TV-am
Encyclopedia
TV-am was a breakfast television
station that broadcast to the United Kingdom
from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time (and the first and only national commercial television station), and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period between 06:00 and 09:25.
awarded the breakfast franchise to TV-am on 28 December 1980.
Although the initial launch date was set for June 1983 the Independent Broadcasting Authority allowed the station to bring forward its start-date to 1 February 1983 in response to the launch of the BBC service Breakfast Time
two weeks earlier.
This hurried start affected the company in two ways. Firstly, ITV had failed in its negotiations for royalties
and rates for advertising on the new Channel 4
and the breakfast service with the actors' trade union
, Equity. The union instructed its members to boycott
the new station, which meant there was little or no advertising, or revenue from advertising, in the early days.
Secondly, it was believed that the BBC's breakfast service would be highbrow
, focusing on news and analysis, so TV-am had developed its new service to copy that. However, the BBC launched a lightweight, magazine-style programme that mimicked the style of United States
breakfast television. With the launch of the BBC's Breakfast Time brought forward at short notice this gave little time for TV-am to redevelop its plans.
TV-am was spearheaded by 'The Famous Five' who were not only lined up as presenters on the station, but were also shareholders — Michael Parkinson
, David Frost
(1983–92), Angela Rippon
(1983), Anna Ford
(1983) and Robert Kee
.
There had been many difficulties for the other presenters in the run-up to the station launch. When the franchise was announced in 1981 Angela Rippon's contract with the BBC was about to expire, and was not renewed as a result of her new employment. Anna Ford was dismissed by ITN, which had been part of another consortium bidding for the breakfast contract. Michael Parkinson
did remain with the BBC who hoped to persuade him to stay as they had with Rantzen.
TV-am's headquarters and studios were at 'Breakfast Television Centre', Hawley Crescent, Camden Town
, London. Designed by Terry Farrell
and converted from a former car showroom, the building included a number of large plastic egg-cups on its roof.
Programmes originally ran from 06:00 to 09:15, with Daybreak
(not to be confused with the post-2010 ITV breakfast show of the same name) then Good Morning Britain
filling weekday mornings, followed by engineering announcements before the start of the regional ITV franchises at 09:25. The IBA later extended TV-am's hours to 09:25 to allow continuous programming, and some years after that the ITV stations extended their hours to 6am to provide 24-hour television.
was a huge success, TV-am's early ratings were very disappointing. Its high-minded and somewhat starchy approach, summed up in chief executive Peter Jay
's phrase "mission to explain", sat uneasily at that time of day, and was easily upstaged by Breakfast Time's sure-footed and accessible magazine style, which effortlessly mixed heavy news and light-hearted features (famously moving cabinet ministers, after a serious interview, to help with a cookery demonstration).
Peter Jay was forced to resign when he refused to dismiss some of his star presenters. His replacement, British politician Jonathan Aitken
, fired Angela Rippon
and Anna Ford
and threatened to dismiss Michael Parkinson
(whose weekend show was the only success the station was having, largely because the BBC
did not broadcast on weekend mornings). All three had given support to Jay on air, which infuriated the station's management. David Frost
was moved from the main show as part of the shakeup. Angela Rippon was not a hit with viewers, who complained when she was 'rude' and 'belittling' to sports presenter Nick Owen
. Anna Ford refused to be moved, leading to her dismissal and when she encountered Jonathan Aitken
at a party some months later she threw her glass of wine in his face. Their replacements were Anne Diamond
(1983-1992) and Nick Owen
(1983-1986). Greg Dyke
was brought in as director of programmes, and slowly ratings improved. To save money the show spent the summer on the road, in a show coming from various seaside resorts and presented by Chris Tarrant
. A notable gimmick introduced at this time was the puppet Roland Rat
; this attracted large audiences of youngsters and pushed up overall viewing figures.
The low audiences brought financial problems. The company was close to having its power supply disconnected: a London Electricity
official arrived during a press conference with a warrant to cut off power for non-payment. Elsewhere, a local newsagent stopped supplying the station with newspapers for the same reason.
