April 1970 - Full of Life

Most of April was dominated by This Is Your Life. The first edition, Wednesday 8th April, surprised the cricketer Colin Milburn

Colin played nine tests for England before being all-but blinded in a motor accident in May 1969.
Following him in the second week, on Wednesday 15th April, was singer Frankie Vaughan and in the third week, Wednesday 22nd April, teacher and spiritualist Lorna Ridgway was surprised, although sadly both Frankie and Lorna's 'Life's are missing believed wiped.

In the final week of the month This Is Your Life took a week off, to make way for the FA Cup Final replay on Wednesday 29th April, Chelsea vs Leeds United, in which Chelsea beat Leeds 2-1 at Old Trafford, after a 2-2 draw in the original Wembley tie on Saturday 11th April. The television audience for the match was said to have been 12.95 million homes, an astounding figure for this time, or indeed any time, and the equivalent of about 28.5 million viewers, if the traditional 2.2 viewers-per-viewing-home multiplier is optimistically applied for a sports programme. However the 12.95 million homes were split between the BBC and ITV, with neither commanding an overwhelming audience share over the other, so it does not officially top the weekly TV charts in 1970, despite being in the all-time top 10 when combined audiences are taken into account. Some footage from the match can be seen here

Another major event in this month also achieved a massive combined audience without topping the weekly charts. This was the Apollo 13 splashdown on the early evening of Friday 17th April (though my source gives Tuesday 21st April, the originally planned date of splashdown). Apollo 13 was launched on Saturday 11th April, but was badly damaged by an oxygen tank heater explosion, and therefore the lunar mission became a fight for survival for the three crew members, and the splashdown was earlier than planned. The total combined viewing audience was 13 million homes, but as 4.6 million homes were watching the ITV coverage and 8.4 million homes the BBC coverage, it wasn't enough for the BBC coverage to top the charts, instead coming in at 2 behind TIYL. I will post the links to a series of video of much of the BBC coverage further down this blog.

Back to that final week in April 1970, and the split audience for the FA Cup Final, and the enforced absence of TIYL to make way for the event, gave Coronation Street the probably unexpected gift of a week at the top of the charts, on Monday 27th April (the Wednesday edition was marginally behind the Monday edition in terms of viewing figures this week, due to airing at 6:45pm because of that evening's football). Episode 974 featured the return of Hilda and Stan's newly widowed daughter, Irma, after two years living in Australia. Irma's husband, Ken's brother David Barlow, and her infant son Darren had both died offscreen in a car accident earlier in the month to bring about Irma's return. Elsewhere Dickie Fleming was trying to conceal the fact that his wife Audrey had gone missing, whilst omnipresent would-be supercop Cyril was, for once unable to help, as Audrey was not yet an official missing person.

April 1970 Summary

W/C 06/04/1970 This Is Your Life (Colin Milburn, Thames Television, Wed 8th April, somewhere between 7.8m and 8.9m)

W/C 13/04/1970 This Is Your Life (Frankie Vaughan, Thames Television, Wed 15th April, somewhere between 8.4m and 8.9m, NB This edition is missing believed wiped.)
[NB In this week the Apollo 13 Splashdown, Fri 17th April, had a combined BBC and ITV audience of 12.95m but the BBC audience of 8.4m was not enough to beat TIYL. Some of the BBC footage can be seen in the 5 videos linked here. Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA1X_Sjk7P0 , Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xiw38xF4fq0 , Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2dY-sjONx0 , Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JnRZ6LUjzI and Part 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA4O8OLCtA8 ]

W/C 20/04/1970 This Is Your Life (Lorna Ridgway, Thames Television, Wed 22nd April, somewhere between 8.1m and 8.4m, NB This edition is missing believed wiped)

W/C 27/04/1970 Coronation Street (Episode 974, Granada Television, Mon 27th April 19:30, 7.6m)
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_974_(27th_April_1970)
[NB In this week the FA Cup Replay, Wed 29th April abt 19:15, had a combined BBC and ITV audience of 13m, but this was split relatively evenly between both channels so it could not beat Coronation Street. A few clips of footage from the match can be seen in the video embedded above and linked here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvjLagMHPoU ]

March 1970 - All Kinds Of Everything

March 1970 four different show top the weekly TV charts, from three different companies, across five different weeks.

The first to do so was This Is Your Life, with an edition in which a less well known but more deserving life was told, as they surprised a lifeboat coxwain, and living hero, named Richard Evans, BEM.

