ITV returns after the 1979 strike
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- ITV (region unknown) returns after the long strike of 1979. As ever with really rare material, the tape is in a bad way but it's still vaguely interesting for people of a certain disposition. There's a much better quality Yorkshire TV version of this, including the start-up routine, on the web - I'm sure I've seen it on RUclips somewhere.
It feels so weird watching this. I was six years old at the time of the 1979 ITV strike, and I vividly remember watching this very sequence on the 24th October (the "Welcome, welcome, welcome home to ITV" song in particular sticks in my memory).
I'm also gratified to learn that my memory of the first programme being "The Muppet Show" was correct :-)
Same here! I was 12 years old, and had only heard this song once since1979, yet it has stayed inmy memory all this time! We were so desperate for ITV to reurn, yet no one would bat an eyelid these days if the same thing happened, there are so many other activities around to lure people in!
I remember it clearly too.
For the record - Scottish Television had normal presentation on that evening. I did the usual startup at 1740 before News at 5.45 and we had local commercials and voiceover slides during the evening. I did an in-vision closedown after the film 'Chinatown'. - TONY CURRIE (Chief Announcer, STV in 1979)
@Tomleç YT there was a strike at 1979, that causes to have less choice for TV at that time, since BBC has not started daytime television at the time, and that evening we saw the end of the ITV strike leading to a later start-up of the programs on ITV local stations after the end of the strike, except for Thames which started their programs before the end of strike, during which that the strike still happens.
I still remember that "Welcome home to itv" tune. I was and still am in the STV area. (Miss the STV morning startup with the "Scotlandia" mix of folk tunes and your good self saying "Good morning, you're watching STV from transmitters serving central Scotland") bring those days back!!! You are now a colleague of my good pal Stu Gibb on radio Saltire.
@@derekporter7658 Maybe you DXed and got a different ITV region than the one you were supposed to (STV).
I was only an infant then, but even I remember this. No one now would give two hoots if ITV was affected by strike action.
I remember comming home from school at the time asking mum if the telly was back on again!
It was a technician's strike that started at Thames when their electricians walked out over what they saw as a "derisory" pay increase. The other operational staff also walked out as management struggled to keep things going. When Thames management ordered them to "return or else", the ACTT (Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians) union instructed their members at the other ITV companies to walk out as well, except for Channel (where strike action would have killed them).
the itv techies tried it on after they saw bbc techs strike at crimbo 1978 and get a 15% increase!
Hell, I remember this too. I was 13 at the time and I really was pleased to see ITV back at the time. It had a lot of programs I actually enjoyed. If ITV was to go on strike now I doubt I'd even notice.
I can clearly see the faint "THAMES" lettering on that clock that "ITV" is replacing so it's probably the same clock but modified for this purpose.
I was 3 and remembered the melody of the jingle for years.
It wouldn’t be until I was in senior school that an older kid told me what it was from. When you’re 3 you tend not to remember a strike, but I do remember ITV ‘being blue’.
ITV Channel Television was the only station unaffected by the strike, fearing that taking industrial action in the station would result in the closure of the entire ITV company.
Channel Television heavily fell on their 16mm and 35mm film stock / videotape library of programmes to fill that schedule.
It was such a relief! We were all desperate to know what was in the letter that had so upset Deirdre in Coronation Street.
It was so good to have ITV back after being off for nearly 11weeks this return sequence for the return was very good!
Today Thursday 24th October 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the return of ITV after the strike - what a day that was in 1979, for millions of viewers who were sick to the back teeth of the dismal offerings on BBC One and BBC Two, especially their daytime schedules (or lack of).
+John King that's why Doctor Who was popular in 1979 because of the itv strike
@@peterwilliamskelhorn6675 Yes, as there was only really BBC One offering alternative general entertainment. BBC Two was always high brow, offering culture, arts, sport etc, most people enjoyed BBC One or ITV. Unlike in America, where no TV station would ever dare go on strike.
