and future London events and was modelled on the erstwhile ABC Weekend magazine programme previously seen on Saturday nights in the Midlands and North.

The formula was to be the same – a roundup of cultural and personality-led events from the area, with an avoidance of the sort of mundane “warehouse fire in Salford” stories that had dominated regional news in the past.

When ABC found itself rather unexpectedly in bed with Rediffusion to provide the weekday service in London, the local news commitment was “buffed up” into a planned daily show – on weekdays at least – and the advance publicity stressed the “news for London about London” approach.

Exactly what this amounted to was not made clear. The point was made that the show was intended to avoid the trap that Rediffusion had fallen into with their long lived Three After Six local programme – packaging national stories into a local show on the excuse that the capital city was not the equivalent to a provincial region.

Rediffusion had always claimed in their defence that the then VHF signals covered the whole South East and so London local news would be of little interest in Bedford, Guildford or Oxford.

The option of doing a show for the whole south-east region did not seem to have occurred to them. It was only some years later with the slow transfer of viewers to the smaller region UHF coverage that the London ITV area became a true service for London alone.

Thames’s early period in black and white is often overlooked by media historians – but coverage differences between traditional VHF and the new UHF were as much of an issue at the time as the introduction of colour after 1969.

Sales of colour sets were initially slow and the majority continued to watch on VHF for several more years – it was 1975-6 before the number of colour TV licences issued was greater than the number of monochrome ones.

Thames seem to have painted themselves into a corner with Today in their desire to achieve more for London than Rediffusion had done with Three After Six. From the word go, the new show interviewed stars, musicians and actors, previewed West End hits and reviewed the culture of the capital.

This was probably more to do with the presenter being Eamonn Andrews, a stalwart of ABC ‘sports and celebs’ shows for many years past, who created a more personality-oriented atmosphere than Thames had planned for its main news magazine. The show became a modern version of BBC radio’s famous In Town Tonight of the forties, at least until Eamonn Andrews moved on, tempered only by news of the odd warehouse fire in Wapping….

The post Day in the life appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

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

The post Programmes that win awards appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

‘In the first “This Sporting Land” Wynford Vaughan Thomas gives a witty, learned and thoroughly enjoyable account of the history and current idiosyncrasies of cricket. It’s a gem of a programme and will beguile even the most fervent disliker of the game’

Sunday Times

‘The narration, by Wynford Vaughan Thomas, is a mixture of acid, irony, mockery and straight reportage. Each programme will certainly hold the attention. They are entertaining, informative and humorous!’

Times Educational Supplement

ON 12 SEPTEMBER THAMES LAUNCHED TWO MAJOR NEW DAILY PROGRAMMES,
THAMES AT 6 AND AFTER NOON

Former ITN newscaster Andrew Gardner introduced Thames at 6, a 6.00pm report on London and its day. The production was structured to bring more hard, regional news coverage, and more deeply probing investigations, to the traditional Today function. Within the first month these aims began to be realised, with interviews with Jim Slater and the Minister for Health, special investigations into the Luton murder and the drug Primados, and on the lighter side, Kenny Everett’s zany music reviews hinted at what is to come when Kenny;s own series starts on Thames during 1978.

‘The word has clearly gone out that no-one is going to be allowed to get away with anything. The brief bursts of questioning are ultra-tough. (The first week has) managed already by turns to illuminate, to irritate and to celebrate’

Times

After Noon was a recasting of its successful predecessor Good Afternoon, broadening the outlook from traditional women’s subjects’ to greater coverage of the arts, politics, education, medicine and social questions, alongside the personality interviews and magazine features.

In its first weeks, After Noon went on location with reports on the Tate Gallery’s ‘Save the Stubbs’ campaign (with an interview with Arts Minister Lord Donaldson), and on life in high rise blocks. Personality interviews included Mary Parkinson with Pierre Cardin, Judith Chalmers with James Herriot, Elaine Grand meeting Lord Shinwell, Mavis Nicholson holding the first-ever TV interview with current pop sensation Elvis Costello, followed shortly by Morecambe and Wise.

Straight into the national ratings in second place, John Alderton’s first situation comedy series for Thames, The Upchat Line, revolved around Mike Upchat, a freewheeling man about town. ‘We don’t know what he does for a living,’ Alderton explained. ‘Sometimes he says he’s a writer but at other times he claims to be anything from a psychologist to a piano tuner.’

‘The Upchat Line, written by Keith Waterhouse and featuring John Alderton, marks something of a welcome and enterprising departure from the old routine. For this is comedy refined down to a quieter, more relaxed level with some nicely polished lines doing the work of the usual mad antics, and a real star performance from one of the best light comedy actors around today. It is all done with great panache and style, with Mr Alderton giving a deceptively easy performance, casually putting together all the little bits of business, and underplaying and drawling his lines but timing everything with split second precision.

Mr Waterhouse has put together a script tailored to suit him to perfection, and also to provide Thames with a fresh and obviously rewarding range of comedy.’

Daily Telegraph

‘Hilarious new comedy series in which John Alderton proves his comic talent as a would-be writer who spends most of his life trying to find somewhere to lay his head – and his birds. Looks very promising (though not for the husbands!).’