From a hero of the sea to a hero of comedy, the following week's most-watched show was the fourth outing of Thames Television's Benny Hill Show. Comedian Benny had previously made 11 series of programmes for the BBC between 1955 and 1968, as well as various specials for ATV, but it was when he moved to Thames in 1969 that he found his true home, and he is mostly remembered today from his Thames era. The Benny Hill Show was broadcast periodically from 1970 to 1989, usually about 3 or 4 times a year, and each edition was an hour long special made of short sketches (Benny's quickies), comedy songs, longer sketches full of puns and double entendre, and ending with a speeded up chase sequence, usually, but not always, to the tune of Yakety Sax. This edition, the most watched Benny Hill Show of the year, and second most watched programme of the year overall, featured a particularly funny ballad 'The Garden Of My Love' in which Benny used loads of plant based puns to link the contents of his garden to the story of his love life, and a musical comedy version of Frankenstein's Monster amongst many other things. It can be viewed here if you don't mind the shrunken viewing screen and fixed background superimposed around it by the uploader.

Week two of March was topped by the second most watched programme of the year, and, by a nice quirk of the scheduling that year, week three was topped by the third most-watched programme. This time it was the first BBC charttopper of the year, although strictly speaking not made by them, as this was 1970's Eurovision Song Contest. The previous year had seen the infamous four way winner's tie, and therefore there was something of a choice to host this contest, which was eventually awarded to the Netherlands and held in Amsterdam. The Uk sent Mary Hopkin, singing Knock Knock Who's There, the reply presumably being not many of us, as Portugal and most of the Scandanavian region stayed at home in protest of the perceived scoring fiasco of 1969, meaning only 12 countries took part. Despite the contest's growing reputation for cheesy songs, perhaps involving ample use of 'la', the winner in 1970 was a young Irish girl called Dana, with a gentle song, All Kinds Of Everything. David Gell was the UK's commentator on BBC1 that year, but I can only find a commentary-free version of the contest.

We then return to Coronation Street the following week, where in Episodes 965 and 966 (unusually tied in the top spot that week), Ken and Val plan and open the new salon, initially unaware that owner Alan Howard has sold it on to bookie Dave Smith. Once the salon opens Len goes in to have his ridiculous looking moustache shaved off, but seeing assistant Bernard Butler (Gordon Kaye in a pre Allo Allo role) has shaky hands he chooses to do it himself. Bernard also struggles to make conversation with the customers, causing Dave to sack him, and the salon staff to walk out in support of him.

In the final week of March 1970 we turn full circle as once again This Is Your Life is on the top, and this time with the most watched edition of TIYL of 1970. The subject this week was popular 'sit down' comedian Ronnie Corbett, then known mainly for The Frost Report and sitcom No - That's Me Over Here! Ronnie was surprised while filming a sketch for The David Frost Show in which his character is convinced Eamonn Andrews is going to do his life, only for Eamonn to appear for real, leaving Ronnie flabbergasted.

March 1970 Summary

W/C 02/03/1970 This Is Your Life (Richard Evans, Thames Television, Wed 4th March, 8.7m)

W/C 09/03/1970 The Benny Hill Show (Ep 4, Thames Television, Wed 11th March 20:00, 9.3m)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-AMIaDXMA

W/C 16/03/1970 The Eurovision Song Contest (British Broadcasting Corporation, Sat 21st March 22:00, 9.2m)

http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/by-year/contest?event=223

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIhEVFWJ5F4

W/C 23/03/1970 Coronation Street (Episodes 964 & 965, Granada Television, Mon 23rd March 19:30 & Wed 25th March 19:30, both 8.1m)

http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_964_(23rd_March_1970)

http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_965_(25th_March_1970)

W/C 30/03/1970 This Is Your Life (Ronnie Corbett, Thames Television, Wed 1st April, 8.9m)

February 1970 - And Wendy Makes Four

It's February 1970 and the nation's favourite soap is once again the nation's most watched programme. Episode 951, Wednesday 4th February, features local gossip Hilda Ogden discovering that her good-for-nothing husband Stan had not been doing his nightshifts at the local bakery, so she anonymously rings the bakery to tip them off, causing Stan to be suspended for a night. Elsewhere Emily Nugent was sneaking into Len's builder's yard to see his tender (not a euphemism I assume!), only to be surprised that he had managed to lower the price.

