BBC and ITV Strikes

JK

JKDerry 18 December 2018 5:47pm

Wasn't there also a strike in the early 1980s, when BBC1 was off air all day? I'm sure as a kid I saw a yellow on blue caption with music being played, and it was on all day.

I can't recall a strike in the early 80s that blacked out BBC One for the entire day. I do recall the one in 1984 though that did just that - the caption shown that day is shown on this page:

https://thetvroom.com/ark/features/spotlight-industrial-disputes.html

The caption was accompanied by back-to-back Ceefax-in-vision music, all day. Although there were live programmes planned that day, I remember thinking at the time that it was a tad incredible that they couldn't manage some sort of limited service. I can't recall if Ceefax was affected that day - if not, it would've been better to put out 'Pages from Ceefax' than leaving up that caption.

Very different times. They didn't have a huge stockpile of 'Homes under the Hammer' and 'Bargain Hunt' to fall back on!

Back then, BBC had a huge archive and could have filled at least from 3.50pm to 11.50pm with re-runs and news bulletins. It would not have been too hard for them. If the unions were happy with BBC Two still airing, then BBC One should have aired with a management run schedule of repeats.

IS

Inspector Sands 18 December 2018 6:01pm

They had a big archive of programmes, but of course not all of it could be shown.

The big difference between then and now is that there are many more people and skills involved in putting a pre recorded programme on air. It wasn't just a case of getting a tape off the shelf and chucking it into a machine, or pasting an item into a running order.

That's not to say that anyone could do it these days, but it can be done by one person.

MM

MMcG198 18 December 2018 6:04pm

JKDerry posted:

Back then, BBC had a huge archive and could have filled at least from 3.50pm to 11.50pm with re-runs and news bulletins. It would not have been too hard for them. If the unions were happy with BBC Two still airing, then BBC One should have aired with a management run schedule of repeats.

I don't think the unions had the same stranglehold on the BBC that they had with ITV. Playing out programmes on ITV during a strike was way more problematic as I recall. And I believe someone has already touched on that.

The union side of things aside - things were a lot clunkier back then. The equipment used to play out the tapes etc required a little more specialist operator knowledge than the equivalent of today. The logistics of getting the right tapes to the right place was probably quite an effort in itself. There's also all the admin associated with repeat contractual arrangements, transmission fees, rights etc. All has to be done in advance. It wouldn't just have been a simple matter of putting out anything they fancied from the archive. I'm surmising.

Even when there was no strike, the Beeb was perfectly happy to put up a caption + music when rain stopped play during sport coverage. Or if the cricket or golf finished early, we'd get caption + music until the next published programme was due to go out - no concept of a filler programme, or even playing some recorded footage of yesterday's play (and sports rights weren't the minefield they are today).

SP

Steve in Pudsey 18 December 2018 6:07pm

Markymark posted:

Spencer For Hire posted:

Steve Williams posted:

Diddy David Hamilton's introduction at the start sounds like he's announcing nuclear war.

Much worse than that, he crashed the pips!

I was listening on Radio 4, on there we had a faded up snatch of Diddy saying '....and music' over the pips

Speaking of Diddy, I remember seeing this open an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, but have never (yet) found a video clip of it ?

http://www.montypython.net/scripts/thamesTV.php

There's a clip of his last line (and now a boring old BBC show) in one of the BBC Christmas Tapes, possibly 78 or 79.

SP

Steve in Pudsey 18 December 2018 6:18pm

Inspector Sands posted:

They had a big archive of programmes, but of course not all of it could be shown.

The big difference between then and now is that there are many more people and skills involved in putting a pre recorded programme on air. It wasn't just a case of getting a tape off the shelf and chucking it into a machine, or pasting an item into a running order.

That's not to say that anyone could do it these days, but it can be done by one person.

Indeed, this video from Deejay shows how many people used to be involved when everything was manual.

IS

Inspector Sands 18 December 2018 6:23pm

Markymark posted:

Speaking of Diddy, I remember seeing this open an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, but have never (yet) found a video clip of it ?

http://www.montypython.net/scripts/thamesTV.php

32'30" on this video, which oddly enough I was watching earlier:
https://vimeo.com/140040017

SW

Steve Williams 18 December 2018 7:36pm

gottago posted:

Bloody hell, was anyone not on strike that day?! At least four different industries there!

Markymark posted:

Yep, the so called 'Winter of Discontent', it was a grim time, (but nothing as surreal as present events !)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent

Indeed, although we're actually referring to 1984 in that video. That was quite a strike-bound winter, though, 1983/84, as well as the Miner's Strike of course there was also a printers' strike in November 1983 which meant there were no papers at all for a few days and we were very close to the Christmas Radio Times not being published.

MMcG198 posted:

The caption was accompanied by back-to-back Ceefax-in-vision music, all day. Although there were live programmes planned that day, I remember thinking at the time that it was a tad incredible that they couldn't manage some sort of limited service. I can't recall if Ceefax was affected that day - if not, it would've been better to put out 'Pages from Ceefax' than leaving up that caption.

They could have done something, as they had done in previous strikes. But I remember hearing that they also wanted to prove a point and play hardball, so did something suitably dramatic.

JM

JamesM0984 18 December 2018 8:07pm

The 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Wembley, had to be delayed by six weeks due to a BBC strike. The national final was also blacked.

RO

robertclark125 19 December 2018 9:06am

There was a strike many years ago affecting STV output. I think it was 1997/8. Basically there was a dispute with broadcasting unions and so a 24 hour strike was called. This meant that the STV bulletins on GMTV were presented by a producer, Dennis Mooney. Also, there was no Scotland Today at 6pm that day. Viewers were treated to an episode of the game show "Take Your Pick"!

:-(

A former member 19 December 2018 9:09am

There was 6pm bulletin, but only for 5mins. Dennies read it one aswell.

Last edited by A former member on 19 December 2018 9:22am

JK

JKDerry 19 December 2018 10:32am

robertclark125 posted:

There was a strike many years ago affecting STV output. I think it was 1997/8. Basically there was a dispute with broadcasting unions and so a 24 hour strike was called. This meant that the STV bulletins on GMTV were presented by a producer, Dennis Mooney. Also, there was no Scotland Today at 6pm that day. Viewers were treated to an episode of the game show "Take Your Pick"!

So No Scotland Today or Des O'Connor - Tough choice

JM

JamesM0984 19 December 2018 9:06pm

What happened with Corrie and possibly Crossroads during the Thames 1984 strike as I notice the management service didn't take programmes from elsewhere in the network.

I wondered if they would have shown extra episodes on Tuesdays/Thursdays to catch up, but would anyone at Thames have been able to record the shows, especially if Thames were unable to connect to the Granada or Central feeds in the first place?

(December 2018)