Sunday Mirror

After a summer trip to Spain filming inserts for future programmes, Magpie returned with a new presenter to join the team of Jenny Hanley and Mick Robertson: 24-year-old ex-LBC news director Tommy Boyd, selected from 2,000 applicants. Here’s how the London Evening News welcomed the programme back:

‘The most entertaining and informative children’s programme on television is Magpie, on Thames. Jenny Hanley is extremely attractive and has a presence and authority that enthralls the children. The producers go to remarkable lengths and not a little expense in bringing strange and unusual items to the programme, and whether the kiddies realise ft or not, they are being educated as well as entertained. Magpie is an intelligent show, and also has a fine record in obtaining money for children’s charities.’

Evening News

Originally made as a schools programme, Superman and the Bride’s outspoken survey of how we are conditioned by the media (especially television and film) reached the adult audience in October. Its blend of documentary and revue was described as ‘a refreshing TV breakthrough’ by the Daily Mail.

‘Eight years of the average viewer’s life is spent in front of the box. In that time each one should be forced to spend forty-five minutes watching Superman and the Bride for it is the most intelligent and important appraisal yet produced of the images fed to us by the mass media.’

TimeOut

‘As one of the vox pop interviewees said, you’ve got to overstate a case to make it effectively, and this was the jolliest, zippiest overstatement of a case that badly needs making – energetically, and again and again. It could well prompt further pieces of televisual self-scrutiny. It was itself replete with delicious ironies, notably its unabashed use of advertising techniques as a way of attacking advertising techniques, and also its mere presence on our screens – which is living proof that the “system” can be penetrated.’

The Times

A television appearance by Tommy Steele is a rare event, and to celebrate his twenty-first year in showbusiness (Tommy’s first hit, ‘Rock With the Caveman’, coincided with the first year of ITV) he came to Thames for Tommy Steele and a Show. It was a mammoth production, with producer/director Keith Beckett pulling every trick from videotape technology, to interpret the ‘Show’ as devised by Tommy and written by Eric Merriman. For an hour of music, dance and magic effects, Tommy Steele held the spotlight, and more than 14 million people watched the programme.

‘This in one of the very best light entertainment shows I’ve seen on television. Apart from its star – the eternally appealing Tommy who celebrates his 21st year in show business – the programme uses the latest electronic devices for some stunning visual effects, has all the slick glamour and razmatazz of a Hollywood musical, and imaginative, precision, ballet routines worthy of a Busby Berkeley film’

Daily Express

‘Give ’em the old razzle-dazzle’ sang the star on ITV’s Tommy Steele and a Show, and he certainly did. During his all-singing, all-dancing special it was hard to realise that Tommy was celebrating his 21st year in show business.

With his boyish exuberance and appealing charisma, Tommy delivered a delightful hour of sheer escapism, a welcome opportunity for us to sit back and enjoy his wide-ranging talents’

Evening News

Drama Controller Verity Lambert personally produced The Norman Conquests, Alan Ayckbourn’s West End stage sensation which, according to the Daily Mail, ‘transferred superbly from stage to television’. 11 million viewers shared the disastrous weekend of family argument, which was directed by Herbert Wise as three two-hour plays.

‘The Norman Conquests was a triumph and a treat, Alan Ayckbourn’s tragi-comic trilogy being not only funny but graced by universally accomplished performances. Tom Conti was allowed to let off the fireworks, so to speak, as Norman. But he was matched by Richard Briers’ Reg, often speaking volumes with a soundless double-take; or Penelope Keith, Fiona Walker and Penelope Wilton as the women. Not forgetting David Troughton, in making a gormless bore into a believable, even fascinating person. Just as the action moved from room to room, so the focus shifted, play by play, to different characters, none of whom gave short measure.

A Rolls-Royce of a project, coachbuilt and splendidly engineered.’

Daily Mail

‘The Norman Conquests must be one of the best and funniest things on screen. It justified ITV’s bold decision to give it a total of six hours peak viewing. The plays explore the same weekend in the life of a bickering family from three different viewpoints in witty dialogue as well-honed as a surgeon’s scalpel.’

The Daily Mirror

1976 had marked a unique achievement by Thames when both the drama and documentary Prix Italia awards were won by, respectively, The Naked Civil Servant and Beauty, Bonny, Daisy, Violet, Grace and Geoffrey Morton. In 1977, a clean sweep of this international event was completed, when the third category, music, came to Thames for the St Nicolas Cantata. Benjamin Britten’s musical setting of the Father Christmas story was recorded on location at St Albans’ Cathedral and first transmitted at Christmas 1976.

Meanwhile, the Royal Television Society voted Nick Downie News Feature Cameraman of the year for his This Week programme, ‘War in the Sahara’ – the fourth consecutive year that This Week had won an RTS award.

In October Outside Broadcasts covered the Britannia Awards, the first British awards for popular music, featuring several major acts headed by the reunited Simon and Garfunkel. OBs followed a different kind of entertainment award hunt in the series of Pub Entertainer of the Year, hosted by Frank Carson, which ended in December with 14 million viewers watching the grand final. The England v Italy World Cup soccer match at Wembley was screened to 16 million viewers. Preceding Thames’ match coverage, Sportscene flew Italy’s Giorgio Chinaglia from America to preview the game prospects with Bobby Moore, Terry Venables and other experts.

Vince Powell’s situation comedy Odd Man Out introduced John Inman as fish-and-chip shop owner Neville Sutcliffe, who inherits half of a stick-rock factory in Sussex. Josephine Tewson played his step-sister and factory co-owner, Dorothy, who shared the problems, arguments and laughs of running the business.

