Born risky or Being safe? - Channel Four at 31

Last year, this article which was written for the Portsmouth News. In which I set out a brief description of The Tube, but as Channel Four becomes thirty-one. What can we learn from this? First of all, the article as published.

On Guy Fawkes night 1982, Channel Four provided a rocket up the schedules with the introduction of The Tube. Irrevocable, indolent and interesting, it set out its pop manifesto right from the start, although the original presenters were to be Boy George and a pre-Big Breakfast Paula Yates, but when Boy George found chart success, a newly freed from Squeeze Jools Holland filled the gap left.

With it being broadcast live on early Friday evenings, the programme had a fresh edge over any other music show at the time which lead to many one-liners being made by both presenters which was all part of its appeal and leading to new acts and even comedians coming up to its Newcastle studios to play and get exposure to youth at home.

Part of the appeal of the programme was to see what they could get away with that week, not only pushing the boundaries but giving them a kick up the charts in the process, later on they helped Frankie Goes to Hollywood with early television exposure.

But as time went on and the one-liners became more obvious, Jools Holland's throw-away line too rude to print in a family paper led the show to be suspended for three weeks as it was rather unwisely broadcast during Children's ITV. Sometimes naughty, but always good it gave to television a relevance of music and while it lasted 'The Tube' was one great ride!

Channel Four has set itself out as saying they were born risky, but in at least the past five years when can it has been? Is this channel which wanted to shock, wanted to give something to the youth of Britain, provide a home to programmes fit anywhere? The channel set out programmes for the disabled, not only adults but youngsters. Cecil Korer who came from the BBC was a key part of this, he may have been seen as some what of the old school having been a programme purchaser and a commissioning editor for the Light Entertainment group.

Seemingly for this he purchased Cheers and The Paul Hogan Show for the fledgling channel and even in commissioning Countdown that the first production team christened the number picking computer C.E.C.I.L (standing for Countdown Electronic Computer In Leeds). Where as Countdown had come from Yorkshire Television, another of his successes was Treasure Hunt from the independent producer Chatsworth Television, with the team of ex-newsreader Kenneth Kendall, TV-AM weather presenter Wincey Willis and Anneka Rice at that time who had previous worked in Hong Kong as a newsreader. But these successes set up the channel as an alternative to the BBC and ITV, if Channel Four was conceived as the IBA's second commercial channel then it had done its job.

In setting up his own production company Gambit Enterprises, Korer's company made Hand in Hand, which introduced children both hearing and deaf to each other's worlds but also revivals of 'Where In The World?' and 'The Heritage Game'. 

Plus with the likes of Mike Bolland, bringing new approaches to youth and entertainment programming. They were bold times, stretching the channel to do what it could to be so different. But with Channel Four proclaiming they were born risky, it makes people think what they have become to offer like for like programming. Its true and maybe said to say that Channel Four has come into the 21st century, not as it should be but with a changed personality. It might have matured with age, but the rebellious spirit has gone and for British television it could be a significant move backwards.

"After the count down to a new channel ends.. A new countdown begins..." Channel Four at 30

So Channel Four is thirty, looking at its midriff pinching it and wondering why it has got larger in the past couple of years, granted there are some good shows still on the channel now such as Peep Show and the excellent Friday Night Dinner. But apart from that, its got a bit bland and a bit beige. From this young upstart wanting to rip down the conventions of television though its entertainment and music, focussing on programmes for different sections of society, breaking new ground as it went. Everyone has their memories of the channel and how its developed, both the good and the bad.

I can think of several shows which would stand out and would be the ones everyone thinks about when asked about Channel Four. But the gems in their schedules were just as good, for instance Superchamps, a mini We Are The Champions with quadbikes excited me enough to send loads of empty packets of Smiths Crisps to get a poster of the show. The power of television, eh? Chips Comic containing Andrew 'Son of Sir Harry' Secombe as a dog, a thought which might have sprung out a conversation saying 'Do we think this is mad enough to work?' They were the only channel in this country to show Worzel Gummage Down Under, to revive Quizball as an American Football game, introduced the country to wheelchair basketball long before the 2012 Paralympics.