The following week's most watched programme was still on Wednesday night (11th February) but was once again This Is Your Life. The celebrity being surprised this week, in a photography studio on this occasion, was actress Wendy Craig, who became particularly famous for the sitcom And Mother Makes Three/Five.

Wendy was joined by actor Dirk Bogarde and comedian and singer Harry Secombe among others.

But This Is Your Life only topped the chart once this month, the other three subjects, a sculptor, a golfer and a clown, failing to stimulate a higher audience than the Street, so we head back to Salford now.

In episode 955, Wednesday 18th February, the highest rated episode overall of 1970, miserly pensioner has been holding a siege in his house, number 1, for some reason, and policeman Cyril Turpin, husband of then-future hotpot queen Betty-Love Turpin, must find a way to get in and end the siege without breaking the law or involving his on-duty police colleagues. Elsewhere street siren Elsie Tanner's old flame Bill Gregory has turned up after leaving about 8 years previously, and wants to rekindle things with Elsie, who is already dating Alan Howard. Len, another of Elsie's old flames, encourages Bill, as competion for Alan, and offers to let him stay with him at number 9, Meanwhile Annie is trying to deduce which of her regulars or contacts sent her a large anonymous Valentines card. The episode ends with Bill explaining to Elsie that his wife Phyllis had died some years previously, and that he is a free man and therefore will she marry him?

A rather shortened version of this episode can be seen here, though the full episode is available on the Network DVD 1970s boxset.

In episode 957, Wednesday 25th February, Bill is leaving and has asked Elsie to decide whether to come with him or not, whilst Alan asks her not to go.

Elsewhere Annie had fallen down a hole in the street the previous night, due to Ray and the Flemings (a young couple living at no3 in 1970) removing the red warning light from it, and was threatening to report Ben, the nightwatchman, however never-off-duty copper Cyril investigates and gets to the bottom of things.

February 1970 Summary

W/C 02/02/1970 Coronation Street (Ep 951, Granada Television, Wed 4th Feb 19:30, 8.65m)
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_951_(4th_February_1970)

W/C 09/02/1970 This Is Your Life (Wendy Craig, Wed 11th Feb, somewhere between 8.5m and 8.9m)

W/C 16/02/1970 Coronation Street (Ep 955, Granada Television, Wed 18th Feb 19:30, 8.85m)
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_955_(18th_February_1970)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQR1Lx-7N-k

W/C 23/02/1970 Coronation Street (Ep 957, Granada Television, Wed 25th Feb 19:30, 8.75m)
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_957_(25th_February_1970)

January 1970 - The Dawn Of A Dazzling New Decade

Colour was a very recent introduction to British television at the start of the 70s, having only begun on 15th November 1969, and was still something of a luxury, and not yet available in all IBA regions, but by the end of the decade colour would more or less be the standard for British television.
Our first colourful journey to 1970 starts in a drab northern street where the only real colour was painted on the front doors.
I'm of course referring to the Granada serial Coronation Street, the most watched show in the Uk in both the weeks commencing 5th January and 12th January. Coronation Street is by this time just over 9 years old, but many of it's original residents are still around at this stage, including Annie Walker, landlady of the Rovers Return, who in episode 942 on 5th January decides that she will only serve customers who are smartly dressed, a ruling which only results in most of her customers and bar staff boycotting the Rovers in favour of the Flying Horse.

Meanwhile corner shop owner Maggie Clegg agrees to divorce her estranged husband Les, and sets her sights on local builder Len Fairclough, but he only has eyes for the barmaid in the Flying Horse. By episode 944 on 12th January it would seem the boycott of the Rovers is still going on, as Len's apprentice, Ray Langton, has fainted in the Flying Horse and needs medical attention. Meanwhile Maggie still has her sights set on Len, as does Flying Horse barmaid Anita, and both ponder their feelings and next move during this episode. The most significant thing about episode 944 though is that it marks the debut of Coronation Street's first brick exterior, erected on the site of what was Grape Street, just behind the Granada Television Studios. Prior to this brick set, Coronation Street had used painted wooden facades, and cobbles handpainted on the studio floor, to create the street within their studio. These wooden facades had been supposedly weatherproofed and erected on the Grape Street site in 1968, before they rapidly perished and were rebuilt in brick due to the introduction of colour.