The cost-cutting was brought sharply into focus in the Brighton hotel bombing
on the British Cabinet in 1984. The night before the terrorist attack, TV-am sent the production team home as they could not afford to pay for hotel rooms. When the blast occurred in the early hours, the BBC
and ITN
provided immediate coverage. TV-am's response was limited to a caption of reporter John Stapleton
reporting over the phone, while the BBC were showing graphic coverage of the attack. Trade union
rules of the time forbade technical staff at the local ITV station TVS
from providing cover for another commercial television company, and previous conflicts with ITN meant that they would not share their footage with TV-am
The whole affair earned the company a severe rebuke from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, who told the company to invest and improve their news coverage, or they would lose their licence.
took a substantial minority interest in the company, and in May appointed his own Chief Executive, Bruce Gyngell
, who had run Australian networks and previously worked in the UK for ATV
in the 1970s, and later ran Yorkshire Television
. Greg Dyke left to take a new position with TVS
, but Gyngell pursued the same lightweight, populist approach that Dyke had forged to establish the station's viability, a model parodied later in a Guardian newspaper headline as 'Snap, Crackle and Pap'.
The station began the Saturday morning programme Wacaday
for children which gave Mike Myers
his first regular television work, having been spotted at the Edinburgh Festival
.
In an echo of the changes which had occurred in newspapers, Gyngell was determined to make use of technical developments in television in order to reduce staff and save money. He believed that the ease of use of modern video-recording and other broadcasting equipment meant that staffing levels could be reduced: ENG
crews would no longer require a separate lighting technician (following a pattern familiar in Gyngell's native Australia), and technical personnel could be virtually eliminated. This brought him into conflict with the broadcasting trade unions, but gained him support from Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
and her government.
In 1987 technical staff at the station went on a 24-hour strike. Management locked out the strikers, but stayed on air using non-technical staff to broadcast a skeleton service including (among other things) episodes of the American series Flipper
, Batman
and Happy Days
; while secretaries manned cameras, Gyngell himself directed the show. Although shambolic at times, this schedule turned out on occasions to be more popular than former programming (although not what they would have been be allowed to broadcast under any other circumstances). In the hurricane-force storms that hit England
in October that year electrical power to TV-am's studios was lost and an emergency programme had to be transmitted from facilities at Thames Television
's Euston Road
centre, using reports from TV-am's own crews and those of ITN
, TSW
and TVS
. All this withstanding, the programme continued to thrive. Eventually, Bruce Gyngell fired all of the strikers, replacing them with non-unionised labour from around the world.
In the years that followed, the station gradually found its feet again, and by the early 1990s, operating with a significantly reduced staff, it was the world's most profitable TV station in terms of turnover. During this period the station became the most popular breakfast television service in the UK, as the BBC's Breakfast Time lost viewers. In 1989 the BBC replaced the magazine-style Breakfast Time with a more in-depth and analytical news format called Breakfast News, reminiscent of TV-am's original format.
In 1990 changes in the law meant that commercial television franchises were no longer allocated on merit or potential but rather through a blind auction, the results of which were made public on 16 October 1991. TV-am bid £14.3m, but were outbid by another consortium, Sunrise Television
(which changed its name to GMTV when it launched), which had bid £36.4m. Ironically, in the years following GMTV's launch, the group approached the ITC to retrospectively obtain a reduction in this fee, reducing it to a level below TV-am's original bid.
By February 1992 the first on-screen effects of the licence loss became obvious, with TV-am closing its in-house news service and contracting it out to Sky News
for a one-off payment. Children's programming also suffered, with fewer appearances of Timmy Mallet, and 'Wacaday' replaced by 'Cartoon World' on Saturdays from 8am (extended to 7.30am later in the year).
Margaret Thatcher
, whose government had introduced the change to the allocation of commercial television franchises (but who had by then been replaced as Prime Minister by John Major
), famously wrote to Bruce Gyngell
, apologising for being partly responsible for the loss of the TV-am's licence. It read, in part: "I am ... heartbroken. I am only too painfully aware that I was responsible for the legislation." The letter was private but Gyngell made it public, which drew criticism from friends of the former Prime Minister.
The station's broadcasting finished on 31 December 1992 at 09:21 with a caption over a black-and-white still of the station's cast and crew in the studio:
"TV-am: February 1, 1983 - December 31, 1992"
This was then followed by a final commercial break in which there was no final appearance by the famous eggcups, although they made their last appearance on Wednesday 30th December 1992. Instead the final commercial was for GMTV.
At 09:25 the other franchise-losers, TVS
, TSW
and Thames
, began their final day's schedules and were replaced at midnight by Meridian
, Westcountry
, and Carlton
respectively.
The next day GMTV
began at 06:00. Their opening studio segment included a tribute to TV-am in the form of a painting similar to their ident visible on the set behind the presenters. While TV-am, as an independent station, had used an expensive, custom-built studio complex at Camden lock, GMTV used studio space at The London Studios
owned by one of GMTV's shareholders, LWT.
