 |
|
|
1960
You would never think that we would go back as far as 1960, but we have. A rather dull year on television mostly because back then we only had two television channels and some regions still only had one. The South West, the borders, the North of Scotland and the Channel Islands were still yet to receive ITV for the first time, as transmissions would start there in a year's time. In the London area, ITV was coming up to five years old. In the world of advertising, in the days before cigarette advertising were banned on television because of the early signs of the dangers of smoking, we were told that you're never alone with a Strand. Unfortunately this brand of cigarette got unpopular straight away because it seemed that Strand was a brand just for loners and was withdrawn. Nowadays, if you smoke any brand of cigarette you are instantly a loner because people don't want to be next to you to breathe in your smoke! Here is a typical 1960 television schedule:
BBC TELEVISION sees the long running WATCH WITH MOTHER series, with regulars such as ANDY PANDY, THE WOODENTOPS (don't forget the spottiest dog you ever did see!) And what about PICTURE BOOK, BILL AND BEN the flowerpot men and RAGTAG AND BOBTAIL? The WATCH WITH MOTHER series lasted over twenty years until the SEE SAW name replaced it at the end of the seventies. You SEE it, you SAW it. Get it? Many a Welsh programme on in the afternoons on the BBC, especially if any sport that was scheduled was cancelled. I suppose that in them days, the identity between England and Wales was marginal, and so if Wales were treated to English programmes, it would work the other way round. Now Welsh programmes are hardly seen outside Wales, are they? Who can speak Welsh outside Wales anyway? Harry Worth was in THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY, and there were other comedy and entertainment shows on at this time, but some were still being scheduled fortnightly. It could give the impression that the series seems to be twice as long, so that's why they do it like that.
ITV saw the very first episode of CORONATION STREET in 1960 with Ken Barlow still being in it after all this time. Tyne Tees and ATV Midlands didn't transmit the first episode as they had HIGHWAY PATROL and WYATT EARP on instead. No doubt as its popularity grew, that by May 1961 all regions started to show it, even the ones that were going to be on air for the first time. Regulars on the street include Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner and Annie and Jack Walker. They filmed the scenes live in those days, so any foul-ups were probably seen live as well. Little has changed, schedule wise, as it still occupies the 7.30 p.m. slot on weekdays. LIFE WITH THE LYONS, which was a almost real life comedy drama that had transferred from BBC radio, to BBC television and now to ITV, with the real life Lyons family and had character guests. Must have saved time on thinking about character names when they said, let's just use their real names. Occupied the Friday teatime slot. Michael Miles was asking you to TAKE YOUR PICK. Are you going to take the £20 or are you going to open the box? If there are ten boxes, and a box 13, then what happened to boxes 11 and 12? Michael Miles was a workaholic, and was hardly seen off the television in the late fifties and early sixties. Unfortunately it was this that led him to an early death.
1961
More than 90% of the British population could receive ITV by 1961, while three new companies started its life on ITV in this year. Westward Television started in April, while Border and Grampian Television both started broadcasting in September. Neither of them a regular contributor to the ITV network. Westward's logo consisted of the ship, which reminds me of the original Blue Peter logo. Border's logo is taken from an abstract representation of the transmission area served by the station, and also to notify the boundaries that is served between England and Scotland, merged into a letter "B". Grampian's logo is basically taken from the St Andrews Cross, where in earlier years the logo would turn into a picture of the Grampian Mountains in North West Scotland. In the world of advertising, the Milky Bar kid made his first appearance as a cowboy. "The Milky Bar's are on me". Now they rely on animations to make the character come to life. Cadbury's Flake started its girl campaign at this time as well. The crumbliest Flakiest milk chocolate in the world. Another icon for the lads, eh? Back to the television programmes, and its interesting that we still had music hall on television, left over from the forties in this year. And we still had people like Bernard Delfont, Jack Hyton and Val Parnell, putting their six-penny worth in for light entertainment. Let's turn on your pre 625-line television set and see what there was to watch on television in 1961:
BBC TELEVISION'S HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR finished last year, starring no other than Tony Hancock himself, with Sidney James and other guest appearances from comedy. However, he was awarded a series in 1961 that was just called HANCOCK. His shows did the magic trick of emptying all of the pubs and clubs on the evening of transmission, so that fans would get home early and see the latest episode, sometimes broadcasted live. And these were the days when not everyone had a television set; depending on the level of their local community spirit they would sit in a neighbour's house and watch it there. Something that has happened since the Queen's coronation of 1953. Hancock, like most people back in the early sixties was the kind of person who would get bored on Sunday afternoons and would just wait for time to slowly pass by. So time hasn't really changed, has it? To quote: "A pint? That's very nearly an armful".
