Welcome to the March edition of EMC, with four new articles for your delectation and pleasure.

We lead off with a fascinating article from Russ J Graham on Britain's first TV star, Gilbert Harding, who from around 1952 to 1960 was just about the most famous person in the country.

Following that up, we have an analysis from Ian Beaumont of the new look at five news following the transfer of the contract from ITN to Sky News. The original approach to news that five offered when it first went on the air was fresh, new and different. How does the new incumbent measure up?

When we think of the early days of ITV in London, we generally recall Associated-Rediffusion. But we shouldn't forget that the three initial, large regions were split across four contractors, with different weekday and weekend franchises. Lew Grade's Associated TeleVision not only had its well-remembered Midlands weekdays slot: ATV broadcast to London at weekends, too. David Brockman tells us more.

And last but not least, with reshuffles at BBC One, we thought it was time to let Ian Beaumont take over another television channel, as he did such a good job with BBC Three. So this time, he's got the cream of the crop – the channel everyone would like to run, and this month we've put Ian in the Controller's chair at BBC One. Will he bring back the globe, balloon-like or otherwise? I doubt it, somehow. Would you?