@@johnking5174 if i was born in the 60s or 70s i would still watch Doctor Who back then like i still do now because i CAN'T BEAR Star Trek
@@peterwilliamskelhorn6675
dr who was great back in the '70s.
but I stopped watching it in the mid '80s.
it was crap then, and still is!
@@bobrew461 no is forcing you to watch it.
I have this on audio tape somewhere; I had just bought one of those big 'ghetto blaster' style cassette/radios that featured a small b&w TV screen which could record from the TV (audio only!!). I remember being poised on the pause button for ITV coming back on!
I had a big black one! Really tiny TV screen and a radio and TV. They weren't called 'ghetto blasters' though. They came over from America a bit later and didn't include TVs. I audio-ed the ITV start-up too! Still have it. Bet and Len welcoming us back to Coronation Street: Len: 'Welcome back! We've missed yer! Now, I suppose I'd better remind you what was going on in our little street when you were here last. Well, there's always a bit of excitement about a wedding. Can't imagine why. Brian and Gail are about to get hitched...' BLISS! On the subject of radio/TV/cassettes, the Tube Cube came out in late 1982 and had a radio, cassette, larger screened TV (watchable without sitting on top of it) and a digital clock. I had this until I rented a colour TV and a VCR in 1987!
I wasn’t around in the 70s but from speaking to family I know that (as for small TVs) in 1978 we had a Sinclair Microvision (another screen which you could barely see but atleast one you could fit in your pocket). I still own it and it still works! Anyway, we had that and, for the 1971 Rover 3500, a bigger Sony portable TV (essentially a bigger version of the Sinclair). It also had a TV aerial you had to put on the bootlid! Sadly neither had a built in cassette deck and the first VCR we got was a Betamax in 1982 (which again still works)
I also taped the "Welcome Home..." audio from ATV by holding up a small cassette recorder to the speaker. My little brother thought it would be hilarious to ruin it for me by shouting nonsense words over the song! (Wish I still had the cassette!)
My sister cried when ITV returned. This tune was her favourite. The Mike samme singers did deliver good news.
The continuity announcer is Peter Marshall of Thames Television. The clock is familiar to Thames viewers during a lot of the 1970's & I think London Weekend Television sometimes used this clockface too.
I was born in 1971 - remember it well. TISWAS did a piss-take of that tune the next day.
I was born in 71 too I was watching this sequence on Granada and man was i excited
@@alexmacleod3728 Yeah. I watched in Granadaland as well. It was the biggest event of the year! 😀
I really wish that we had Tiswas from the start rather than our region's (Southern) lame Saturday Banana and other failed attempts at Saturday morning kids TV from other channels.
Sung out of tune by the kids in TISWAS. So funny
@@bobacrey1068 spot on. As I remember it, they used it as backing music to go to the ad breaks.
I remember this clearly. I was 13.
It was great because my mum and gran moaned about missing Crossroads and Coronation Street - fun!
The TV programme menu, time-check and Leonard Parkin's remarks would have been sufficient to resume transmission without the all-singing, all-dancing 'welcome home to ITV' gubbins.
Then again, that was the 1970's and that was the way things were done.
I remember after one ITV strike all the soaps had to be on daily to catch up at a time when they were barely on twice a week.
It scares me to think I am just old enough to remember watching ITV return after the 1979 strike. I certainly recall the "Welcome Home" jingle very clearly - I was living in the HTV region at the time, so for all we know, I might have been watching this very transmission...
Thank god!! I really missed watching the adverts!!
RIP Sir Freddy Laker.
From the continuity announcement just before the news, this is a broadcast from the Thames region.
Leonard Parkin legendary newsreader he would make a point of welcoming the younger viewers as well as the adults. The clock is probably from Thames
+Raj Nirvan It was Thames close, I know it well. They simply put ITV on the top. Makes sense, using Thames presentation and play out service for the rest of the UK, as Thames would be the main sustaining feed for all other ITV companies during the weekdays, LWT would do the same for the weekends.
@@johnking5174 Strangely ATV didn't use the network service and transmitted from Birmingham.
