I know there’s a specific thread for how Channel handled the strike, but thought it would be worth starting a thread for general discussion on how the strike affected the entire network, as today is the 40th anniversary of the start of the ten week blackout.
I’d love to hear any anecdotes people have about the strike and when ITV came back in 1979. Does any continuity exist of ITV’s first night back other than the sign on? It would be really cool to see.
ITV eventually came back on the air at 5.45pm on Wednesday 24th October with both Coronation Street and Crossroads showing specially recorded prologues to remind viewers of the story so far. While Crossroads had Noele Gordon speaking to camera, Coronation Street had a filmed scene on the outdoor set of Bet Lynch and Len Fairclough meeting on the street and discussing recent events mostly "in character" although Adamson did break the "fourth wall" at the end of the scene and speak directly to viewers.
I wonder if there is any footage of that anywhere because I tried finding it myself. There is an episode from that day but without the prologues.
Ten weeks! I mean from a 2019 point of view, it is astonishing that it dragged out for 10 weeks.
Well, from a JKDerry viewpoint it seems to be difficult to grasp. The late 70s was probably when the unions were at their strongest. What I do find astonishing myself is actually how the strike started because they wouldn't give staff a 25% pay rise (they've been offered 15%) and the strike ended by them getting a 45% pay rise. I'm guessing there was collective bargaining across the regions back then so salaries were fixed from region to region.
I for one would like to find footage of the Thames technician who supposedly put himself on air from the announcer's chair the day ITV came back;-)
I would just love any footage of the interruptions prior to the strike or continuity from the first couple of days back on air (other than those first two junctions from YTV and somewhere else that exist).
I'd heard of that happen too, referenced as the only person to appear during the strike. How it could have happened I'm not sure - accidental or opportunist prank
Extremely unlikely it would exist. The odds of someone recording Thames just at that very moment must be virtually zero.... even at Thames itself
Possibly already asked, but does anyone have the schedules for the second and third days back on air? There was no TV Times that week (perhaps a rushed copy was issued for the following week with quite a few TBAs in the schedule), but the national and local newspapers would have advertised the Thursday and Friday schedules.
From memory, Thursday’s broadcasting began at 1pm with Mr and Mrs (there was no News at One, IIRC), and Friday’s start up was at the usual time, just before 9.30am. Friday saw the return of a more standard schedule, including News at One, and - for most regions - the return of full-time regional continuity. I’m not sure how many regional variations there were on the Friday - apart from the local news magazines that had returned on the Thursday evening.
On the Thursday morning, a caption and music was played - apart from the day’s menu, in “school hours” the following week’s schools schedule was advertised (because of regional variations, Grampian broadcast a schools menu to themselves and STV - possibly HTV, UTV and any other regions with variations broadcast their own schools menu that morning too).
Do we know if that was recorded?