The Story Behind Channel 4's Controversial Red Triangle

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  • Опубликовано: 24 окт 2024

Комментарии • 111

  • @rmbflk
    @rmbflk День назад +33

    Ronnie Barker had a sketch about symbols for tv programmes: including a white house to show that Mary Whitehouse had phoned in; with a smoking chimney to show she was fuming; and on its side to show she had keeled over

  • @thefrecklepuny
    @thefrecklepuny День назад +6

    Red triangle program? DISGUSTING!!!! Err... I'll just watch for another 15 minutes just to see how disgusting it actually is...
    ...blimey, has it finished already? That went quick!

  • @davidford3744
    @davidford3744 День назад +51

    Wasn't the first time a "Mature Audience", symbol was used. I remember ITV, used a small square in the bottom right of the screen to signifie adult content in the mid to late 70s

    • @davepoole9520
      @davepoole9520 День назад +7

      I came here specifically to say that. I think it was around 1978. It was to warn that the programme showed distressing scenes. I remember it being used for Marathon Man and a documentary about mental patients.

    • @zetametallic
      @zetametallic День назад +1

      I think that is a pretty good idea TBH. I was 10 when the red triangle launched, I was fascinated as to what it was all about so my dad let me stay up and watch one; a load of crap whatever it was. 10 minutes and I took myself off to bed. 😂
      I've never been one to scare myself silly by watching horror films, so having something permanently in the corner would be useful; no random channel hopping onto something nasty, I'd just keep flicking on through if i saw a universal symbol.
      I always remember seeing a bit of this horrific documentary at the end of tape before it ran out. I was going through a load of tapes in the 1990's and an old recording revealed this footage of dead bodies lying in a middle eastern war torn country. This reporter was standing beside them (some children) in various states of disarray following death, talking about what was happening. It was an English documentary but we aren't used to such graphic post death footage as some European countries show on their screens. Still haunts me that snippet does.

    • @bobbyy956
      @bobbyy956 15 часов назад

      ...For Adults Only ....era

  • @rascal545
    @rascal545 День назад +10

    I remember this helped us kids get around the 'Video Nasty' sharing when you didn't have a VHS. By the 90s they'd phased out the Red Triangle but the late night movies were still as bizarre and exciting as ever. Without Channel 4, I would have never discovered Akira or Evil Dead as a young teen - You felt like you were in a secret club.

  • @jamste1977
    @jamste1977 День назад +21

    I would have been about 7 or 8 when all this was going on. I was mad into drawing pictures (badly) at the time, so I thought it would be funny to draw a red triangle and cut it out and then stick it to the top left hand corner of the living room TV screen when Surprise Surprise was on with Cilla Black.
    The rest of the family told me to f--k off as I giggled like a loon at my unfunny stunt.

    • @DisobedientSpaceWhale
      @DisobedientSpaceWhale 22 часа назад

      Classic

    • @richiehoyt8487
      @richiehoyt8487 18 часов назад

      Funnier than her (or her writers') witless double - entendres; and I daresay many Merseysiders found her 'Lorra Lorra' professional Scouser b~ks easily as offensive as anything Channel 4 had to offer!
      Woman should have stuck to singing.
      *EDIT: Sorry, I'm getting my shows mixed up. The one I was thinking of was, of course, 'Blind Date'. The fact remained, though, she was hard to take in _anything_ she was in!

  • @lewisclark1122
    @lewisclark1122 День назад +30

    Like those 'parental advisory' stickers on CDs, I'm sure that the red triangle was an excellent way of getting the attention of teenage boys.

  • @tgheretford
    @tgheretford День назад +21

    The Channel 4 of today is a very different broadcaster from the one of the eighties. Ask anyone who sees the censorship and cuts that are made to The Simpsons (with whole episodes no longer being aired).

    • @christopherwilliams2093
      @christopherwilliams2093 День назад +3

      That's because when Channel 4 began it had ta remit to be a minority channel which catered for interests and audiences which the other networks had neglected.

  • @rogerdarthwell5393
    @rogerdarthwell5393 День назад +7

    Adam Martyn, these docs that you make are amazing! Hope you have your own production company one day!

    • @ntvalt4361
      @ntvalt4361 День назад +1

      Considering ITV's history of rebranding and refreshing its channels, it's certainly possible that ITV and ITV4 will see updates sooner than ITV3.

  • @tristanayling1301
    @tristanayling1301 14 часов назад +1

    Mate. That was a super episode. I love watching your content in general but this one felt really really well put together. Thank you.