@@stuartharris2165 They must have aired the network schedule surely?
@@johnking5174 Yes but used regional continuity is what i should have said, Stewart White was in the chair for the first evening if i remember correctly. I did watch the network service as we could also receive HTV Wales, Arfon Haines Davies did some In Vision Continuity apologising to viewers and advertisers for the strike and saying HTV would be back in a couple of days, before joining the network service for the "Welcome Home" video.
@@stuartharris2165 Interesting. I wonder how many took the basic continuity from London?
All bar one ITV company were on strike from August 10th 1979 until October 24th 1979. Channel Television in the channel islands, the smallest ITV region, who had a separate agreement with the unions, who knew if Channel went on strike, the company would be bankrupted within days, and all staff losing their jobs. So the unions being sensible agreed for Channel to continue to remain on air, but they were not allowed to broadcast ITV programming from the main ITV companies, which is why the strike emergency schedule on Channel was limited to 6 hours per day filled with American imports, Canadian imports, Australian imports, cartoons, movies, imported TV movies, and also British programming made by commercial arms of ITV, such as Euston Films.
This makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside - yet I was born on January 7, 2003! -Myina
Leonard Parkin a great newsreader always liked watching him reading the ITN news
ITV really could do razmataz back then. That sense of excitement about tv is long gone now.
I remember this when I was 11 years old.
Same! Seemed like forever back then too.
ZaPpaul me too cry.
Watched Grandad with Clive Dunn on BBC1 beforehand
i was so pissed-off coz i couldn't see muppets for months!!
Well i've never seen this before and it is probably from 24th October 1979 when ITV returned after 11 weeks of a long-running strike with the blue caption and its famous 'Welcome Home' jingle.
If my memory serves, TV AM went off air because of a strike. Bruce Gingell had secretaries operating cameras and editing gear while the technicians were out. It was hilarious to watch the mistakes on TV. Thatcher had to apologise to him years later, because she de-regulated TV, and then TV AM lost it's franchise. Now TV in the UK is utter crap, except for shows like Luther of course...
Looking back TV-am was a complete embarrassment for those near 10 years it was on air. I wonder if they had bid the most would it have passed the quality threshold.
Amazing to think how a strike could close down a national television service for 13 weeks. I wonder if it could have been possible for ITV in 1979 to provide a temporary management run schedule, e.g. air repeats and imports for a few hours each night. Channel Television did this in the Channel Islands, so why couldn't ITV do it as a network? In the mid-1980s when there was strike action I think they provided a management run service.
The only problem was that Channel Television (the only company that was not affected by the strike) knew that if they went on strike, they would go bust as they were a small company as Thames Television (who broadcasted the day before because they were forced to), Granada Television, ATV, Southern Television and other members of the ITV network were much bigger.
Because if the management did that then they risked the staff at the GPO (who provided the links between ITV companies and the links to the transmitters) going on strike. Potentially affecting the BBC, too, as the BBC used GPO links between studios and transmitters!
What came later in 1984 wasn't technically a strike, it was a lock-out, the management locked the staff out before the ACTT Union shop steward called a strike over pay or working conditions or whatever, so the management were free to operate the equipment (so some similarities to 1968). This is why Thames were unable to show anything other than Thames originated content and why other ITV companies couldn't show anything from Thames, as doing either would have required GPO staff to provide links to or from Thames. In 1979 it was a different story, that was a strike called first followed by a lock-out by management as a result of strike action being called. So management were even more nervous about upsetting any other unions who may have called their staff to walk out on strike in support of the ACTT members. The end result of 1979 was staff that were unwilling to work and management that were unwilling for them to work!
but bbc went off-air during xmas 1978 due to strike action anyway...
I remember seeing this on a tv screen In selfridges on oxford st In london In 1979.
For viewers and listeners in Northern Ireland at this time, they had a bit more luck, as most in the province could pick up the Republic of Ireland's RTE One and RTE Two television channels as well as RTE Radio, so along with BBC One and BBC Two many in Northern Ireland had some choice when this strike was on.