The second of Coronation Street's and Granada's charttopping weeks this month was actually in a tie with it's IBA rival, Thames', biggest show This Is Your Life. This Is Your Life involved the incumbent presenter surprising a well-known or particularly worthy person in whatever location they were in, or had been contrived by the producers to be in, and presenting them with a book full of details and photographs of their life (though the book used in the actual show was blank, and the real book was produced after the recording) with the immortal words ".....tonight this is your life!". The presenter would then take them back to the studio to present a half hour show in which their loved ones, friends and colleagues from throughout their life would be revealed to have assembled to shower them with memories and praise. In the US the presenter was Ralph Edwards, but in the UK version it was an Irishman called Eamonn Andrews. Eamonn first surprised people in this way for the BBC between 1955-1964 before the show lay dormant, until being picked up in 1969 by London IBA franchisee Thames Televison, who had been formed the previous year by the enforced merger of original London weekday franchisee Associated Rediffusion with ABC, who had provide the newly defunct weekend franchises to the North and Midlands regions. Viewing figures for the 1950s are hard to come by, but it would seem that the BBC era of This Is Your Life never troubled the top of the viewing charts, whilst the Thames version had hit number one for the first time in the last week of 1969, with a news years eve edition celebrating the Beverley Sisters.
This Is Your Life would now top the chart for three of the four weeks of January 1970, week commencing 12th January in a tie, and weeks commencing 19th and 26th January outright.
Wednesday 14th January's edition surprised boxer Henry Cooper, and can be seen here:

Interestingly at this stage the infamous 'big red book' has yet to become red, presumably because colour TV was still in its infancy and producers hadn't yet found ways of making programmes more colourful. The following week's edition, Wednesday 21st January, surprised racing driver Jackie Stewart in the foyer of Euston Road Studios,

and the week after, Wednesday 28th January was the first of two surprises for Jimmy Saville who would be surprised again just over 20 years later, though of course Jimmy is now remembered in a rather different way to either of his two 'Life's. In any case whilst all of Coronation Street's 8000+ episodes survive, and both the Henry Cooper edition of This Is Your Life (above) and the Jackie Stewart edition survive, the Jimmy Saville edition from 1970 is now missing presumed wiped, which may be just as well.......

January 1970 Summary
NB Viewing figures for this period are measured in millions of homes. To get a rough idea of how many millions of viewers this equates to, it is usually suggested to multiply this figure by 2.2

W/C 05/01/1970 Coronation Street (Ep 942,  Granada Television, Mon 5th Jan 19:30, 8.25m)
Coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_942_(5th_January_1970)

W/C 12/01/1970 Coronation Street (Ep 945, Granada Television, Weds 14th Jan 19:30, 8.2m)
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_944_(12th_January_1970)
                            This Is Your Life (Henry Cooper, Thames Television, Weds 14th Jan 19:30 8.2m)
http://www.bigredbook.info/henry_cooper.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnkq1CXvQPw

W/C 19/01/1970 This Is Your Life (Jackie Stewart, Thames Television, Weds 21st Jan, somewhere between 8.2m and 8.9m)

W/C 26/01/1970 This Is Your Life (Jimmy Saville, Thames Television, Weds 28th Jan, somewhere between 8.35m and 8.9m - NB: This edition is missing presumed wiped)

Top Of The Box - An Introduction

Hi there,
I'm a telly addict based in the UK, and love nothing better than to discover old television programmes from across the decades, whether they be the obvious favourites like Coronation Street and Eastenders, or more obscure shows that were either short-lived or aimed at a niche audience. Thankfully we now live in the broadband age, where it is possible to find and view video clips, and other information, related to a whole host of old shows, without having to leave our armchair.
We can now revisit, or enjoy for the first time, thousands upon thousands of hours of archive television from all over the globe, but given that many many more hours of television have now been made than can be viewed in an average lifetime how can we hope to someday have watched the very best of whats to offer, whether that be the most popular shows or the most notorious for whatever reason? One way of doing this is by studying the viewing figures at the time to see what was picking up the largest audiences over the weeks, months and years, but this is difficult, as prior to 1998 there isn't a huge amount of data readily available for us to refer to, or rather there wasn't.
I have recently obtained a good source of viewing data for the 60s, 70s and 80s, which I have been able to supplement with a few online sources to get a fairly comprehensive picture of the televisual landscape over the years and now intend to post a regular blog detailing the most watched TV programmes week-by-week, and where possible providing links to online videos of the actual episodes that topped the weekly charts.
I have chosen to begin with 1970, partly as that roughly marked the introduction of colour to UK television, and partly as I'm slightly more familiar with the programmes of that age than of a decade before. It is also more likely that programmes survive in the archive from 1970 than from 1960, making it more likely that at least some of them have been snuck onto youtube at some stage.

