NOT A programme as such, not even something meant to be watched by the likes of a skiving/off sick/study period/can’t-be-arsed you and me. All the same, every Monday at 9am a half-hour round-up of all that week’s new commercials went out, supposedly for the benefit of the advertising industry (though it was a damn sight too late for them to complain about anything) but chiefly for the entertainment of baffled schoolkids. Never credited in the TV Times, which added loads to its curiosity appeal. Handily split into new 60 second, 45 second, 30 second and 15 second ads, for the likes of Fray Bentos pies, Capstan fags, Nimble and Slimcea.
Lee James Turnock
May 5, 2010 at 5:15 pm
I definitely remember this, albeit very vaguely. Try telling that to some people, though.
Gary Simpson
November 14, 2012 at 11:48 am
Oh, I well remember Monday’s Newcomers. Its appearance was a little hit-and-miss, and of course, because it was in the days before daytime television, one caught it by accident originally. My brother and I used to tune into ITV (usually just before 10am if I recall correctly) during the school holidays on a Monday – and sometimes a Wednesday, when Wednesday’s Newcomers would sometimes be broacast) to see whether the “programme” would appear or not. Sometimes, it didn’t show – sometimes it appeared a few minutes late.
Robin Hill
March 10, 2013 at 12:36 am
I, too, remember Monday’s Newcomers, as I loved adverts at that time in my life (primary school) although I hate them now ! I remember a sequence of new ads for Jellimalo, which was a chocolate manufactured by Nestle, in which an animated cartoon group sang ‘Jellimallo, Yeah Yeah Yeah’ to the tune of The Beatles’ She Loves You. I was certainly excited if the sequence was broadcast, as it certainly wasn’t listed in the newspapers etc. I don’t remember it continuing beyond the mid-sixties, though.
Ronnie MB
June 25, 2014 at 11:32 pm
I vaguely remember it too and that would date it as continuing into the early to mid 70s.
Alan Keeling
August 30, 2015 at 8:26 pm
I stumbled across “Monday’s Newcomers” quite by accident during a half-term break in 1962 at the age of 9. Instead of Test Card C at 10am, after the blank screen, Hughie Green was advertising “Tide” washing powder, followed by some “Polo Mints” commercials. At first, I wondered what all this was about, until the end caption, stating that this was intended for advertising agencies came on. Then, the screen faded to black & then back to the Lichfield transmitter’s Test Card C.
Richard Davies
September 3, 2015 at 6:46 pm
There were a few “off the record” things like this on TV, like the IBA transmitter information broadcasts, which I’ve been told were shown even during the ITV strike of 1979.