You could pick up rte in north Wales too so my family had more luck to I suspect I was only 1 at the time myself
@@MrDylandrakeuk People in Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford could easily pick up BBC and HTV from Wales since the late 1950s. This is why when cable television started in Dublin and the south east of Ireland in the mid 1970s, BBC1 Wales, BBC2 Wales and HTV along with S4C was on their line up and not the Northern Ireland regions.
@@johnking5174 Probably made sense to carry those channels.
@@ChristopherSobieniak Cable television was very big in Ireland from the 1970s onward, compared to the UK were it was virtually unknown.
@@johnking5174 Nice they adopted it early as they did.
I thought the same thing. Definately a Thames styled clock face. At least the Radio was decent back then which really helped during the strike.
I don’t think we quite believed it was back until the News at 5.45 actually started
It was a case of getting ITV back on air at any price - 17.5% for the ACTT members in this case backdated to July 1st '79 and a promise of a similar award in 1980
It cost ITV £100 million in lost income, and that was in 1979 money. In 2018 that would be close to half a billion pounds loss.
@@johnking5174 Damn.
Odd day for The Muppet Show 3-2-1 to be on ITV, i.e. during the week as I recall them being weekend shows.
Making up time for lost transmission time during the strike before the full regional services came back on air.
+David Clapperton Simple explanation - they were already complete and in the can. And what better way to try and get the viewers back from the BBC than light entertainment? That's the way I see it anyway.
+David Clapperton The Muppets would also count as their main "children's" programme for the day. Remember ITV had to fill their schedules quick. On a typical day ITV would usually be on the air from 9.30am until around 12.30am at night, that is 15 hours of television to fill, a tough job for a company who were returning from a 10 week strike.
@@johnking5174 Well, to be fair, most mornings were filled with ITV schools programmes. I definitely remember around this time that ITV had started a bit earlier. The ITN news programme First Report with Robert Kee may have been the first programme of the day at 1pm.
Yule:Guess who are the hidden two!!!
Hint 1: Started at the same region like Southern
Hint 2 :One started in 1982
Hint 3: The other started in 1993
Yule: On your mark... Get set..... GO!!!!
TVS
Meridian
TVS
Central
Meridian Broadcasting
Over on BBC One on this night Wednesday 24th October 1979, when ITV returned their schedule was - 6.45pm: Angels. 7.10pm: Star Trek. 8.00pm: Mastermind. 8.30pm: Terry and June. 9.00pm: News. 9.25pm: The Risk Business. 10.00pm: Sportsnight. 10.50pm: Parkinson. 11.50pm: Late News and Weather with closedown at 12-Midnight.
Over on BBC Two on this night there was - 6.20pm: International Snooker. 7.20pm: News. 7.30pm: Roundabouts. 8.00pm: The Book Programme. 8.30pm: Discovering English Churches. 9.00pm: M*A*S*H* 9.25pm: Ripping Yarns. 9.55pm: The Camerons. 10.50pm: International Snooker. 11.30pm: News. 11.40pm: The Grapevine with closedown around 12.05am.
In other words, mostly crap!!
apart from ripping yarns & parky.
terry & june?? f-off!
Wow! That was a real retro-feast. Love the graphics and corny Muzak.
Even though I was a ten year old kid living in London at the time I can't remember this strike but if memory serves me well it was all doom and gloom in the UK at the time.
George and Mildred 👍👍👍
Quite a good line up of programme
Quite a good line up of programmes there.
I think the regions took over again properly from the Friday morning, although local announcers did pop up in some regions during the Wednesday evening and the Thursday, and as RAX118G mentions, some regions did a proper start-up sequence before handing to this 'presented feed' from Thames. Apparently the reason for the networked continuity was the fact that promos, programme title 'coming next' slides, etc hadn't all been sent out to, or produced by, the regions in time for the comeback.