To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the USSR, Thames transmitted Hammer and Sickle, an intensively researched history from the 1917 Revolution through the stormy decades of Lenin, Stalin and Krushchev to the present. Producer Martin Smith traced many unique pieces of film of Stalin’s terror chief Beria, of life inside a gulag, of the Czech invasion as filmed by the Russian troops. The two-hour production was written by Neal Ascherson and narrated by Paul Scofield.

Denis Norden returned for the seventh series of Looks Familiar in October. One of daytime television’s most popular programmes, guests for the new series included Tony Curtis, Charlie Drake, Annie Ross, John Junkin, Elaine Stritch and Michael Parkinson.

As ITV’s schools programming entered its third decade, Thames, the single biggest contributor to the network, launched two major new strands to the curriculum. French Studies, for 13- to 16-year-olds, began with five documentaries on aspects of French life, and a series of actuality film sequences shot in France. The English Programme presented new two-part productions of outstanding, published TV plays – Julia Jones’ ‘The Piano’, and Barry Hines’ ‘Speech Day’, followed by a film documentary on the work of Barry Hines. Both programmes were designed to run through a full year’s course, unlike the normal single-term compass of television school’s programming.

‘Ask a friend whether he watched the first Time for Business and before you can add “Pretty much like the other business programmes” he forestalls you with wildly enthusiastic praise of – say – the section on franchising, pointing out how highly original it was,’ wrote Chris Dunkley in the Financial Times. Not to be like the other comparable programmes was important in formulating Time for Business. Eamonn Andrews was a presenter for the layman, not the expert. He explained: ‘people are becoming more sophisticated about the uses of their own money and want to understand what makes the world of business tick. My job, with expert back-up, is to understand that myself, because if I do, so will the ordinary viewer.’

Broadcast live, the programmes gave an hour of film report and studio presentation of business, manufacturing, and the city. Alongside news, information and advice for the big and small investor alike, a more important, broader aim was access to the world of business – ’Allow us into your boardrooms and factories,’ producer James Butler said in a launch speech to high-ranking businessmen. ‘I would like to see us become as familiar a sight around the businesses of Britain as television is at football matches.’ Among those present was Sir Charles Forte who responded, ‘I think Eamonn Andrews will make people watch. There’s an aura of the unknown about business which I think he can break down. If the programme can show how good relationships in business generally are, that will be a great achievement.’

Time for Business was launched with a ‘development capital competition’, designed to illustrate the investment problems of small businesses. The programme offered to make available up to £250,000 for the best investment proposal submitted. The range of responses has already been enormous, from a new glass-lining process for furnaces, to a design for a racing cycle, to a methodist minister who wants to build a new church. So far, audiences have averaged ¾ million – more than the combined daily circulation of the Guardian and Times.

‘Proof positive that money programmes need not be above the heads of the ordinary viewer.’

The Times

There was a stir in the sixteenth, final series of Opportunity Knocks! when Hughie Green introduced a contestant with his face masked by a paper bag. It was explained that this was a one-time teenage idol who now preferred anonymity. He turned out to be P J Proby who was voted into second place by the viewers.

Prince Charles donned a Magpie badge when he was filmed with Mick Robertson at Dunraven Castle in Wales. He joined in the work of a group of Cardiff children, who are clearing waste land for a country park under the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Fund. The 1977 Magpie Christmas appeal for children with brittle bones ran through December and topped the record figure of £250,000.

Thames at 6‘s investigation unit discovered two identical pairs of boots in neighbouring West End shops – also they found a threefold difference in price. For three days the programme pursued the investigation. On the third day, a public apology admitted the expensive boots had been overpriced. They were finally on sale at a fifth of their original price.

Wednesday at Eight‘s winter run jumped into the charts in fifth position. With guest stars like Frankie Vaughan and Max Bygraves, the ratings steadily increased, to settle in December to a regular Network audeince of 18 million.

West German terrorism, secret film of Chile under Pinochet, and reports from Spain and Portugal were covered by This Week towards the year’s end. ‘A Miserable and Lonely Death,’ This Week’s scoop reconstruction of the Steve Biko inquest, was widely praised and has since been adapted for stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company with Ian McKellen in the main role.

Thames made a large contribution to ITV’s post-Christmas holiday entertainment. Max’s Holiday Hour brought Max Bygraves, Lena Zavaroni and Charlie Cairoli to an audience of nearly 15 millions, and there were two innovative musical pairings when Vera Lynn joined George Shearing, and Peggy Lee shared the spotlight with Charles Aznavour. The Queen’s Racehorses, on Boxing Day, was a totally informal film portrait of H.M. the Queen, talking about and seen with the horses she so loves.

Repeats of Man About the House had regularly topped the ratings during the summer, and the programme’s first offshoot George and Mildred jumped back into the Top Five with a new series, again starring Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce. With audiences as high as 19.7 million, it was the most popular comedy series on British television in 1977.

‘The funniest and best socially observed comedy of the year’

‘As long as the stars retain their enthusiasm and the writers keep up the mixture of crisp one-liners. cross-purposes encounters and an undercurrent of mild sauciness … it could run for years.’

Daily Mail

‘With a splendidly direct approach, the series has a commendable lack of coyness,’ the Daily Mirror commented on the late-night Problems. Jenny Conway and Tony Bastable were the reporters, on adult sexual problems.

The green, furry, multi-legged Wotsit from Whizzbang made his TV debut in Rainbow, where his zany, fantastic adventures proved so popular that in November he began his own children’s series. Joe Lynch narrated Samantha Lee’s stories.