Four in its self could be said to be a slice of life, sometimes maybe the butt of other jokes as the wheelchair basketball on a Saturday morning didn't get enough viewers to register on the RAJAR ratings. But it was a place where it could be tried without people noticing at all, much like other output involving disability such as 'Boom' and 'Hand in Hand' were allowed to take place, some people would say it was worthy television all of this but if it wasn't for Channel Four would these programmes have even been commissioned. At one time Four was the goto place for minority groups such as the Gay and Lesbian community, even offering a programme for the trade unions on a weekly basis. The purpose was there to cater to these communities  but to the casual viewer, it offered something else like a window outwards to show what was happening in the real world apart from the one usually on television at the time. Channel Four offered social realism always and pushed it as reality with later on reality becoming entertainment.

Over the years, the channel can claim that it started off the careers of some performers and it can be said it finished off others as well. Saturday and Friday Night Live showcased so many different acts who went on to carve careers of their own and into the new millennium The Friday/Sunday Night Project launched Jimmy Carr and Alan Carr into the spotlight. But for that it also launched Justin Lee Collins too as well.. The clipshow started here, with its countdowns as well both with 'The 100 greatest..' series of programmes copied and copied over and over again by other channels as well the domain of the late Richard Whitlely. The first face on Four may not have been bombastic, but in the way the first controller Jeremy Isaacs put it " I wanted that first night schedule to be typical of what night to night the viewer could see on Channel Four." With a documentary of Max Boyce meeting the Dallas Cowboys, the television film premier of 'Network' and also the first Film Four production 'Walter' starring Sir Ian McKellen this was what Four would be about nightly including the news at 7pm as well.

This is the alternative that television needed, but for long time it was a yes and no situation with Four. In the 1960's the frequencies for the VHF transmitters were worked out with a spare slot for Channel Four to go into. Now, BBC 2 had launched in 1964 but the Conservative government of that time had promised the spare capacity to the then Independent Television Authority. Come election time the Tories lost power to Harold Wilson's Labour Party and with this the tune changed so the new government wanted the BBC to run the service instead, the problem was that the BBC presented their case by putting how much money it would cost to set up 'BBC3' and also to increase the licence fee as well to cover it. Either way they were stuck, so by not giving the frequency to either the BBC or the ITA, it laid dormant for many years as governments changed like the seasons. Though slowly after the second 1974 election discussions were held to see what type of form a fourth channel could be. What came of it was a television foundation much along the line of what PBS had done in America, but in 1977 when  the Annan Report was published and a white paper written that an 'Open Broadcasting Authority' would take over the control of the channel with a notional date of 1979 or 1980 for a launch.

With the Tory Goverment committed to the idea of Channel Four, they had to go through with it and handed responsibility to the IBA for the channel to be set up. Such as a lot of things have changed in the last thirty years, the channel itself has changed. For the better, maybe... But in the end if it wasn't Paul Coia welcoming us to Channel Four nearly thirty years ago this week, we wouldn't have had children saving up empty crisp packets to get a poster, eh?

Switch on... Tune In... Cop out...

The 21st of March 2012 marks the day when analogue television finally said goodbye in Southern England after 58 years of service. Every television is set to the digital standard, meaning the biggest change since colour first came to the region. With this the Ceefax service and analogue only exists in the London area, but not for much longer as they are they last region to go fully digital. 


But in doing this, it has caused problems not only for viewers by not getting a full service that teletext could provide and some features have disappeared. In Germany, a teletext service was kept after their switchover. The short-sightedness seems to have been apparent by the BBC, meaning that services especially involving transport have been left out such as plane arrivals, train engineering works etc. This mean that people have to find the information out via websites, which may not be as accurate. 


Britain has been using the Freeview system now for what will be ten years in October for its free digital television services, in that time it has been a success especially in take up of digital services following the collapse of ITV Digital. Though now it faces a crossroads, with extra capacity being created in the system to allow for new channels to allowed to be broadcast. Where as the main base was the five main terrestrial channels at first, there are a whole plethora of channels on offer catering to a range of tastes. But this has allowed seemingly the service to be brought downmarket with adult chat channels being broadcast, so as such it has become like satellite television in a way with more and more obscure channels arriving. 


It maybe time for Ofcom to show their teeth in this matter to allow some channels, but also to regulate as them as well because before time, things can get out of control. Purpose needs to be used, but similar to the launch of Sky and BSB at the end of the 80's which dealt with more choice for the viewer, soon enough more channels were needed to be able to build the company up, though will Freeview end up having to sell itself to survive? Hopefully not, maybe the five main broadcasters will be its saviour after all.