1:11 This Music Is Funky. Thanks Mate. X
'Welcome, welcome, welcome home to I-T-V. Welcome home, welcome home' etc.
We thought we'd never know lyrics like that again until BBC One's One Show theme's lyrics 'One - one - one - one - one'.
Southern: Finally! I can startup fresh!!!!!
*silence*
Southern: Guys? Hello!?
*Music*
???:Sound on!
Southern: Very funny......
????????: Vision On!!!
Southern: I am not joking!!!!
Other regions: Welcome welcome welcome home to ITV!
Southern: Shut up!!! I say SHUT UP!!!!
???&????????: You can never escape! >:D
Southern: NOOOOOOOO!!!!! HEEEEELLLLLLLPPPP!!!
ITV: Calm down!!! The song is over!!!
Southern: Thank goodness....
I remember the TISWAS piss-take and I would have been about 16 when they did it!
I remember the moment ITV went off the air and what programme was on. I was 9 yrs old and watching this drama called "something... and the serpent?" I knew the title had serpent in it, and people dressed up like Aztecs or south American Indians with paint on their faces and feathers. Does anyone remember that programme? then the screen went blank. We were waiting for something to come back for hours, and fiddled with the TV, but nothing. No warning at all. Then later we found out in the news.
the feathered serpent. and how did it go blank?
Does anyone know if there is a video of this anywhere
@@anonymousperson2958 yes, thats right, the feathered serpent. (Patrick Troughton was in it?) It didnt just go blank, but it said one sentence on the screen in a freeze frame. I cant remember what it said, but it didnt really explain what was going on. So we were really angry, and v bored as kids, as we were stuck in a vicarage (nice vicar, but...) with nothing much to do....
yes, thats right, the feathered serpent. (Patrick Troughton was in it?) It didnt just go blank, but it said one sentence on the screen in a freeze frame. I cant remember what it said, but it didnt really explain what was going on. So we were really angry, and v bored as kids, as we were stuck in a vicarage (nice vicar, but...) with nothing much to do....@@anonymousperson2958
@@anonymousperson2958 I did reply to this, but to a different person, on the same page, below this comment somewhere, and accidentally did it twice. sorry all. What actually happened is that it just suddenly said something on the screen in a sort of freeze frame, which didnt change. I cant remember what the words were on the screen, but it didnt explain what was going on...so we were really annoyed as kids!
endless repeats of Keep it the family for 11 weeks (10 August-24 October 1979).:/
You were in the Channel Islands?
Tyne Tees just did what you see in this video - had that caption, then all that preamble - we did see local adverts - and - at some point - a brief glimpse of Colin Weston - by the next morning, there were no programmes till later in the day - but a full service the next day after that, I believe - even got a trailer for Tiswas - but the announcer that day - Andy Craig - said it was a mistake and we would be getting Tyne-Tees's local equivalent, Saturday Shake-Up, which was not live and only went out in short bursts between American imports and old movies - war movies and Westerns seemed to be what Tyne Tees thought its viewers wanted!
Yes Arthur I believe TYNE TEES TELEVISION was the ONLY ITV Company NOT TO broadcast TISWAS untill the last series in 1982? Here in the South of England Southern showed The Saturday Banana with Bill Oddie and Gillian Tysford along with TISWAS and in 1982 TVS broadcast 6 weeks of Nu. 73 with a young 23 year old Sandi Tyksvig but after six weeks TVS relented and broadcast the last series of TISWAS before Nu. 73 became a network programme in the autumn of 1982. Did TYNE TEES viewers want to see TISWAS or Saturday Shake-up! Which was nothing like TISWAS I hear Arthur. 50 year old disabled man from Southern England,[who loved TISWAS] GOD BLESS!
garry simpson UTV never Broadcasted TISWAS
Brian Darrah Thanks Brian. What did UTV transmit in stead of TISWAS? Disabled UK Carrer.GOD BLESS!
Arthur Vasey Thanks Aryhur. So TYNE TEES did not trasmit TISWAS untill the lasr series in 1981/2? Disabled UK Carrer. GOD BLESS!