Michael Whyte, a new director to Thames’ documentary department, spent eighteen months investigating the nationwide problem of Britain’s violent and severely disordered children. The result was a disturbing, at times shocking trilogy of films. 17-year-old Billy was on trial for grievous bodily harm when the first film was made; Jimmy has been in care since the age of twelve, when he attacked his mother with a bread knife; and the third film, Aycliffe, visited a treatment centre for extremely disordered children.

‘Do you like hitting people Jimmy?’
‘If they deserve it, yeah.’
‘Do you ever hit your friends?’
‘If they shout “Chelsea!” or things like that.’
‘But why?’
‘Because there’s nothing else to do these days, is there?’

15-year-old ‘Jimmy,’ the subject of the second of three films on violent children.

John Thaw and Dennis Waterman’s first Sweeney film earned them both awards, as best actor and most promising male newcomer respectively, in the Evening News Film Awards, covered for ITV by Thames. 1978 will see the fourth, final TV series of The Sweeney, and also the second Sweeney feature film.

The post Autumn programmes appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

• Today
• This Week
• People & Politics
• Time For Business
• Thames at 6
• London Looks Forward
  • The Living City
  • The Future City
• Documentaries
  • Hazlitt in Love
  • The Gospel According To St Michael
  • Walt Disney (2 programmes)
  • Marriage Guidance
  • Lonely Hearts
  • The Ruth Ellis Story
  • The Hunting of Force Z
  • Hammer & Sickle
  • Billy
  • Jimmy
  • Aycliffe

OUTSIDE BROADCASTS

• Series
  • Drive In
  • A Town Called
  • Kitchen Garden
  • Wish You Were Here…?
  • Pub Entertainer of the Year
• Sport
  • Darts
  • Horse Racing from Sandown, Newmarket, Epsom, Lingfield
  • Football (7 matches, including 4 internationals)
  • Sportscene
  • Wrestling
• Events
  • Jubilee Flower Show
  • Miss Thames
  • Astrology
  • Model Railway Exhibition
  • Nurse of the Year
  • Variety Club Lunch
  • Evening Standard Drama Awards
  • Evening News Film Awards
  • Royal Film Performance
  • Great British Achievements
  • Chipperfield’s Circus (Easter and Christmas)
  • The Motor Show
  • Britannia Awards
  • The Loyal Address

LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

• Specials
  • The Benny Hill Show
  • TV Times Top Ten Awards
  • The Eric Sykes Show
  • Bruce and More Girls
  • The Peggy Lee Show
  • Max Bygraves’ Christmas Show
  • Vera Lynn Sings
• Series
  • David Nixon Show
  • Looks Familiar
  • Opportunity Knocks
  • This is Your Life
  • Whose Baby?
  • Whodunnit?
  • Wednesday at Eight
  • The Tom O’Connor Show
  • The Little and Large Tellyshow
  • Night Out at The London Casino
• Comedy Series
  • Odd Man Out
  • Get Some In
  • George and Mildred
  • What’s On Next?
  • Paradise Island
  • Miss Jones & Son
  • The Fuzz
  • The Upchat Line

CHILDREN’S

• Pre-School Learning
  • Rainbow
  • Rainbow Has A Baby
• General Interest
  • Magpie
  • Fanfare
  • Somersault to Moscow (Magpie Special)
  • …And I Write Music (Magpie Special)
• Drama
  • The Tomorrow People
  • Horse in The House
• Animation Series
  • Jamie and The Magic Torch
  • Chorlton and The Wheelies
• Entertainment
  • Michael Bentine’s Potty Time
  • Sooty
• Pre-School Entertainment
  • And Maisy Too
  • Mice and Mendelson
  • The Wotsit From Whizz-Bang

FEATURES, EDUCATION AND RELIGION

• Features
  • After Noon
  • Mavis
  • Money-Go-Round
  • London Scene
  • Superman & The Bride
  • The Story of Job
  • Problems
  • Help!
  • Our School and Hard Times
• Education
  • Seeing and Doing
  • Finding Out
  • The World Around Us
  • Writer’s Workshop
  • The English Programme
  • French Studies
  • It’s Life
  • It’s More Life
  • London: The Making of a City
• Adult Education
  • Could Do Better?
  • This Sporting Land
• Religion
  • Get Out and Push
  • Close
  • Christmas Pie
  • Drawing to an End
  • Faith In Place: Matt’s Place
  • Christmas Special
  • A Matter of Morals
  • St Nicolas Cantata

DRAMA

• Serial
  • Rooms – 61 episodes
• Series
  • Romance – 5 episodes
  • Rock Follies of ’77 – 7 episodes
  • London Belongs To Me – 7 episodes
  • The Norman Conquests
    • Table Manners
    • Living Together
    • Round & Round The Garden
• Film Series
  • The Sweeney
  • Van Der Valk
• Plays For Britain
  • Cork & Bottle
  • Last Summer
  • It’s Only Rock ’n Roll
  • The Proofing Session
  • Not Quite Cricket

The post The programme year 1977 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Brian Tesler, Thames Television’s Director of Programmes, began his television career as a trainee BBC producer immediately after leaving Oxford. He remained with the BBC for four years and then joined ITV in London, continuing to produce a wide variety of programmes and series until he became Director of Programmes for ABC Television in 1965. He joined the Board of Thames Television on the company’s foundation in 1968.

