SC
Not forgetting Crown Court, General Hospital, Emmerdale Farm and Harriet's Back in Town! (apologies if they are mentioned somewhere above!)
Schools programming was moved to 9.30-12.00 from Monday 18th September 1972, the start of the Autumn Term, except for Border, Grampian and UTV who continued to start up at 11am, and show the missing schools programmes in the afternoon. Local schools programmes continued to make rogue appearances in the afternoons in some regions, notable Thames and YTV.
There was a full schedule in the afternoons, mainly repeats and imports, until the launch of the new daytime schedule on October 16th. There were regional variations in the new schedule, partly because some regions were still scheduling schools programmes between 1.40 and 2.45.
There were disputes with trade unions about the new start up time, which meant that schools programmes before 10am weren't broadcast for a while - and were missed or rescheduled depending on the region. Ben Clarke from the Broadcasts for Schools website sums up the situation:
Other shows which started to appear included:
* Houseparty
* Scotch Corner
* Good Afternoon
* woman only
* Farmhouse Kitchen
* LOOKS FAMILIAR
It should be noted not all stations took the, as seen here: http://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/networked-itv-1990s-31327/ you may have to read a good bit.
* Houseparty
* Scotch Corner
* Good Afternoon
* woman only
* Farmhouse Kitchen
* LOOKS FAMILIAR
It should be noted not all stations took the, as seen here: http://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/networked-itv-1990s-31327/ you may have to read a good bit.
Not forgetting Crown Court, General Hospital, Emmerdale Farm and Harriet's Back in Town! (apologies if they are mentioned somewhere above!)
Schools programming was moved to 9.30-12.00 from Monday 18th September 1972, the start of the Autumn Term, except for Border, Grampian and UTV who continued to start up at 11am, and show the missing schools programmes in the afternoon. Local schools programmes continued to make rogue appearances in the afternoons in some regions, notable Thames and YTV.
There was a full schedule in the afternoons, mainly repeats and imports, until the launch of the new daytime schedule on October 16th. There were regional variations in the new schedule, partly because some regions were still scheduling schools programmes between 1.40 and 2.45.
There were disputes with trade unions about the new start up time, which meant that schools programmes before 10am weren't broadcast for a while - and were missed or rescheduled depending on the region. Ben Clarke from the Broadcasts for Schools website sums up the situation:
Ben Clarke posted:
Morning Schools Broadcasts
Traditionally the total number of hours in which television programmes could be transmitted in any one day was limited by the government. In practice this meant that the television companies preferred to schedule most of their weekday programmes during the late afternoon and evening, when they would receive the biggest audiences - leaving the daytime hours free for schools programmes to be broadcast.
In 1972 these restrictions were removed by the government, and in turn the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA, the organisation which oversaw all of the various ITV companies) allowed ITV's schools programmes to be shifted entirely into the morning, so that programmes for the general public could be broadcast during the afternoons. For several years ITV schools programmes had generally been scheduled in two blocks - one in the morning from 11am, and another in the afternoon from 1:40pm. From this term the afternoon block was moved to begin at 9:30am. While most companies seemed eager to establish a daytime TV schedules for general audiences, three of the smaller companies - Border Television, Grampian Television and Ulster Television - did not immediately adopt the new schedule, and so schools programmes continued to be broadcast in the afternoons in those regions.
However the new, extended ITV schedules were not introduced as smoothly as had been hoped. By 18th September when the school broadcasting term was due to start, the ITV companies still did not have an agreement with the technicians' union, the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians, to cover the extra hours at the beginning and end of each day required to transmit the extra programmes. The union denied that they were on strike, but they did refuse to transmit the schools programmes scheduled to begin before 10am, and one or two programmes each day were not shown. Apparently a brief apology caption was broadcast instead, and some ITV companies sent letters to schools apologising for the "industrial disagreement".
As all schools programmes were shown twice a week in different timeslots none of the series were cancelled completely, but any schools which had planned to rely on the early morning broadcasts found themselves without the resources they had hoped to use. The IBA received numerous complaints from teachers, who began to find fault with the whole idea of moving schools programmes to the morning, although this had excited little comment when it was first announced. Some complained that the dispute was allowed to continue for several weeks, and that "it would have been settled much more quickly (...) if News at Ten or Coronation Street had been hit"[1]. The National Union of Teachers reported that "there has been a great deal of concern expressed by teachers to us," and an MP wrote to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications describing the disruption caused to schools as "an extraordinary scandal" (a charge which was dismissed as "nonsense" by the technicians' union)[2].
The dispute continued for the first five weeks of term, and it was not until the half term repeat week that schools programmes began to be shown at 9:30am as scheduled[3].
To compensate for the disruption, Thames, Anglia, Southern, Channel and Westward Television showed several of the programmes which had been missed earlier in the term between Tuesday 5th and Thursday 14th December 1972, starting at 9:30am each day. They showed all of the unscreened episodes of the series produced by Thames Television - Finding Out, The World Around Us, Writer's Workshop and Finding Out - in roughly the same order as they were originally scheduled but on different days of the week, which may have made it difficult for schools operating to strict timetables to catch up with the programmes.
