THE
ARTS
4062 Television -- then and now
My parents got television some way ahead of everyone else. Indeed, when we got it we had to use the Birmingham transmitter rather than the Holm Moss transmitter on the Pennines, which was supposed to cover our area but hadn’t been completed. We got it well ahead of Coronation, but that was the event in the first years of television which started to establish as a mass medium. Everyone, especially those who had been very snooty about our getting television, crowded into our front room to watch the Coronation. My poor mother had to spend the whole day providing drinks and snacks for everyone and didn't see much of it herself.
In those days, though, television reflected what was happening in the entertainment industry elsewhere. Thus, much of the time was spent on music hall, variety, turns. On the other hand, television tried to be somewhat up-market. Thus the music hall was performed in a mock nightclub -- 'Cafe Continental'. Regardless of the surroundings -- and the fact that the introduction implied that you came in a carriage and were greeted by a doorman -- it was music hall. Even so, it was the wonder of the age and we watched everything.
The intent to go up-market was also demonstrated by the announcers. These came on between programmes to tell you what was due to happen. However, they came on in full evening dress -- the men, such as McDonald Hobley, in DJs and the women -- such as Mary Malcolm and Sylvia Peters -- came on in evening gowns. Also there were, in between the programmes, what were referred to as interludes. These typically covered the gaps caused by technical breakdowns. Eventually they became popular programming in their own right. One was of a potter making pots. My favourite was the one going up the River Thames on a boat. There was a certain challenge to see how far up the Thames you might go before they actually managed to get the next programme on.
Other popular programmes were those of Picture Page and In Town Tonight, which were follow-ons to radio programmes which interviewed people arriving in London. There was no news service as such, though once a week there was radio newsreel which showed events happening over the previous week.
The few other programmes were typically spin-offs from radio programmes. I particularly remember Educating Archie which made more sense on television, since Archie was a ventriloquist's DUMMY, and ventriloquism on radio had a certain illogicality to it. .
Of course, the biggest difference was that not merely was there only one television channel, but it only ran for two to three hours every evening. There were few outside broadcasts, and one of the innovations was very large van with a single camera on top, which went through the streets and showed life as it happened.
In the case of children's television, I suppose, there was less difference of form. In remember Muffin the Mule, though modern American audiences might find title offensive! Children's television had its own announcers; of whom my favourite was Jennifer Gay - and she was my heart-throb at the time.
As I indicated, the main thrust was for middle-class respectability. This was understandable, where the audiences were very small and very middle-class.
Now, in the 21st century, things are very different. Now television runs 24 hours a day on literally hundreds of channels. The result seems to be that the main terrestrial channels, still with the biggest audiences, have decided to hold the audiences at one extreme with the extravagantly financed soaps. Almost everything is now turned into a soap; from love stories to crime stories. The one difference, in the short-term, seems be – at the other extreme - the emergence of cheap programmes trying to simulate real-life though, in fact, they are as theatrical as everything else.
If you hunt around, though, you can still find good documentary programmes and some well-made sitcoms -- as well as, on the odd occasion, some drama which is worthwhile.
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