HTW: Features: 40 Years of ITV in the South

40 Years of ITV in the South

On 30 September 1958, ITV finally reached the South of England in the guise of Southern Television which provided the new ITV service for Central Southern England (Hampshire, most of Dorset, parts of Surrey and Oxfordshire) and South-East England (Kent, Sussex) - the latter being supplemented by a second studio complex based at Maidstone in Kent. Southern Television started its service using an old Southampton cinema as its main studio while a custom-built studio complex (which is still being used today by Meridian Television) was being built on land reclaimed from the River Itchen nearby. Once the new complex had been built, the old cinema was demolished. The transmission area, although not as densely populated as Greater London or boasting a conurbation the size of Birmingham or Manchester, boasts a reasonably large number of viewers (4.3 million in 1976); the area is highly affluent and has a wide variety of industries including shipbuilding and tourism (the New Forest, Bournemouth, and Brighton are three of the top tourist areas in the region). Much of the population lives on or near to the coast, so water-based activities figure reasonably highly as well as countryside pursuits.

Celebrity Dancers Gracie Fields (with others) Bournemouth Girls' Choir

Southern Television's opening night featured a variety show, which featured celebrity dancers (Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs) as well as Gracie Fields (centre) and the Bournemouth Girls' Choir (right).

Emergency Ward 10 The advent of Southern now meant that you didn't have to live in London or the Midlands to be able to watch programmes such as Emergency Ward 10, as long as you had a television that was switchable between the two different VHF transmission frequencies being used, or a set-top box which did the same trick.

"Southerner" boat Being on the coast, Southern Television needed a boat so that it could cover anything that happened on the water. "Southerner", a 72-foot long ex-torpedo cruiser, fulfilled this role admirably - it being well-equipped and big enough to tackle everything from filming a lone yachtsman to Cowes Week.

"Gypsy Moth" boat "Southerner" was to prove very handy for covering such events as Francis Chichester returning from his round-the-world sailing voyage in the boat "Gypsy Moth".

Swap Shop Southern Television produced its own general entertainment shows for its local audience, including "Swap Shop". This picture (from 1959) shows a woman who wanted to swap a gas boiler for a baby seat.

Interior of Studio As well as home produced programmes plus US imports squarely aimed at a more downmarket audience, there was the opportunity to at last provide a local news service for the region. "Day by Day" was the name of Southern's news magazine programme which continued until Southern lost its franchise at the end of 1981. Its brief was to provide local news in an entertaining manner, placing emphasis on the personalities if possible as opposed to the events.

Mount Pleasant Crossing Local television means local news which could quite possibly be virtually "on the studio's doorstep". Footage of Mount Pleasant level crossing was used to illustrate the introduction of diesel traction to railways in the southern region. Mount Pleasant crossing is located within a short walking distance from Southern's studios; indeed a railway branch line used to run onto the land near where the studio is located. The barrier, lights and footbridge are still there today.

Southern Star Southern (as with other ITV contrctors to varying degrees) produced programmes which were 'networked', ie. shown throughout the country. It considered itself to be one of the 'leaders' of the smaller ITV companies, that is those other than the 'big three' (later 'big five') ITV regions which produce the bulk of ITV's home-produced programmes.

Houseparty One of Southern's most famous television programmes was "Houseparty", an afternoon show aimed primarily at women. It featured the sort of items expected to be found within the covers of a "magazine for women", such as cooking, knitting, crafts, and general gossip. The studio was arranged so as to resemble a living room and the regular 'guests' rang a 'doorbell' when they arrived after the programme had started, often bringing items of interest with them. It may have been a rather 'phoney' idea but the show was popular; it only ended when Southern stopped broadcasting, though Meridian revived the show for a brief time with the daughters of some of the original cast, in 1993.

Worzel Gummidge Probably the most popular and well received programme it had ever made was 'Worzel Gummidge', a scarecrow that came to life (played by Jon Pertwee). The one big regret that many people had over Southern losing its franchise was the demise of this programme - 'No more Worzel Gummidge !' moaned children (and adults) in large numbers. Old episodes were to be later repeated on the soon-to-be-launched Channel 4, together with "Out of Town".

New decade, new franchise (well almost). With the shock demise of Southern Television in the second franchise shakeup that took place in 1980, 1 January 1982 saw TVS (Television South) take over the reins of the Southern ITV region with the inaugural show featuring presenter Khalid Aziz travelling by TVS' new helicopter to the studios.

