What was your favorite regional ITV station growing up?

You mean this isn't ratemyitv.com?

I wouldn't put it past him to have done so.

He had one of the first domestic video recorders in the country - and his archive of VHS tapes (amongst other things) was so extensive, that it gave back several hours of material which he recorded, which was wiped by the original transmitting broadcaster. So, to have one video recorder taping something on ATV/Central whilst in another room, another video was taping the Thames/LWT alternative is not out of reason.

He spent most of the winter months at his home in the Bahamas, but still every day had the tv schedules faxed to him, and back would come back a list of programmes that he wanted taped - even though he never got around to watching most of them. He even asked for things to be recorded to see if there was any difference in original broadcast. The first TFI Friday a classic example. I think it's on the (oft repeated) BBC Four documentary, that he had the 6pm live broadcast taped, then the later one at 11.30 just to see if there was any difference or extra late night repeat material.

I don't think it's particularly fair to pick on a station that was basically the presentational equivalent of homeless, one that had to operate during a major, decades-spanning conflict and one that was always resigned to getting bought out.

As a child I watched Thames/LWT or TVS/Meridian. Based on the presentation, it'd be LWT for being big and brash, especially from the late 80s into the 90s, followed by TVS.

There were parts of “ outer “ Dundee that could get Grampian, Scottish and Border.

Although in this area you should have been receiving Grampian, until the advent of C4, both my sets of grandparents could get STV and is used to wish at home I could get the more slick and “ modern “ ITV region.

However I think it’s a case of be careful what you wish for, because as I grew older I began to appreciate what Grampian did and how it operated. I remember it always scored highly for “ regional satisfaction “.

So, as with a lot of people, I think my “ local “ region was my favourite. And maybe there’s a lot to be said for the smaller, and even in ye olde days, less corporate ITV companies.

Even with people of my own age or slightly younger, Grampian, and it’s team of continuity announcers, reporters, and Scotland the Brave jingle, are still held in a lot of affection by people in this area.

Exactly. There are so many factors in play here: presentation, local news, local programming, networked offerings... etc. Compare Border in the late 80s with Central in the late 80s and it’s obvious who had the most professional presentation. But looking at the schedules Border possibly offered a wider range of programming on the average afternoon whereas Central relied a lot on Aussie imports.

Not to mention of course Central contributed far more to the network than Border, in fact we've said before that Central was practically running the network in the 1980s with the amount of stuff they were providing so I dare say you probably saw more of Central in technicality if not name.

A combination of factors including networked programmes, local programmes, presentation, news, and other miscellaneous features.



Some people travel around the country so get to experience different ITV companies.

OK Top 5

1. ATV/Central (they are the same thing such as same programming but the cakes were brilliant identifiers)
2. Thames (even though they lost their franchise whilst I was only 1 and even lived in the north, yet programming they were good)
3. Yorkshire (the fact they really cared about their region and the civic pride they shown for it as opposed to my region, which like Carlton later became interested in expansion. Being a product of the 90s, their rotating gold chevron ident was a lovely ident and loved the background effects which were quite soothing)
4. Border (similar to Yorkshire in local pride but it was my holiday region in the 90s. Also love their 90s water background ident which was very soothing)
5. Granada (my region, decent programmes, plus the idents were grand even for its ills in later life)

Honorable mentions to LWT (programmes and branding), Meridian (logo mainly), Scottish (similar to Yorkshire, like the Thistle idents and see TVS though don't rate them much now) and TVS (SatAM shows and started off How2 and Art Attack who Scottish took over in 1992)

Dishonorable mention: C@rlt*n

Had the discussion taken place a few years later then this one would have won hands down for being the worst.

Likewise, for a good period of the 1990s we got a watchable S4C signal from Moel-Y-Parc which was handy when they used to show Channel 4 programmes at other times of the day. Sbectel In Vision in the mornings was always good to see on screen as it was simply different.

I remember when I was 12, we were on a week long School trip in Anglesey and we were had the choice of 4 channels on the TV and the TV picked up a very weak Granada signal. Which was weird being the other way round. I also remember on one night both BBC2 Wales and S4C were showing the same Rugby match, the BBC showed it in English and S4C in Welsh. A weak Channel 4 from England and Channel 5 were nowhere to be found now where on this TV.

Real pride for me in the Westward opening films. Their longevity notable too. Most lasted several years and became standards....