Boggen's Advent Calender (Day Three): Little Bill's Big Banana - When Oddie took on Edmonds

For today's door on the advent calender, we go back to 1978. So what's better then first off Bill Oddie larking about in a winter wonderland with the help of some special effects from Southern Television's box of tricks. 

Goodie grief...

Quite a few ITV regions in the late 1970's decided to let Southern go down the short bearded presenter route with Bill Oddie for Saturday mornings, to go up against Swap Shop and so the Saturday Banana is born and meaning that Mr Oddie is catapulted into the world of children's television where he looks ill at ease somewhat. Not really wanting to be there trying to hold the programme together and helped by Metal Mickey, before he went off to get his own series. Though thanks to Southern owning formats which they had brought, at least there was Runaround on a smaller scale and plenty of creature features.

Alas with most of ITV's attempts to stop Noel on the other side, the Banana didn't last that long, eventually with Tiswas taking over the whole country for ITV as ATV Land spread its wings. So for the third day, we bring you over eleven minutes of titles for the Saturday Banana not seen since its broadcast back in the late 1970's

Bananas, everywhere...

Someone to Watch It over us... The story of ITV's Children's Television Presentation

On the 3^rd of January 2013, CITV or by its full title Children's ITV will be thirty years old. Following the documentary broadcast on ITV over the Christmas and New Year period, which concentrated on that period and shown that the service itself was the first to offer national continuity for the children's slot, although not live at first and not the first to do it at all. The programme did try and maybe to set out its own history, but the history of children's television and its programmes on ITV stretches back to the origin of Independent Television itself.

With the launch of Independent Television in 1955, they set out to offer an alternative to the BBC and part of that service was to offer something different from the BBC's Children's

hour. The BBC had started to produce a strand for children called 'For the Children' in 1930's at the dawn of television itself, the first broadcast was ten minutes long on Saturday 24^th April 1937. With a mixture of different presenters, performers, story-telling and songs, the programme seemed more like a miniature theatre show and with a regular slot on Saturday afternoons until September 1939, when the programme was brought off the air by the one thing which would dominate the lives of everyone and more so children for the next seven years, World War Two. The suspension of the television service meant children relied on the radio service where Children's Hours was broadcasting and had been since 1922 and became a vital companion for children everywhere, many of them evacuees away from their own families.

When fighting ceased and the television service returned in 1946, the strand doubled in length to twenty minutes and moved to Sunday afternoons, the first broadcast after the war was on July 7^th 1946. Though during this time, it would see Muffin the Mule make his debut with his “friend” Annette Mills. But by 1952, the 'For the Children' would be dropped with the strand for younger viewers falling under the Watch with Mother strand and the other programmes introduced by continuity announcers. This settled the pattern for the BBC for nearly thirty-five years, but with the launch of the Independent Television service would see children's television change.

Independent Television launched on the 22nd of September 1955 with Associated-Rediffusion on weekdays and ATV at weekend to start broadcasting, followed by services in the Midlands in February 1956 with ATV during weekdays and ABC at weekends plus Granada launching on weekdays in the North and ABC at weekends during May of 1956. With these new companies came, new ideas for the making and broadcasting of children's

television. One of these was Small Time, the daily 15 minute slot for the under five's produced by Associated-Rediffusion and eventually picked up by Southern and Anglia Television plus also some others as well. The slot started on 23rd of September 1955 at 12.15pm with Johnny and Flonny, a series which had glove puppets as their performers as well as their assistant Paul Hansard, the next had one of Britain's biggest entertainers making one of their first appearances. Rolf Harris appeared in the The Big Black Crayon alongside Jean Ford, then on the Wednesday saw Toybox with Susan Spear. But Small Time also started careers in children's television of presenters and programme creators which would go onto bigger things and helped shape ITV's output during the sixties, seventies and beyond.

