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Tonight’s Granada TV… in 1976
18 October 2017 tbs.pm/14056
It’s The New Avengers! Perky Purdey aka Joanna Lumley, adorns the front page of the TV Times this week, alongside her fellow co-stars Patrick Macnee and Gareth (Two Shakes) Hunt.
Let’s move swiftly onto the listings for today, Monday 18 October 1976 and it’s time to radiate the Granada IBA caption as the channel is about to pop on air in five minutes with today’s Schools & Colleges. The staple classics are all there, including How We Used to Live and My World.
At midday, our lunchtime children’s programmes start with the madcap Chorlton & The Wheelies… I’m not really sure what they were on in those days. This is swiftly following at 12.10pm is Mister Trimble.
There’s high camp cooking action with Graham Kerr aka The Galloping Gourmet at 12.30pm which leads us up to the News at One with Leonard Parkin. To fill the schedule at 1.20pm is a short programme about Bagpipes and Scottish dancing… The Pied Piper.
Drama at 1.30pm with ATV’s brand-new offering, The Cedar Tree. A sort of mix of Crossroads (bad acting), Dynasty and How We Used To Live. We are then off up to ‘that’ London, to enjoy a Good Afternoon with Judith Chalmers and her friends at 2pm.
The Monday Matinee at 2.25pm is Over the Moon starring Rex Harrison. Someone is having to move out of a house in Emmerdale Farm at 3.50pm… so, no over the top explosions or deaths in this particular episode!
Since we are about to turn the page, a quick look at the regional variations:
- ATV: Food is off the menu on ATV at 12.30pm, instead we have Kreskin, who is a mentalist… or as we call them here in the UK, a clairvoyant. Look into my eyes, not around the eyes! A tad heavy for an afternoon slot ATV, but at least you had variety back then. Crime detective drama at 2.25pm with a very short-lived US programme, lasting just four episodes, Tenafly. ATV Today at 6pm. 10.30pm is a programme listed as Platform? A local programme giving artists a stage or a story on Birmingham New Street? At 11.15pm we join the LAPD for Police Story.
- BORDER: No camp cooking on Border, it’s Farmhouse Kitchen at 12.30pm. We press the doorbell at 2pm, as it’s time for a Houseparty! The Border Film this Monday afternoon is The Return of Mr. Moto. A brief update of Border News at 6pm is followed at 6.15pm by Garnock Way, a short-lived Scottish soap opera from STV. George & Mildred has been bumped at 8pm for Lucky Feller, a comedy from LWT, starring David Jason. NOW… is the programme at 10.30pm simply called ‘Upstairs,’ a repeat of Upstairs, Downstairs or a programme on lofts? This followed at 11.30pm The Protectors.
- HTV General Service: Another mysterious programme called Playwright on the HTV at 12.30pm. Help Yourself at 2pm is followed by the HTV afternoon film, What Are Best Friends For? Answers on a postcard please, care of the Bath Road Studios. Local news is covered in Report West at 6pm and Report Wales at 6.22pm. HTV West would opt out and air Sport West at 6.22pm. HTV plump for a film at 10.30pm, In a Lonely Place.
- HTV Cymru/Wales: As General Service expect Welsh programming at 2.30pm and 8.30pm. Y Dydd at 6pm then, as above, Report Wales at 6.22pm.
Chris Kelly whips out his Clapperboard at 4.20pm and reviews Futureworld, the poor sequel to Westworld. This is followed at 4.50pm by Nobody’s House about a ghost who befriends two children.
We go Supersonic at 5.15pm which features something for all the family… Marc Bolan to Mud! Those were the days eh? News at 5.45, from the newsrooms of ITN, is followed at 6pm by Granada Reports.
It’s evening time on Granada, hurrah! Look at this schedule; comedy, current affairs, drama and variety. Today, we get two episodes of Corrie/Emmerdale and padding in-between! But I digress. Here’s our Hughie with Opportunities Knocks at 6.45pm. Just below the slightly racist cartoon, TV Times informs us of ‘a great line-up of talent’. Pure lies… try Nationwide and come back later!
A home offering at 7.30pm with Coronation Street and our Renee’s fiancé is coming home! Look at that stunning cast list… all fine actors… what do they have today… Jack P. Shepherd, I mean… what’s that… okay I’ll carry on.
Right, a CLASSIC at 8pm this evening (I’m sorry Border – Lucky Feller?), Dame Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy offer us half an hour of comedy gold in George & Mildred at 8pm. World in Action is at 8.30pm and at 9pm CLASSIC drama in The Sweeney. See ITV1 or whatever you’re called nowadays… not I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here… proper programming… what’s that… oh yes… News at 10 is followed by more comedy, this time one of the many spin offs from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, it’s Phyllis.
Gordon Burns takes a look at the North West political scene in Reports Politics at 11pm, then we round of the evening off with Australian drama in the shape of Ryan. Note an early appearance of Pamela Stephenson before she arrived here in the UK.
And, so to bed at 12.30pm… Closedown.
You Say
6 responses to this article
steve brown wrote 25 October 2017 at 10:22 pm
Platform is Platform For Today,a local political show
Alan Keeling wrote 26 October 2017 at 11:19 am
The 1973 Australian adventure series Ryan was reserved for late-night viewing. Ryan (Rod Mullinar) was a private investigator with his assistant Julie King (Pamela Stephenson) in this 39 episode series that was cancelled after one season. Ryan was produced by Crawford Productions who also made the long running Homicide series.
Alan Keeling wrote 26 October 2017 at 3:53 pm
The Sweeney was a highly successful crime series produced by Euston Films, running for 4 seasons from 1974 until 1978 and filmed on 16mm stock. “Night Out” is a repeat of episode 6 from season 1.
George H wrote 26 October 2017 at 7:38 pm
Border had shown George and Mildred the previous evening which is why they didn’t show it on Monday night.
Arthur Nibble wrote 1 November 2017 at 6:58 pm
A mis-spelling there in “Supersonic”. The second act is Slik, the Scottish chart toppers who became the first hit act for Jim “Midge” Ure.
Victor Field wrote 3 November 2017 at 7:38 am
“Tenafly” was part of “The Wednesday Mystery Movie” lineup and one of the less beloved Richard Levinson/William Link creations – about a black private detective who, unusally for the genre, was a unglamourous type AND a happily married family man to boot. So no wonder it never caught on in America (or in the UK).
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