ITV's Journey Through Colour | A Brief History

When COLOUR TELEVISION came to the UK in 1967, it was seen as a ground-breaking step forward. For ITV, they didn't have one or two channels to gear up for the big transition. Made up of 15 companies at the time, the ITV Network would have a staggered journey in the move to colour TV, a journey that took perhaps longer than you may have thought...
MY LINKS:
PATREON - patreon.com/adammartynamtv
TWITTER - AdamMartynAMTV
With Thanks To Our Patrons & Staff Members: (as of 07/10/24)
Assistant Floor Managers
Phil Atkin
Evonne Okafor
Martin Spellacey
Mevans2001
Alek Zapara
Hannah_ecs
NintenXP
Da Boy David
Directors
Rob Jefferson
Matt Pekarek
Kieren Dight
Producers
Joseph 'Gerkuman' Adams
/ gerkuman
KNIGH7
/ @knigh7
Jenny Tea
James Brindley
Macra99
/ macra99
Ryan Boundy
Alex Chapman
Elijah Brown
AMTV Staff Members
Macra
Bruce Danton
Derek Chambers
Shaun Knock
Daud Khan
Liam De-Maine
trev hughes
Ajmac 200017
Dec!
evan hart 41
jen
Traffi
Tim Ripley
Mr Eurovision 1986
Ted Elliott
Marnanel Thurman
John Wakefield
Kieran Boulton
40somethingmanchild
Jerry Ralph
John MacLeod
Please like, subscribe, share and check out my other videos! :D
#itv #colourtv #history

[@beanotownie]

This video is a great insight into the development of colour across ITV (as it was). I worked at Channel TV from 1969 until 2012 and was a transmission controller in 1976 when we went from mono 405 to colour 625 lines - the Channel clock you see on the video was designed by myself (Microgramma Bold text using letraset) - fabulous days!

[@AdamTheMan1993]

How difficult was it to work for Channel TV during the ITV strike of 1979?

[@beanotownie]

Hi, it was quite hard work. We broadcast until around 10.30pm each night, mainly showing a long feature film EVERY night. I worked then producing the programme schedule, and it was hard to keep up with the daily output (fear of running out of time to print and send details to transmission crews). 😅

[@chriscarter7358]

@@beanotownie As a former ITV MCR Engineer, I have wondered whether Channel TV took the same commercials as TVS (before that TSW/Westward) or did you insert your own? I believe that you re-broadcast the off-air signal from the Rowridge transmitter. In terms of our IBA/BT lines schedules you did not feature.

[@AdamTheMan1993]

@@beanotownie I bet you were glad when the strike finally ended and normal services were resumed

[@davidcronan4072]

Evidently, Anglia's silver knight statue wasn't specially made for the company but was bought second-hand by a company executive who saw it in the window of an antique shop.

[@EuropaSman]

That's true; it was a sterling silver trophy bought from Aspreys the jewellers in Bond Street, London and had the Anglia pennon added to the end of the lance.

[@97channel]

Search KZbin for "Anglia at 60, tx: 25/10/19, An Anglia TV Colour Production". 3:30 into the video, I'm betting that the Anglia knight statie is way bigger than you ever thought it was.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

Each ITV regions music deserves it's own video. When a programme began you always got the music and logo from the region that produced that programme.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

16:09 What a treat this was: two minutes of time travel to hear at the end, here at the end . Thank you.

[@rajnirvan3336]

Each region brings back great memories. Whenever I heat ATV reminds me of Family Fortunes

[@MiddayDolomite]

I can't be the only one who clearly remembers the trumpet stabs in many of those jingles, but largely because they were somewhat eerie and scary in their intensity. Even now, they almost feel like ghostly echoes from a bygone age.

[@tvaq6ch]

It’s so interesting to see how Channel took 7 years to catch up. It must be a relief for the company and the IBA when they are done getting the network colour feed to the islands

[@HouseflyUK]

We had B&W TV's for ages! I remember when we lived in one of the Brentford Towers (18th floor) we had a TV that had a manual tuning dial and I remember picking up Southern TV loud and clear (we were in West London and had Thames/LWT) and this got me interested in radio waves and how they worked! I used to love that ITV had different regions with a variety of names.