ITV had light entertainment, in the shape of SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM. Compere Bruce Forsyth would be there for up to 32 weeks of the year, introducing new acts and new talent. And of course, there's BEAT THE CLOCK, which has been revived recently. This was then Sunday nights were a good night for television. Catchphrases back then include "can you come back next week?" and "I'm in charge". Not sure whether he had his Nice to see you catchphrase back then. Perhaps Tony Hancock should have tuned into that every Sunday night to take some of his worries away? Norman Vaughan and perhaps Jim Dale took over the show after Brucie left. When I first heard of THE ARMY GAME, which was having its final series in 1961, I didn't know whether this was a sitcom or a game show, as its title suggests. OK, let's call it the DAD'S ARMY of the late 1950's and the early 1960's and have done with it. Whilst I'm here, I'll also mention BOOTSIE AND SNUDGE as well. ARTHUR HAYNES, a forgotten man of comedy had his long running sketch show for ATV. Other members of the cast included Nicholas Parsons and Ken Morris.
1962
The final two ITV companies went on air in 1962, making 100% of viewers able to tune into ITV. Channel Television went on air on September 1st. Future station mascots included OSCAR and PUFFIN'S PLA(I)CE. Their ident from the 1970's looks rather like the hexagonal grid from the game show BLOCKBUSTERS. One of the smallest ITV companies, and is sometimes overlooked when each region is reviewed. Usually Channel gets most programmes from the South, although they used to be an opt out from the South West. The BBC's regional programmes from the Channel Islands are still covered by the south west region. It was only when a consortium that was based in the Channel Islands, who were wanting for their own local radio station put in a bid. Ideally Westward Television wanted the Channel Islands to be covered as part of their region, but besides this, the 1954 television act didn't cover the Channel Islands and so in later years this problem became quite marginal. The second company that went on air was Wales (West and North) Television, which was going to focus mostly on Welsh language programmes. Unfortunately, because their studios were less than a mile from Television Wales and West (TWW), in January 1964, TWW took over WWN. Here's a look at what we watched on television in 1962:
BBC TELEVISION bred a new kind of comedy: a satire. A programme that made up jokes around the weeks news and what was happening around them. Thanks to programmes like BREMNER, BIRD AND FOURTUNE and HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU? Satire has reached the millennium, and it's never been so popular. THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS or TW3 (which does sound like part of a Twickenham postcode, doesn't it?). 37 portions of satire, stretched across two series with no other than David Frost, Millicent Martin, William Rushton and Roy Kinnear. Famous for making jokes about Harold Wilson and Alec Douglas Home. This could have been a preparation for the Alf Garnett sitcoms, blending satire into a sitcom. One of the first twice weekly drama serial COMPACT set in a women's factory began in 1962. And the BBC continued their experimental colour transmissions. Remember the test card that the BBC used before the Carol Hersee one? The one that had the Queen's face on. You couldn't appreciate it at the time because we never had any colour television sets in 1962 did we? We had to wait another seven years for the reality.
