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Independent
Television ended 1966 and opened 1967 in a state of buoyant
self-confidence, with its yearbook setting out its achievements
at length. While the intro refers to "the limitation to a
single service", imposed by Labour after it came to power
in October 1964, the previous government having reached advanced
stages in the planning of ITV2, and "the continued
restrictions on broadcasting hours", to which there was
considerable resentment within ITV, and which would be lifted by
the Tories when they had returned to power, there is no sign of
sour grapes.
After
setting out ITA policy in general, the book sets out ITV's
unique selling point, its federal system, and sets it against
the centralisation in London of so many other British
institutions, not least the BBC. It says, "the shape of
Independent Television should be not unitary but plural, as
little as possible centralised, as much as possible dispersed
and varied".
The
ITA promotes the diversity of ITV programming with charts
outlining programme output, the pattern of serious programmes as
it had evolved over the previous 10 years, and percentage of
programme production for each genre of programme. There are
fascinating regional breakdowns of the Top 10 serious programmes
in each area for a week in the autumn of 1966, which show how
important regional programming was at the time, especially in
the more remote areas. The five editions of Border's "Lookaround"
on weekday evenings were all watched in a higher percentage of
homes in the region than Rediffusion's "This Week".
Details
of pretty much all the programmes shown in 1966, in whatever
genre, whether networked, part networked, or local, are given,
and there are inevitably fascinating curiosities. What would we
now make of Anglia's local programmes focusing on Bedford and
Dunstable, or Southern's political series "Your Men at
Westminster"? The latter’s title is now dated in the era
of traditional Tory seats in the region being held by Liberal
Democrat women MPs.
Likewise,
there are a thousand resonances of a long-vanished formal
regionalism in the titles of some children's programmes:
"For The Youngest Scot" (Scottish only), "Well, I
Never!" (Tyne Tees only), "The Three Rivers Club"
(Tyne Tees again). Inevitably, one of the biggest social changes
in Britain over the last 35 years is emphasised by the long list
of religious programme series and the details surrounding them.
Drama,
light entertainment, sport, Welsh-language material, schools and
adult education programmes all get full details and accompanying
photographs. The sport section sees a real burst of egotism when
"World of Sport" is acclaimed for having "quickly
established itself as the Saturday afternoon sports
programme" (in truth, it failed to rival the definitive
status of the BBC's "Grandstand", due mainly to ITV's
comparatively limited sports portfolio). The lengthy, heavily
illustrated sections on advertising control, technical
operations, and the complicated networking systems of the time,
are lovingly detailed pieces, probably the best record we have
of exactly how ITV was done back then.
There
was going to be a major franchise review with the results
announced in June 1967, but nothing much was going to change,
was it? Perhaps one company - Scottish, maybe even Southern at a
pinch - might go, but Lord Hill would never really rock the
boat, would he?
The
pages detailing the individual regions and the companies
contracted to broadcast are as excellent as you'd expect: the
transmitter maps are lovingly detailed and well-designed, with
the new transmitters being planned representative of ITV's
desire to cover the awkward gaps in coverage that still remained
at this point. The company pages reveal everything you need to
know about how they operated, not least the incredible size,
importance and self-confidence of Rediffusion London, to such an
extent that you can understand their disbelief that they might
be forced into a shotgun marriage with ABC later in 1967. Their
list of senior employees - John Spencer Wills, Paul Adorian,
Cyril Bennett, Stella Richman - itself breathes quality and
prestige.
The
Tyne Tees entry is a masterpiece of bold, forward-looking
promotional phraseology of the time: "The programmes listed
indicate the range and scope of Tyne Tees productions today.
They reveal the many worlds that make up the station's daily
operations... Therefore Tyne Tees sets out to entertain and
inform, to relax viewers and stimulate them. Always the
station seeks to enlarge understanding and sharpen awareness.
Tyne Tees shows the best programmes it can get. But it is
particularly concerned with those it makes itself... A
production team flies to Scandinavia to make a documentary for
the network. A major North East news story is flashed down the
line to ITN... That is a television year at Tyne Tees: a station
resolved to show the world to its region and its region to the
world." Could there be a better embodiment of a Britain in
love with the white heat of technology and convinced that life,
on the whole, got a little better every day?
Some
of the language used may appear quaint now, but things were very
different then. Border Television, we are told, produced "Beatwave",
"a fast-moving musical series featuring mainly coloured
artists", which seems more significant when you remember
that this was a time of massive public resentment to immigration
and when you can fairly safely assume that many of the
inhabitants of Carlisle and the Border country in general had
never seen a black person in the flesh in this country.
Many
individual period details were already poised to pass into
history, such as the old London phone numbers ("HYDe Park
7222" for ABC's offices in Hanover Square, or "AMBassador
8040" for ATV House in Great Cumberland Place) which would
be replaced with the new formulation of "01 xxx 7222"
or "01 xxx 8040" before 1967 was out. The greatest
impression given by ITV 1967, though, is one of absolute
stability and confidence in the ITA system of the time.
By the
middle of the year, that would be shattered. |
