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What was your favorite regional ITV station growing up?

A question asking which ITV station you grew up watching. (April 2020)

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JA
JAS84
Ceefax isn't even 8-bit - 8-bit computers can support more than eight colours.
JA
james-2001
In a very different way, I have fond memories of ITV Night Time from the early 2000s! I was in my early teens at the time, but was fascinated by the odd selection of old low-budget 1990s programming ('Get Stuffed' especially which even then seemed archaic and from a different world) and ad-breaks made up entirely of Public Information Films, many of which were from the same era. Seemed like a few hours each night where the world hadn't moved on from circa 1993, and as a bonus there was Pages from Ceefax on the other side, reading Iraq War headlines in their 8-bit glory with retro-sounding music to send me to sleep.


I remember this very strange show called Dusty and Dan from around 2004 which was presented by a couple of puppets, which must have been one of the last things ITV made for late night before they all but gave up on it.

The fact they bought in Nightscreen back in 1998 to fill hours of it shows they were clearly starting to give up on it even then. I seem to remember STV having something similar circa 2006/2007 which actually had a live voiceover and music (which was different between their three sub regions). I remember catching it not long after I had my motorised dish installed and could get STV.
Last edited by james-2001 on 22 May 2020 9:34pm - 2 times in total
ET
ethanh05
In a very different way, I have fond memories of ITV Night Time from the early 2000s! I was in my early teens at the time, but was fascinated by the odd selection of old low-budget 1990s programming ('Get Stuffed' especially which even then seemed archaic and from a different world) and ad-breaks made up entirely of Public Information Films, many of which were from the same era. Seemed like a few hours each night where the world hadn't moved on from circa 1993, and as a bonus there was Pages from Ceefax on the other side, reading Iraq War headlines in their 8-bit glory with retro-sounding music to send me to sleep.


I remember this very strange show called Dusty and Dan from around 2004 which was presented by a couple of puppets, which must have been one of the last things ITV made for late night before they all but gave up on it.

The fact they bought in Nightscreen back in 1998 to fill hours of it shows they were clearly starting to give up on it even then.

The fact that Nightscreen is still going blows my mind. Surely it would be easier to just do more Teleshopping or even go blank for the night rather than putting out a glorified Powerpoint presentation - it's been irrelevant for at least 15 years now, and now it's completely pointless.
NW
nwtv2003
The fact they bought in Nightscreen back in 1998 to fill hours of it shows they were clearly starting to give up on it even then.


I think that this was when the writing was really on the wall, and by 1998 all of the main terrestrial channels were broadcasting 24 hours a day, ITV’s monopoly on overnight TV had ended. I think the ‘Television With Attitude’ refresh by Carlton/LNN in 1996 was the last throw of the dice for ITV Night Time, as to me that was the last time they put some effort or originality into the schedule, even though it was really bad.

I’m still surprised that they even commissioned programmes for Night Time considering the tiny audience out there, or more so that ITN put out overnight bulletins for almost 25 years.
CO
Coronavision
I have half an episode of The James Whale Radio Show from a VHS tape I purchased years ago at a car bootsale (when everyone was binning them to make way for DVDs) - the special guest is one Mr Jimmy Savile, who immediately makes a joke about bribing police officers to much studio laughter. I think it's from May 1990, but a bit of it can be seen on the PP as file 14734 - unfortunately in low resolution and out of sync audio due to the ancient computer I had when I uploaded it over a decade ago.

In a very different way, I have fond memories of ITV Night Time from the early 2000s! I was in my early teens at the time, but was fascinated by the odd selection of old low-budget 1990s programming ('Get Stuffed' especially which even then seemed archaic and from a different world) and ad-breaks made up entirely of Public Information Films, many of which were from the same era. Seemed like a few hours each night where the world hadn't moved on from circa 1993, and as a bonus there was Pages from Ceefax on the other side, reading Iraq War headlines in their 8-bit glory with retro-sounding music to send me to sleep.


Get Stuffed looked dated even when it was new. It was "ooh look at me and how edgy I am" early-90s TV but made by idiots on no budget. It was just harking back to the shambolic production values of stuff like The Young Ones and The Tube but with neither the wit nor the charm.

The vast majority of through-the-night ITV was complete and utter garbage, let's not beat about the bush. Pretty much the only programme that came close to offering something worthwhile was Jobfinder - that's how bad it was.

Meh, saying that, In Bed With Medinner wasn't bad. Bob Mills was criminally underused.
Last edited by Coronavision on 23 May 2020 4:38am - 3 times in total
PH
Philheybrookbay
Oh I dont know.

Gods Gift was always good for a laugh with Davina.....not that she acknowledges it as part of her career.

Mind you I guess the two voices of "God" were Stuart Hall and a certain Mr Saville.



https://youtu.be/0l5rThwS3yo
Last edited by Philheybrookbay on 23 May 2020 5:05am
NT
Night Thoughts
Oh I dont know.

Gods Gift was always good for a laugh with Davina.....not that she acknowledges it as part of her career.

Mind you I guess the two voices of "God" were Stuart Hall and a certain Mr Saville.



https://youtu.be/0l5rThwS3yo


That’s dated horribly, and not just because of Hall grunting.

That was Davina’s first post-MTV gig, wasn’t it?
IS
Inspector Sands

The fact that Nightscreen is still going blows my mind. Surely it would be easier to just do more Teleshopping or even go blank for the night rather than putting out a glorified Powerpoint presentation - it's been irrelevant for at least 15 years now, and now it's completely pointless.

It's not pointless, it fills part of ITV's regional quota. It's made in Birmingham and at one point it had different music in different regions so it counted as regional programming in each.


I think Ofcom have changed the rules to get rid of this loophole now though
IS
Inspector Sands


Meh, saying that, In Bed With Medinner wasn't bad. Bob Mills was criminally underused.

In Bed With Medinner was a great programme.


There was a fairly decent (for the time) Internet magazine around the same time called Cybercafe:

BA
bilky asko
JAS84 posted:
Ceefax isn't even 8-bit - 8-bit computers can support more than eight colours.


8 colours is 3-bit colour, but notably the BBC Micro and the ZX Spectrum (both 8-bit computers) used 3-bit colour. I don't think it's unreasonable to describe it as an 8-bit aesthetic - especially considering the BBC Micro's Mode 7 Teletext capabilities.
RO
robertclark125
There was sport AM, presented by bob symonds, which was made by Htv Wales, and featured a mixture of highlights of itv live action, and imported action.

Don't know how long it lasted.
TG
Tim Goodwin1
Two words: Night Network

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