ITV started its flagship investigative series WORLD IN ACTION. Who knew that it was going to run for another 36 years? The 7 Up series (nothing to do with the soft drink) was born out of it, with narrator Michael Apted monitored a dozen school children every seven years. 7 Up in 1963, 14 Up in 1970, 21 Up in 1977 and so on. The series is still made by Granada but now seen on the BBC. Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris had their own sitcom in this year. IT'S A LIVING, following on from a 15-minute sitcom AT HOME WITH JIMMY AND BEN seen in January. In CORONATION STREET, Ken Barlow married his first wife Valerie, who later got electrocuted by a hair drier. DENNIS THE MENACE called DENNIS in this country to save confusion with the cartoon character out of the children's comic the Beano was on television, with Jay North in the title role. The sitcom was made into a cartoon version in the 1980's, for a new generation of children.
1963
A rather dull year on television, but we'll do our best to make these pages as interesting as possible. The news played a big part in this year (but doesn't it play a big part every year?) The late Leonard Parkin, before he got promoted as newscaster for NEWS AT ONE in 1976, was there in Texas, reporting on the assination of President John F Kennedy. Some genius then found about 30 different coincidences between Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. Kennedy had a secretary called Lincoln and Lincoln had a secretary called… wait for it… Kennedy! ITN and the BBC also had the work cut out reporting the Great Train Robbery. Meanwhile back in television land, the Shhh… you know who campaign for Schweppes began in 1963. Some kids actually thought that when the "Shhh", was heard, they would have probably thought that the announcer was going to swear in the commercial. Oh Shhh! Meanwhile, Dulux first started to use sheepdogs in their commercials in the same year. One can't really see the relevance between a sheepdog and a pot of paint. After all, dogs can't paint or decorate, can they? The dog's name was Digby, even though as far as I can remember, the dog's name wasn't mentioned. There was a film made by the Children's Film Foundation called Digby the Dog. I don't suppose that's any relation, is it? Why can't the dogs advertise something that is more relevant to them like dog food? Anyway, let's have a look at what was on television in 1963:
BBC TELEVISION'S predecessor to TOP OF THE POPS, THE SIX FIVE SPECIAL ended. Notice that it didn't last as long as its successor did it? Of course the Beatles were starting to take over Britain and the world, and so television needed some pop music programmes to accommodate that. It seems that people can't do without pop music can they? But if you thought that there was too many pop shows on, you could have always wrote to POINTS OF VIEW about it, and no doubt that you would COME DANCING to all those sounds. OK, not pop sounds, but it was still music, wasn't it? STANLEY BAXTER had his own show including a Christmas Day special with CHRISTMAS NIGHT WITH THE STARS. And I forgot, DR WHO also began in 1963 with either William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton playing the doctor. Well, one of them played the doctor in the film version anyway.
ITV'S top shows in 1963 consisted of THE MAX BYGRAVES SHOW. In those days, the host used to sing there and then. Nightmare. Any rendition of "You're a pink toothbrush, I'm a blue toothbrush, haven't we met somewhere before? …" Would not be welcome anymore, except to dogs to howl to. Thank goodness that Bygraves isn't on our screens as he used to. "I wanna tell you a story". Well, I won't listen to it then. Also on television were NO HIDING PLACE not about Hide and Seek, of course, but one of ITV'S flagship drama serials at the time. ABC's ARMCHAIR THEATRE, which lasted into the seventies and the scary opening titles. I suppose that the programme was to drama, what COMEDY PLAYHOUSE was to comedy. Still, it got into the top ten of most watched programmes in that year. Also DRAMA '63 got to the third most watched programme in that year. THE ROYAL VARIETY SHOW overtook CORONATION STREET as the most watched programme of the year. Other programmes that made the top ten include THEY'VE SOLD A MILLION, VAL PARNELL'S SUNDAY SHOW and THIS WEEK. Just around the corner was the franchise allocation, which Associated Rediffusion was forced to take the word Associated from their name, and Associated Television will be soon known as ATV.