Recently a leading television critic wrote an article which set out, more fully than before, one of the many current proposals for the re-organisation of British broadcasting. (So many, now, that the question of why such drastic change should be necessary is hardly ever asked.) This particular proposal suggested amalgamating ITV and BBC into a vast State-run broadcasting monopoly with four channels, separate from each other but centrally controlled. I happen to believe that this idea is neither practical nor in the public interest. But what amazed and, frankly, angered me and many of my colleagues was the author’s offhand assumption that ITV’s role in such a partnership was simply ‘to be entertaining and popular’ and to be ‘freed from the obligation to produce programmes against their commercial instincts’.

I can speak only as the Programme Director of one ITV company, Thames Television, which produces about a quarter of ITV’s programmes. But we do not see Thames as a provider of circuses to accompany the BBC’s bread.

In recent weeks our Programme Controllers have been writing about their work in a series of advertisements, of which this is the last. Anyone who has read their varied contributions must surely have recognised three things. First, that here is a group of professional programme makers who are deeply concerned about the service they give to the public. Secondly that, far from being obliged by ‘commercial instincts’ to produce programmes they would not otherwise make, they plan their output on merit alone. And, thirdly, that the range of that output is so wide as to deny in itself that to be ‘entertaining and popular’ is the dominant aim of an ITV company.

Six programme controllers wrote about their work for Thames and of those only Philip Jones – whose Light Entertainment Department is undoubtedly the most successful in Britain – can be said to have dealt largely with popular entertainment. Lloyd Shirley told how his Drama Department has among its forthcoming productions a £1 million series of television films, a cycle of Restoration drama, a life of Napoleon and a de Quincey serialisation. Jeremy Isaacs’ Features Department, producers of This Week, Today, Good Afternoon and Something To Say, are now making ITV’s biggest-ever documentary series, on The Second World War. The Children’s Department under Lewis Rudd, who already produce the leading children’s magazine programme Magpie, are developing a new education and entertainment programme for under-fives.

Guthrie Moir’s team, apart from making award-winning schools programmes, are working on a 13-part series on National Trust houses to follow their British Museum programmes. And Grahame Turner’s Outside Broadcast Department, who could so easily remain recorders of sport, are planning how to bring more of London’s arts and events to Londoners, now that afternoon broadcasting is with us.

Those are only a few of the programmes they mentioned. But implicit in everything they wrote, and indeed in the existence within Thames of six such varied departments of equal importance, is one simple fact: that ITV in general and Thames in particular are achieving the difficult reconciliation between single-channel commercial operation and public service broadcasting.

No-one should doubt that it is difficult. Our challenge is to obtain, with no licence fee or government support, sufficient financial stability to invest in studios and equipment, capitalise new productions, and give security of employment – all without compromising programme quality. We have to do it with only one channel, so we can never give our viewers a simultaneous choice between the product of one programme department and another. We have to share our transmission hours with the other ITV companies, so that less than half the hours are filled by our own productions. And in any case, we have only 4½ days a week in which to broadcast. So the programmes are there, but not always the airtime to transmit them.

My job as Director of Programmes, therefore, is to carry out in those limited hours the policy laid down with my colleagues on the Board: to produce and schedule programmes which range across information, education and entertainment as widely as possible. Our programme controllers have already written about these programmes and their variety. But a range of excellent programmes is not sufficient cause for satisfaction if it is weighted too heavily, as our critic would have it, towards popular entertainment. So I think it worth mentioning that even excluding schools programmes and children’s educational series, four out of every ten Thames productions are in the areas of information, education and current affairs. I might mention too that Thames was the only station to mark this month’s UN Conference on the Human Environment with a special week of programmes on pollution and conservation. They included our own productions and other films from around the world, and they were neither ‘popular’ nor ‘entertaining’. But we felt it important to show them.

By ‘we’ I mean the people behind Thames programmes: people who make This Week and Magpie and The Benny Hill Show and today and The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Callan and Sooty and Writer’s Workshop and Father, Dear Father and Treasures of the British Museum and Six Days of Justice and hundreds more programmes of distinctive quality and variety. It is those people who would all be consigned, in that nightmare of a State-controlled television service, to be producers of an endless and mindless flow of mass merry-making. But happily it is only a nightmare. Instead they will go on producing and directing programmes for Thames in an atmosphere where their varied talents and ideas can flourish. Not with enough transmission time, although a second channel would help give them that. Not with enough money, for no producer (and I include myself) was ever satisfied with his budget.

But with enough scope and resources and backing to make, in the words of one of our Controllers earlier in this series, ‘the programmes we want to make and which we think viewers will want to watch’. We hope and expect to be judged by those programmes, now and in the future.

The post People behind programmes: Brian Tesler appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Lewis Rudd, Controller of Children’s Programmes
Ace of Wands, Children’s Documentaries – My Brother David and Breaking the Silence, Cliff’s Kids, Do Not Adjust Your Set, Elephant’s Eggs in a Rhubarb Tree, Full House, Happy House, The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, Larry the Lamb, Magpie (twice weekly). Once Upon a Time, The Paper Bag Players, Pardon My Genie, Rainbow, Sexton Blake, The Sooty Show, Smith, The Tomorrow People, Tottering Towers, Wreckers at Deadeye, Zingalong.

Lewis Rudd, Thames Television’s Controller of Children’s Programmes, came into Independent Television straight from Oxford, where he edited Isis. He began to specialise in children’s programmes in 1966, and in 1968 his production ‘Do Not Adjust Your Set’ was awarded the Prix Jeunesse. Father of two boys and a girl, he is Chairman of the ITV Network Children’s Sub-Committee. (After this was written, ‘My Brother David’ won this year’s Prix Jeunesse UNICEF award.)

