ATV CLOSEDOWN - CENTRAL START UP 1/1/82

[joannedj1]

That was a classy handover. I was watching a clip of the start of TSW last night and was thinking WTF?! It was just bizarre, and I don't just mean their mad logo which looked like a green Sydney Opera House!!! Central didn't have a bad ident, I don't think, although it can hardly compare to ATV's which will always be a classic! My region's Granada - our logo just appeared on screen and didn't do a bloody thing! They could've animated it a bit, but no... nothing! Boring bastards!!!

[TheMasterNo6]

Central had one of the shittest, depressing idents ever....

[RobTheBuilder]

@TheMasterNo6 The original one was a dull but after 1986 when the 3D logo came in it was the most creative and interesting logo of any TV channel.

[peterpeterxxo]

and i remember watching spartacus but i might have given digby the biggest dog in the world a miss this time, i think it was on xmas 79 or 80 as well..

[peterpeterxxo]

yes indeed..welcome everyone, to 1982...lets hope for a peaceful year with no aggro or war. eh ?? what??..the falkland islands ?..never heard of em.

[JANXDPDX]

"...as silver as yours.." was that a jab?!



[97channel]

@JANXDPDX I've never been able to figure out quite what he meant by that. It doesn't make sense. Why would his hair have been more silver when he was younger? And as a joke or a jab, it still doesn't have any logic.

[kingstephen36]

Truly the end of an era.I remember this so well.

[jamesmt142]

ATV to Central was actually more of a rebrand, than a franchise change, hence the positive way in which ATV bowed out.

[quizman1967]

Interesting rendition of the National Anthem on a church organ. Rather different to the BBC version.

[staffsyeoman]

Ahhh Mike Prince... he was a good announcer of the old school.

[Feisty1967]

The autocue  reflected in his glasses lol.

[Feisty1967]

They handed over to Central in a most dignified manner, without a trace of bitterness.

[MattWindsor91]

Ominous God Save The Queen organ!

[Tripp1993]

5:18, all of the UK knows Chris Tarrant, who in 1993, did the stupidest thing ever: host the evil Carlton TV's first broadcast, "A Carlton New Year!"

[Feisty1967]

These programmes were clearly already recorded before the start of Central, there must have been some negotiation before the takeover.

[BabydelticProd]

55019 was still warm

[Champers1970]

Mike Prince & Shaw Taylor, quality line up

[TheAnneLeveridge]

What a nice handover

[Feisty1967]

So all these programmes must've been made before Central actually started, so they actually took over before 1st January 1982, cos they were producing programmes before this date. Or were they made by ATV? Did they use ATV studio facilities?

[MsEd209]

@Feisty1967. Consequently, Half of the ATV Mid's shares were made available to local people. To demonstrate this change of share structure, the IBA insisted that ATV change its company name, to show that it was a substantially new company. Central inherited ATV's Birmingham Broad Street studios, and eventually decided to construct new studios for its East sub-region, based in Nottingham, Lenton Lane.

[Feisty1967]

I wish we could have got ATV in Boston, Lincs! YTV was sooo boring!

[ianhawdon]

Who needs CWilliams1976 when you can have the real thing? :-)

[PunkZeusRock]

@ianhawdon Lol, I dislike the way he doesn`t title mock ups appropriately and that he has the voice of a supply maths teacher. glad to see itsn`t just me then who avoids his channel.

[GloucesterAdam]

@ianhawdon Indeed, his voice grates - anybody can do better than him at voice-over continuity imho.

[quizman1967]

@ianhawdon I totally agree. If they are mock-ups they should say so!

[quizman1967]

@ianhawdon Well said

[bazalmighty]

How many times did they repeat "Digby - The Biggest Dog in the World" back then during the christmas holiday seasons? lol.

[MrDayday58]

I remember this ATV, Southern and westward closedown. I was 23 at the time, back in 1981, lovely days. I wish I could go back there to those younger days, I'm 52 now and a few years from retirement.

[1starryeyedkid]

i used to think mike prince was soooooo hot!

[bungleandgorge]

where do people get these recordings from? are they found in a skip, their own attics or in a garden shed?

[jayrox40]

When television still had some dignity!

[freemind4ever]

police 5 guy

[MissSkymin]

Those were the days~ I grew up watching Central.

[Glamking1]

Suprisingly this closedown on TVARK says 'ATV Final Closedown' (c) 1982, if it was that in the early hours of 1st January 1982 and Mike Prince saying 'A very happy 1982' and what was the last advert being to air on ATV.

