Independent Television in Britain Volume 6 New Developments in Independent Television 1981 92: Channel 4, TV-am, Cable and Satellite
Other volumes in the same work Volume 1 ORIGIN AND FOUNDATION, 1946 62 (by Bernard Sendall) Volume 2 EXPANSION AND CHANGE, 1958 68 (by Bernard Sendall) Volume 3 POLITICS AND CONTROL, 1968 80 (by Jeremy Potter) Volume 4 COMPANIES AND PROGRAMMES, 1968 80 (by Jeremy Potter) Volume 5 ITV AND THE IBA, 1981 92 (by Paul Bonner with Lesley Aston)
Independent Television in Britain Volume 6 New Developments in Independent Television 1981 92: Channel 4, TV-am, Cable and Satellite Paul Bonner with Lesley Aston
Paul Bonner and Lesley Aston 2003 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-0-333-64774-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St.Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-39620-7 ISBN 978-0-230-28713-6 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230287136 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 0403 Produced for Palgrave Macmillan by Chase Publishing Services, Sidmouth
Contents List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements List of Interviewees vi vii x Part I Channel 4 1 The Fourth Channel: Conception to Birth 3 2 Countdown to Countdown: Setting Up the Channel and Getting on the Air 36 3 Programmes, Reactions and Progress 1982 87: The Isaacs Years 109 4 Politics, Scheduling and Selling 1988 92: The Grade Years 220 Part II TV-am 5 Breakfast-Time Contract: TV-am 299 6Financing, Ratings and Resignation: 1980 83 (March) 321 7 Dyke to the Rescue: April 1983 May 1984 335 8 The Wizard of Oz: May 1984 1992 351 9 From Packer to Bond: 1987 88 365 10 Exit TV-am 376 Part III Other Responsibilities of the ITC 11 Cable and Satellite 387 Appendix A: Non-Executive Directors of Channel 4 1981 92 435 Appendix B: Channel 4 Major Programme Awards 1983 92 436 Appendix C: The Commissioning Structure of Channel 4 438 Bibliography 439 Index 450
List of Illustrations 1 Jeremy Isaacs, Chief Executive Channel 4, 1981 87 35 2 Channel 4 on-screen identity 75 3 Michael Grade, Chief Executive Channel 4, 1988 97 225 4 Channel 4 share of audience, 1983 97 (against BBC2 share) 296 5 TV-am s Breakfast Television Centre, Camden, London NW1 311 vi
Preface and Acknowledgements I help the old to remember and the young to understand. [Gervase Cowell (1927 2000), Historian of the Special Operation Executive (SOE)] Cowell s percipient definition of the historian s function is the prime intent of this volume of Independent Television in Britain. That said, not all the old will be satisfied. Between 1981 and 1992, the period covered by this volume, there was an unprecedented flowering of new broadcasting developments in that sector regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and its successor, the Independent Television Commission (ITC). This book deals with the two new broadcasting organisations that grew from the legislation during the period (one of which rose and fell within that time), and some aspects of cable and satellite development. Regrettably it cannot contain all the detail that those who contributed to those developments would have liked to see recorded. Nor can it deal with one of the most unlikely broadcasting success stories of the period Sianel Pedwar Cymru, the Welsh-language channel which falls outside the remit of the IBA/ITC. The reason that programme-makers may be disappointed is that there were just too many new programmes over the ten years for them even to be listed, let alone dealt with in detail. However, we hope that we have touched on most of the more significant new programme developments of the period whether or not they aroused interest or controversy at the time of their transmission. Inevitably, however, in the Channel 4 section of the book the early programmes receive more attention than those that came later, not only because many did indeed cause controversy but also those programmes were the first interpretation of the channel s remit. They set a style that, as it turned out, the public came to associate with the channel. They helped to create an image that has been sustained long after the programmes themselves may have been forgotten. The author must declare an interest at this point. He was the founder Channel Controller of Channel Four from 1980 to 1987. Where there is a personal involvement in the history my rigorous co-author, Lesley Aston, has ensured the maintenance of objectivity and in the passage in Chapter 1 on the initial appointments was asked to intervene to that end. Involvement of the author with the channel is not, therefore, the reason for the difference in form and scale between the Channel 4 and TV-am sections of the book. That comes about as a result of the distinctly different functions of the two organisations. While vii
viii New Developments in Independent Television 1981 92 Channel 4 commissioned to fill a complete schedule of programmes for its own channel, TV-am s function was to generate material for what was, in effect, a single programme slot albeit over three hours on the ITV channel. Also, while TV-am is now a fascinating historical entity (the breakfast-time service continues in other hands), Channel 4 is an ongoing organisation with a clear position in the nation s current and future culture. A note about nomenclature: TV-am was always formally called TV-am (though written as TV-AM in its early days). However, before the award of the contract to that company, the role it would perform was termed the Breakfast-time Contractor and that title continued in use by some. For the many years before it actually came into existence Channel 4 was referred to as The Fourth Channel. Even the legislation that brought it into being used that terminology. But after the channel s birth the company was called The Channel Four Television Company Limited. Since 1992 it has been the Channel Four Television