ITV Regional Variations in the 70s and 80s

The reason for showing the same episode twice in a day was started by the BBC with Neighbours. School kids were apparently bunking off school to watch it, so the BBC decided to repeat it at 5.35pm and the rest is history.

When ITV acquired Home and Away they did the same. Home and Away's second episode of the day was mainly shown at 5.10pm in some regions or 6.00pm in others.

In my region, HTV West, it started at 5.10pm but then was moved to 6.00pm in the mid 90s when The West Tonight was moved to 6.25pm. As they lost their ratings battle with the BBC, the news was then moved back to 6.00pm and Home and Away to 5.10pm.

Thames showed it at 6.00pm Mon - Thu, but when LWT took over for weekends it was at 5.10pm on Fridays because LWT showed 'The 6 O'Clock Show'.

In the early 90s, TSW showed the second episode at 3.25pm with A Country Practice at 5.10pm. This was crazy - the target audience for the second episode would have still been at school at 3.25pm, and was shown just two hours after the lunchtime edition had aired. As a teenager I wrote to TSW complaining about this. I received a letter back from Paul Stewart-Laing, their Director of Programmes, who said something like ' Each region puts their own schedule together and at TSW we decided to put ACP at 5.10pm' - so no explanation why, just stating what i already knew!! I think this was why Channel TV decided to take the ITV feed from TVS from TSW, because of TSW's baffling schedule decisions!!

1997 - 1994. and it was all over the place,

I;m surprised we have not got onto Emmerdale farm ( some place like Anglia stv, gtv placed it at 5.15pm during the 1980;s whiles others have it in peak times. Crossroad: HTV and STV had 5.20pm

Was it Murder she wrote that got the first network of a US drama?


To Walshy: I take it Home and away and Blockbusters where the only two show to be both broadcast on both the London contracts?

I thought that may have gone to Crazy Like A Fox on Sunday evenings

September 1984 it when i believe Murder she wrote started, when did crazy like a fox?

Are you sure it started in September 1984 on the ITV network? As it only started on CBS in September 1984, and in those days we were at least 6-12 months behind the US stations.

Crazy started in the US in 1984, as well, but not too sure about ITV - I know both were about the same time, although Crazy was given a more prominent primetime slot of 8pm on a Sunday, whilst I remember Murder, on Granad being more earlier in the evning or even afternoons on a Friday (later in the run) - after Granada had stopped showing The Love Boat!

Whoops. it must have been Setpember 1985: that would have given it a year from when the us first showed it, unlike Crazy like a fox, which only started in the us around 30th December 1984.

STV like it more peak time, even up till 1992/93

Have you just wikipeded that, with a precise date like that??????

I knew about Murder because up until a few years ago Universal Studies Tour, in Orlando, had a Murder, She wrote stage thing for visitors and for some strange reason, I just remembered september 84 - like a lot of other useless information I remember!


But it proves that Murder she, wrote was not the first US show to be fully networked.

What about Crazy, like a fox????

that would be pushing as I said in my other post started in the US on 30th Dec 1984,

I bet there was something else before that? like the A team I just forgetting about them. late 83 early 84 there started?

Or Buck Rogers or original Galactica in the same slot as BBC's Dr Who

Any of these could have it?

* CHiPs
* love boat
* Quincy
* hill street blues
* Streets of san fan
* simon simon
* Magnum
* The Dukes of Hazzard
* knighriders

Apart from Knight Rider and Magnum which were both Thursdays on Granada (same time as Challenge Anneka on C4) - none of the above as I know they were all shown on different days or different episodes.

Chips used to be a weekday afternnon show on Granada, I think it was a 415pm programme (days before Watch it!).

Hill Street was always on after News at Ten, before moving to C4.
Love Boat was Sunday afternoons before moving to Friday afternoon,
Quincy was always a monday 9pm on Granada;
Dukes was BBC not ITV!!!;
Streets of san Fran was sporadic and never in a regular slot
Simon and Simon I thought was C4 only

From What I have seen up here:

Magnum went all over the place even saturday afternoons
Love Boat was weekday afternoons
Quincy got dumped around 11.30pm
Simon and Simon was on ITV

Soap was also on ITV ,before a re-run on ch4 I believe.