[97channel]

I'm a little surprised that ATV didn't become Central at the stroke of midnight. Technically speaking, I think that what you see here might actually be Central broadcasting under the ATV identity. I'm surprised the IBA allowed that.

[cwilliams1976]

@97channel They broadcast from the same studio centres. Southern broadcast when TVS officially should have started but Westward's was pre-recorded and TSW launched officially at midnight.

[Rexeljet]

I think this is more like how a final goodbye should be. It was sad to see ATV go, but at least Central was an OK channel more or less, and the ending of ATV was more peaceful. With Thames the end was abrupt, with a little blip Thames was gone, and Carlton arose, beginning the downward spiral resulting in ITV plc.

[GBscottieUK]

You can really see how the mechanical indent works in this video. Thanks for uploading it.

[Bearsmalaysia]

how come don't have the test card in between?

[peterpeterxxo]

@Bearsmalaysia test card ?. the one with the girl and sinister clown playing noughts n crosses do u mean ?..that was bbc1 and bbc2.

[everyone06]

I wasn't born when ATV went but Central was better than ATV espically in the news coverage.

[Raggamuffin1973]

Fantastic nostalgia! I loved Hart to Hart, so cool and Digby the biggest dog in the world - made me cry lol! I must have seen Spartacus every Xmas period since and Emu's World - classic! I remember having to buy Tv times and Radio Times every Xmas so I could mark what i was gonna watch through the holidays, (2 mags for 3 channels lol). Bliss, they were happy days!!!

[irsw51]

Ah the days of public service broadcasting.

[netkid3uk]

This is a piece of TV history that belongs in a museum. I remember the closedowns, but I had to explain them to someone the other day and they were shocked that there wasn't 24hr TV

[idle44]

OK I admit it! I almost stood up for the National Anthem! God, I'm drunk and pathetic. And God save the Queen and all her former ITV regions.

[death2hiphopnRnB]

Hahaa, OTT - what a disaster that turned out to be! Even though I was only 10 years old, I always used to sneak down the stairs and try to watch it through the louvre doors past 11pm as I thought it was basically Tiswas! Couldn't understand why my parents didn't let me watch it....

[duncaninchina]

Wow...so much to see here...I love the posh intro and voice-over. Interesting to see 'reality cop TV' was on screen even then. Rod Hull !! (He should have never gone on that roof with Emu) and Gordon Astley at 7:02. Oh and 'Spartacus', which was filmed locally at the back of Digbeth Coach Station....and 'Hart To Hart' another well known locally made show..(Is that Steve Martin?) Oh those were the days!

[radiodarkhorse]

Central's start up was briliant. Informative, creative. Marketing brilliance really. Oh, for the record, the Central sphere exploding was to define the Central goodies coming out aparently. I personally don't mind it and I grew up with ATV too but I'm proud of both channels and they served the midlands very well...unlike today thanks to Thatcher, Carlton and Granada.

[gallafey]

So it wasn't just BBC 1 that ended the night with God Save The Queen, some ITV regions did it aswell like ATV

[djtechno95]

Does anyone have the full clean Central startup and closedown themes?

[AntiCraigAdams]

Yes, but I won't let you put your grubby hands on them.

[eszettfromhell]

GSTQ sounds like it was being played by a particularly drunken tramp that night

[TheMasterNo6]

You have to admit, the ATV logo was superbly crafted, the Central logo was....dull.

[pjcnet]

This makes me feel so old and I was 12 years old then, over 27 years ago, yet it seems like only yesterday. At the time I had a ZX81 computer with 1K of memory which was the in thing, times have changed with an average PC having 2GB of memory or more which is 4194304K exactly (2048x2048). Life is too short and we should be enjoying and making the most of it.

[Raggamuffin1973]

@pjcnet Great comments mate, spot on. I bet you upgraded to a rubber key doorstop ZX spectrum! Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner etc lol. Myself... I'm just waiting for the Apple i-Time machine to be released so I can go back.

[courtney359]

@pjcnet well said

[Inaflap]

@pjcnet Actually, 2GB RAM is 2 x 1024 x 1024 x 1K RAM. Still as you say.. life's too short. I bought a ZX Spectrum 16K in 1982 for £125 which considering inflation would be £350 now. It's funny how so many people were prepared to spend that much cash on such a crude device, but these machines did seem amazing 30 years ago. Anyone else feel time is speeding up?