  • @pjuk
    @pjuk День назад +14

    Mrs Whitehouse would keel over it she saw Naked Attraction (if she hadn't already)

    • @pjuk
      @pjuk День назад +1

      Haha you said exactly that later in the video, haha great minds 🤣

  • @nibunibu4254
    @nibunibu4254 День назад +12

    Anyone remember watching the toy tank scene from 'Montenegro'? This stills stands as one of the defining moments of my late childhood.

  • @robalexander8065
    @robalexander8065 День назад +12

    I recall it very well. C4 inadvertently, helpfully flagged up potentially "spicy" material for teenage lads.

    • @Froobyone
      @Froobyone День назад

      It was a godsend. There's only so much damp porn in plastics bags found at the back of bingo to go around.

  • @LawVS
    @LawVS 2 часа назад

    I remember seeing it when they aired The Passion of St Tibulus.

  • @retekklub1
    @retekklub1 День назад +13

    There was a similar system in Hungary in the late 80's, early 90's. There was a blue triangle in the corner, indicating that the film was not suitable for children under 14. It was used on 90% of the movies otherwise R-rated in the states. There was also a red circle, which was the 18 symbol, only used for softcore adult films and Beavis and Butt-Head for some reason. It was an unsaid rule that the films with the triangle should only be shown after 8 pm. Interestingly, the public TV channels M1 or M2 never used it, only commercial channels (public TV also showed some nasty movies back then).

  • @HarrisonProductions
    @HarrisonProductions День назад +3

    Fantastic, was always intrigued by this season by channel 4, from seeing it in a documentary that used to be on RUclips, “The TV They Tried to Ban”
    Fascinating stuff

  • @ridbensdale
    @ridbensdale 17 часов назад +2

    Threads would have almost certainly gotten Red Triangle.
    Splendid fayre as always.

  • @AlexMitchell-sj4sb
    @AlexMitchell-sj4sb День назад +12

    As a 13 year old at the time, I remember it well.

    • @jordaneasbybass
      @jordaneasbybass День назад +1

      How? You were born in 2011

    • @AlexMitchell-sj4sb
      @AlexMitchell-sj4sb День назад

      @jordaneasbybass what? I was born in 1973.
      I remember it well as me and all my friends would try to stay up during the half term holidays to watch them, that's if we could. Of course, we wanted to see these "forbidden" films as teenagers.

  • @jacobhemingway213
    @jacobhemingway213 День назад +5

    The films were also shown on S4C (which showed C4 programs at the time), there’s a closedown from the 80’s on RUclips that features the Red Triangle in the corner before the continuity announcer appears.

  • @calanm7880
    @calanm7880 День назад +4

    I can’t believe they didn’t knock the opacity of the corner graphic down to 90%

  • @ArzHole
    @ArzHole День назад +4

    Always made me laugh that the *ahem*...Gentleman's publication "Whitehouse" was allegedly named after Mary. I bet she loved that.

  • @zamiadams4343
    @zamiadams4343 Час назад

    "Themroc" is an amazing film, I remember the red triangle films being shown on C4, I remember watching all of the "nasties" back in those days, great memories.

  • @nighttimevideo
    @nighttimevideo День назад +2

    Out Of The Blue is a masterpiece directed by Dennis Hopper, with an interesting history of its own. Started as a PG-rated TV movie-esque family drama about a psychiatrist trying to get through to a girl from a rough upbringing. The original director was fired shortly when filming began and Dennis (who was cast as the father of the girl) stepped in and radically changed the film to be an R-rated bleak nihilistic character study about PTSD and goes into some really uncomfortable territory with a violent ending, also the psychiatrist originally intended to be the lead, was almost written out of the film only having two scenes. The producers were shocked by the final cut and pulled any involvement for the film, and Dennis asked his friend Jack Nicholson to endorse his support for the film on advertising. It's had a long history of cheap public domain VHS and DVDs because the producers didn't want anything to do with it, but now recently got a 4K restoration presented by Natasha Lyonne (a fan of the film) which the BFI released on blu-ray in the UK.

  • @CricketEngland
    @CricketEngland День назад +7

    C4 was the first terrestrial channel to show Monty Python’s Life of Brian during it’s banned film series

  • @ThisIsMeUK
    @ThisIsMeUK День назад +3

    9:48 Well, I wasn’t expecting Andy and BID TV to pop up in this video 😂😂😂

  • @richardgadberry8398
    @richardgadberry8398 День назад +4

    I'm honestly surprised Mary Whitehouse never crossed paths with Oswald Mosley.

  • @matthewlawrenson3628
    @matthewlawrenson3628 День назад +5

    3:00 "...Special discretion should be used when decidiing whether or not to watch it. It's a bleak portrait of a harsh and violent society."
    So, Hollyoaks then?