Breakfast Television Centre in Camden Town was sold to MTV networks in 1993, with the famous eggcups still standing on the roof of the building beside the Regent's Canal
. As well as being used by MTV for the production of its programmes, MTV Studios, as they were now known, were available for commercial hire within the TV industry. In 1999 a fire broke out in a video suite, causing extensive damage to the first floor and roof of the building. Production studios and offices were undamaged, as were the eggcups. In August 1993, TV-am plc became Crockfords plc, since 1995 known as Capital Corporation Ltd, a gambling company which is currently non-trading. The TV-am logos on the front of the building were obscured but are still partially visible.
"TV-am", the TV-am logo, and fifteen registered trade marks are now owned by journalist
Ian White. The archive of TV-am programmes made between 1983 and 1992 was taken over by Moving Image Communications Ltd.
Breakfast television
Breakfast television or morning show , is a type of infotainment television program, broadcast live in the morning...
station that broadcast to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time (and the first and only national commercial television station), and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period between 06:00 and 09:25.
February 1983: The beginning
The Independent Broadcasting AuthorityIndependent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
awarded the breakfast franchise to TV-am on 28 December 1980.
Although the initial launch date was set for June 1983 the Independent Broadcasting Authority allowed the station to bring forward its start-date to 1 February 1983 in response to the launch of the BBC service Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time was British television's first national breakfast show, beating TV-am's flagship programme Good Morning Britain to the air by two weeks.The show was revolutionary for the time...
two weeks earlier.
This hurried start affected the company in two ways. Firstly, ITV had failed in its negotiations for royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
and rates for advertising on the new Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and the breakfast service with the actors' trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, Equity. The union instructed its members to boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
the new station, which meant there was little or no advertising, or revenue from advertising, in the early days.
Secondly, it was believed that the BBC's breakfast service would be highbrow
Highbrow
Used colloquially as a noun or adjective, highbrow is synonymous with intellectual; as an adjective, it also means elite, and generally carries a connotation of high culture. The word draws its metonymy from the pseudoscience of phrenology, and was originally simply a physical descriptor...
, focusing on news and analysis, so TV-am had developed its new service to copy that. However, the BBC launched a lightweight, magazine-style programme that mimicked the style of United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
breakfast television. With the launch of the BBC's Breakfast Time brought forward at short notice this gave little time for TV-am to redevelop its plans.
TV-am was spearheaded by 'The Famous Five' who were not only lined up as presenters on the station, but were also shareholders — Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
, David Frost
David Frost (broadcaster)
Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE is a British journalist, comedian, writer, media personality and daytime TV game show host best known for his two decades as host of Through the Keyhole and serious interviews with various political figures, the most notable being Richard Nixon...
(1983–92), Angela Rippon
Angela Rippon
Angela M. Rippon, OBE, born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, Devon, England, is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975...
(1983), Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
(1983) and Robert Kee
Robert Kee
Robert Kee CBE is a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland....
.
There had been many difficulties for the other presenters in the run-up to the station launch. When the franchise was announced in 1981 Angela Rippon's contract with the BBC was about to expire, and was not renewed as a result of her new employment. Anna Ford was dismissed by ITN, which had been part of another consortium bidding for the breakfast contract. Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
did remain with the BBC who hoped to persuade him to stay as they had with Rantzen.
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
, London. Designed by Terry Farrell
Terry Farrell (architect)
Sir Terry Farrell, CBE, RIBA, FRSA, FCSD, MRTPI is a British architect.-Life and career:Farrell was born in Sale, Cheshire. As a youth he moved to Newcastle upon Tyne, where he attended St Cuthbert's High School. He graduated with a degree from Newcastle University, followed by a Masters in urban...
and converted from a former car showroom, the building included a number of large plastic egg-cups on its roof.
Programmes originally ran from 06:00 to 09:15, with Daybreak
Daybreak (TV-am)
Not to be confused with Daybreak, the programme from ITV Breakfast Limited, and the current breakfast operatorDaybreak was an early morning news programme on the former UK breakfast station TV-am. It ran from 06:00 to 07:00 with an emphasis on news stories...
(not to be confused with the post-2010 ITV breakfast show of the same name) then Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain was TV-am's flagship breakfast television show throughout TV-am's time on air, broadcasting five days a week, initially from 7am until 9am. By 1985 the programme started at the earlier time of 6.15am and by 1988 the programme started at 6am. It had many different presenters...
filling weekday mornings, followed by engineering announcements before the start of the regional ITV franchises at 09:25. The IBA later extended TV-am's hours to 09:25 to allow continuous programming, and some years after that the ITV stations extended their hours to 6am to provide 24-hour television.