[@mmwaashumslowww7167]

Wonderful memories from the days of quality television. Television fascinated me throughout my childhood and by my early teens, I DX'ed regional tv with various aerials during the right weather conditions. Today in 2024, I couldn't give a fig about it and no amount of HD or big screen OLED technologies interest me. I do the memory lane trip on KZbin, regularly watching the old 60s and 70s programs, that I watched all those years ago. Thanks for a brilliant presentation of tv history.

[@highpath4776]

I made a Colour TV in 1969, by sellotaping the transparent wrappers from Quality Street to the front glass of the tube. I think our first colour TV was got when the Black and White one gave up, probably a Fidelity one from Tempo electrical warehouses, even that was troublesome. Indeed the licence fee might have put mum off getting one. Nan's set was so old it was Sepia at White. ( but did run on 405 lines ) I wish we had kept it - enough valves and decent size speaker to make a guitar Amp out of it If I had thought

[@brendancasey-rz5ix]

I used to play my nes through a black and white TV super Mario bros 3

[@MarkAJAgi]

My Grandad made one before then. At the end of the war there where shops called Army Surplus Shops. They sold stuff the army no longer needed. Grandad bought a cathode-ray tube that was used for radar and made a telly with a green and black screen.

[@JimPatience]

Really enjoyed this video. And thanks for putting the idents at the end, really reminiscent of a bygone time that still lives in my head!

[@LostsTVandRadio]

I remember that as late as 1971 some adverts on ATV were still shown in B&W despite the schedule being otherwise fully in colour.

[@helenaskew4851]

Anglia TV gave back childhood memories. Thankyou for this video

[@AdamMartyn]

My pleasure!

[@MarkAJAgi]

I would imagine a lot of people in the Channel Islands would try to get ITV Southern or a French TV channel up to 1976 as there are no hills or buildings in the sea blocking the signal.

[@Brettski777]

I really enjoy these type of Videos Adam. Well done.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@LostsTVandRadio]

There was a commercial imperative for most regions to get their colour services up and running because a lot of people living in overlapping regions would choose the first ITV company to go into colour for their area. For example Gloucester could receive HTV and ATV, and Peterborough could receive not only Anglia, but ATV and Yorkshire too.

[@fattomandeibu]

STV should really be no surprise as it covered Edinburgh and Glasgow.

[@MylesSmith-q4y]

Some early ITV shows were made in colour for early colour TV transmission tests

[@FernandsLiveShowShow]

A brilliant and incredibly fascinating video - something I've read about many a time but seeing it in, aptly, visual form is fab. Interesting how idents of the time really capture that point in time/history and in a way reflect attitudes to TV then too. Must have been all the identical compilations watched as a kid but that HTV one's really unlocked a memory! 😄

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

Adam, the content you are putting out these days is excellent, I'll never stop saying it, you have a great future as a documentary maker!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much! Glad you've been enjoying the recent stuff!

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

@@AdamMartyn I am thoroughly enjoying it indeed!

[@stickytapenrust6869]

08:50 - the same is true of Northern Ireland and Wales too. The last main UHF transmitter to open was Brougher Mountain, bringing colour to south-west Northern Ireland, opening in October 1978!!!

[@radiotracks7865]

Yes, indeed. I used to work with someone from that area who said she still watched in black and white well into 1978. They could also receive RTE1, which also provided a 405-line service in some areas. When 625-lines colour came to their area, they gained BBC 2 but lost RTE on getting a colour set.

[@steeviebops]

@@radiotracks7865 RTE's main 405-line transmitters at Kippure and Truskmore closed in 1978 anyway. Although some relays in north-east Donegal carried on until 1982. How they got the signal to them, I've no idea.

[@edwardburek1717]

Another terrific documentary. It's good to see those idents again, and the Yorkshire one is quite impressive - although I think it might be a Dave Jeffery creation unless I'm very much mistaken. But nothing - and I mean absolutely NOTHING - can top ATV's Zoom 2.

[@radiotracks7865]

I remember being fascinated by the animated YTV idents. I was disappointed when it was replaced by the still caption version.

[@drt1605]

I remember when Central replaced ATV. The coloured crescent on the planet was incredible.

[@simongvs]

Thunderbirds was in fact the second Gerry Anderson series to be produced in colour, the first was of course, Stingray in 1964. It was filmed so to take advantage of American television already having made the transfer. I believe when it was announced, the AP Film studios in Slough soon started receiving visitors from the BBC & probably ITV regions to see what equipment would be needed.