Why have a separate children’s department at all? Is it because we treat children as a different race, to be talked to in a special language? After all, our programmes for children include drama, information, comedy: so why not have the programmes produced by Thames’ drama, features and light entertainment departments? One good reason for having a separate department is the sheer volume of children’s programmes we produce. Something like half the children’s programmes made by ITV come from Thames. But it is not the volume of production that is most important.

Making television programmes for children can be pretty awe-inspiring. They are a very perceptive and very enthusiastic audience. And just because of this, television can have an enormous influence on them. Yet although a great deal of research has been done on this influence, nobody quite knows what the effect of any one programme or sequence will be on different individual children. So we feel it helps if there are people responsible for all Thames’ children’s productions, working together on a range of programmes, gaining experience of their effect all the time, and putting this experience to good use.

It isn’t easy to lay down rules about what will be beneficial and what will be harmful to a child, and with a separate department we have less need to do so. All the people in my department are concerned about the effect of the programmes they make, and are constantly aware of the caution with which they have to work. There is sometimes violence, for example, in our drama programmes. But it is not portrayed as the right way to solve problems, and we aim to make it neither terrifying on the one hand nor glamorised on the other. But, without being irresponsible about it, I find that children decide what programmes are suitable for them rather better than their parents. For example my four-year-old son finds our Ace of Wands series, which is exciting and sometimes a little bit scary, far too complicated to follow. So he doesn’t bother to watch, whereas by seven a child can both understand the story and is also old enough to take pleasure in the excitement and scariness.

One important thing we have learned about making programmes appeal to a wide audience of children is that they demand that television is used as a pictorial medium. As most of our programmes are designed for school children who have spent the day studying, it is right that one of our aims is entertainment: through drama series like Wreckers at Deadeye and Ace of Wands, through programmes for younger children like The Sooty Show and Larry the Lamb (which we are transmitting in the Autumn), through quizzes and musical shows and comedy series. In all of these, visual inventiveness is most important. Our current series Pardon My Genie, a sort of modern version of Aladdin, has had its enormous visual comic possibilities realised in full, thanks to the enthusiastic co-operation of our technical staff. It isn’t surprising that more children are watching this programme than any other production on either channel.

Magpie, our informative magazine programme, also calls for a predominantly visual approach. Here, too, we are using pictures to entertain, but also to interest and inform at the same time. Even in something as straightforward as Magpie’s annual Christmas appeal, we try to encourage imaginative activity in the raising of the money and to use the opportunity to create knowledge – not just sympathy. Last Christmas we raised £30,000 for deaf children, not by a heart-rending emotional appeal but by showing children in a simple way what it was really like to be deaf. And it was out of the previous appeal that we evolved the idea of doing a half-hour documentary especially for children, about the difficult subject of mental handicap. The film, My Brother David, which showed a day in the life of a mentally handicapped boy, has been chosen to represent ITV at this year’s Prix Jeunesse in Munich.

Productions like these can be expensive, and I hope they give the lie to a criticism I sometimes hear that companies are unwilling to spend money on children’s programmes. The fact is that to tell your stories in pictures rather than words costs more. You can make a satisfying adult drama with one set, two good actors and a good script. But for children you are going to need more actors, more sets, location film to add action and pace. I was in the Ace of Wands studio the other day, and the sets compared in every way with the finest sets for adult drama which have been used in our Thames studios – and that is saying a great deal. Backing long-running successes with the right sort of money is one aspect of finance, but the Thames Board have also been willing to back our new ideas and experiments. Since the company began in 1968 we have introduced new children’s series every year; some of them, like Magpie and Ace of Wands, earning themselves a regular place in ITV’s national schedules. Others have been conceived as single series. In 1969, for instance, we produced an adaptation of Leon Garfield’s award-winning children’s book smith; in 1970 we filmed another period subject, Wreckers at Deadeye; in 1971 we introduced children to a world of comic writing ranging from Edward Lear to Spike Milligan in Elephant’s Eggs in a Rhubarb Tree. This year, in addition to Pardon My Genie, we are planning Thames’ first science fiction programme for children, The Tomorrow People.

But I have to admit that the most important development in children’s programmes in the last couple of years did not take place at Thames. It happened at the Children’s Television Workshop in New York with the production of ‘Sesame Street’. I don’t want to enter here into the argument about the programme’s educational standards. But Sesame Street did show how entertaining a programme whose objectives are primarily informative can be, given the right amounts of money and talent.

Any future programme in this field of entertainment-cum-education for pre-school children is certain to be compared with Sesame Street. The production team of our own new programme rainbow, which will be transmitted in the Autumn, have learned a lot from it – both from its successes and its failings. I think we will stand up to the inevitable comparisons pretty well.

Rainbow will be seen regularly all over Britain, and Magpie is already shown nationally twice a week. So our responsibility as providers of ITV information programmes for children is greater than ever. Our most important priority at the moment is to make these two programmes as effective as we possibly can. Because, as I said at the beginning, everyone is aware that television can have an enormous influence on children. And Magpie has proved – as we believe Rainbow will also – that in the right hands it can be an enormous influence for good.

The post People behind programmes: Lewis Rudd appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

It’s 10 months since Thames Television came to London.

What difference has it made?

To the London ITV audience?

It’s grown. Grown, for Thames’ evening programmes, by an average of 200,000 homes. That’s more than 14% up on last year.

The facts: Thames transmits to the London ITV area from Monday to 7.00 pm on Friday. In Spring last year before Thames began, audiences between 6.30 and 10.30 on those days averaged 1,309,280 homes*. This year, Thames has boosted the average to 1,497,600 homes.