1964
Changes in broadcasting happened in 1964. Radio Caroline first took to the air: BBC 2 began broadcasting (see below) and The ill-fated ITV company WWN Television, Wales, West and North (or Teledu Cymru) marged with TWW after almost providing WWN with most of their programmes. And of course, our dear sweet friend Mrs Mary Whitehouse started up her "Clean Up TV" campaign and hated every bit of filth on our screens. A 1990's equivalent of Whitehouse was an Australian television executive who ran TV-am in the late 1980's and then Yorkshire Television, until Granada took over the company in 1997. His name? Bruce Gyngell of course. (1964 must have been one of his favourite years!) Anyway, time for a word from our sponsors? The Esso sign means happy motoring, call at the Esso sign. Here's a taste of a 1964 television schedule:
BBC 1 had BLUE PETER presented by Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton. John Noakes, who would make up the threesome, would start the following year. Even back then, they were showing youngsters to make things out of sticky back plastic and old washing up bottles, (especially that brand of washing up liquid that a very young Leslie Ash was advertising on the other side at the time). The rag and bone men STEPTOE AND SON, alias Wilfred Brambell and Harry H Corbett. An episode from this era still gets to be shown on BBC 2 from time to time if the grand final of the snooker tournament over runs and programmes get postponed, or if the snooker finishes early. Of course snooker wasn't going to catch on back in 1964, as black and white television prevented viewers from seeing the colours of the balls; snooker officially arrived on the BBC in 1969 with POT BLACK and the advent of colour. The green (or should we say grey) football pitch beat the snooker baize when MATCH OF THE DAY started in 1964. This later triggered off mid week programmes like SPORTSNIGHT, with one of the greatest theme tunes to be put on a compact disc. And 1964 was the year that TOP OF THE POPS started.
BBC 2 was officially declared on the air, but was delayed by a day due to a massive electrical fault at the television centre, Alexandra Palace. PLAY SCHOOL was the first programme to be seen on the second BBC channel. Still with us, but now called PLAYDAYS. Doesn't have that ring to it, does it? WESTMINSTER AT WORK, another BBC 2 programme looked after the political side of life.
ITV began CROSSROADS, which at first was only seen in the ATV Midlands region, and wasn't properly networked until 1972, while Hughie Green wanted you to DOUBLE YOUR MONEY and try to get rich. No million pound jackpot prize and no phone a friend either. The game show's production company, Associated-Rediffusion changed its name to Rediffusion, to help save their franchise round of 1964. ATV London screened SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM, with Bruce Forsyth leaving the show and Norman Vaughan as his successor. BEAT THE CLOCK also went with him, as we seem to vaguely remember.
1965
The increasing concern of the dangers of tobacco smoking prompted the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to ban all cigarette commercials. Cigar commercials and some other tobacco products escaped the 1965 ban. As you know Hamlet cigars was on our screens right up to the 1990's, where the ITC decided to finally ban all tobacco products. As late as 1999, cigar commercials were being advertised on the radio, but this is about television, not radio. Speaking of Hamlet cigars, there was an hilarious commercial from this year advertising those cigars, which featured a Charlie Chaplin style film, with an actor taking his clothes off and putting them in a washing machine. This commercial was also used in a 1986 commercial for Levi's jeans, which featured rising pop star Nick Kamen taking his jeans off and putting them into a washing machine, with some girls looking on. That commercial didn't seem like a parody of the 1965 commercial, because there was 21 years between both commercials being shown and obviously a parody is something that is recent so that the onlooker can get the joke from one to another. Believe it or not, the Levi's jeans commercial sported a more recent parody of its own a couple of months after first being shown, where the commercial looked exactly the same for the first 25 seconds of it. The only difference was one of the characters who said, "Hey, I bet he drinks…" You can guess the rest. The commercial was for Carling Black Label. Hope that they got the copyright permission to copy it. Anyway, let's see what was on television back in 1965:
BBC 1 had the slightly young Thora Hird and the average Freddie Frinton in MEET THE WIFE. Written by the two Ronald's, Wolfe and Chesney, who later wrote scripts for ON THE BUSES and THE RAG TRADE. Richard Briers and Prunella Scales starred as George and Kate Starling in MARRAGE LINES. Children's animations on the BBC came from the hands of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. NOGGIN THE NOG was about a prince and his not so decent uncle Nogbad. There was always confusion into who was the real baddies and who was the real heroes. One would never get away with a name like Noggin the Nog nowadays, because people may think that it sounds racist. IVOR THE ENGINE, also a Firmin and Postgate production had been on ITV for up to this time. In fact Associated Rediffusion, the company that made it used to interrupt board meetings just to watch it!