The summer of 1983: troubled times
While the BBC's Breakfast TimeBreakfast Time
Breakfast Time was British television's first national breakfast show, beating TV-am's flagship programme Good Morning Britain to the air by two weeks.The show was revolutionary for the time...
was a huge success, TV-am's early ratings were very disappointing. Its high-minded and somewhat starchy approach, summed up in chief executive Peter Jay
Peter Jay
Peter Jay is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat.-Background:Peter Jay is the son of Douglas and Peggy Jay, both of whom were Labour Party politicians...
's phrase "mission to explain", sat uneasily at that time of day, and was easily upstaged by Breakfast Time's sure-footed and accessible magazine style, which effortlessly mixed heavy news and light-hearted features (famously moving cabinet ministers, after a serious interview, to help with a cookery demonstration).
Peter Jay was forced to resign when he refused to dismiss some of his star presenters. His replacement, British politician Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months...
, fired Angela Rippon
Angela Rippon
Angela M. Rippon, OBE, born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, Devon, England, is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975...
and Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
and threatened to dismiss Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
(whose weekend show was the only success the station was having, largely because the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
did not broadcast on weekend mornings). All three had given support to Jay on air, which infuriated the station's management. David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
was moved from the main show as part of the shakeup. Angela Rippon was not a hit with viewers, who complained when she was 'rude' and 'belittling' to sports presenter Nick Owen
Nick Owen
Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
. Anna Ford refused to be moved, leading to her dismissal and when she encountered Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan Aitken
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months...
at a party some months later she threw her glass of wine in his face. Their replacements were Anne Diamond
Anne Diamond
Anne Margaret Diamond is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick for BBC1, both with Nick Owen as her co-presenter...
(1983-1992) and Nick Owen
Nick Owen
Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
(1983-1986). Greg Dyke
Greg Dyke
Gregory "Greg" Dyke is a British media executive, journalist and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am...
was brought in as director of programmes, and slowly ratings improved. To save money the show spent the summer on the road, in a show coming from various seaside resorts and presented by Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
. A notable gimmick introduced at this time was the puppet Roland Rat
Roland Rat
Roland Rat is a British television puppet character. He was created, operated and voiced by David Claridge, who had previously been behind the Mooncat puppet in the Children's ITV television programme Get Up and Go! David worked for Jim Henson, then the second series of The Young Ones...
; this attracted large audiences of youngsters and pushed up overall viewing figures.
The low audiences brought financial problems. The company was close to having its power supply disconnected: a London Electricity
London Electricity
London Electricity can refer to:*The London Electricity Board, public utility company responsible for electricity in the London area prior to privatisation in 1990...
official arrived during a press conference with a warrant to cut off power for non-payment. Elsewhere, a local newsagent stopped supplying the station with newspapers for the same reason.
The cost-cutting was brought sharply into focus in the Brighton hotel bombing
Brighton hotel bombing
The Brighton hotel bombing happened on 12 October 1984 at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England. The bomb was planted by Provisional Irish Republican Army member Patrick Magee, with the intention of assassinating Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet who were staying at the hotel for the...
on the British Cabinet in 1984. The night before the terrorist attack, TV-am sent the production team home as they could not afford to pay for hotel rooms. When the blast occurred in the early hours, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and ITN
Independent Television News
ITN is a news and content provider with headquarters in the United Kingdom. It is made up of four key businesses: ITN News, ITN Source, ITN Productions and ITN Consulting. The ITN logotype can be displayed in any of 4 different colours, each of which represents a business unit. This is the...
provided immediate coverage. TV-am's response was limited to a caption of reporter John Stapleton
John Stapleton
John Martin Stapleton is an English journalist and presenter. He is currently working as a freelancer with various media outlets.-Television career:...
reporting over the phone, while the BBC were showing graphic coverage of the attack. Trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
rules of the time forbade technical staff at the local ITV station TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
from providing cover for another commercial television company, and previous conflicts with ITN meant that they would not share their footage with TV-am
The whole affair earned the company a severe rebuke from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, who told the company to invest and improve their news coverage, or they would lose their licence.
1984-1991: Recovery and success
In 1984 Australian business tycoon Kerry PackerKerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer, AC was an Australian media tycoon. The son of Sir Frank Packer and Gretel Bullmore, the Packer family company owned controlling interest in both the Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later...
took a substantial minority interest in the company, and in May appointed his own Chief Executive, Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell was a hugely influential Australian television executive, prominent for 50 years in both Australian and U.K. television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena of early television broadcasting, helping to set up Channel 9, the first...