Granada Television also rescheduled some of their own missed programmes - including Picture Box, Flashback and The Living Body - from Tuesday 5th to Monday 11th December for an hour a day between 11:00am and 12:00noon. The remainder of the ITV regional stations did not show any extra schools programmes after the end of term. Because of these uneven and unsatisfactory arrangements for rescheduling the missed episodes, new arrangements were made for all companies to screen these programmes at the end of the summer term 1973.
Separately, the introduction of daytime schedules on ITV included a new provision for pre-school children on weekday lunchtimes. Two programmes were shown each day, and although designed for children who did not attend nurseries, the first of the two programmes, shown at 12:05pm immediately after the schools programmes, was generally educational in nature and could perhaps be used by nursery schools. The first 12:05pm programme was Rainbow, which began on Monday 16th October and continued daily (except in the Yorkshire Television region, where the Thursday slot was taken by the schools programme People Work Here) throughout this term before being replaced by Inigo Pipkin, Hickory House and Mr Trimble in subsequent months.
Independent television schools programmes would retain the 9:30am-12:00noon time period which they adopted this term for the remainder of their existence. The scheduling survived their move to Channel 4 in autumn 1987, and remained intact until schools programmes were dropped by Channel 4 in autumn 2009.
Traditionally the total number of hours in which television programmes could be transmitted in any one day was limited by the government. In practice this meant that the television companies preferred to schedule most of their weekday programmes during the late afternoon and evening, when they would receive the biggest audiences - leaving the daytime hours free for schools programmes to be broadcast.
In 1972 these restrictions were removed by the government, and in turn the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA, the organisation which oversaw all of the various ITV companies) allowed ITV's schools programmes to be shifted entirely into the morning, so that programmes for the general public could be broadcast during the afternoons. For several years ITV schools programmes had generally been scheduled in two blocks - one in the morning from 11am, and another in the afternoon from 1:40pm. From this term the afternoon block was moved to begin at 9:30am. While most companies seemed eager to establish a daytime TV schedules for general audiences, three of the smaller companies - Border Television, Grampian Television and Ulster Television - did not immediately adopt the new schedule, and so schools programmes continued to be broadcast in the afternoons in those regions.
However the new, extended ITV schedules were not introduced as smoothly as had been hoped. By 18th September when the school broadcasting term was due to start, the ITV companies still did not have an agreement with the technicians' union, the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians, to cover the extra hours at the beginning and end of each day required to transmit the extra programmes. The union denied that they were on strike, but they did refuse to transmit the schools programmes scheduled to begin before 10am, and one or two programmes each day were not shown. Apparently a brief apology caption was broadcast instead, and some ITV companies sent letters to schools apologising for the "industrial disagreement".
As all schools programmes were shown twice a week in different timeslots none of the series were cancelled completely, but any schools which had planned to rely on the early morning broadcasts found themselves without the resources they had hoped to use. The IBA received numerous complaints from teachers, who began to find fault with the whole idea of moving schools programmes to the morning, although this had excited little comment when it was first announced. Some complained that the dispute was allowed to continue for several weeks, and that "it would have been settled much more quickly (...) if News at Ten or Coronation Street had been hit"[1]. The National Union of Teachers reported that "there has been a great deal of concern expressed by teachers to us," and an MP wrote to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications describing the disruption caused to schools as "an extraordinary scandal" (a charge which was dismissed as "nonsense" by the technicians' union)[2].
The dispute continued for the first five weeks of term, and it was not until the half term repeat week that schools programmes began to be shown at 9:30am as scheduled[3].
To compensate for the disruption, Thames, Anglia, Southern, Channel and Westward Television showed several of the programmes which had been missed earlier in the term between Tuesday 5th and Thursday 14th December 1972, starting at 9:30am each day. They showed all of the unscreened episodes of the series produced by Thames Television - Finding Out, The World Around Us, Writer's Workshop and Finding Out - in roughly the same order as they were originally scheduled but on different days of the week, which may have made it difficult for schools operating to strict timetables to catch up with the programmes.
Granada Television also rescheduled some of their own missed programmes - including Picture Box, Flashback and The Living Body - from Tuesday 5th to Monday 11th December for an hour a day between 11:00am and 12:00noon. The remainder of the ITV regional stations did not show any extra schools programmes after the end of term. Because of these uneven and unsatisfactory arrangements for rescheduling the missed episodes, new arrangements were made for all companies to screen these programmes at the end of the summer term 1973.
Separately, the introduction of daytime schedules on ITV included a new provision for pre-school children on weekday lunchtimes. Two programmes were shown each day, and although designed for children who did not attend nurseries, the first of the two programmes, shown at 12:05pm immediately after the schools programmes, was generally educational in nature and could perhaps be used by nursery schools. The first 12:05pm programme was Rainbow, which began on Monday 16th October and continued daily (except in the Yorkshire Television region, where the Thursday slot was taken by the schools programme People Work Here) throughout this term before being replaced by Inigo Pipkin, Hickory House and Mr Trimble in subsequent months.
Independent television schools programmes would retain the 9:30am-12:00noon time period which they adopted this term for the remainder of their existence. The scheduling survived their move to Channel 4 in autumn 1987, and remained intact until schools programmes were dropped by Channel 4 in autumn 2009.