BBC 2 had NOT ONLY… BUT ALSO with not only Peter Cook but also Dudley Moore. The two were referred to each other as Dud and Pete in dialogue, and made a great double act. However, the double act thing didn't seem official as it did with MORECAMBE AND WISE, let's say, otherwise they would have called themselves Cook and Moore. They would have had to change their names to meet this requirement so that they would be successful.
ITV had Those Lew Grade tryouts like THE BARON and RANDALL AND HOPKIRK DECEASED and MAN IN A SUITCASE. Coming back to my point about cigar smoking that I started above, you all knew that Lew Grade smoked a cigar. And so did George Burns. Then why do people say that cigar smoking can kill you and get you into an early grave when Lew Grade and George Burns both smoked several of them every day for most of their lives and Grade lived to be 90 and Burns lived to be 100? It doesn't make sense.
1966
A year that made one of the highest audiences for any television programme: the 1966 World Cup Final where England beat West Germany 3-2. The catchphrase "Here comes Hurst; some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over, it is now" was coined. Millions of viewers saw that. If you watched the commercial breaks on ITV, of course back in clickerty-click, you may remember the late Tony Hancock a couple of years before he sadly decided to take his own life advertising eggs. We were told to go to work on an egg. But an egg? That's very nearly a shell full! And speaking of shells, Bing Crosby made sure that we're going well with Shell. This is a typical television schedule from 1966:
BBC 1 screened one of the most serious of dramas in its PLAY FOR TODAY slot. CATHY COME HOME was about a young single mother who is about to be evicted for rent arrears. She tries to find another house, but with great difficulty. This drama, reflected the seriousness and plight of homelessness in the mid 1960's, where it reached its peak. The subject has been covered dozens of times on programmes like WORLD IN ACTION over the years, and is still referred to in the present tense as an example of homelessness. On the lighter side of life, Roy Hudd began his ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY HUDD, just before he started to make the NEWS HUDDLINES on radio 2, then the Light Programme.
BBC 2 offered light entertainment with James Bolam and future BASIL BRUSH straight man Rodney Bewes as two Northern buddies in THE LIKELY LADS. However, it was nearly ten years since the colour sequel WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE LIKELY LADS? Was seen on television. Very sixties lads in the pub humour. BBC 2 was also getting ready for colour transmission, promoting the famous Carole Hersee test card that lasted on our screens for thirty years. That's what I call one Carol that has been on television longer than Carol Vorderman!
ITV's WORLD OF SPORT, then presented by THIS IS YOUR LIFE's Eamonn Andrews was there as always on Saturday afternoons, with lucrative showings of the summer's World Cup (see above). While the CASUALTY of the sixties EMERGENCY WARD 10 and CROSSROADS were money-spinners for television impresario Lord Lew Grade of Elstree. Other drama serials on at this time were WEAVER'S GREEN and PEYTON PLACE. Children were entertained by the TINGHA AND TUCKER CLUB, the two little koala bears that made weekday teatime viewing for youngsters for the best part of the decade. Human presenter "AUNTIE" JEAN MORTON was in charge, later to be in CROSSROADS. Do you remember being a member of the club and having your very own badge? Lew Grade later axed the programme, when ATV bought the rights to RUPERT BEAR, because I suppose he thought that too many bears spoilt the television broth. But SOOTY is still going isn't he? Over half a century on television, and he's still only five years old. SOOTY was still at the BBC at this time, but it was only two years until new ITV Company Thames signed the yellow bear on to the commercial network.