, who had run Australian networks and previously worked in the UK for ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
in the 1970s, and later ran Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
. Greg Dyke left to take a new position with TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
, but Gyngell pursued the same lightweight, populist approach that Dyke had forged to establish the station's viability, a model parodied later in a Guardian newspaper headline as 'Snap, Crackle and Pap'.
The station began the Saturday morning programme Wacaday
Wacaday
Wacaday was a children's television series in the UK that ran in TV-am's school-holidays slot from 1985 until 1992, in an 8:50-9:25 a.m. slot, and was hosted by Timmy Mallett....
for children which gave Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
his first regular television work, having been spotted at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
.
In an echo of the changes which had occurred in newspapers, Gyngell was determined to make use of technical developments in television in order to reduce staff and save money. He believed that the ease of use of modern video-recording and other broadcasting equipment meant that staffing levels could be reduced: ENG
Electronic news gathering
ENG is a broadcasting industry acronym which stands for electronic news gathering. It can mean anything from a lone broadcast journalist reporter taking a single professional video camera out to shoot a story, to an entire television crew taking a production truck or satellite truck on location...
crews would no longer require a separate lighting technician (following a pattern familiar in Gyngell's native Australia), and technical personnel could be virtually eliminated. This brought him into conflict with the broadcasting trade unions, but gained him support from Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and her government.
In 1987 technical staff at the station went on a 24-hour strike. Management locked out the strikers, but stayed on air using non-technical staff to broadcast a skeleton service including (among other things) episodes of the American series Flipper
Flipper (1964 TV series)
Flipper, from Ivan Tors Films in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, is an American television program first broadcast on NBC from September 19, 1964, until April 15, 1967. Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the companion animal of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at fictional Coral Key Park...
, Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
and Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
; while secretaries manned cameras, Gyngell himself directed the show. Although shambolic at times, this schedule turned out on occasions to be more popular than former programming (although not what they would have been be allowed to broadcast under any other circumstances). In the hurricane-force storms that hit England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in October that year electrical power to TV-am's studios was lost and an emergency programme had to be transmitted from facilities at Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
's Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
centre, using reports from TV-am's own crews and those of ITN
Independent Television News
ITN is a news and content provider with headquarters in the United Kingdom. It is made up of four key businesses: ITN News, ITN Source, ITN Productions and ITN Consulting. The ITN logotype can be displayed in any of 4 different colours, each of which represents a business unit. This is the...
, TSW
Television South West
Television South West was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from the former Westward Television studios in Plymouth, Devon.-Origins and Launch:...
and TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
. All this withstanding, the programme continued to thrive. Eventually, Bruce Gyngell fired all of the strikers, replacing them with non-unionised labour from around the world.
In the years that followed, the station gradually found its feet again, and by the early 1990s, operating with a significantly reduced staff, it was the world's most profitable TV station in terms of turnover. During this period the station became the most popular breakfast television service in the UK, as the BBC's Breakfast Time lost viewers. In 1989 the BBC replaced the magazine-style Breakfast Time with a more in-depth and analytical news format called Breakfast News, reminiscent of TV-am's original format.
1991/2: Franchise loss
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
(which changed its name to GMTV when it launched), which had bid £36.4m. Ironically, in the years following GMTV's launch, the group approached the ITC to retrospectively obtain a reduction in this fee, reducing it to a level below TV-am's original bid.
By February 1992 the first on-screen effects of the licence loss became obvious, with TV-am closing its in-house news service and contracting it out to Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
for a one-off payment. Children's programming also suffered, with fewer appearances of Timmy Mallet, and 'Wacaday' replaced by 'Cartoon World' on Saturdays from 8am (extended to 7.30am later in the year).
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, whose government had introduced the change to the allocation of commercial television franchises (but who had by then been replaced as Prime Minister by John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
), famously wrote to Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell was a hugely influential Australian television executive, prominent for 50 years in both Australian and U.K. television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena of early television broadcasting, helping to set up Channel 9, the first...
, apologising for being partly responsible for the loss of the TV-am's licence. It read, in part: "I am ... heartbroken. I am only too painfully aware that I was responsible for the legislation." The letter was private but Gyngell made it public, which drew criticism from friends of the former Prime Minister.