[luornu]

The ATV closedown would have been perfect if only they had played 'zoom 2' one last time before the switch off. I was disappointed that they didn't!

[Davewakeham]

like the sprayed on hairstyles

[dazzyboy74]

Shaw Taylor - "Keep em' peeled"!!!! - Police 5

[norwind]

i spotted Gordon Astley presenting Tiswas

[Glamking1]

If you want to see the video separte there are both on the DailyMotion website !!

[dickdixon]

what a shit version of god save the queen lol!!

[Glamking1]

I know it perhaps it was my favourite and but it was played on a church organ did you know that. did you prefer the guitar rock version of it by Brian May and Queen at the end of their stadium rock concerts.

[spankmonkey73]

A really well produced advert for the new Central identity, from Shaw Taylor's "so hopefully we'll catch twice as many criminals" reference to the new dual region, through heavy usage of the new visual and textual idents, to the new shows' promotion, including the clever mention that "Central's cameras have been following [the whale's] progress for four years" - surely when ATV began the filming they didn't know that change was coming.

Central nailed presentation bar the lack of in-vision.

[97channel]

spankmonkey73 - Central did use in-vision continuity for a while. Didn't last for long though. I think there might be one or two clips somewhere on here.

[GottaBePaxton]

anyone know what the opening/closing central theme is?

[borgduck]

So innocent back then.

[regentv980]

true also better

[kainer2]

Oh my God - Shine on Harvey Moon was included in that Central promo. I remember that as a kid !

Very dignified end to ATV as well. Very classy.

Were they actually outbid for their license (like the 1-92 license war) or were they just stripped of their license?

[AidanLunn]

Neither. They were restructured as Central Independent Television (new management team and several other conditions), so, in a way, ATV still exist even now.

[Hoddersrevenge]

Having been forced by the IBA to change in order to keep their licence, as they were seen not to have focused on their region enough

[MoleinaHole]

Shaw Taylor. LEGEND. I still tell my husband to 'keep 'em peeled' when I leave the house. He's Australian and doesn't have a clue what I am talking about BUT the sentiment is there!

[AidanLunn]

Maybe it's time you told him why you say that lol!

[nortellini]

Shaw Taylor said of the new move from ATV to Central, "New studios.....and the whole news coverage expanding" - shame that Central in 2008 aren't doing it now, and deciding to run everything from Birmingham while closing the studios in Nottingham.

Central are a disgrace to the proud history of its franchise and their news coverage now is utter drivel.

[Hoddersrevenge]

The reason being that the dung merchants known as Carlton managed to completely buy Central during the 1990's, and now ITV plc owns all ITV franchises in England and Wales, it can do what it wishes.

[poopiepoos]

...and who owns the lions share of ITV plc.... Granada! so who can we blame for the lack of regions, job cuts, studio losses, children programmes gone... thats right... Granada!

[DJgaZman]

...and Carlton

[0atcr0]

As The Guardian Said today: "YouTube's primary function is to reunite us with a rich but increasingly hazy past." Thanks Uploader!

[EncoreEnterprisesLLC]

Was there a test pattern?

[bluesbrother37]

A more dignified handover, unlike when Carlton snatched the franchise from Thames!

[thepod96]

@bluesbrother37 Well, that's probably because ATV and Central were the same company, just with a different name as they were forced to reflect their region more, unlike Thames and Carlton which were different companies.

[tsangari]

@bluesbrother37 From dignified people! I just read that Taylor announced for ATV back in 1957, prolly why he was there.

[thepod96]

@bluesbrother37 That's because ATV and Central are/were the same thing; they were told to rename and reposition themselves as a more regional (Midlands) focused station by the regulator at the time, instead of trying to become the biggest national ITV producer with a very vague, un-local name (Associated Television). Thames and Central were two completely different companies. Carlton outbid Thames. End of story.

[g7mzh]

I'm not sure it made that much difference really.

Mrs T was so intent on flogging off everything to the highest bidder regardless of quality it's highly unlikely that even if "Death on the Rock" had not been transmitted ITV would have survived.

[bluesbrother37]

Anyone remember, EH BRIAN, IT'S A WHOPPER.

[goldieberger]

i remember it well. Brian Miller played Perce, and he is my moms cousin!!

[stephenb1987]

TISWAS Was the best from the ATV region.

