Carlton (1993-2002)

Carlton Television went on air in London in January 1993, taking over from Thames. Its chairman, Michael Green, had set up Trident Industries in 1968 at the age of twenty, and expanded the business by buying other companies. In 1985 Carlton Communications, as it was now called, attempted to buy Thames with the backing of BET and Thorn EMI, its two main shareholders, but was blocked by the IBA and Thames’ boss, Richard Dunn. The group formed a television subsidiary to bid successfully against Thames in the notorious 1991 franchise auction.

Carlton commissioned most of its programmes from independent production companies until it bought Central in 1994, many of whose programmes it continued to produce. It was widely slated early on for poor standards, and was fined a record £2m by the then ITC for factual inaccuracies in The Connection, a documentary purporting to show a heroin smuggling route from Columbia to the UK.

In 1999, Carlton controversially re-branded under its own name both Central and Westcountry (which by this time it also owned), although to its credit the result was far superior to the equivalent branding used by the Granada-owned regions. Carlton merged with Granada in 2004 to form ITV plc. Famous names associated with Carlton include Dave Allan, Nigel Walmsley and Ted Childs, while famous programmes included The Good Sex Guide, Heat of the Sun, Inspector Morse (through its Zenith subsidiary, which it acquired from Central in 1987) and Kavanagh QC.