The station's broadcasting finished on 31 December 1992 at 09:21 with a caption over a black-and-white still of the station's cast and crew in the studio:
"TV-am: February 1, 1983 - December 31, 1992"
This was then followed by a final commercial break in which there was no final appearance by the famous eggcups, although they made their last appearance on Wednesday 30th December 1992. Instead the final commercial was for GMTV.
At 09:25 the other franchise-losers, TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
, TSW
Television South West
Television South West was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from the former Westward Television studios in Plymouth, Devon.-Origins and Launch:...
and Thames
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
, began their final day's schedules and were replaced at midnight by Meridian
Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....
, Westcountry
Westcountry Television
Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993...
, and Carlton
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
respectively.
The next day GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
began at 06:00. Their opening studio segment included a tribute to TV-am in the form of a painting similar to their ident visible on the set behind the presenters. While TV-am, as an independent station, had used an expensive, custom-built studio complex at Camden lock, GMTV used studio space at The London Studios
The London Studios
The London Studios is a television studio complex which is owned by London Weekend Television and has been home to the London Weekend ITV provider since 1972...
owned by one of GMTV's shareholders, LWT.
Breakfast Television Centre in Camden Town was sold to MTV networks in 1993, with the famous eggcups still standing on the roof of the building beside the Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London....
. As well as being used by MTV for the production of its programmes, MTV Studios, as they were now known, were available for commercial hire within the TV industry. In 1999 a fire broke out in a video suite, causing extensive damage to the first floor and roof of the building. Production studios and offices were undamaged, as were the eggcups. In August 1993, TV-am plc became Crockfords plc, since 1995 known as Capital Corporation Ltd, a gambling company which is currently non-trading. The TV-am logos on the front of the building were obscured but are still partially visible.
"TV-am", the TV-am logo, and fifteen registered trade marks are now owned by journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Ian White. The archive of TV-am programmes made between 1983 and 1992 was taken over by Moving Image Communications Ltd.
Presenters
- Anne DiamondAnne DiamondAnne Margaret Diamond is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick for BBC1, both with Nick Owen as her co-presenter...
, 1983-90, Good Morning Britain (Anne Diamond on Sundays) - Maya EvenMaya EvenDr Maya Even , is a Canadian born British based University lecturer, journalist and television presenter.Born in Canada, and educated at McGill University, Montreal, and St Anthony's College, University of Oxford where she first came to in 1979 and completed a doctoral thesis entitled The Evolution...
1989-1992 - began her television career at TV-am in 1987, first as a researcher in the political unit and then as a producer and reporter from 1989, mainly from WestminsterPalace of WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
. In 1990 she took over from Richard KeysRichard KeysRichard Keys is an English radio presenter best known for his time with British sports channel Sky Sports from 1991 until 2011. In February 2011, Keys along with fellow Sky presenter, Andy Gray signed with talkSPORT....
as regular host of the early show and began deputising for Lorraine KellyLorraine KellyLorraine Kelly is a Scottish television presenter, journalist and actress, best known as a presenter for TV-am, and later GMTV and ITV Breakfast, on Lorraine.-Early life:...
on "Good Morning Britain". She also fronted the revamped "First Report" and covered for David FrostDavid FrostSir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
with "Even on Sunday", which ranged across politics, the arts and sport - Anna FordAnna FordAnna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
, 1983, Good Morning Britain - David FrostDavid FrostSir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
, 1983-1992, Good Morning Britain (Frost on Sundays) - Angela RipponAngela RipponAngela M. Rippon, OBE, born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, Devon, England, is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975...
, 1983, Daybreak, Good Morning Britain - Kathy TaylerKathy TaylerKathy Tayler, born 23 March 1960, is a UK TV presenter and former champion modern pentathlete.- Athletics:Kathy won the women's modern pentathlon World Cup in 1979 at the age of 19. She was a member of the Great Britain modern pentathlon team that twice won gold at the World Athletics...
, 1989-1992, Good Morning Britain, After Nine - Kathy Rochford, 1988 - 1992, Good Morning Britain
- Mike MorrisMike Morris (TV Presenter)Mike Morris is a British television presenter, perhaps best known as a co-host of Good Morning Britain on the breakfast television station TV-am on the ITV Network....
, 1983-1992 ;Good Morning Britain; ;Sport; - Richard KeysRichard KeysRichard Keys is an English radio presenter best known for his time with British sports channel Sky Sports from 1991 until 2011. In February 2011, Keys along with fellow Sky presenter, Andy Gray signed with talkSPORT....
