Christmas Sunday (Boxing Day can only fall on Monday-Saturday, so is deferred to the 27th in 1965) starts, again, with a broadcast from a local church.

Ashton-Under-Lyne near Manchester, and co-incidentally no doubt near Didsbury too - plays host to ABC's cameras.  In this case, the various non-conformist religions - Methodist, Baptist, Salvation Army - present a joint service that is designed to differ from that of the Anglican and Catholic churches - the norm for the Morning Service.

When Granada inherited the weekends in the north-west from ABC, the previously non-religious (and definitely non-conformist with the lack of a national anthem at closedown) station had to take religious programming as part of its licence.  The morning service, plus programmes at tea-time on Sunday, were something that Granada was corporately uncomfortable with.  But Granada's takeover of the weekends encouraged the company to show - and even produce - non-conformist and secular material to fill these slots.  ABC's little rebellion by venturing out of the accepted duopoly of religion would help ensure that Granada's reputation in later years would remain intact.

When editing the various things that make up the Photomusications printed archive of Transdiffusion, we usually take great pains in removing the small notes and other 'later additions' of our predecessors at Transdiffusion in the 1960s.

But, just once in a while, it's worth leaving these things for all to see.  And this (instantly forgotten, even by the surviving Transdiffusion Children) programme's listing sums up both their enthusiasm for television presentation and our current obsession with the same subject.

Only the Big Four companies (ABC, ATV, Rediffusion, Granada) had anything approaching a true network presence - guaranteed by the networking arrangements themselves.  The smaller companies - most noticeably Anglia, TWW, STV and Southern - produced as much - if not more - than the network could take to fill the gaps.

This left the smallest companies, those without the finance, studio space or will - Westward, Border, Grampian, Channel - with no room for their occasional networkable programming.  Despite ITA attempts to encourage the Big Four to make room (ATV and Westward did some co-productions, but that's about as far as it went) the regionals remained strong in their own areas but forgotten elsewhere.

Therefore a programme like this, running in sub-peaktime, was something to be excited about.  Front and endcaps from a minor company meant that cameras and tape-recorders were at the ready for the programme - regardless of what it was.

You can feel the thrill of anticipation coming from that single most sixties of words noted by the listing - Fab!

Since turned into a joke thanks to his, er, particular style, the late Mr Andrews was once classed with Terry Wogan, Michael Parkinson and Russell Harty as one of the UK's premier chat show hosts.  His ABC show used the company's muscle to fly over such stars as Frank Sinatra to the UK, and proudly - especially for the north and midlands weekend contractor - to be "Live from London!".

The audience were usually from London, but were taken by (free) bus to Teddington in Middlesex where the show was made.  Nevertheless, it was an experience not to be missed by a large section of the ITV audience and was Britain's answer to the famous American Carson Show.