  • @BeefyWaltoon
    @BeefyWaltoon День назад +5

    7:57 - 8:08 That sounds a bit like RUclips nowadays, yet way more strict.

  • @robertb7918
    @robertb7918 19 часов назад +1

    ITV tried a similar thing for a while in the early seventies, I think it was a white square. It was used to indicate frightening films shown late at night, things like Hammer horror films that could now be put on children's TV in the morning without anyone getting worried.

  • @MrMusicbyMartin
    @MrMusicbyMartin 4 часа назад +1

    As a teenage boy with his own portable black and white TV, I tuned in for smut but ended up watching some challenging, arty cinema. I was baffled and amused by Themroc - bizarre, that was. I don’t think there were any real ‘video nasties’ shown - Themroc would probably get a 15 certificate today. I remember a New Zealand comedy about a Sex Clinic which showed an infected penis covered by an Elastoplast, that one scene is all I can recall! I remember Out of The Blue, too - a very shocking and disturbing Dennis Hopper film, even today it goes further than you might expect. We also had Moviedrome on BBC2, which also showed some challenging adult-oriented films but which were a little more familiar, less arty and which ran much longer. I’m sure soon after, Channel 4 showed ‘Last Tango in Paris’ and ‘The Holy Mountain’, both of which are true classics now but pushed the envelope for TV broadcasts.
    Side Note: Themroc features a captivating central performance by Michel Piccoli, darling of the French New Wave and highly visible in films by Bunuel, Godard and Demy amongst others.
    For context: Alien was shown on ITV around 1981, and I also remember controversy about the broadcast of The Deer Hunter and Goodfellas. The Godfather had long been shown late on the BBC, and I’m pretty sure it was uncut. Many films weren’t shown until video censorship relaxed in the UK in the 2000s, I think Texas Chainsaw Massacre was shown uncut on Channel 4, A Clockwork Orange also. Now with streaming you can watch Possession (not actually offensive) of Cannibal Holocaust (very offensive) on your streaming platform!

  • @sargonsblackgrandfather2072
    @sargonsblackgrandfather2072 7 часов назад +1

    My friend said when he was a kid in the 80s one night his family came home late from visiting friends and whilst their parents were busy they turned on the tv, it was one of those where the sound would come on first but the picture took a few seconds to warm up, so they turned it on and a man’s voice shouted, “whose f*cking p*ssy is this?!?” Their parents charged into the room and turned the tv off but the picture just flashed alive before being turned off and the only thing he could make out was the C4 warning triangle 😂

  • @JP_TaVeryMuch
    @JP_TaVeryMuch 14 минут назад

    Initial thoughts before I enjoy being enlightened and entertained again by your latest efforts are:
    That the sudden appearance of Achtung! Up next some naughtiness so don't watch kids! warnings were a way of heading off rumoured broadcast licence restrictions which resulted in the 9 o'clock watershed introduction.
    But we all know about the law of unintended consequences; all of us that is apart from the politicians making the regs.
    The terribly onerous task of adding these aids to polite society were nothing if not a double edged sword.
    Put the little ones to bed, on one side,
    Heads up viewers, one of them video nasties after the break, on the other.
    3:54 "If there is one coming...'
    With an extra unintended bonus of keeping the audience glued and therefore having to watch the ads too.
    Win, win all round!

  • @ArzHole
    @ArzHole День назад +1

    I remember my parents talking about Themroc, although I had no idea at the time what it was called. Years later I eventually managed to figure out what the film was and thoroughly enjoyed it. Unlike my parents...🤣

  • @blueswingdown
    @blueswingdown 21 час назад +1

    ah yes, the stupid logo in the corner of the tv during the days of digital television before the stupid logo in the corner of the tv during the days of digital television

  • @richardlincoln886
    @richardlincoln886 День назад +2

    Teenager at the time - got me watching some interesting movies on TV.

  • @wisteela
    @wisteela День назад +3

    Great that you've covered this. It's something I'd about, never in much detail.
    Mary Whitehouse really was a miserable old sod.
    Does anyone know the Doctor Who story with that green blob thing in it?

    • @AdamMartyn
      @AdamMartyn  День назад +3

      The story is called The Creature from the Pit!

    • @wisteela
      @wisteela День назад

      @@AdamMartyn Thanks. I like how it looks like it's made out of plastic wrap, or something like that.

    • @ZachHighwind
      @ZachHighwind День назад

      Looking back on the Mary Whitehouse stuff from today, you could tell her threats were empty, if anything, the only channels that would be affected would be ITV and Channel 4 as the BBC is tax funded

  • @richardbutler4488
    @richardbutler4488 День назад +6

    Anyone remember that strange late night phone in program they used to do years ago?