, 1984-1990 ;Good Morning Britain; ;Sport; ;The Morning programme - Lorraine KellyLorraine KellyLorraine Kelly is a Scottish television presenter, journalist and actress, best known as a presenter for TV-am, and later GMTV and ITV Breakfast, on Lorraine.-Early life:...
, 1984-1992 ;Reporter;Good Morning Britain; - Rustie LeeRustie LeeRustie Lee is a television chef and actress in the United Kingdom, most famous for her appearances in the 1980s on morning station, TV-am. She was born in Jamaica, but moved to Birmingham with her family as a child. Following her successful stint as a chef on TV-am in 1983, Lee took over from...
, also consistently appeared on the show in the cooking segment. - Ulrika JonssonUlrika JonssonEva Ulrika Jonsson is a Swedish television presenter in the UK, who became famous as a TV-am weather presenter and moved on to present Gladiators and became a team captain of the show Shooting Stars.-Early life:...
, presented the weather. - Tania BryerTania BryerTania Bryer is a British television personality, occasional fashion model, journalist, and motivational speaker. She is the daughter of Lionel Bryer and grew up in Knightsbridge.-Biography:...
, 1992, weather presenter. - Michael HastingsMichael Hastings, Baron Hastings of ScarisbrickMichael John Hastings, Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE is KPMG’s Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity. He was previously the BBC’s first Head of Corporate Social Responsibility having been the BBC’s Head of Public Affairs...
, 1988-1992, Good Morning Britain presenter. - Jayne IrvingJayne IrvingJayne Irving is a British TV presenter best known for appearing on the Breakfast Television show Good Morning Britain.-Career:...
, 1984-1989 ;News, Good Morning Britain, After Nine - Wincey WillisWincey WillisWincey Willis is a British broadcaster who found television success in the 1980s....
, 1983-1987, presented the weather. - Nick OwenNick OwenNicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...
, 1983-1986, presented Good Morning Britain alongside Anne Diamond. - Gordon HoneycombeGordon HoneycombeRonald Gordon Honeycombe is an author, playwright and stage actor, well known in the United Kingdom as a national television newscaster....
, 1984-1989, Newsreader. - Henry KellyHenry KellyPatrick Henry Kelly is an Irish television presenter and radio DJ.Henry Kelly was born in Athlone, Co Westmeath, Ireland. He was educated at Belvedere College SJ, and at University College Dublin where he was Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society...
, 1983-1987, weekend Good Morning Britain presenter. - Diana DorsDiana DorsDiana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
, 1983-1984, diet and later agony aunt - Lizzie WebbLizzie WebbLizzie Webb, often known as "Mad Lizzie", presented daily exercise routines on British morning television channel TV-am. She was introduced onto the channel's flagship show Good Morning Britain in response to the popularity of exercise teacher Diana Moran on the rival BBC One show Breakfast Time...
, aka 'Mad Lizzie', fitness guru. - Anneka Rice, 1985-1987, guest presenter, Good Morning Britain.
- Lisa AzizLisa AzizLisa Aziz is a British news presenter. She is best known as the co-presenter of the Bristol based ITV South West nightly weekday news programme The West Country Tonight. Before this she worked for TV-am and Sky News, and was one of the first Asian presenters to be seen on television...
, 1989-1992, Newsreader. - Gordon Thomson, guest presenter, celebrity reporter
- Kathryn HollowayKathryn HollowayKathryn Holloway is a Canadian political activist, journalist, and entrepreneur, best known for her work in the Canadian Green and Ontario Liberal parties, and for her private and public-sector work on climate change, participatory democracy, and free speech.She is currently Executive Director of...
, 1988-1992, presenter, The Morning Programme, Good Morning Britain. - Adrian BrownAdrian Brown (journalist)Adrian Brown is a reporter for Seven News in Sydney.He recently returned to Sydney after almost 16 years running a reporting and camera company based in Hong Kong. During that time, he also filed stories for National Nine News...
, reporter, newsreader, presenter Good Morning Britain. - Peter CoëPeter CoePercy Newbold "Peter" Coe was the father and athletics coach to Sebastian Coe.-Early life:Coe was born Percy Newbold Coe in Kingston, Surrey, the eldest child of Violet and Percy Coe Sr...
, 1984-1992, reporter, financial correspondent, newsreader, presenter First Report. - Caroline RightonCaroline RightonCaroline Righton , is an English television presenter and author, best known for being a presenter on the daily Breakfast Television station TV-am and being an anchor of the Channel 4 news show, The Channel Four Daily....
, April-October 1987 - Kay BurleyKay BurleyKay Burley is an English television newsreader, presenter and journalist. She currently anchors the Afternoon Live programme on the Sky News station.-Early life:...
