ITV in 1988: TVS 

6 April 2023 tbs.pm/77547

TVS TELEVISION

SOUTH AND SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND

Television Centre, Southampton SO9 5HZ
Tel: 0703 634211 Telex: 477217
Television Centre, Vinters Park, Maidstone ME14 5NZ
Tel: 0622 691111 Telex: 965911
Spenser House, 60-61 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6AJ
Tel: 01-828 9898 Telex: 291602
Duncan Road, Gillingham ME7 41X
Tel: 0634 280028
PO Box 145, Queen’s Walk, Reading RG1 7QQ
Tel: 0734 502421
Poole Arts Centre, Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset BH15 1UG
Tel: 0202 684375
Brighton Centre, King’s Road, Brighton BN1 2GT
Tel: 0273 29053
Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5AQ
Tel: 061-236 2882

Directors Lord Boston of Faversham (Chairman); James Gatward (Chief Executive); Anthony Brook (Managing Director); Alan Boyd (Director of Programmes); John Fox (Director of Sales & Marketing); Malcolm Truepenny (Managing Director, TVS Production); Harry Urquhart (Director of Production).

Executives *Hugh Johnson (Controller, Marketing Services); *Clive Jones (Deputy Director of Programmes); *John Kempton (Chief Engineer); *Anthony Stevens (Director of Finance, TVS Production); *Richard Triance (Controller, Programme Business Affairs); Alan Hargraves (Company Secretary); Andrew Barnes (Controller, Reactive Sales); Mike Baynham (Controller, Production Planning); Graham Benson (Controller, Drama); John Kaye Cooper (Controller, Entertainment); Martin Cox (Controller, Assertive Sales); Tony Everden (Controller, Presentaton, Planning & Promotions); Bill Guthrie (Controller, Production Operations); Nigel Pickard (Controller, Children’s Programmes); Mick Pilsworth (Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive); Mike Southgate (Controller, Programme Organisation & Finance); Gordon Tucker (Controller, Press & Public Relations); Peter Williams (Controller, Factual Programmes); Mark Andrews (Editor, Coast to Coast, South East); Andrew Barr (Head of Religion); Philip Geddes (Head of Science & Industry); Anthony Howard (Head of Regional Documentaries); John Huins (Public Relations Manager); Joe McMahon (Regional Sales Controller); John Miller (Head of Features and Education); Mike Regan (Promotions & Publicity Manager); John Robertson (Regional Sales Manager); Mark Sharman (Head of News and Sport); Bev Smith (Executive Producer); Simon Theobalds (Regional Executive, Reading); Vic Wakeling (Editor, Coast to Coast, South); Michael Warner (Regional Executive, Sussex).
* Member of Board of TVS Production

Distribution Telso Communications: Tel: 01-925 0040 Peter Clark and Peter Thomas (Joint Managing Directors); Anne Harris (Controller, International Production, Telso International).

Programmes Local news coverage increased considerably during the year with separate editions for the South and South East. While nightly Coast to Coast continued to feature regularly in the region’s top ten and the introduction of rolling news has brought regular updates during the day time and late evening, as well as increasing news for the region during the weekend.

Questions with David Jacobs; Problem Page; Farm Focus; Country Ways; That’s Gardening and A Taste of the South all returned, while Facing South offered 26 half-hour programmes with in-depth analysis of topics affecting the South. A new series, Art Beat, introduced a regular review of people and events in the region from the world of the Arts.

The Community Unit also increased its output in Action; Employment Action and community commercials, for example in the highly successful Action on Drugs campaign. All of these carry extensive support literature.

Nationally, TVS instigated and co-ordinated Emergency 999 which followed the activities of the emergency services nationwide with live programming across a weekend.

Frocks on the Box, ITV’s first ever fashion show, enjoyed two series hosted by Marie Helvin and Muriel Gray. TVS also made The Television Show for network transmission.

Sports from rallycross to soccer were covered, and for Channel 4 18 half- hour programmes brought the excitement of the Americas Cup to UK viewers in Down for the Cup.

Richard Branson’s crossing by balloon of the Atlantic yielded two-and-a-half hours of ITV programming, plus a one-hour special for Channel 4.

Promises and Piecrust reviewed the state of our educational system on ITV with a Channel 4 repeat, and there were 14 further Human Factor episodes about people facing problems or crises in their lives.

In An Idea of Europe Richard Hoggart visited 12 countries in Western and Eastern Europe in search of the continent’s heritage and cultural unity. Single documentaries included The Princess and the Children, which featured HRH Princess Anne, and for the first time cameras were allowed inside the Bank of England and in Parkhurst prison. Further afield, a film showed the launching of Noddy in America, and Tahiti Witness looked into the effect of French nuclear testing on the natives of the island.

In music, Easter Together piloted a novel idea with viewers phoning in to request their favourite hymn; and the Candlelit Carol Service at Winchester Cathedral was recorded for Christmas transmission on the network. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra featured with outstanding soloists and vocalists in Owain Arwel Hughes Conducts. 1987 also saw the return of TVS to Glyndebourne, recording Sir Peter Hall’s production of La Traviata as the first of a long-term commitment to coverage of Glyndebourne productions.

In drama, C.A.T.S. Eyes returned with another successful series and Wolf to the Slaughter, adapted from the detective novel by Ruth Rendell, went straight into the national top ten. Two further Rendell series are being made for television in the current year. Exclusive Yarns, with Maureen Lipman and Patricia Hodge, was an important contribution to Channel 4’s drama season. Also for Channel 4, Danny Glover starred as Mandela, with Alfre Woodard as his wife Winnie in one of the year’s outstanding television dramas. Jack Rosenthal’s Day to Remember, a bitter-sweet comedy with George Cole in the lead role, was acclaimed by critics and audience alike.

The highly talented Bobby Davro and Jessica Martin returned in another series, and the first series of Five Alive introduced five exciting new comedians led by Peter Piper and Brian Conley. Summertime Special from the Bournemouth International Centre returned to the nation’s screens, and the national top ten, with guest stars including Cliff Richard, Rita Coolidge and Lulu, and many top stars of British and international entertainment. TVS made a special contribution to the region’s theatre with the star-studded TVS Salutes the Mayflower which was subsequently re-edited for network transmission.

No. 73, the network’s flagship programme for children, was expanded to two episodes a week. Do It presented a fascinating range of practical activities, while Running Loose was a documentary series portraying the reactions of a group of urban children when transported to a country setting. Four plays were contributed to the Dramarama series. The Worldwise game show enjoyed another successful run and Panic Station used the novel technique of puppets to present a new series for children about popular science.

TVS TRUST The Trust has donated over £1,250,000 to a wide range of local charities and community projects since its inception five years ago. The Trust Governors, headed by Baroness Sharples, awarded grants this year from £25 to £21,000 over three years to the Cancer Relief Macmillan Fund for an educational project involving Southampton University and the Countess Mountbatten House, a Macmillan continuing care home within the city. The Trust has a guaranteed minimum annual income of $100,000 from TVS and a sum equivalent to 15% of the company’s distributed dividend.

The drama series Wolf to the Slaughter featured George Baker (right) as Detective Chief Inspector Reg Wexford and Christopher Ravenscroft as his assistant Detective Inspector Mike Burden.