Arthur Vasey Thanks Arthur. So TYNE TEES only broadcast the last series of TISWAS in 1981/2? Disabled UK Carrer. GOD BLESS!!
I remember eagerly waiting for ITV to restart as it was rubish only having 3 channels, as the only other channel worth watching was bbc1. Channel 4 was not yet around and I never bothered with bbc2 as I was too young. ITV coming off the air now would make no difference nowadays
Please repeat quatermass with sir John mills itv 3 or 4 or drama channel or even talking pictures tv!! Very underrated show that some reason never repeated!!
ITV spent a load of money on Quatermass, but I don't think the viewing figures justified their expense in the end.
Having seen it again a few years ago, I must say the ending was let down after such a cool premise, and amazing production values.
During those dark times BBC1 and 2 were our own choice no satellite streaming video!
not if you had a rich friend with Atari 2600,
my cousin had the cheapo Grandstand one.
First voiceover was Peter Marshall working out of the Thames Euston road studio
This is from the time a technician union almost manipulated events for management to be sacked for ignoring their request not to switch the power back on and also the overtime ban.
This is from 24 October 1979.
+Skyler Mcfadden Yeah, but Thames Television were forced to broadcast the day before
No they weren't. Thames started on the same day as the rest of the ITV network, 24th October 1979. Most of the other companies wouldn't be fully staffed until the next day or two so Thames provided the feed for the entire ITV network, i.e. they began operations a day or so before most ITV companies. So I think you misunderstood when you heard or read somewhere that "Thames started a day earlier than the other ITV companies".
no they did not!
if only. i remember switching our tv over every day of that strike - wishing and hoping :-(
I remember it well
2:44: Clock(looks like Thames TV clock)
Wouldn't be surprised if it was assuming they did this there.
40 years ago today
I remember Sally James schreeching this on Tiswas cause by the weeks end we,d heard enough of this patrionising jingle trying to cover the fact ITV left US with nowt but 2 BBC Channels. You said it , Leonard!
@Tomleç BBC programs during the ITV strike 1979 did not catch so many eyes since people were loyal to ITV, but when ITV starts again after the strike it would take weeks to get viewers from the BBC back to ITV.
All put together quickly by Thames ' the regions weren't fully up and running until a few days later , Peter Marshall was the voice over which gives the game away as far as the origin of this transmission was concerned. Pity ITV is simply a faceless money making machine today. They should get rid of Ant and Dec and the rest , and get some real talent on, get Barrymore back on , he'll liven it up a bit
T
Not a bad lineup for its return. :)
They should bring back 3-2-1, far better than the X Factor and todays other crap.
I remember this crap tune,i was home on leave from the army,and this tune kept playing each advert break,i ended up goin down the pub if i can remember
jay collins BBC1 was showing rubbish.
they still are...
And always will be showing us crap
I remember ITV going on strike
Remember the jingle very well.
And according to Harlech House of Graphics, HTV Cymru Wales had its own startup and continuity announcement before handing over to the network feed from Thames.
The viewers weren't the ones who went anywhere, so was this little ditty really aimed at the returning strikers? LOL
Looks like Thames did all that presentation and the clock but when did it revert back to the regions?
Would just love the welcome home to itv song in full. Where can I find it??
Southern: Yule, how could you......
Yule: Awwwww!!! It was just for fun!!!
Southern: I am going home......
Yule: Party pooper......
Doctor Who-City Of Death got record ratings! Cheers, ITV!
Michael Grade said about the strike afterwards. 'What was the difference in pay between an Arab sheik and an LWT cameraman? The cameraman got London weighting.'
The problem in Britain at the time was there was no commercial television competiton to ITV. In the states the three networks are all commercial NBC, CBS and ABC, all had to fight for their audience and ad revenue. ITV never had to fight, and so gained a massive income. This "license to print money" led to the unions wanting even larger shares of the profits made by the ITV companies, and rightly so in certain opinions. However, if they had have had a commercial independent rival, the unions would have found it harder to get the massive pay rises they wanted.