, 1985- , reporter, newsreader, presenter. - Geoff ClarkGeoff ClarkGeoff Clark is an Australian Aboriginal politician and activist. Clark led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission until it was effectively disbanded in 2004.- Personal :...
, Saturday Sport - Sally Eden, Reporter
- Louise Bevan, Reporter
- Gary Champion, sports reporter.
- Michael ParkinsonMichael ParkinsonSir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
and Mary ParkinsonMary ParkinsonMary Parkinson, Lady Parkinson is an English journalist and television presenter, and the wife of chat show host Sir Michael Parkinson....
, 1983-1984, weekend programmes. - Robert KeeRobert KeeRobert Kee CBE is a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland....
, early presenter, 'Daybreak'. - Lynda Berry, 1983-1984, reporter, Daybreak, Good Morning Britain.
- Commander David Philpott, Weather.
- Moya DohertyMoya DohertyMoya Doherty is a Dublin-raised Irish entrepreneur and the producer and co-founder of Riverdance, the worldwide acclaimed theatrical phenomenon, which premiered in Dublin’s Point Theatre in February 1995...
, reporter, presenter, After Nine. - Gyles BrandrethGyles BrandrethGyles Daubeney Brandreth is a British writer, broadcaster and former Conservative Member of Parliament and junior minister.-Early life:...
, host 'Postbag'. - Paul Reizin, reporter, host 'Pick Of The Week'. "Reizin's Horisons"
- Derek JamesonDerek JamesonDerek Jameson is a retired British tabloid journalist and broadcaster.As a child, Jameson was evacuated from London in WW2...
, newspaper reviewer. - Eve PollardEve PollardEvelyn "Eve" Pollard, Lady Lloyd, OBE is an English author, journalist and a former editor of several tabloid newspapers.-Career:...
, showbiz reporter. - Martin Frizell, reporter, presenter.
- Charles Golding, contributor, host 'What's News?'.
- Jimmy GreavesJimmy GreavesJames Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves is an English former football player, England's third highest international goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football and more recently a television pundit -...
, TV reviewer, presenter. - Dr Hillary Jones, resident doctor, host 'After Nine'.
- Chris TarrantChris TarrantChristopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
, roving reporter and host. - Jeni BarnettJeni BarnettJeni Barnett is an English actress and TV presenter who grew up in Borehamwood. She is married to Yorkshire-born actor Jim Bywater and has one daughter, Bethany.-Acting career:...
, host 'Pick Of The Week', 'Postbag'. - James BakerJames BakerJames Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician and political advisor.Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
, presenter, 'Wide Awake Club'. (Saturdays) - Arabella Warner, presenter, 'Wide Awake Club'. (Saturdays)
- Tommy BoydTommy BoydTimothy Leslie Boyd , better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex.-Early career:...
, presenter, 'Wide Awake Club'. (Saturdays) - Timmy MallettTimmy MallettTimmy Mallett is a TV presenter and broadcaster in the UK. He achieved cult status on BBC Radio Oxford and Manchester's Piccadilly Radio and later on TV-am...
, presenter, 'Wacaday'. (School Holidays) - Michaela StrachanMichaela StrachanMichaela Evelyn Ann Strachan is an English television presenter.-Personal life:Strachan attended Claremont Fan Court School, Esher, a Christian Science school. Later, while at college, she briefly held jobs as an Avon lady and as a kissogram...
, presenter, 'Wide Awake Club'. (Saturdays) 'Wacaday' (School Holidays) - Dick King-SmithDick King-SmithRonald Gordon King-Smith OBE, Hon.M.Ed. , better known by his pen name Dick King-Smith, was a prolific English children's author, best known for writing The Sheep-Pig, retitled in the United States as Babe the Gallant Pig, on which the movie Babe was based...
, presenter, 'Rub a Dub Dub' (Sundays)
Picture Editors
- Doug Fife
- Alan Ballard
- Jeremy Havard
- Phil Swain
- Lance Kellerher
- Glen ThomasGlen ThomasGlen Andrew Thomas is an English former professional association football player. During a fourteen-year professional career he played for Fulham, Peterborough United, Barnet, Gillingham and Brighton & Hove Albion, and made over 300 appearances in the Football League.-Career:Born in the Hackney...
External links
- TV-am.org.uk - the official company website
- www.tv-am.net - the official site of the TV-am Archive (1983-92) owned and managed by Moving Image Communications Ltd.
- TV-am at TV Ark