Golden days ... on the telly

THE idea for Melvyn Bragg's latest series came to the broadcaster and Labour peer during a session at the House Of Lords, where he was taking part in a debate about the future of broadcasting in the UK.

''I thought then, and I think now, that the contribution of ITV was unjustly underrated and not very well understood,'' says Bragg. ''In its own way, it's as unique and as British as the BBC.

''No other broadcasting company in the world has combined great commercial hits with high quality public service programmes.''

Melvyn found himself shocked at the complete ignorance that his fellow peers had regarding the channel that had been a part of his life for nearly 30 years.

He says: ''If you want to identify the 645 most ignorant people about television in this country go to the palace of Westminster and ask anybody you meet. They hear about it, they complain about it, they have wonderful views on it, but they don't watch it.

''Secondly, when ITV started the BBC was putting in the most almighty PR effort. I used to get fed up with it because of the money it was costing me as a licence payer. They were ferocious. And it was very successful.

''Channel 4 have also had a very good operation, and Sky get away with murder for various reasons, and we have been out in the cold.''

Bragg claims it was a timely accident that the five-part series looks at the channel's five decade history just as ITV reaches its 50th anniversary.

''Making this programme was extraordinarily difficult,'' he says. ''Not because the subject was so hard but because the material was so rich. And I was determined to drive a line through it. It's an authored programme, not just an assembly of clips.

''We wanted it to be serious in showing how ITV did things first. We wanted it to be funny and witty as well. And we wanted it to say wasn't it good then? But also, isn't it good now? Because I think it is good now.

''It's not a corporate thing, it's my programme. Not a single person in ITV, any authority above myself, said one thing about what should or should not be in this programme.''

Understandably Melvyn is a staunch supporter, and a huge fan, of ITV. After starting his career at the BBC in 1961 as a producer, the Carlisle-born broadcaster finally found his niche in arts programming on ITV, creating the still-running The South Bank Show in 1978.

But he didn't baulk at showing the channel's failures as well as its triumphs. He says: ''It's tried for excellence at every level ever since it started. Sometimes it's failed, and sometimes it's made a mess of it. So what? As long as you're trying to do the best you can, that's all you can do.''

There are some that say ITV is going through a shallow period now, due to its current leaning towards reality TV programming. But Bragg remains supportive. ''Programmes have fashions and reality is having a big run at the moment,'' he says. ''You could say that Coronation Street started as a kind of fashion. It's difficult to know, maybe they've mined all of reality television, maybe there's further to go. I genuinely don't know, that isn't a get out."

He's upbeat about the future of the network that has both been a huge part of his career and also made him a multi-millionaire when London Weekend Television was floated on the stock market.

''ITV is at an extremely difficult testing point,'' he says. ''It's no good not facing that. Apart from paying ordinary tax, like all companies do, we pay a supertax of £200 million a year extra, just for being ITV.

''That might have worked when we were a duopoly, it's just nonsense now. ITV, it seems to me, is showing every sign of rising to the challenge.''

* The Story Of ITV: The People's Channel is on ITV1 from Sunday at 10.40pm.

And it was the age of the ad

THE first commercial on ITV was for Gibbs SR toothpaste which aired at 8.12pm and lasted for 60 seconds. At the time, more than a third of the population never cleaned their teeth. Sales of toothpaste grew as ITV did.

SOAP powder and household cleansers were the most advertised products in ITV's first five years. In 2004, Proctor and Gamble (makers of items such as toiletries, pet foods, baby care, soap powders and household cleaners) and Unilever (makers of foods, health & beauty products, soap powders and household cleaners) were the biggest spenders on advertising.

THE PG Tips chimp advertisements began in 1956 and became the longest running campaign in the history of television with 100 different ads. The most famous primate of all, Mr Shifter, entered the Guinness Book of Records with 2,000 TV appearances.

ADVERTS used to air at very specific times. When Hamlet (a 90 minute set of extracts performed on February 27, 1956) over-ran, the programme was interrupted with an ad break shortly before the end and subsequently the ending was never screened.

IN the days of black and white TV, HP Brown Sauce was used for fake blood.

ITV first arrived on British television screens in September 1955. "The Archers were sent in to kill it at birth by needlessly sacrificing Grace Archer on ITV's opening night. It did not work," says presenter of ITV's The Story Of ITV Melvyn Bragg, "ITV survived the coup de grce."

With its massively popular programmes, the channel was soon getting twice the audience of BBC1 and quickly became its rival across all genres including, unexpectedly, documentaries, classic dramas, investigative journalism and arts. Unlike the BBC, ITV's funding came entirely from advertising revenue and the network consisted of several different companies, producing a raft of regional and national programmes. This proved to be a recipe for success, and the channel went from strength to strength. In recent years, the arrival of digital television, the explosion of multi-channel choice and a downturn in advertising revenue has led to unprecedented competition, difficulties and challenges for ITV. Following last year's merger the broadcaster has hit back by launching ITV2 and ITV 3.

ITV'S FIRST FULL DAY OF TRANSMISSION

September 23, 1955

10:30 Test Card followed by Morning Magazine

10:45 Sixpenny Corner

11:00 Hands About the House

11:15 Test Card

11:45 Bookcase

12:00 News (read by Barbara Mandell)

12:10 Friday's Man

12:15 Small Time

12:30 Closedown

17:00 Time Signal followed by Tea V Time

18:00 Closedown

19:00 Time Signal, News and Weather (presented by Squadron Leader Laurie West)

19:15 The World on Wheels - RAC magazine

19:20 Friday's Girl

19:30 Sports Club

20:00 Take Your Pick

20:30 Dragnet (The Big Escape)

21:00 Confidentially ...

21:30 Round the World with Orson Wells

22:00 News and Newsreel

22:15 Visitor of the day

22:20 Out of Town

22:50 And so to bed

23:00 Epilogue

Both morning television and lunchtime children's programmes, often thought of as much later innovations, started with the channel but later disappeared due to a cash crisis.

* The BBC and ITV went 'head-to-head' for the live coverage of the first man on the moon on July 20, 1969. It was ITV's first major ratings win over the BBC in such a clash. A big screen was erected in Trafalgar Square and thousands watched the momentous occasion along with celebs such as Lulu and Cliff Richard. Unfortunately, because tapes were expensive, many were recycled and this was subsequently erased (although the Cliff Richard Special from 1968 was kept. It featured Hank Marvin dressed as Carmen Miranda).

* A singer called Gerry Dorsey failed auditions for Opportunity Knocks (1956-1977). He later changed his name and went on to bigger and better things as Englebert Humperdinck.

* Judith Keppel was the first millionaire on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? But the first person to become famous on a show where each correct answer doubled the prize money was Somerset Plantagenet Fry. He was an Oxford post-graduate and the first contestant to enter Double Your Money's Treasure Trail in 1955. He decided not to risk everything on the £1,000 question, and walked away with £512.

* Richard Curtis regularly reminds Melvyn Bragg that when he applied for a position on The South Bank Show, he was not even short-listed. He says he holds no grudges and that he has had a good life in spite of the early set back.

Published: 23/06/2005