Tonight’s ABC North… in 1958 

Arthur Vasey wrote 22 March 2017 at 12:45 pm

Those “cliffhanger serials” later ended up on the BBC on their Saturday morning service, when Swap Shop was off the air in the summer – some ended up as teatime fodder on BBC 2 on weekdays, at some point in the 80s.

Thry used to be shown as part of Saturday morning picture shows in cinemas – you had to go every week to watch it – a bit difficult, for those who had parents who, as punishment for bad behaviour – or, for what they perceived as bad behaviour – decided to not let you go that week – I think you got a few cartoons, usually Disney shorts or Popeye The Sailor, the odd Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton or something like that, that only lasted a few minutes, a serial (that meant coming every week without fail) and a main feature – usually a Western or something – I never actually went – I think that Saturday morning pictures were a thing of the past – by around the 1970s, I think that they did away with serials, instead preferring films by the Children’s Film Foundation, usually getting actual kids to become amateur spies or something.

Quite a lot of American programming in the schedule, there – don’t remember any of the programmes featured – a combination of Westerns and police procedurals – an American living over here or in holiday over here, had they turned the telly on after about 6 might have been forgiven for thinking that ABC in England was simply a British version of its American equivalent – assuming that the American programming was made by American ABC and not CBS or NBC or any other networks!

Arthur Nibble wrote 22 March 2017 at 3:06 pm

That’s an incredibly old looking bunch of teenagers on the front cover.

I love the fact boxing was transmitted from company canteens or outbuildings – we had another recently listed boxing tournament hosted by London Transport. I take it the evening programme showed different bouts and not highlights of the earlier contests?

The young Richard O’Sullivan appearing in “Robin Hood”, not “Robin’s Nest” just yet.

An unusual way of showing ‘Wardour Street’ for the 5.0 programme.

Did anyone ever devise a cartoon / action character actually called Cliff Hanger?

I never knew “OpNox” had an A-R series stranded from the successful re-run by eight years. What happened? Also, what happened to the winner of that eleventh edition, seeing as they were unable to ‘knock again’ the next week?

I’d never heard of Florian ZaBach. It turns out he was an incredibly fast violinist, capable of playing nearly 13 notes a second.

Victor Field wrote 22 March 2017 at 7:31 pm

I doubt Spike Milligan would have tuned into “The Restless Gun” – in one of his wartime diaries he wrote about going to see one of Payne’s movies and gave the man a right kicking (“…he falls in love with Betty Grable’s legs, she falls in love with his bad acting…”).

Jim Nugent wrote 23 March 2017 at 12:42 am

I well remember that showing of the first Flash Gordon serial during the first quarter of 1958. It was my favourite programme of the period. ABC had also showed other American cliffhangers in the same approximate time slot. Titles I can remember include “Daredevils Of The Red Circle” and “The Monster And The Ape”.

I’m not sure what is meant by “Serial 5”. That serial shown in the first few months of ’58 was the first serial, which started off with Flash, Dale Arden and Hans Zarkov not knowing each other but teaming up to travel to Planet Mongo to encounter Emperor Ming. This was definitely the first of those serials. However, ABC did show another two Flash Gordon serials over the next year or so. The second showed the trio returning to Mongo and the third was set on Mars.

Alan Keeling wrote 24 March 2017 at 11:24 am

Four US shows screening during one night, that’s not bad going. The Flash Gordon serials were screened by the BBC, 20 years later.

ROYSTON MAYOH wrote 4 April 2017 at 4:24 pm

I love your notes on BID FOR FAME. and OPNOX .
I remember this period as if it were a month ago. Everything was new and we ( the crew at ABC TV DIDSBURY) felt just like s bunch of pioneers trying new things on every show. I began my working career in Didsbury as a student earning £1 a day at the weekends. For that £1 we swept the floors, cleaned the loos, served coffee, polished brass door knockers in fact anything that needed to be done. When it came to actually working for a living, I was given a rather smart job as a Research Assistant in an ICI lab in NORTHWICH. This lasted 4 days and I RAN back to Didsbury to BEG on hands and knees for a job, after a lot of bowing and scraping the General Manager GERRY MITCHELL said I could return as the £1 a day boy doing the same things as before BUT this time allocated to a specific department for a couple of weeks. I did this in EVERY DEPARTMENT bar none and eventually got permanently assigned to the CAMERA DEPARTMENT. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was !!!!! So to cut a l.o.n.g. Story ( written up far better in the book that’s nearly ready for publishing) my only claim to any fame would be that
I swept the floor on the very first programme to be transmitted from ABC-TV Didsbury and I Produced and Directed the very last programme to be transmitted from ABC-TV Didsbury.
Now you can see why the sight of the ABC-TV LOGO does it every time for me !!!!!!