Outside those peak viewing hours, the average audience for the same period in 1968 was 818,300 homes. This year the average Thames audience was 873,600 homes: and increase of over 6%.

So after less than a year, and despite a difficult start, Thames is consistently attracting more viewers than the Spring 1968 average:

*Comparisons over eight weeks ending 3 May 1968/2 May 1969

To London ITV programmes?

They’ve changed. To help win these bigger audiences, Thames has introduced new programmes to London in all three major fields: drama, light entertainment and features.

The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten has been the most successful documentary series ever to appear on the screen. Three new light entertainment programmes – Max, Two in Clover and Father, Dear Father – have regularly appeared in the London Top Ten list of most popular shows. (Max, starring Max Bygraves, topped the list three times.) Of the dramatic series, Callan has been exceptionally successful; Frontier was described by a leading critic as “the most promising of all efforts by the new ITV companies”; and The Mind of Mr J.G. Reeder has already become one of London’s favourite programmes. Among the new plays produced by Thames to date have been the Premiere series of live “first nights” and the widely-praised productions of Noël Coward’s “Star Quality” and Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Uncle Silas”.

Report, the new one-hour current affairs series, has already had three programmes chosen for the National Film Archive. And Today, first ever local programme for the London ITV area, is watched in more than a million homes five nights a week.

To children?

They’re beginning to like us. Last year they mostly watched the BBC, but not any more. For example Magpie, Thames’ magazine programme for London children, quickly became so popular that it went national, twice weekly. After only ten months on the air it’s watched by more families than the BBC’s excellent Blue Peter.

Mothers like us too (ask them) because we make a really wide range of children’s entertainment, from Sooty and Once Upon a Time to Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Tingaree Affair. That’s why all Thames’ programmes for children are more popular than last year’s counterparts.

To viewers all over Britain?

There’s a new name for good television. Since Thames began, its productions have won more places in the National Top Twenty than any other company. These nationally popular Thames programmes have included This Week, Opportunity Knocks, Callan, Max, Life With Cooper, The Avengers, Mike and Bernie’s Show, Two in Clover, Armchair Theatre and many others. More than a quarter of Thames’ places in the list have been filled by entirely new programmes.

To the BBC?

It comes second. From Monday to 7.00 on Friday, London viewers can choose between Thames, BBC1 and BBC2. The programmes they like best come from Thames. Each week we make a private check on the ten most popular programmes in London during our transmission time. The latest figures, for eight weeks ended 2 May, show that Thames had 78% of London’s ten weekday favourites against the BBC’s 22%.

We don’t usually publish our weekday top ten. But that’s how it looks.

To advertisers?

They’re getting more for their money. In terms of cost per thousand homes viewing, the latest available figures for eight weeks ending 2 May show that Thames’ peaktime rate gave an average cost of 19/1d [rounds to just under 95½p in decimal, £15.75 in 2018 allowing for inflation] per thousand homes – compared to 21/10d [rounds to about £1.09, £18 in 2018 allowing for inflation] in peaktime for the same period last year. The difference: 12½% cheaper on Thames.

(Because Thames’ peaktime rate covers an hour more than last year’s, the chart shows how the Thames cost compares with 1968’s 7.00 to 10.00 and 6.30 to 10.30. Thames is cheaper either way.)

To London’s skyline?

It’s altering. Thames’ new headquarter and colour studios are nearing completion close to the Post Office tower at Euston, ready for the start of colour broadcasting in November. From this new central complex, and from the riverside studios at Teddington, Thames will continue to produce outstanding programmes for London, for Britain and for the world.

That’s the promise we made ten months ago, and it’s one thing we haven’t changed.

THAMES

Television House, Kingsway, London WC2.

The post It’s 10 months since Thames Television came to London appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

11.30 Cricket
and at 3.5
The Fourth Test Match
from Headingley
England v. Australia
commentary by
Ian Woodbridge ∙ Michael Parkinson
with summary by
Sir Leonard Hutton
and Bobby Simpson
television direction by
GEOFF HALL
Yorkshire Television Outside Broadcast

1.30 Close-down till 1.55

1.55 Thames Television
See panel

A New Service for London
Inaugural Luncheon at
The Mansion House

The distinguished guests celebrating the beginning of the new Service are eminent in London’s Government and business, in London’s music, art and sport, and in the Nation’s Press and Parliament which reflect the life and power of the Capital City

Speakers include the Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor, Lord Aylestone, Chairman of the ITA, Sir Philip Warter, Chairman, and Howard Thomas, Managing Director of Thames Television

commentator
ANDREW GARDNER

television direction by
JIM POPLE

Thames Television Outside Broadcast

2.45 Racing from Redcar
and at 3.20
Outside Broadcast cameras visit Redcar racecourse, where the racing team gives you a complete service, with starting prices, Tote returns and results from other courses
3.0 South Gare Sweepstakes (6f.)
3.30 North Sea H’cap (1½m.)
4.0 Sand Dune Stakes (1½m.)
commentators
in the grandstand Tony Cooke
in the paddock Ken Butler
on the rails Peter Moor
interviewers
John Rickman of the Daily Sketch and George Dobbie discuss form and crash helmets old and new
television direction by
ROY LOMAS
Tyne Tees Television Network
Outside Broadcast