Before I move onto the blog proper though, it's worth exploring the history and make-up of the UK's television industry at the end of the 60s.
UK television was made up at this time of three channels, BBC1, BBC2 and the IBA (more commonly referred to these days as ITV, although that name was seldom used in the 60s).
BBC1 and BBC2 belonged to the British Broadcasting Corporation, who had begun the first British televisual service in 1936, before having to shut down for the second world war. After the war they picked up where they left off as the nation's public service broadcaster, and in 1964 they launched a second channel for more niche programming. The BBC where, and still are, funded by a licence fee (a form of tax), and had to adhere to a public service broadcasting remit laid out in a royal charter.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority on the other hand were the organisation in charge of a network of commercial television companies, each with an IBA franchise to broadcast in a particular region of the country, and in some cases only on weekdays or weekends. Every few years the IBA would review the franchisees output and future plans, and either choose to keep the franchisee or offer the franchise to an alternative company.
The IBA franchisees by the end of 1969 were of various sizes and levels of network participation. There were the 5 'majors' who had the largest regional areas, and were also the producers of most of the major networked programmes, as well as producing regional news and programming for their own regions. These were: Thames Television [London Weekday franchise]
                                           London Weekend Television (LWT) [London Weekend franchise]
                                           Granada Telvision [The North West franchise]
                                           Yorkshire Television (YTV) [Yorkshire franchise]
                                    and Associated Television (ATV) [Midlands franchise].
There were also five slightly smaller companies who provided some network programming, usually in niche areas such as Childrens, Religion etc, whilst also providing their region's local news and programming. These were: Southern Televison [South Of England franchise]
                                            Harlech Television (HTV) [Wales And West Of England Franchise]
                                            Anglia Television [East Of England franchise]
                                            Scottish Television (STV) [Scotland franchise]
                                     and Tyne Tees Television [North East Of England franchise].
Finally there were the five 'minors' who usually made only regional news and programmes for their own regions. These were: Westward Television [South West of England franchise]
                                           Grampian Television [Highlands Of Scotland franchise]
                                           Border Television [Scottish Borders franchise]
                                           Ulster Television (UTV) [Northern Ireland franchise]
                                     and Channel Television [Channel Islands franchise].
In summary the UK television audience at the end of 1969, at any given time, had 3 choices (4 if you count switching off altogether), watching either BBC1, BBC2 or their regional IBA franchisee. BBC2 was always focused on niche programming so generally speaking BBC1 and the IBA picked up the week's largest audiences, particularly in what we now know as primetime, the period after most evening meals had been eaten and before a large portion of the audience started heading to bed, typically about 7-9pm. IBA programmes in that timeslot where either regional, and therefore could only attract a smaller audience limited, to a greater or lesser degree, by the size of their region, or else were networked programmes made mostly by the five majors, although in practice the majority of network programming was being made by the two franchises, Thames and Granada, who, along with the BBC, are the three companies who will shall be hearing about in the majority of these blogs. Thames, the largest of all, would go on to think of themselves as being practically synonymous with ITV, but would be left horrified when they lost their franchise in the 1990 franchise round, ceasing broadcasting at the end of 1992, but instantly becoming the countries biggest truly independent television producers, and the holders of a very lucrative archive of some of ITVs most watched and most loved programming from its first 35+ years. Granada continued into the current millenium, by which point they had bought up, or merged with, the franchisees of all but 3 of the original franchises (the Scottish and Northern Irish franchisees remaining separate to this day) and had become the foundations of the present day ITV plc.
But enough of looking at where UK television is in the present day, let's now turn the clock back a little over 45 years to a time when TV had only just begun broadcasting in colour. To a time when the only way to watch a programme was to watch it on the day, and at the time, it went out, and when a schedule clash between popular programmes on the BBC1 and the IBA meant you had to choose which side to watch and which side to never be able to watch, or else flick between channels to see what you were missing, and thereby not be able to properly enjoy either programme. Let's travel through the mists of time to January 1970, where I'll meet you on a vaguely familiar, but strangely different, terraced street somewhere in the Greater Manchester area................