@@johnking5174
At the same time, the BBC had guaranteed income from the licence fee (still do).
Hence the strikes they suffered in 1978 before this big ITV one.
Michael Grade and his uncle Lew were part of the problem; ITV was awash with money from ads, but it wasn't being spread equally, unless you were a telly executive like him.
@@bobrew461 I am always surprised at the amount of money the ITV companies made from adverts back then, considering the IBA restricted the amount of adverts per hour - I think it was basically 7 minutes of adverts per a one hour show. That is not much, compared to US networks back then who crammed in 15 minutes of adverts per hour. So even with adverts, they were sort of restricted, and the only way ITV could milk it would be increasing the ad rates
Judging by the clock and Peter Marshall's VO, I'm guessing it's from Thames?
The Welcome home to ITV jingle is made by Jam Creative Productions?
Nope. It was done by some kind of unknown British music company. A few candidates. Is it KPM, Bruton, or Themes International?
Wow, remember this like it was yesterday
It was my birthday when this happened in 1979, October 29.
how the hell did we cope no inernets no sky but the end of a decacde in 1979 but still 3 good channels we had to wait for channel 4 untill 1982 and no breakfast tv untill 1983 and sky i had to wait till 1988 for that i was when it was xmas 1979 the 70s had ended i was guted the 70s will never come back
Ercay Salih yep two channels for a bit
I long for the days when television meant quality over quantity and not dumbing down to please the lowest common denominator.
Always found BBC2 a bit obscure and a bit snobby. But then I was dead common! Didn't like 1979 at all and wasn't sorry to see the backend of the decade. I'm not a great lover of the 'oh, things were great in the 19...' ethos. Any quick survey of the media news of the time quick dispels the myth.
The internet (and streaming outlets like RUclips and Netflix) didn’t even exist in 1979 either.
0:43*the welcome home to itv song starts*
Still loads of Muppets on ITV to this very day:
Ant & Dec / the GMTV mob / Tom Bradby / Etchingham
Not a patch on good ol' Leonard Parkin!
Having looked at what was on BBC One and BBC Two on this night, if I was alive back then, I would have watched ITV all night. BBC One and BBC Two offering were bad on this night, apart from Star Trek at 7.10pm on BBC One.
what were they thinking?
@@bobrew461 BBC didn't know when ITV would return after the strike, and the schedules are put together weeks in advance
@@johnking5174
yeah but, they would change their precious schedules for someone like the Queen or some other silly reason. Football! ugh. It didn't occur to them "Okay then, lets take advantage and REALLY show ITV what for. Lets show some stonking good telly programmes!" Nope! same ol' same ol tosh.
@@bobrew461 There was a massive row back in August 1979 when ITV fell off air, and BBC just continued with their summer schedule. This meant very little daytime programming except for cricket, golf, tennis, horse racing and sometimes nothing at all. ITV always had a proper daytime service seven days a week, this service was missed by a lot who were off on their summer holidays
@@johnking5174
Oh boy, do I remember those boring summer TV shows, Seaside Not-so Special, ugh. Apart from some Why Don't You, and the odd decent movie that is. After the Beeb averted their strike back in December '78, they REALLY should've know better. BBC bosses were just like the idiots in government at the time, and the various Car company execs; British Leyland, etc. etc. They didn't have a clue!
That line up is saying listen up uk we are back and look what we have you. 😂
Leonard parkin who remembers him?
Originally an anchor on the early News at Tens, before moving to First report at lunchtime around 1972, and then he went to early evenings from the mid 70s. He would then return to the News at One by 1980 full time until left ITN in 1987.
Fascinating - especially for the use of the ITV branded Thames clock. Is this the earliest use of National ITV branding (aside from the 68 Strike Service)?
I think that when Teledu Cymru/TWW lost their franchise, they just gave up then and there and TV programmes were supplied with either the ITA or IBA branding. Good news for Harlech TV though as they got the advertising revenue during that time before they officially took over.
