TV Cream

Photo clippage

Yorkshire TV studios: photo clippage special

A chevron-sized salute to those in or around its soon-to-be-emptied environs…

1) It’s May 1978, and a waspishly-posed Ted unveils The Gentle Secs, ahead of the very first edition of 3-2-1. Six swivel chairs was clearly a talking point in those penny-pinching pay policy days, though it’s a shame they couldn’t find half a dozen of the same model. The Secs, that is.

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2) Richard Whiteley demonstrates the art of a good local newsreader, but more importantly the art of a good local newsreaders’s desk; to wit: modest glass of water; carefully-folded glasses; trimphone; stick microphone on specially mounted chipboard; stapled running order; rollerball pen (possibly); and a mystery object discreetly tucked away under a folder A3 document for viewers to speculate about while doing the pots.

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3) More 3-2-1 photo opportunage. This time Cap’n Ted’s gone on a day trip up the river (with comically over-sized cap, naturally), along with six barely-dressed ladies (Secs status unclear) and, apropos a spot of girth and merriment, Harry Secombe.

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4) A visitor turns up outside the studio in 1986: it’s the People’s Princess! And Diana Spencer.

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5) The dog days of John Major’s administration: canvassing for pretend votes in the living room of Betty Eggleton and Seth Armstrong.

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6) Richard Whiteley’s warm-up essays a few gags about federalism. Not sure what’s on the YTV display stand behind him – Pete Postlethwaite in another heartwarming tale of a man overcoming the odds to become a shining example of human decency? Co-starring Su Pollard, by the looks of it.

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Jonathan Haw

    March 5, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    Can’t believe they’re closing (sorry, “mothballing”) YTV – leaving only Manchester to represent what’s partonisingly referred to as “the regions”.

    Is this really wise? Only this week, Michael Grade has said that we can expect more midweek entertainment shows on ITV (which I think we can take to mean game shows). Such shows can be produced anywhere in the UK – proximity to London is not as important as for chat shows etc. Indeed, Central’s old studios in Nottingham were used pretty much exclusively for games shows in the 90s before the genre fell out of fashion.

    So, given that studio space outside of London is significantly cheaper than in the capital, couldn’t Kirkstall Road be used as a specialist game show production centre? Countdown is, of course, already there. Shows like The Colour of Money, Goldenballs and Millionaire could easily transfer – saving ITV the cost of renting studio space at TVC or Pinewood. Makes sense to me!

  2. Dave Nightingale

    March 8, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    You might just be interested in this then…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU_WEcfVCF8

  3. Glenn A

    July 11, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    If ITV really wanted to save costs, they would move more production out to the regions, as the BBC is doing. However, then people might remember when ITV was simply regions and want the Anglia knight back and start up sequences and local announcers. Obviously this would divert money from lobotomising trash like the output of ITV2 and the latest celebrity reality show so I can’t see Michael Grade doing it.

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