Kirkstall Road 

29 July 2023 tbs.pm/79308

22 July 1968

Hello London, are you there?

Next week Yorkshire gets its own television centre. It’s a gigantic £5,000,000 complex of studios, electronics and people with ideas.

Until now, as far as the British television audiences at large were concerned, Yorkshire must have been regarded as some box with bare walls. For years Yorkshiremen have been herded into this box, apparently for the convenience of some famous interrogator hundreds of miles away. In these programmes everyone has their say.

Then at the last moment the interrogator says ‘We will now go over to a Northern studio. Hello Yorkshire, are you there?” Call it a provincial complex if you will, but we have always been irritated by that ‘Hello Yorkshire, are you there?’

The Yorkshireman then has a question fired at him. Half way through his reply he is interrupted with an apology that there isn’t enough time.

It seems the only Yorkshiremen who are pursued for their thinking are our sportsmen. We happen to think there are lots of other Yorkshiremen with opinions – blunt ones – on subjects such as social conditions, government machinery, and local economics. Next week these opinions will be given a voice in a programme that has teeth. It is called Calendar. This will be only one of the topical programmes originating from Yorkshire Television.

Essentially they will express the Yorkshire view without undue bias or bigotry.

All the same, listen closely when we switch to people in the southern studios. It’s just possible that you might detect a trace of glee in the interviewer’s voice when he says, ‘Hello London, are you there?’

29 July 1968

Yesterday there was only one Television Centre in Leeds

Today there are two

Today, Yorkshire gets the most advanced television studios in Europe. The only ones in Britain that were built for colour. 13 months ago the ground they now stand on was just a patch of waste land.

You can see Yorkshire Television by driving past, or tuning your set to Channel 10. The opening ceremony will be shown at 11.45 am The Test is televised from 11.50 am until close of play.

Channel 10 will enable Yorkshire to see more of its own sports, news, political, religious, comedy and drama programmes.

The televising of the Test is only one example. Tonight, there is Calendar, a current affairs programme on Yorkshire and a 60-minute comedy – Daddy, Kiss It Better.

By retaining the most popular ITV shows, and replacing the tired ones, Channel 10 will improve the face of television. More important, Yorkshire will get a new powerful national voice, and a new industry.

The £5,000,000 Yorkshire Television Centre will provide viewers with everything they want.

Everything except repairs. They go to the chap opposite.

Yorkshire Television
The Television Centre, Leeds 3
Telephone: 0532 38283
7 Portland Place, London W1
Telephone: 636-9484