    • @LegoRupo
      @LegoRupo День назад +1

      Hi

    • @makkapacca
      @makkapacca День назад

      With such a vividly recalled description painting a picture as you have done so expertly, how can we all not remember ?

    • @paulsmith1365
      @paulsmith1365 16 часов назад +1

      After dark! Loved it ❤

  • @rajnirvan3336
    @rajnirvan3336 День назад +4

    Wow I vaguely remember this

    • @AdamMartyn
      @AdamMartyn  День назад +5

      Hope it jogged a memory!

  • @bugginonthewall
    @bugginonthewall День назад +1

    Remember seeing that flash up before watching Skins. good times

  • @ttrjw
    @ttrjw День назад +2

    Channel 4 did a police themed season which followed up the Red Light Zone - entitled the Blue Light Zone.

  • @TheSt1092
    @TheSt1092 День назад +1

    Great stuff Adam. Also please you do a video on the history and collapse of ITV Digital?

  • @Yellowblam
    @Yellowblam День назад +1

    Great dive.

  • @markc5111
    @markc5111 День назад +1

    There will always be a battle between the censorship do gooders and what the public feels such be their own choice. It was a bold and interesting idea. Awesome stuff Adam ❤❤.

  • @djmattblack
    @djmattblack 22 часа назад

    Also, its hard to believe that back then TV used to end at midnight with a rousing rendition of God save the queen, or if there was a weekend movie you might get an extension to about 12.30 with the weather

  • @PorscheWilliamsformulaone2026
    @PorscheWilliamsformulaone2026 День назад +3

    Can you do a what if video about a sixth main terrestrial station please???

    • @scottpeacock5492
      @scottpeacock5492 День назад +1

      Good afternoon it a pleasure to be able say to you welcome to Channel 6.

    • @PorscheWilliamsformulaone2026
      @PorscheWilliamsformulaone2026 День назад

      @@scottpeacock5492you just copied Channel 4 welcome message how about something original???

  • @philicon353
    @philicon353 День назад +2

    1:18 Jeremy Vine what a twat.

  • @80sandretrogubbins25
    @80sandretrogubbins25 День назад

    I caught one of the 10 films on a tape I got from ebay. If I'd known the Red Triangle was used so few times I would have posted the intro and warning.

  • @Dranok1
    @Dranok1 День назад

    Ooh I remember this era, when Channel 4 was generally slandered as being the channel that's "just Blue Movies and Equinox".
    So when we had the choice of pointing our antenna either at the TVS transmitter and get BBC 2 (Attenborough, the best teaching aid) or the HTV transmitter and Channel 4 (porn), it was a no brainer, and I spent many years missing Equinox and only seeing Horizon.
    In a classic example of bad teacher planning, my school "required" parents to allow kids to watch a set of programmes on Equinox to discuss in science. They didn't understand that lots of us couldn't get Channel 4, and they "suggested" that parents borrow a video of each episode from a friend with a VCR: Really? You expect us to spend £250 on a VCR just to watch someone else's recordings off the one channel we don't need to receive? When we have no other use for the device (only 3 channels) and we are paying 17.5% interest on our mortgage? You can bugger right off and learn how to teach the syllabus yourselves, not leave it up to the parents.

  • @fenris91
    @fenris91 День назад

    By the way, of the Channel 4 Red Triangle Films "Montenegro" is on RUclips for free with no warning labels or anything.

  • @nickjames3049
    @nickjames3049 День назад +4

    Fond memories! 😉

  • @Danceup-dh6kn
    @Danceup-dh6kn День назад +2

    Can you do a video on channel 4's banned series?

  • @jamesjimbob71
    @jamesjimbob71 17 часов назад

    i was abou 14 years old when the red triangle films, so my 14 year old brain was thinkin' one thing, naked women

  • @Mokeywashere
    @Mokeywashere День назад +5

    This country needs an TV ratings system so badly.

  • @harryelliott4310
    @harryelliott4310 День назад +2

    Channel 4

  • @James-ly3wf
    @James-ly3wf 17 часов назад

    I was fourteen when they broadcast the “red triangle” films, i remember them well , lots of dry European art house and hairy German sex, lots of nudity in general - THATS why two million people tuned in! There was no pornhub back then

  • @andresbravo2003
    @andresbravo2003 День назад +1

    The Red Triangle means that it contains Adult Content. Channel 4 was no stranger to R-18 rated films.

