"I luv 'im on the telly," me Mam would say in a strong Liverpool accent. I was seven at the time, it was 1967 and my mother was referring to 'Diddy' David Hamilton on ABC at weekends.
We lived for the weekends to see talent-filled programmes made by ABC such as “Just Jimmy” followed by “Opportunity Knocks”. The links between were special, with David Hamilton making you feel warm and fuzzy. You knew the weekend had arrived. It was something to look forward too.
By Monday morning, you took Granada for granted, not noticing anything special about the service. The Monday to Friday routine was more designed for the programmes not the continuity, yet to Granada’s credit, it still provided entertainment, and gritty dramas not seen today. Granada was a superb programme maker but poor on presentation.
July 1968 was to see one of the biggest shake-ups in ITV, and we were devastated to see David Hamilton and ABC disappear for a single 7-day contract in the north-west.
But Granada soon lifted its game, and after a year or so, we sat around that television set around 4.00pm watching the test card fade to black and the ritual opening, ITA captions and the strains of Jim Pope, “Broadcasting from Winter Hill on the transmitters of the Independent Television Authority… This is Granada…” It was a magical time watching a station open.
1968 was a blistering hot summer in Liverpool, and yet we stayed indoors to watch new programmes on Granada and the new presentation spots. Granada made promos promoting the return of Ena Sharples to Coronation Street, with her making an appearance on the front cover of the TVTimes.
Granada even produced commercial spots called “Spotlight Granadaland” with a string of local businesses in a two-minute montage of ads. You knew you were in the Granadaland region at last… This new regional branding was to become very profitable for the north-west station. Even the two-minute spotlight series of ads, having a Granada feel to them, became entertaining. Granada made its permanent mark on the north-west.
The presentation was nice and warm and closedowns were special, the music of Derek Hilton, Granada’s musical director playing in the background as Jim Pope wished you a good night, and a special “God bless”.
Granada programmes had a gritty feel of realism to them, Coronation Street was not soap - it was pure drama, commanding respect. When “Steve Tanner” was killed falling down a flight of stairs or “Val Barlow” electrocuted, it was simply compulsive viewing. If the station tried a story line like that today, it would not have the same impact as it had back in the 60s. It would reflect a mere soap performance today, often lacking believability.
There was something special about Granada programmes, the one-hour play “Roll on 4 o’clock” was another gritty story line, but with the added humour Granada often used. Television simply fails to deliver this magic today. It’s called ‘entertainment’.
Today’s ITV is rather more a service that you take or leave mentality, a product of greed rather than people gathering around the box knowing your about to be entertained. Profits come first today, programmes second. In the golden days, quality programmes were paramount and profits eventually took care of themselves.
In 1973 London Weekend Television shocked the country, it was dropping “On The Buses”, one of the nation’s favourite shows. The reason, almost unheard of today, was to make way for newer programmes.
For the last twenty years we have been subjected to the same programmes, some over 30 years old, Blue Peter, Top Of The Pops, Newsround, The Bill, Blind Date, Surprise Surprise, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and EastEnders, just to name a few. Originality has gone out the door. Today’s ITV only offers a more lively continuity to gloss over the lack of originality in programming.
Perhaps we can all learn from this and go back to basics. Carlton, often criticised for its programmes and continuity, is a product of our time, which others have copied.
Cheap programmes and computer generated graphics that lack any spark of imagination, and a logo that leaves a lot to be desired. Even Granada’s lack of presentation in the 60s and Jim Pope’s “God bless” at closedown was a 100% improvement on today’s efforts. Television has ceased to be special.