Ships leaving for the Falklands TVS retained 'the best bits' of Southern whilst recruiting new staff, such as additional reporters for the new teatime local news programme to replace Southern's Day By Day, christened Coast to Coast but still featuring Fred Dineage as a presenter. Not long after TVS took over, the Falklands War erupted giving a major news story for the TVS news team to cover.

No 73 Other new programmes soon followed after the TVS takeover, such as A Full Life which featured celebrity interviews, Radio Pheonix, The Real World and No 73, which was a new Saturday morning children's programme - Southern had previously given the world The Saturday Banana in the late 1970's which featured a giant inflatable banana in the studio car park, and was presented by Bill Oddie. No 73 by comparison was a studio (sorry, house)-bound affair with no Bill Oddie (or inflatable banana) in sight. Does anyone know where the banana went to - perhaps it floated off somewhere?

Bobby Davro TVS started off its franchise period relatively quietly, but by the late 1980's it was probably churning out more networked programmes than either Southern or Meridian to date. The two probably best remembered from this period were the shows featuring comedian Bobby Davro, though the second (and most enduring) is the quiz Catchphrase which is still being produced today but independently for Carlton Television. However during this time TVS had ambitious plans elsewhere which ultimately contributed to be its undoing; it bought the MTM production company in the US which soon ran into financial difficulties. More TVS information can be found in a website listed in the Links section.

The aftermath of the controversial "closed franchise auction" that took place in 1991 was probably predictable in the case of TVS - Meridian was chosen as its successor, and was different from both Southern and TVS in the sense that it used independent producers (and production companies) to produce the majority of its programmes. Another key difference from the time that TVS took over was the creation of a third subregion serving the Thames Valley area, together with a few TVS programmes (such as TV Weekly) being retained for a while as well as some old ideas from Southern Television (such as Houseparty) being revived albeit briefly.

Serve You Right However old programme ideas soon became displaced with new ones such as Serve You Right, a consumer show originally presented by Bill Buckley and Caroline Righton. This time, networked shows, after an initial flourish with ideas such as "Full Stretch" (a comedy based on a luxury chauffeur-driven taxi business), were much fewer in number than before, though local programming was to take on great importance. The 'flagship' six o'clock news programme is now called "Meridian Tonight", though it still features Fred Dineage.

Meridian Logo And to the present - Meridian Television is part of a growing media group (United News and Media) which now encompasses Anglia Television and HTV. Carlton Television (London, Midlands, South-west) also own a stake in Meridian Broadcasting. This new minimalist end caption appears at the end of some local programmes. Meridian have also now adopted the 'generic' ITV look that all non-Carlton England franchises have adopted since late 1999 - see the ITV page for more details.

Some short video clips - click a heading to view
(RealPlayer 5.0 or later required to view them)

TVS Afternoon News
Meridian Ident (Previous)
Meridian Ident (Latest) The title sequence used by TVS for their short afternoon news bulletin.
The latest ident animation as used by Meridian Broadcasting.
The current generic ident as used by Meridian Broadcasting (RealPlayer G2 or later only).