Corporation. To confuse matters further, the channel referred (and still refers) to itself on the air and in publicity as Channel 4. In the relevant section of this volume Channel Four and Channel 4 are used with those distinctions as far as possible, but as interviews, documents and the press often confused them, the reader should regard the names as interchangeable. A note about notes: As in Volume 5 we have worked on the basis that it is easier for the reader if the footnotes appear within the narrative rather than at the foot of the page or, worse, at the end of the book. Authors notes, attributions, cross-references, and so on, therefore appear within the text in square [ ] brackets. Readers may notice that the TV-am section is more dependent on material from interviews than the section on Channel 4. That is because the former company failed to gain a licence to continue broadcasting on 16 October 1991 that seismic day when the results of the new system of licence awards under the Broadcasting Act 1990 were announced. With some difficulty the Board minutes of the company were located in a remote warehouse, where much of the TV-am material lay, unclassified, after a reverse takeover by TV-am of Crockfords, the Mayfair club and casino in 1993. Vanessa Jones, company secretary of the Capital Corporation (then the holding company of Crockfords) was very helpful in making the TV-am minutes and other internal papers available to Lesley Aston to whom, as co-author of this volume as well as the previous one, my thanks are boundless. Channel 4 set up a full archive system from its first days, which continues to be very thorough in its coverage. Also the two Chief Executives responsible for the channel during the period covered by this volume have recorded their experiences in book form and we are grateful to have been allowed to quote from these. There are many others to be credited. Although volumes of the Independent Television in Britain series traditionally carry no dedications, one
Preface and Acknowledgements ix credit for help with the Channel 4 section of the book is also a form of dedication. The late Chris Griffin-Beale, Channel 4 s first Press Officer and later its Head of Press Relations, died in 1998 at the tragically early age of 50. His wonderfully accurate, and perceptive, C4 press releases have been a prime source for the C4 section of this book. Chris was a figure liked and respected by all who worked with him. Above that he was loved by his many friends, as well as by his family. We miss him still. His work will be a valuable source for media historians of the future. That is a most suitable memorial. Also to be thanked at Channel 4 is the person responsible for our access to the channel s resources, Martin Stott, Deputy Head of Corporate Relations, and the equally helpful and wonderfully diligent archivists at the channel, Rosie Gleeson and Pamela Dear. At the ITC, we have been helped successively by that organisation s archivists, Paul Troake (who later moved to C4), Simon McKeon and Andrew Ledgard. We also thank all the staff of the ITC Library service, and in particular the Commission s ex-head of Library and Archives, Barrie MacDonald, whose excellent bibliography and index enhance this volume as his work has done for all the preceding volumes of Independent Television in Britain. It was through him also that we made contact with Dr Windsor Holden, whose research was a valuable source for some aspects of the Cable and Satellite chapter of this book. Most particularly I thank Sara Winter, who was kindly prepared to help the authors in the final organisation of this volume a role she had performed for Volume 5. Other individuals who kindly gave their time and reached back in their memory to help this project, either in person or on the phone, are acknowledged in the List of Interviewees. Our thanks go to all of them. We are also grateful to ITN for access to their archive and to the sponsor/underwriters of this volume, the Independent Television Commission, the ITV Network Ltd and the Channel Four Corporation, for their support of a published record of their past achievements. This is particularly praiseworthy at a time when such initiatives appear to be diminishing in importance in the priorities of other organisations, to the detriment of public access and the knowledge of future generations. Finally, on a personal note, gratitude on a massive scale goes to my wife, Jenifer, for her patient support and practical help in so many ways during the writing of volumes 5 and 6. In particular her proofreading of, and valuable comments on, the drafts of both volumes were invaluable. Paul Bonner
List of Interviewees The following people kindly searched their memories for Independent Television in Britain Volume 6 either in contribution to the oral history aspects of the book or by commenting on the drafts of specific sections. They are listed under the sections to which they contributed and their names are given in alphabetical order. Channel 4 TV-am Cable and Satellite Mike Bolland Jonathan Aitken Roger Blakeway Stewart Butterfield Jane Clarke Jeremy Boulton Edmund Dell Michael Deakin Jon Davey Justin Dukes Greg Dyke John Gau Liz Forgan David Glencross Bernard Green Alan Fountain Bruce Gyngell Ellis Griffiths John Gau Peter Jay Carol Haslam David Glencross Clive Jones Anthony Hewitt Michael Grade Richard Marsh Richard Hooper Roger Graef Paula Ridley Christopher Irwin Ellis Griffiths Peter Rogers Nicolas Mellersh Carol Haslam Colin Shaw David Plowright Ashley Hill Andrew Quinn Dorothy Hobson Anthony Simmonds-Gooding Glyn Tegai Hughes Adam Singer Peter Ibbotson Brian Venner Jeremy Isaacs Joyce Jones Colin Leventhal David Lloyd Frank McGettigan John McGrath Adrian Metcalfe Sara Morrison John Ranelagh Peter Rogers Naomi Sargant David Scott Colin Shaw Jane Small Anthony Smith Brian Tesler Robert Towler Brian Venner John Willis x