1967
Another year looked back on, and this time its 1967. Pets were well catered for in the world of advertising in this year. If you owned a dog, then Clement Freud and Henry were promoting Chunky dog food, while for the feline variety, Arthur the white cat put his paw into a can of Kattomeat, now called the more relevant name of Arthurs. Not to be confused with Arthur's Theme that Christopher Cross sung in 1982. There was also a short-lived canine equivalent called Kennomeat, but this could have been way in to the seventies. Speaking of Christopher Cross, or should I say Chris Cross, there was CRISS CROSS QUIZ and JUNIOR CRISS CROSS QUIZ on television. There seemed to be quite a lot of these programmes that had junior spin offs mostly during children's television time. Now I've told you about one television programme that was on in 1967, I'd better tell you what else was on in this year. Here's a 1967 television schedule:
BBC 1 had THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN for the children with Captain Haddock, Snowy and of course Tin-Tin himself. Leslie Crowther was starring as Thomas Jones in THE RELUCTANT ROMEO. Nothing to do with the Welsh singer Tom Jones, but that's not unusual is it? This Tom Jones is associated with the 18th century novel hero namesake written by Charles Dickens? Can you believe it, a COMEDY PLAYHOUSE pilot that was developed into a series? And news and current affairs were rounded up in TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. When NEWS AT TEN started (see ITV), the programmes clashed with each other. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS starting at 9.55 p.m., just to see whether viewers would turn to BBC 1 or ITV for their news. Nethertheless, it must have been ITV that had won the ratings battle in the end as it lasted for thirty years longer than its rival.
BBC 2 had just as much entertainment as BBC 1, where Ray Fell, Lulu and Mike Yarwood were just THREE OF A KIND, not to be confused with the series of the same name in the 1980's. The long hot summer of 1967 also provided plays in the shape of GIVE THE CLOWN HIS SUPPER with Brenda Bruce and Patrick Thoughton.
ITV had its first half-hour news programme from ITN that was to stay in its slot for the next 32 years. NEWS AT TEN's first presenters were Alastair Burnet and Andrew Gardener, who left ITN in 1977 to present Thames News in London. (Likewise, Alastair Stewart did the same move in 1992 when he left ITN to host London Tonight for Carlton and LWT). It just proves how popular this news programme was. The good British public stayed up to watch the And Finallies towards the end. Let's hope that with the help of the government, it won't be too long before we'll hear those trademark bongs at 10 p.m. each weekday evening. News programmes aside, the commercial network's answer to ANIMAL MAGIC was ZOO TIME on at 5.00 p.m. for children. Robin Ray, elder son of Ted Ray (born George Olden in Wigan, that's Ted, not Robin) hosted the panel game WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? And the ever present CORONATION STREET had Elsie Tanner marrying Steve Tanner. I suppose that Steve Tanner's surname was deliberately the same as Elsie's because Elsie Tanner wouldn't have been well known as Elsie Smith, for example. After all, Bet Gilroy is still referred to as Bet Lynch, isn't she?
1968
British television was getting ready for the launch of colour, the following year. BBC 2 had already adapted to this as almost all their programmes were in colour. Perhaps it was to make viewers to watch BBC 2 more often? A colour television licence was to be introduced, probably to replace the old radio licence. ITV saw a change of television companies with TWW handing the baton over to HTV, Granada and ATV broadcasting seven days a week in their regions. ATV had already been a seven day a week service, but only between the London area at weekends and the Midlands during the week. ABC, which provided programmes to the Midlands and North at the weekends merged with Rediffusion, the London weekday contractor to form Thames Television, also serving London during the week. The London Weekend licence went to London Weekend Television. Meanwhile, Granada, which served all of the North, during the week started broadcasting seven days a week, but to the North West only. Yorkshire Television is launched on the eastern side of the penines, providing a fair amount of programmes. Here is a typical television schedule from 1968:
BBC 1 had in the London area, THE MONDAY SHOW with Michael Aspel and guests, which probably inspired LWT to have their London only Friday evening show in the 1980's THE SIX O'CLOCK SHOW, also involving Michael Aspel. It seems that while the rest of the country gets regional news, the London area gets treated to a chat show! POINTS OF VIEW, and its young spin off JUNIOR POINTS OF VIEW, giving children and young people to have their say on what's on television, mostly children's television programming. No disgusted from Tunbridge Wells here, as they are too young to pay their licence fee. POINTS OF VIEW was presented by one of the unrelated Robinson's, but it was definitely was not Anne!