But this proved, that with one company making making such a slot, that other ITV franchise holders would take their the best of others programmes to be broadcast by themselves. Though this would be a problem, with some regions picking and choosing their programmes and sometimes placing programmes which may have been on family viewing instead.

Come 1957, The Adventures of Twizzle brought the fist ever television project by Gerry Anderson and his production company AP Films to the screens, shortly afterwards in 1958 by Torchy the Battery Boy. Anderson, so synonymously linked with Lord Lew Grade's ATV, had The Adventures of Twizzle distributed by Associated-Rediffusion, Four Feather Falls by Granada. But with APF in financial trouble and following Anderson's direction of low budge feature film Crossroads to Crime for Anglo-Amalgamated Studios, he was struggling to find a buyer for his new project. But if it wasn't for a fortuitous meeting with Lew Grade, who offered to buy the show. With the international success of Supercar meant that Grade finance for Anderson to produce Fireball XL5. With the success of Anderson's next project of Thunderbirds produced between September 1965 and December 1966 going stratospheric, meant that the output from AP Films was significant part of ITV's children's schedules leading to in the mid sixties. As well as the success of the programme being sold all around the world, proving that home based production could be popular both in the United Kingdom but able to bring profit back so money could be spending on making new programmes for children.

But with this, it proved that ITV could compete with the BBC over children's programming. In the early 60's, the BBC had downsized and merged their children's department into one Family Programmes department which meant that all of the children's programming including Blue Peter would be included under this department. With ITV and the federal system that they offered, meant that other regions were still buying in programmes from each other and also material from abroad as well. The powerhouses such as Rediffusion, Granada and ATV would produce programmes with other smaller regions having a contribution to make such as Southern, Anglia and Tyne Tees. Rediffusion brought comedy in the traditional style with Sooty and Harry Corbett moving over from the BBC plus new comedy with Humphrey Barclay overseeing new talents to performing Terry Jones, Michael Palin and also Eric Idle later to go onto merge with with John Cleese and Graham Chapman from Rediffusion's other new comedy show later in the evening, At Last the 1948 Show to form Monty Python. Plus with comic actors Denise Coffey and David Jason as well, they became the performers in Do Not Adjust Your Set from 1967 and such was the success of the programme that it led to it being repeated later in the evening when people got in from work or whatever they were doing during the afternoon so that more people could see this children's programme which had became a cult hit with viewers.

Southern Television had launched How in 1966, as a way to teach children about different aspects of their world around themselves and how it worked. Proving that what seemed like dry facts could be made interesting if they were presented in an entertaining way. Though one man who started on the programme in 1966, would go like the programme for the next 15 years to become one of the best known children's presenters in the country and even going beyond that to become a household name.

Rediffusion, ATV and Granada was proving that the Independent network could make quality programmes that had appeal, but by the late 1960's both the BBC and ITV were to get ready for the decade to come with programme which would a reflection of the world outside the front living room.

Though in 1967, the Independent Television Authority advertised their ITV franchises to start broadcasting in 1968, but with so much rumour and counter-rumour in the air. What was to happen, was to maybe shock and surprise people. But it was to have an effect on children's broadcasting overall, with the franchise round most regions seemed straightforward or were they? The creation of a new Yorkshire region saw applications from all over, but with the Telefusion rentals and pipe-tv group winning the franchise though with the stipulation that they had to take on the management and talent of rival bid Yorkshire Independent Television to form Yorkshire Television. ATV had lost their weekend franchise in London to David Frost's London Weekend but had gained the new seven day Midlands franchise and then came the London Weekday franchise, two companies, Rediffusion London and ABC TV, who provided great service for ITV individually since the inception of commercial television. Though with London Weekend getting the franchise for broadcasting at weekends in London, the new formed Yorkshire Television taking up the area on the east side of the Pennines, so neither could go their either with Lew Grade settled even more so in the Midlands now. Lord Charles Hill had a problem, both franchises had the talent and the management to make one company, more important to our story though was that Rediffusion had a very strong children's department which would be a huge part of ITV in the years to come competing against the BBC.

