ITV Telethon

Wouldn't it be acceptable if ITV did their own answer to Children In Need and Comic Relief by returning their marathon telethon to our screens?
It just might restore actual credibility and restore viewers' faith into ITV, lost when the phoneline scandals went on.
I know the general consensus will be "Too much copying BBC" or "Quit being stuck in the past!", but I liked ITV Telethon. It was much better produced and watchable than their BBC counterparts and was popular with viewers. I'm sure a lot of old dears fainted after 27 hours of show anchor Michael Aspel!

There were several factors in it being axed, if I recall: one was ITV received less money than the previous telethon. and wasn't there some sort of a riot outside ITV studios for some odd reason? Several protestors actually did come into the studio while Michael Aspel was talking to Claire Rayner and security apprehended them. It should come back!
Also, what I liked was there was celebrities who answered the telephone, something the BBC don't do.
POINTLESS INFORMATION: I donated £5 of my pocket money for ITV Telethon 1990, and I talked over the telephone to the actor Reg Varney from ITV's never-repeated comedy "On The Buses".
I donated £20 in 1992, and spoke to actress Patricia Routledge from Keeping Up Appearances.

Now, ITV have not said anything. It was all of my own making. But what is your opinion? Should it come back? Again, I think so.

It's charity, good enough reason as any.

For all those who complained about CIN, I think ITV would be a far lower budget, far more trashy excuse for a telethon.

I don't want to talk to celebrities - I just want to give my money to charity.

Yes, since it is for charity, the BBC practically dominates the market with Children in Need, Comic Relief and Sport Relief.

As we saw last night, whereas many people think the CIN show is rubbish, people still watch it and the charity makes a lot of money

If ITV did a charity telethon I imagine it would have all the bad feeling of CiN without any of the postives. The excuse that 'it's for charity' would be ignored, The show would be rubbish but nobody would watch it and it wouldn't make much money.

I think the good thing about Telethon was that the money you donated stayed within your Region so you helped locally, which was a nice thing.

I remember when they did the 'Day Of Promise' in 2000 they were getting telephone calls from confused viewers who thought it was a Telethon who were willing to donate, but they had to be reminded over the phone that they were only pledging promises. Although that was a nice idea I never saw the point of it.

Everyones putting ITV down, but when they did that evening for the princes trust, I thought that they put on a very good show. They used the studio for guests and sketches, and had the music coming from the concert, and it was the right mix in my opinion.

I too believe ITV should bring Telethon back again and with the same format it had in 88 and 90.

Telethon '90 was the bext year as they reiased over £20 Million Pounds over the twnety-seven hours.

I raised money in 1992 and presented a cheque live on air to Angela Piears, a Granada news presenter and reporter. It was a shame they didn't raise as much for Telethon '92 but it was a good year and a great experience.

As has been written, talking to celebrities to donate their money is not what everybody will want but I bet there is a huge majority of the viewing public who won't mind talking to celebrities-and I don't mean these supermodels or endless serial drama stars [that will put me off as well].
In my opinion, ITV Telethon was/is more visually effective than what Children In Need was. Personally, I see no point in Sport Relief. I don't mind Comic Relief.
ITV Telethon had the right balance: comics, singers, entertainers, 'ordinary' people doing their bit and effective celebrities.

I would rather see someone like Vera Lynn sing/murder a song more than McFly, who opened up Children In Need. Children In Need now is just endless singing and endless plugs, whereas Telethon 90 and 92 were not. From what I remember, there were no plugs to buy their CDs, or LPs [those were a brilliant way to play music]. That is how it should be done.
I'd even pay good money for a Des O'Connor/Val Doonican/Max Bygraves/Cilla Black/Rolf Harris/Bruce Forsyth-collective song. I'd think twice if it was, say, a Girls Aloud/McFly duet.

I seem to remember Telethon 92 being a shameless exercise in advertising, product placement, segements being sponsored (bearing in mind the latter being newish to ITV but was on overkill) that the charity element wasn't as apparent as it should compared to Telethon 88/90.

Who died today, aged 92.