BBC 2 offered programmes in colour (except those who were still watching on black and white sets) LATE NIGHT LINE UP, the arts programme, that preceded THE SOUTH BANK SHOW by about ten years, and THEATRE 625, a late 1960's PLAY FOR TODAY.
ITV, with all these regional company changes also had changes to its programmes. MAGPIE entertained the kids in the 5.20 p.m. slot, which was launched on Thames' first day as London weekday contractor. Tommy Cooper also helped out on that day with his programme COOPER KING SIZE! But only twenty minutes into the programme, it was pulled off the air as a result of an industrial dispute that plagued the ITV companies for nearly a month. You could say that the programme was taken off the air just like that! PLEASE SIR! Was launched with John Alderton starring as teacher Bernard Hedges and Deryck Guyler as caretaker Norman Potter. LWT's very first programme, WE HAVE WAYS OF MAKING YOU LAUGH, starring Frank Muir and Dick Vosburgh almost made its appearance on LWT's opening night, but as with Tommy Cooper's show, that was postponed, and wasn't seen again for another three weeks. Thank goodness that programme disputes on television are less likely to happen these days.
1969
Colour television arrived on the BBC and ITV on November 15th 1969. Although BBC 2 had already been showing programmes in colour, this was the first official time when it happened. It also saw the first television commercial to be seen in colour, which was for Bird's Eye Garden Peas, which was shown in the Midlands. One believes that colour commercials cost more than black and white ones to make. An event being covered by television in this year was man's first landing on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were transmitted live on television sets all over the world. The very first time that the BBC and ITV had an overnight television service, and it would be another 18 years before it became a regular thing. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, were those famous words heard on that occasion, leaving out a letter A in the first sentence. Let's have a look at what we were watching back in 1969:
BBC 1 had the THAT'S LIFE! Forerunner BRADEN'S WEEK with Bernard Braden with Esther Rantzen, of course. There was controversy when she was on it, after she did a margarine commercial on the other side, and the BBC nearly gave her the sack as a result. The BBC had strict rules about its presenters and advertising on other television channels. Also ON THE BRADEN BEAT, occupying the pre PARKINSON slots on Saturday evenings. HARRY SEACOMBE had his own show, like many stars did, so did ROY CASTLE. I suppose that it was a way to express their identities more, to have their own chat show. DIXON OF DOCK GREEN started a trend of 1970's cop dramas that was going to follow. Evening all!
BBC 2 had GARDENER'S WORLD, on when Alan Titchmarsh was probably only just a seed himself. Clay Jones and Percy Thrower presented it. Or am I confusing them with Radio 4's GARDENER'S QUESTION TIME? There was also ICE SHOW with Lord Charles ventriloquist Ray Alan. American import ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH IN on in weekend evenings saw sketch and stand up that sometimes even turn up on SESAME STREET.
ITV had ON THE BUSES with Stephen Lewis as Inspector Blakey, Reg Varney as Stan Butler and Anna Karen as Olive. The Town and District (or was it Luxton and District?) bus company was where this sitcom was based. Programme lead to three film spin offs, including one with the same name, MUTINY ON THE BUSES and HOLIDAY ON THE BUSES. Don't forget Blakey's weak mid 1970's effort in DON'T DRINK THE WATER! Quote: I 'ate you, Butler! And NEAREST AND DEAREST with Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker as Eli and Nellie Pledge. While Hylda Baker's other half, Arthur Mullard appeared in children's sitcom ON THE ROCKS about one of the smallest television stations, Sea View Television, which receives signals, providing that the wind is blowing in the right direction. So it was smaller than TYNE TEES, the company that originally made it back in the summer of 1969. The show also had Billy McComb starring, a so-called veteran of children's television and summer seasons. Thursdays in the same timeslot saw the only television adaptation of Norman Hunter's AMAZING ADVENTURES OF PREDESSOR BRAINSTAWMN.
Copyright © 2001 . All Rights Reserved.