The small matter of this occurring between Rediffusion and ABC to form a new company taking on the responsibility of broadcasting to London on weekdays, though not a merger of the two companies but it was not quite to have winners either way. From Rediffusion being top banana of ITV, but their investment meant they were now part of a new company called Thames Television. Meaning the children's department at Rediffusion which had been so successful, took one the responsibility of making programmes for itself, but also making programmes to be distributed to the rest of the ITV network.

With the new companies producing new programming such as Magpie from Thames to rival Blue Peter, LWT moving into children's comedy and drama with Catweazle, Yorkshire with Junior Showtime, along with ATV with Captain Scarlet, the latest production from Gerry Anderson's AP Films. But what about the presentation? Because of the federal system of ITV, all the franchises had their own ways of presentation. Usually a normal continuity announcers just being a bit more jovial then usual in their usual suit or dress announcing programmes. Back in the early seventies, plans were mooted to do networked children's continuity in between the programmes. Though each region themselves had a strong sense of its own identity by putting their idents on the front of the programmes, meaning something broadcast by Southern would have the ident at the beginning before the programme even started to show it was from Thames. So the idea of networked children's continuity didn't even leave the ground, though the schedules having fully networked programmes with itself like How and Magpie, would sit alongside Anglia's Survival films and even repeats of family dramas which had been brought in by the various companies.

Over at the BBC, without this problem they were starting to move ahead in the schedules and something needed to be done for at least ITV to get a brand for their children's programming, that it could be identifiable from the other programmes surrounding it, making children feel that the programmes were for themselves like they did on the BBC. The BBC may have had the BBC1 globe before all the programmes, but their menus and captions looked like they were for children's programming. ITV regions had done it, but only the children in each region saw their own identities, leading to puppet characters such as Gus Honeybun and BC becoming such a success in the Westward/TSW and Anglia regions respectively.

Watch It presentation from the early 80's

The change in style came in 1980 when finally the idea of the Watch It branding was formed, the programmes were distributed in the same way that schools programmes were via ATV and it was little surprise that it was conceived there too by the promotions department under Jim Stokoe, who oversaw the style of presentation for schools and colleges. Though not a wholly networked brand at all, ATV supplied animation and stings for each franchise to use at their will and when the seasons changed new one were sent out for companies to use if they wanted. But the continuity announcers stayed meaning that Southern or later TVS and Granada would have their own doing it, but with the logo itself, the animation would have the exclamation mark in the animation osculating to make it look like it was saying 'Watch ITV', subliminal maybe. But the initial idea of Children's ITV came from Lewis Rudd, Rudd had been involved in Children's television since the mid 60's firstly with Rediffusion, through Thames being involved with Magpie, Rainbow and The Sooty Show as a producer later on becoming the Head of the Children's department at Southern and then at the newly formed Central Television in 1982. He suggested a new method of presentation and it was the Central presentation department again with Jim Stokoe which came up with the concept of Children's ITV. An all networked service with regular presentation and presenters which would appear as a united brand to rival the BBC, beating them to the punch.

The way the system for broadcasting the service was itself like the system used for supplying the presentation for ITV's School and Colleges service from Central, whilst the individual companies played out their own programmes and supplied them around the rest of the network. Presentation itself was recorded, featuring faces from the programmes which were being broadcast meaning that the first ever presentation face was Matthew Kelly, already famous for Game for a Laugh, but also presenting the Madabout series for Tyne Tees. Plus taking their turns were Isla St Clair, from The Saturday Show, Mick Robertson formerly of Magpie, now with his new programme Freetime, Tommy Boyd also from Magpie and St. Clair's co-host on The Saturday Show with lots more faces over time. Meaning it had made its mark and the BBC had to fight back with the launch of the Broom Cupboard and Philip Schofield in 1985.