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Southern Television's opening night featured a variety show, which featured celebrity dancers (Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs) as well as Gracie Fields (centre) and the Bournemouth Girls' Choir (right).
	The advent of Southern now meant that you didn't have to live in London or the Midlands to be able to watch programmes such as Emergency Ward 10, as long as you had a television that was switchable between the two different VHF transmission frequencies being used, or a set-top box which did the same trick.
	Being on the coast, Southern Television needed a boat so that it could cover anything that happened on the water. "Southerner", a 72-foot long ex-torpedo cruiser, fulfilled this role admirably - it being well-equipped and big enough to tackle everything from filming a lone yachtsman to Cowes Week.
	"Southerner" was to prove very handy for covering such events as Francis Chichester returning from his round-the-world sailing voyage in the boat "Gypsy Moth".
	Southern Television produced its own general entertainment shows for its local audience, including "Swap Shop". This picture (from 1959) shows a woman who wanted to swap a gas boiler for a baby seat.
	As well as home produced programmes plus US imports squarely aimed at a more downmarket audience, there was the opportunity to at last provide a local news service for the region. "Day by Day" was the name of Southern's news magazine programme which continued until Southern lost its franchise at the end of 1981. Its brief was to provide local news in an entertaining manner, placing emphasis on the personalities if possible as opposed to the events.
	Local television means local news which could quite possibly be virtually "on the studio's doorstep". Footage of Mount Pleasant level crossing was used to illustrate the introduction of diesel traction to railways in the southern region. Mount Pleasant crossing is located within a short walking distance from Southern's studios; indeed a railway branch line used to run onto the land near where the studio is located. The barrier, lights and footbridge are still there today.
	Southern (as with other ITV contrctors to varying degrees) produced programmes which were 'networked', ie. shown throughout the country. It considered itself to be one of the 'leaders' of the smaller ITV companies, that is those other than the 'big three' (later 'big five') ITV regions which produce the bulk of ITV's home-produced programmes.
	One of Southern's most famous television programmes was "Houseparty", an afternoon show aimed primarily at women. It featured the sort of items expected to be found within the covers of a "magazine for women", such as cooking, knitting, crafts, and general gossip. The studio was arranged so as to resemble a living room and the regular 'guests' rang a 'doorbell' when they arrived after the programme had started, often bringing items of interest with them. It may have been a rather 'phoney' idea but the show was popular; it only ended when Southern stopped broadcasting, though Meridian revived the show for a brief time with the daughters of some of the original cast, in 1993.
	Probably the most popular and well received programme it had ever made was 'Worzel Gummidge', a scarecrow that came to life (played by Jon Pertwee). The one big regret that many people had over Southern losing its franchise was the demise of this programme - 'No more Worzel Gummidge !' moaned children (and adults) in large numbers. Old episodes were to be later repeated on the soon-to-be-launched Channel 4, together with "Out of Town".
	New decade, new franchise (well almost). With the shock demise of Southern Television in the second franchise shakeup that took place in 1980, 1 January 1982 saw TVS (Television South) take over the reins of the Southern ITV region with the inaugural show featuring presenter Khalid Aziz travelling by TVS' new helicopter to the studios.
	TVS retained 'the best bits' of Southern whilst recruiting new staff, such as additional reporters for the new teatime local news programme to replace Southern's Day By Day, christened Coast to Coast but still featuring Fred Dineage as a presenter. Not long after TVS took over, the Falklands War erupted giving a major news story for the TVS news team to cover.
	Other new programmes soon followed after the TVS takeover, such as A Full Life which featured celebrity interviews, Radio Pheonix, The Real World and No 73, which was a new Saturday morning children's programme - Southern had previously given the world The Saturday Banana in the late 1970's which featured a giant inflatable banana in the studio car park, and was presented by Bill Oddie. No 73 by comparison was a studio (sorry, house)-bound affair with no Bill Oddie (or inflatable banana) in sight. Does anyone know where the banana went to - perhaps it floated off somewhere?
	TVS started off its franchise period relatively quietly, but by the late 1980's it was probably churning out more networked programmes than either Southern or Meridian to date. The two probably best remembered from this period were the shows featuring comedian Bobby Davro, though the second (and most enduring) is the quiz Catchphrase which is still being produced today but independently for Carlton Television. However during this time TVS had ambitious plans elsewhere which ultimately contributed to be its undoing; it bought the MTM production company in the US which soon ran into financial difficulties. More TVS information can be found in a website listed in the Links section.
The aftermath of the controversial "closed franchise auction" that took place in 1991 was probably predictable in the case of TVS - Meridian was chosen as its successor, and was different from both Southern and TVS in the sense that it used independent producers (and production companies) to produce the majority of its programmes. Another key difference from the time that TVS took over was the creation of a third subregion serving the Thames Valley area, together with a few TVS programmes (such as TV Weekly) being retained for a while as well as some old ideas from Southern Television (such as Houseparty) being revived albeit briefly.
	However old programme ideas soon became displaced with new ones such as Serve You Right, a consumer show originally presented by Bill Buckley and Caroline Righton. This time, networked shows, after an initial flourish with ideas such as "Full Stretch" (a comedy based on a luxury chauffeur-driven taxi business), were much fewer in number than before, though local programming was to take on great importance. The 'flagship' six o'clock news programme is now called "Meridian Tonight", though it still features Fred Dineage.
	And to the present - Meridian Television is part of a growing media group (United News and Media) which now encompasses Anglia Television and HTV. Carlton Television (London, Midlands, South-west) also own a stake in Meridian Broadcasting. This new minimalist end caption appears at the end of some local programmes. Meridian have also now adopted the 'generic' ITV look that all non-Carlton England franchises have adopted since late 1999 - see the ITV page for more details.

Some short video clips - click a heading to view (RealPlayer 5.0 or later required to view them)
TVS Afternoon News Meridian Ident (Previous) Meridian Ident (Latest)	The title sequence used by TVS for their short afternoon news bulletin. The latest ident animation as used by Meridian Broadcasting. The current generic ident as used by Meridian Broadcasting (RealPlayer G2 or later only).