  • @johnmacleod4481
    @johnmacleod4481 3 часа назад

    Channel 4 iss still different in that it leads the way where other media outlets are scared to follow suit

  • @rtc9063
    @rtc9063 День назад +1

    What was it? It was the biggest con making idiots of people. Supposedly adult movies that were utter crap.

  • @davidlocke5016
    @davidlocke5016 День назад

    the adam and show show did a special back in the day, cant find it anywhere thou.

    • @Acidonia150reborn
      @Acidonia150reborn День назад

      was it called shock video?

    • @davidlocke5016
      @davidlocke5016 День назад

      @@Acidonia150reborn you legend, that helps a tun thank you

    • @Acidonia150reborn
      @Acidonia150reborn День назад

      @@davidlocke5016 its not a show you could show much on here.Though the joke i remember was a clip of someone who tied forks to a cats paws and learned it to eat with then on a plate.They made the joke it was not minemeat it was human brain that it was eating was the shock part lol.

    • @davidlocke5016
      @davidlocke5016 День назад

      @@Acidonia150reborn lol there insane for sure

  • @J.Bliszko
    @J.Bliszko День назад +1

    I can tell you’re a Eurovision fan…

  • @abzhuofficial
    @abzhuofficial День назад +15

    Ahh yes, the TRIGGER WARNING before TRIGGER WARNINGS existed under said name. Oh noes, this is WOKE! SHUT IT DOWN! 😜😜😜😜😜😜
    Moronic goofballing aside, the triangle was a good idea to inform viewers regarding the content

  • @steeviebops
    @steeviebops Час назад

    8:53... so why was your 13 year old daughter up well after midnight? Sounds like a parenting issue rather than a Channel 4 issue.

  • @frankieepurr
    @frankieepurr День назад

    Any reason why UK channels don't have age ratings displayed when almost all of mainland Europe, Asia and the Americas do?

  • @bazpearce9993
    @bazpearce9993 День назад +1

    Now they cut out words like ass.

  • @skootergirl22
    @skootergirl22 День назад

    Oh so channel 4 was youtube

  • @andrewwinfield8592
    @andrewwinfield8592 День назад

    Hmm, more acceptable today? I may have remembered if I'd watched them, but definitely didn't watch them, a couple of films that would be at least category 3 offences today.

  • @victoriaharbach5968
    @victoriaharbach5968 День назад

    red triangle is good idea

  • @ChuvaQueMatouoRS
    @ChuvaQueMatouoRS День назад

    Laerte Vieira looks like Faustão lol

  • @Nigel-xp4rf
    @Nigel-xp4rf День назад

    Did the Red Triangle season and The Red Light Zone cause the 'birth' of Film4 and shows like EuroTrash? Do you know if the night of shows featuring a adult cartoon by Bob Godfrey about a man and his inflatable woman was actually called 4Love or am I misremembering that?

    • @robertwilloughby8050
      @robertwilloughby8050 День назад +1

      I know that the Bob Godfrey cartoon was "Polygamous Polonious".

    • @Nigel-xp4rf
      @Nigel-xp4rf День назад

      @@robertwilloughby8050 With a title like that, I probably wouldn't have remembered it, the little I can recall is, it had some catchy music and next to no dialogue with a few sound effects and I could be wrong, but wasn't it around November of 1993?

  • @reggiebenes2916
    @reggiebenes2916 День назад +1

    I always thought Mary Whitehouse was 110 years old, but now I realize she just looked like she was 60 even when she was 20 years old.

  • @geoffwhitfield7080
    @geoffwhitfield7080 День назад +1

    RUclipsr

  • @jimmyviaductophilelawley5587
    @jimmyviaductophilelawley5587 День назад +5

    Do I remember right that there was a pink triangle for gay content at one time?

  • @matthewlawrenson3628
    @matthewlawrenson3628 День назад +1

    5:40 So, you couldn't have the Doctor being drowned, but you could show him doing...um....THAT?
    I remember that scene "The Creature From The Pit" being shown on a Twitch stream in 2018. "Thank god, " I thought "I'm living in a world where the young people of today get to see this." I recall being shown comments from the stream's viewers, the majority of which were along the lines of "WHAT IS THIS I AM WATCHING?"

  • @LegoRupo
    @LegoRupo День назад +2

    Hello

  • @djmattblack
    @djmattblack 23 часа назад

    You watched the Red triangle movies hoping for a bit of nudity or sex, half the time though they were just rubbish foreign films that would send you to sleep!

  • @KuroMicra
    @KuroMicra День назад

    Channel 4 was always the byword for crap broadcasting. Good to see that nothing has changed.

  • @oninbridders
    @oninbridders День назад

    4:44 Lets face it, we need a Mary Whitehouse the 2nd