So contrary to ITV's documentary, Children's ITV may have started in 1983 but children's programmes on the independent channel stretched even nearly thirty-years before that. The history of children's television is a long one and also varied in the style, programmes and presentation, but it is an important one to both for continuity and also the way television came to be in the latter part of the 20^th century. But 1983 was not only famous for the launch of united ITV children's service, the BBC's Children's Department also celebrated an anniversary as well, more of which soon.

Whichever way you look at Children's ITV is 30 years old and now has its own channel instead of a strand, giant leaps in 30 years. But if it was not for people like Lewis Rudd and Jim Stokoe, it would have just been a continuity announcer in front of a plain background announcing the children's presentation much like any other time of the day, Watch It and Children's ITV brought colour to the screen and also whole wave of programmes with it as well. 

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Bring in the new... The 1980 South West England franchise battle

So here we are again, over the past couple of blogs I have looked at the 1980 franchise battles for the Midlands and the South/South East. This time we go down to the South West to find out how a red Ferrari and plans beyond their station were to cost a franchise and how a company came before their time to help them out.


1961 and the sixties have started, the ITV system had extend pretty much to how we knew it in 1980 with nearly all the franchises having been launched by then. Peter Cadbury, he had left the board of Tyne Tees to bid for the South West franchise with him taking the name from a golf course. But the company had been profitable throughout the 60's and the 70's, though the Chairman worked in London, the companies secretary's office plus the accountant's department and the sales department were based there too. They have maybe been ruled from London, but Westward was a happy company. With his weekly flying visits in the companies' aircraft, also by a blood red Ferrari, yacht or helicopter. So extravagance could be a hallmark of the company, apart from that, their record in local programming was a good one. Taking an interest in varying interests both close to the region such as farmng and also other arts as well.


Their expanded interests had included Air Westward, giving businesspeople a direct route to Europe to attend their meetings from Exeter airport. But this seems like the straw that broke the camel's back. Over £1.3 million was used from the company's own profits on the permission of the authority. Though Peter Cadbury thought their should be bigger then their area, courting Bristol and the Mendips as part of the territoriality joint HTV in the West and Wales area. 


By 1979, he had managed to get into feuds with the local authorities and constabulary when buying Lyneham House, an estate in Devon. By being in the area, he thought that this may placate the authority when came around to the 1980 Franchise battle. 


So it was obivious that the IBA were looking to chance the franchise to another company with two leading candidates looking to win the franchise. 

"In a dark, dark room..."

One was WCT, known as West Country Television who had Simon Day, a property developer, farmer and Conservative politician, whose own father had been defeated by Peter Cadbury for the original franchise tender battle in 1961. He formed the group with two men who had been in ITV, both in the management side and the production side. From the business came Anthony Gorard, who had been the managing director of HTV between 1967 and 1978 with highly reguarded success. From the programming side came Bill Ward, the former ATV director of programmes whose career had spanned over forty years in producing sports programming and light entertainment programmes. They were named Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively, with usual local dignitaries and also Julian Mounter, who Cornish roots made him a great candidate for Programme Controller as well as having launched Westward Report in 1973 and at that time, he was the editor of Thames Reports as well.


This mix of personalities under the slogan of 'The Best For the West!' made it a mixture which could be good for the South West in theory. But their rivals were to find something different in itself...


WCT had promised to take over Westward's studios but TSW were to build a new one and TSW claimed they would make over ten hours of local programming per week compared to Westward's eight and a half and WCT's seven. 


TSW's board included two Deputy Lieutenants of both Dorset and Devon, but Sir John Colfox, the deputy lieutenant of Dorset named as Chairman had to withdraw through health grounds and replaced by Brian Bailey, a man well served in serving on different boards of organisations such as the TUC and also serving a Somerset County Councillor since 1966, plus his experience had been in broadcasting as well, having served on the BBC's advisory board for the South West. So his experience was valuable to any new group intending to bid.


