A pictorial guide to Northern Life
Taken from the final edition of Northern Life, this logo is a bit of a mystery because the logo type wasn’t introduced until 1983, and the programme was never broadcast in black and white. It was clearly re-created in 1992, although why is another question.
The theme tune in this era was The Blaydon Races, performed by Larry Addler. This version was performed live by Larry on the final Northern Life in 1992.
More real this time - the 1978-1983 logo, theme tune and some music stings.
1986
Now a look at Northern Life in 1986.
At Six the North East tuned into the show with fantastic graphics and funky music. What do you mean, it wasn’t funky music?
Morning news bulletin from 1986, read by the duty announcer of the day - in this example, Judi Lines. The round up was presented from the continuity studio, with the backdrop super-imposed by chroma key.
The afternoon news came from the main studio and used one of the evening presenters - below Eileen McCable presents the bulletin.
The standard Northern Life logo in the set was replaced by a monitor displaying the ‘Afternoon News’ logo - why the evening news was not done in the same way is obviously not known.
At the end of the bulletin, a caption promoting the 6pm bulletin was shown.
The Northern Life studio was probably best described as ‘minimalist’ and wasn’t exactly the most exciting set in the world. Saying that, all that blue paint must have cost a fair fortune! And for what? A quick glance at the end of the show?
The worst regional news programmes are usually the ones that took themselves far to seriously, although this was not a charge you could level at Northern Life. Here Stuart and Eileen celebrate the very first Red Nose Day in 1988 as the credits roll. But what’s the game with editors Dave Picken and David Lander?
This slightly curious credits statement was a regular feature of Northern Life, where Dave and David both proclaim their from Newcastle. Except one’s from Newcastle, New South Wales. Quite why they thought it was vital to tell us this, we really don’t know…
Without the two Daves, things got a bit more more sensible!
At the end of the show (on the right), a typical Northern Life production slide with a Tyne Tees logo super-imposed over a dark studio.
Thankfully by 1988, the blocky titles were on the way out. But why the change? Was this dog responsible?
Sunday Edition was the Sunday version of Northern Life in the late 1980s. Note the very eighties multi-coloured logo behind presenter Phil Martin.
1988
In autumn 1988 the blocky map was replaced by a new number complete with swooshy title sequence.
The set, whilst better than the previous version, was still slightly dubious with a strange Y shaped desk for the main presenters, and rather odd raised bits that were presumably to cover monitors. The odd colour scheme of grey with red trim did little to help it. The backdrop consisted of light blue strips on a darker background.
One correspondent, Neil Flemming, described it as the most vile set Tyne Tees has ever designed. The combined effect gave the studio a style that would not have been much out of place as the set for the starship bridge in a rather bad seventies sci-fi drama. The effect looked even more odd when there was just one presenter in the studio.
Northern Life would split in two mid-show, allowing more focused regional news bulletins for the North and South. Unlike the late 1990s where this parting-of-ways was covered and not mentioned to the viewer, in the Northern Life era it was announced formally to all. The split was covered by this caption - sadly only available to us in black and white.
Whilst viewers in the North were enjoying their news, a pre-recorded handover would be played out to the South, with Paul and his Middlesbrough based co-hort telling viewers what to expect in the opt out. The change to full screen was where the pre-recorded aspect of the bulletin ended, and the news went live again.
Rather curiously the studio backdrop has York labelled on the map of the region, despite the fact that the newsroom was in Middlesbrough.
At the end of the show, the rather odd credits cropped up now and then, before a quick look at the production slide, usually overlaid over varying shots of the studio.
The man in the middle picture, stood near the desk, is one of the signers used by Northern Life to provide a small, signed news summary at the end of the programme. Tyne Tees was an early pioneer of signed news bulletins, and is still a leading provider of signing services for broadcasters.
Still in 1988, and Bill Steel reads a morning news bulletin just after the handover from TVam. A trailer for This Morning would see the bulletin move to 9:55 by the end of 1989, and would be gone not long after.
1991
For much of the 1980s, Northern Life was preceded by the Tyne Tees ident, announcerless, before cutting straight into the theme tune. With the introduction of the ITV Generic Logo of 1989, the logo was burnt into the title sequence, so displayed with the title music playing. The practise continued for some time even when the rest of the station had abandoned the ITV logo.
The set also got adjusted, with the programme logo being introduced behind the presenters as seen here with Pam Royle and Stuart McNeil.
The credits sequence was also simpler - no cameras moving around, no zooms, just turn the lights down on the team.
The End
Despite getting a new desk and a tweeked set, the decision to replace Northern Life was made, and on 2 October 1992, Paul and Pam welcomed us to the end of an era - the final ever Northern Life.
For most of the show it was business as usual, until the end when we got treated to a fistful of highlights and bloopers from the 16 years the show had been running.
And with that, Paul and Pam symbolically walk out of their old studio and into their new one, closing the doors on the Northern Life studio. We see the final ever Northern Life production slide. Notice that, for some reason, this regional programme, claims it’s been made for the whole ITV network!
And that’s it. Northern Life has ended. Or has it? Hang on! What’s that noise coming from the old studio?
You just can’t end an era without a special guest and in this case it’s Larry Adler, the man who performed the original Northern Life theme tune, the Blaydon Races. The song itself was written by Geordie Ridley, a Tyneside music hall singer in 1862 and is also known by the name Anthem of Tyneside.
After a quick interview, it’s time to leave the studio, with Larry playing us out. And that, really is it.