A masturbation joke at 7pm! Nice!
Well, this was the 1970s.
Even earlier than that - 5:44! It's a trailer!
wot
the intro looks like something hbo could've made
Tyne Tees had in vision presentation after Chinatown and did their own closedown. I was at work the next day, so I don't know how the opening was done at 1pm. However by Friday Tyne Tees was doing regular presentation around what was clearly a networked core.
It certainly wasn't Westward TV as they used in vision presenters right through until Westcountry took over in the 1990's
+locutus155 Possibly not on the first night after a 13-week strike though! As other commenters have suggested, it seems on the first night back the whole network took this stripped down presentation from London while they were dusting off and warming up their own equipment (and staff!)
Could you upload the whole of the tape please , george
How come this presentation was all generic ITV? Why no regional identity?
97channel There wasn't time to do the regional identity test cards: ITV needed to catch up with the Beeb owing to lost ad revenue.
B Pray Test cards? In what sense? I don't quite get where all this ITV branded identity was created, or where it was played out from. Surely it was more effort to create this fanfare and generic ITV branded package, than to just get straight back to business as usual with each region doing their own thing?
+97channel Although each region did its own presentation to varying extents, the network always had "ITV" branded promotions - some smaller regions used them frequently rather than creating their own, so creating these was actually no extra work. I think the fanfare (and probably the opening night line-up) had been prepared for a while during the strike, knowing that it was going to be a 'welcome back' whenever it finally occurred. As for "test cards" I suspect the various still captions/slides are what is meant. Almost every visual in those days would have been painstakingly created by hand on card and held in front of a camera.
+97channel it didn't till 1989
At this point, I've either heard or read that Thames Television were forced to broadcast the day before the rest of the ITV network had a chance.
Shit I remember this!
Which ITV region waad this recorded in? Yorkshire Television managed to do their own startup before joining the network.
Good guess but not necessarily correct, as a networked service was run from Thames for the first few days. Though, for the reason shown below, it can't have been recorded from Yorkshire Television. Does anyone know if the regional stations had restarted their own services by the weekend or did LWT run a national service?
LWT would have to do from Friday 7pm until Sunday night
Some really wonderful wow & flutter on the tape from 0:50 onwards.... superb awful quality!
So bad its brilliant!
How long was itv off the air?
11 weeks
From August 10th 1979 until October 24th 1979 = only one of the ITV companies remained on air all the time - Channel Television in the channel islands, the smallest ITV region, who had a separate agreement with the unions, who knew if Channel went on strike, the company would be bankrupted within days, and all staff losing their jobs. So the unions being sensible agreed for Channel to continue to remain on air, but they were not allowed to broadcast ITV programming from the main ITV companies, which is why the strike emergency schedule on Channel was limited to 6 hours per day filled with American imports, Canadian imports, Australian imports, cartoons, movies, imported TV movies, and also British programming made by commercial arms of ITV, such as Euston Films.
Music created by The Mike Sammes Singers
was this recorded on Beta or VHS
So that's why after 2 months strike
why were they on strike? unions? or just because they seemed to be lot of strikes in the 70's doing some general reading up
August 6th-October 24th 1979
0:42
In 1983, Four Years After The ITV Strike,
There was Episode 1 of Thomas and Friends which starts with "Thomas and Gordon"
Thomas and Friends first broadcast On ITV for children Ages 1 to 4 way back In 1983.
"Paddington Bear" first broadcast On ITV for Children Ages 1 to 4 way back In 1975.
"Rosie and Jim" was made By Ragdoll Productions and was first broadcast On ITV and It Was Made By Central Television for Children Ages 1 to 4 way back In 1988.
If I remember though, Thomas and Friends originally aired in '84 on Thames Television (then later moved to CITV from either Series 3 (1991) or Series 4 (1995) up to Series 7 (2003). Sort of ironic since Thames were involved with Series 3.
But still, at that time, Thames was part of ITV.
I know the strike was 1979 but what months?
August to October '79