Though the force behind the bid was Kevin Goldstein-Jackson. A flamboyant man in both style and dress, in his early thirties with degrees in philosophy, sociology and law plus with experience in business and journalism as well. His experience in television production had come from spells in Hong Kong, Oman and also at Southern as well. Though in his style, his middle name moniker 'Goldstein', he had chosen to show solidarity with Israel. His approach was to name himself Joint Managing Director and Programme Controller, the right hand man on the Managing Director side was to be Peter Battle, whose experience had come both at Anglia and Southern.

In-spiring viewing...

The IBA had been impressed what Goldstein-Jackson could bring to the party both in programming and also by Brian Bailey as well. Though it was said they were less so in the management below them. But something had impressed the IBA to give them give them the franchise. Such was their aim, they were allowed to buy Westward in 1981 both the company and the studios, so such a need of building a new studio complex. They were ordered to keep the Westward name, to save viewers getting confused by the early change.


So at 11.58pm, Westward came out of Scottish's Hogmany show to make the changeover with a comedy starring Peter Cook to become TSW's first show at midnight. Though the actual launch would not be until the next day when TSW came out of ITV's schedule of the Disney movie 'The Black Hole' for their launch show presented by Lennie Bennett, so what may seems like a lavish attempt to launch the franchise seemed like Southern's effort of the previous night. Maybe self referential, but with ITV in the 80's, this was a new ITV ready for the new decade...

Bring in the new... The 1980 South and South-East franchise round

Welcome back, last time I looked at the 1980 Midlands region franchise round as ATV won and eventually turned into Central. This time we head southwards to the dual South and South-East franchise.

Most of the talk in this franchise round was about the new dual Midlands franchise, by the prestige  it would bring any company coming into the ITV system but getting a place at the top table within the Big Five. The Big Five, so called contained both London franchises, the North West one, the Midlands and the Yorkshire one. These were the powerhouses of ITV, but when the Financial Times wrote about the upcoming franchise round in May 1980, they noted the Midlands franchise may be the most prestigious franchise for any company to go for. But it was the South and South-East franchise where outside the Big Five that the most financial rewards were there for any company with disposable income awash in these areas because of the nature of them containing rural, urban and coastal areas as well.

Since 1958, Southern had made their impact on ITV with specialist programming to the fore including Out of Town, varying children's programmes plus also Houseparty. It would been seen to be said that this would be taken into account when IBA made their decision in awarding their franchise. But with Southern's shareholding which was divided between three groups, which had been unchanged since the start of its existence. The Rank Organisation, Associated Newspapers and D.C. Thomson who took 100% of the shares between them. Though the Authority had made note of this in both 1963 and 1967 as well, where as other companies took swift action to resolve any major issues, Southern had not taken notice of this and decided to plow on relentlessly into this franchise round without any changes.

Other issues of not serving parts of the region i.e. Kent and the South East were to be Southern's achilles heel in the main part which left six competitors going for the franchise, outside the breakfast contract, this was the biggest number of challengers for any region.

With true friends like this, who needs enemies...

The first challenger to show their hand, seems like a very strange one. Tellecom (Broadcast) Television had been formed by a Brighton television technician, he registered the name Home Counties Television and set about selling shareholdings for £1 without recruiting any well known names at all. Though he withdrew his bid in September of that year, almost realising that the bid wouldn't have got off the ground or it seems like a bit of speculation that some might use that name for any new franchise.

Of the other major contenders, one of the strongest would appear to be Television South and South East. This consortium was lead by Bruce Fireman who had links to bankers Charterhouse Japhet, they had been assembled over three years thought they had grown out of a group who had tried for the franchise in 1967. In their intial group of people, they had Paul Bonner as their Programme Controller, but he had elected to join Channel Four. So they replaced him with Ian Martin who had previously been Controller of Features, Education and Religion at Thames. He was backed up by William Hodgson, who at the time was ITN's General Manager who was to become Managing Director of the group if they had won. Plus they also had Sir Freddie Laker as a director who could bring business sense to the group. But  in retrospect it did seem the make up of the shareholders would have been like the Southern situation with Charterhouse taking 20% of the shares and also Haymarket Press and the British Rail Pension Fund taking another 23% as well. So the IBA didn't want to face upto the same situation as they had with Southern, plus they needed guarantees that the group didn't wasn't more interested in making money then making programmes and serving their new region.