[cambridgechris]

1ATV - er, let me see...

The Upper Hand (delightful sitcom,

Crossroads (a national treasure soap),

Woof! (long-running and imaginative children's comedy-drama, Heartbreak High (best teen angst drama ever), Bullseye and Family Fortunes (two of the most iconic ITV quiz shows ever), the majority of CITV output (fantastic during the 80s and 90s), diverse, high quality regional news to this day - is that qite enough for you?

[duncaninchina]

Ahh Shaw "Keep e'm peeled" Taylor! In the days when we saw the C/A without those annoying Screen-Crunches which blight the channels now! (Misterduncan)

[mooncowtube]

Wow. Tiswas. OTT. They don't make em like that any more.

[MisterSenseless]

I can't stand that announcer's voice, its so nasal

[jsam93]

DIGBY- the biggest DOG in the world. Do you think this is a reverse copy of Pushing Daisies?

[videonut33]

Finally An HQ version of Central's First Day on the air in the Midlands!!!!

thanks ;)

[abhudson14]

Did ATV use a analogue clock around the early 1970s and again in the late 70s this one I think had the yellow square boader round it and where the ATV logo was were the clock face was.

[mrslmathers]

Great piece of history. I actually remember that announcer with the silver hair (Mike Prince?).

[craydee75]

I'd totally forgotten about him until watching this. Oh those were the days. I loved ATV's theme as a child.

[craydee75]

I'd totally forgotten about him until watching this. Oh those were the days. I loved ATV's theme as a child.

[psychonaut3]

I think that organist is still plying his trade in Scotland. I'm sure his dodgy fingers were providing the wedding march at a friend's ceremony...

[THELEICESTERFOX]

Was it Central Independant Televisions fault what happened to ATV?

No, the IBA (Who were not the saviours of British TV afterall) forced ATV to give itself a name to represent the Midlands and Cemtral Ind TV was born.

Central brought us duel regions for West and East and South (all before BBC), built new studios in Nottingham and filmed many famous programmes including Bullseye and Family Fortunes.

[dacrlit]

At least IBA , did something constructive and didn't give the licence to new people.

[THELEICESTERFOX]

They did, they formed it into a new company so techincally it was given to new people

[cwilliams1976]

Actually, it was on the Government's and the IBA's advice that ATV should become more midlands-based and concentrate more on the midlands rather than in the exportation of programmes to and from America, and they won the franchise on condition that they put at least half of their shares on the open market.

[1ATV]

the sadest day , Central never got anywhere

near ATV , that Central voiceover was rubbish , not even a Midlands accent , pity ATV went off air , it'll never be the same again , what a shame , the only thing we have left is all the great stuff ATV left behind , how many shows can you name that

Central left us ?

[dacrlit]

Let's see, Family Fortunes, Bullseye, Shine on Harvey Moon, Boon, The Price is Right and they kept Crossroads on, which is what a new tv company would have done and also they made new episodes of New Faces again. Also The Upper Hand and Married for Life were great.

[thesilvermachine]

...Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Blockbusters...

Two of my favourites from Central.

[nottscombo]

As Shaw Taylor said "I'm very excited for what Central have to offer, with the split franchise and new studios in Nottingham......" How things have changed - for the worse !!!

[iwgills]

what a shame we dont have truly regional itv anymore

[Hoddersrevenge]

Blame Carlton and Granada

[dacrlit]

Blame the Government for turning their back on the situation at ITV.

[narrator6]

all that and shaw taylor (keep them peeled)

too.

[abhudson14]

I rember this change over

[ATVmidlands5581]

i absolutely love this thank you for posting. i love that ATV weather slide too. the digital ATV clock is a joy to see again. its such a shame what happened to regional television in Britain over the years.

cheers

atvmidlands uk

[Hoddersrevenge]

To my knowledge , Central used the same digital clock with a central caption over it.

[ATVmidlands5581]

you might be right hodders. im not a 'central' authority as my era was more ATV. i did watch central tho especially the early years but as it went on i felt regionally it began to drift away especially in the 90's.

cheers

atvmidlands UK

[ATVmidlands5581]

you might be right hodders. im not a 'central' authority as my era was more ATV. i did watch central tho especially the early years but as it went on i felt regionally it began to drift away especially in the 90's.

cheers

atvmidlands UK

[troublemaker1973]

A little bit of history. Many thanks.

[rfrancis51284]

great footage. Thanks for sharing!