4.10 Driveway
Episode 1: Meet the Major
cast in order of appearance

Major Alan Brock	Anthony Newlands
Miss Fisher	Judy Liebert
Shirley Pickering	Marjie Lawrence
Harry Weeks	John Trigger
Company Sergeant Major	Edwin Brown
Pamela Brock	Margaret Ashcroft
Julie Brock	Sandra Bryant
Mrs. Armstrong	Moyra Fraser
Mr. Brough-Morton	Maurice Hedley
Mrs. Brough-Morton	Dorothy Black
The maid	Anne Woodward

series devised by peter dacre
script by basil dawson
designer michael bailey
produced by CECIL PETTY
ATV Network Production

4.40 CHILDREN’S TELEVISION
The Sooty Show
– it’s that bear again and of course, Sweep and Soo
presented by
HARRY CORBETT
today’s special guest
GERRY MARSDEN
musical director alan braden
designed by alex macintyre
produced by
DAPHNE SHADWELL
Thames Television
Network Production

5.10 Magpie
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
with
TONY BASTABLE
PETE BRADY
SUSAN STRANKS
and including the return of The man from Do Not Adjust Your Set
Captain Fantastic
(produced by daphne shadwell)
directors
DAVID HODGSON
ROBERT REED
producer SUE TURNER
Thames Television
Network Production

5.50 News

6.4 Today
with
EAMONN ANDREWS
casting a quizzical eye on London, and everything else
directed by TERRY YARWOOD
produced by
ELIZABETH COWLEY
ALEX VALENTINE
Thames Television Production

6.30 The Laughter Makers
Carry On Nurse
For the first time on London’s television screens, one of the hilarious Carry On films
starring
KENNETH CONNOR
KENNETH WILLIAMS
CHARLES HAWTREY
WILFRED HYDE WHITE
BILL OWEN
LESLIE PHILLIPS
cast

Bernie Bishop	Kenneth Connor
Oliver Reckitt	Kenneth Williams
Hinton	Charles Hawtrey
Ted York	Terence Longdon
Percy Hickson	Bill Owen
Jack Bell	Leslie Phillips
Bert Able	Cyril Chamberlain
Henry Bray	Brian Oulton
Colonel	Wilfred Hyde White
Alec Lawrence	Ed Devereaux
Matron	Hattie Jacques
Sister	Joan Hickson
Ginger	Michael Medwin
Nurse Dorothy Denton	Shirley Eaton
Nurse Georgie Axwell	Susan Stephen
Nurse Stella Dawson	Joan Sims
Nurse F. James	Susan Beaumont
Nurse Helen Lloyd	Ann Firbank
Nurse Nightingale	Rosalind Knight
Nurse Rose Harper	Marita Stanton
Mick	Harry Locke
Jill Thompson	Jill Ireland
Mrs. Janie Bishop	Susan Shaw
Mrs. Marge Hickson	Irene Handl
Meg	June Whitfield
Norm	Norman Rossington

written by norman hudis
produced by PETER ROGERS
directed by GERALD THOMAS
Matron’s nurses have a hard time keeping amorous patients under control at Haven Hospital

8.15 Cooper King-size!
starring
TOMMY COOPER
An hour of Tommy’s classic comedy routines
with
special guest star
FRANKIE VAUGHAN
and
Deryck Guyler
Julie Rogers
Richard Caldicot
Felix Felton
Hugh Morton
Totti Truman Taylor
Len Lowe
Tony Fayne
Jay Denyer
Gladys Whitred
Max Howard
Louise Canine Review
and
Surprise guest stars
We know who they are but we’re not telling Tommy
special material eric merriman
bob sharples and his music
designed by robert macgowan
produced by MARK STUART
Thames Television
Network Production

9.15 What Shall We Tell the Children?
ROBERT KEE
introduces a
Report
by sally vincent
Sex Education in Britain Today
What should you tell your children about sex? How frank should you be? What words should you use? Tonight’s programme reports on how haphazardly too many children still learn the facts about sex. It shows that schools can help with sex education. Most importantly, for those who still find the subject a difficult one, it shows how some parents have answered the questions their children ask
produced and directed by
FRANCIS MEGAHY
Thames Television
Network Production

10.0 News at Ten
with
Andrew Gardner
Reginald Bosanquet
Leonard Parkin
Half and hour of up-to-the-minute news from ITN
The Weather Forecast

10.30 The System
ANTHONY BATE
JAN HOLDEN
in
The Flea Pit
by anthony skene
cast

Bull Atherton	Anthony Bate
Leo Atherton	Jan Holden
Dr. Gillie	Norman Scace
Peter Tolchard	Simon Lack
Jeremy	Norman Eshley
James	Tim Wylton
Carol	Fay Sparks
Rosa	Judi Bloom
Superintendent Baldwin	Hugh Cross
Paul Pevney	Robert Powell

designer peter caldwell
executive producer
H. V. KERSHAW
producer JOHN FINCH
directed by MICHAEL COX
‘Soldiers have to be strong. Do things we won’t do. Things we can’t approve of. You don’t have a guard-dog and blame it for biting’
Granada Television
Network Production

11.30 London’s New Television Service
EAMONN ANDREWS
introduces recorded highlights of today’s luncheon to mark the opening of Thames Television
ANDREW GARDNER
describes the scene and talks to some of the distinguished guests present at the Mansion House
directed by JIM POPLE
Thames Television
Outside Broadcast

11.50 Carry On Curate
KENNETH ROBINSON introduces the first of a series of six programmes about the image of the clergy as depicted by the mass media
arranged by SIMON BUXTON
Thames Television Production

and

Close-down

The post Tuesday 30 July 1968 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.