Though Network South who's major figure was Tom Margerison, a former chief executive of LWT. Their plans was to sub-divide the franchise into five mini-regions, a plan which would come into fruition nearly ten years later with most ITV franchises dividing their regions into sub-regions each with their own local news. Network South used the talents of Peter Batty as Programme Controller with also Christopher Morahan, Tony Palmer and Christopher Railling as consultants to the group. The actual plan of community television gave the authority questions on how it would work, but one key thing stood out to them. Of the original members of the group, none lived in the south and three of chairmen for each of the sub-regions didn't even come from the UK at all.

Then we come to South and South East Communications, the group who had been put together by James Gatward, Bob Southgate and Martin Jackson. Gatward had been a drama producer who had masterminded the series Star Maidens, so he had the programme making experience which was ironically with Southern. Southgate had experience with both ITN and Thames, bringing journalistic nous as Head of News and Current Affairs. Michael Blakstad, who had been a producer for the BBC, Yorkshire and also as a freelancer as well, he was to be the Programme Controller assisted by Anna Home, who's success in producing Grange Hill at the start and also on other BBC children's programmes as well lead her to be named as Head of Children's Programmes. But in addition to this, she was to help out Blakstad in his role as a deputy controller. Added with Herbert Chappell, to be in charge of music programmes, an area where Southern had triumphed in, these people brought a mixture of experiences to the group.

TVS' thoughts were that they thought they were going to be forced into a shotgun marriage as Redifusion and ABC had been to form Thames in the 1967 franchise round and were almost counting on this to happen, but to their surprise, their interview went so well that the IBA decided to award them the franchise. Though in winning the franchise, apart from studios being built at Maidstone which Southern had already planned, they needed a base, so decided on buying Southern's studios at Northam. They negotiated a deal to buy the studios, but in setting up what programmes to make and plan what they were going to do, they need somewhere to work, so with Southern's agreement as part of the deal of purchasing the studios, that they were allowed to set portacabins in the car park.

This proved amusing to Southern and lead to Richard Stilgoe performing a song in Southern's last show called 'Portacabin Television' about how TVS were seemingly almost second class citizens on the sight they were going to take over. Southern's final show, 'And It's Goodbye From Us..' almost seems to cock a snook at the IBA for what they had done and reminding them what they done for ITV over the previous 23 years. Though TVS had the last laugh or did they? 

Stil-going after all these years...

In from starting in 1982 and serving the new dual region, they did not get off to the most auspicious of starts and it was not until 1984 when Greg Dyke had arrived from TV-AM that they started to move forward and they made significant progress until the late 1980's, exporting shows around the world. But with this success came almost a need to get bigger, they wanted to become one of ITV's leading players joining the Big Five with James Gatward even lobbying the government at that time to do so. They purchased Mary Tyler Moore's production company MTM Entertainment hoping to increase in size and getting a stranglehold in the American market, but by doing this they took their eye off the ball with the 1991 franchise round coming up and this was cost them as they got usurped by Meridian Broadcasting, who wanted to be a publisher broadcaster themselves just like TVS thought they were going to join forces with Southern and just Southern, TVS gave a reminder to not only their viewers but the ITC at that time what they had done for ITV at that time in 'Goodbye to all That'.

Kelly's eye... for a cameraman..

So you could you say, what goes around comes around really. But next time, we find a bunny re-hired and we don't go down a Black Hole instead going to Plymouth for a party with Lennie Bennett. In other words from South and South East to the South West as we see a galleon sunk 

by its own ambitions...