[@CM73878]

Indeed Sir Lew Grade of ATV funded the acquisition of high-quality film cameras by AP Films to produce the show in colour. Fireball XL5 had been a hit on NBC in the States and they hoped the move to colour would ensure Stingray would be too. Alas, it wasn’t as successful.

[@RetroHobbyMag]

Watching those idents was like a rewind of my entire life ... what a ride.

[@markc5111]

That was an awesome video and a great trip down memory lane. The montage at the end was a class idea Adam 😍👍👍👍.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@fattomandeibu]

According to my dad, in our area(rural North Northumberland, with reception of both Tyne Tees and Border until Channel 4 launched, bumping Tyne Tees off, then replaced Border with Tyne Tees in 2002) most folks almost immediately switched to colour since most sets were rented and they simply upgraded their rental. I figured that'd actually have been pretty common everywhere.

[@radiotracks7865]

I remember reading in the Evening Chronicle about the opening of a relay station in 1979, mentioning the area could only receive the VHF service that's going to be, "Phased Out Soon". I don't recall which area, might have been Rothbury?

[@phill6859]

My parents were never rich enough to rent a TV. They bought each one, which lasted about ten years each. You pay the cost of a rental TV after two years. Of course you miss out on new features. I'm still rocking my 16 year old 1080p tv

[@fattomandeibu]

@@phill6859 Umm... most folks rented a TV because they could never afford to buy one, so what you're saying makes no sense. I remember my Grandad's, as he still rented his TVs well into the '90s it had a box on the back and you had to put 50p coins into it just to get it to turn on.

[@neilmasters9914]

Excellent documentary😊 Just to add that there was (and still is) a great deal of geographical overlap where out of area signals were receivable with high gain aerials and suitable amplifier and so some would be able to receive good colour reception from adjacent area colour uhf transmitters even if their local area had not switched to colour. This was particularly so in days of analogue television as in general signals travelled further and degraded gradually unlike digital which has a cliff-edge fall off. Conversely some communities were stuck with vhf 405 lines black and white reception for many years after switchover due to poor local reception of uhf colour signals only resolved with fill-in local transmitters ( often low power). Keep up the good work.

[@therealyogibear2k225]

I can't remember when we got our first colour tv, but, i do remember my aunt being a very late adopter because she couldn't afford the license fee for colour. I thunk it wasn't until 1985 she got her first colour set. I would love too see a video on the licence fee, if you are able to do one. This is a Very Interesting video. Thanks for making it.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

It was strange to visit the Channel Islands in the early to mid seventies and to find that they still only had black and white 405 line BBC1 and ITV services ... TV set manufacturers still had to make provision for this of course. (Admittedly a few people received colour TV from France if they had SECAM sets.)

[@loftlegacy]

Fascinating video and a bit before my time. I do remember all of these idents as a kid and think local franchises were so much better with some fantastic programming and a real sense of pride. I’m in the superior franchise region, Granadaland ⬆️ G

[@davidcronan4072]

To offset the high purchase cost of a new colour set, many people (me included) used to rent our sets. Both local shops and national chains, such as Granada Rentals, would offer this service.

[@micrashed]

Ah, I remember most of those colour idents - our first colour TV arrived in 1978 - a Murphy that I seem to remember used to break down once a year.

[@CFNTL2]

Channel tv might be the last itv region to attain colour but apparently they’re not the last PLACE as according to Wikipedia the Brougher Mountain transmitting station of UTV didn’t get colour until october 1978.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

October 78, IIRC.

[@CFNTL2]

Thanks ​@@stickytapenrust6869 I redated it

[@radiotracks7865]

That was the last of the main stations. Relay transmitters were still needed in many areas. I recall reading about a relay opening in 1979 in the Tyne Tees region which previously could only receive a 405-line service. Some isolated spots, mostly in Wales, still couldn't receive 625-line colour at the time the 405-line service had ended 😮.

[@TheGerkuman]

​@@radiotracks7865if you watch the old IBA technical announcements, then you can see that they were still having to make relays into the 80's.

[@user-cvbnm]

Channel is Still last because that is about relay transmitters. the last monochrome transmitters shut down forever in 1985

[@centrevezgaming4862]

In the original Ulster television logo each pattern represents locations around that region according to Bob the fish productions for his in the face of ITV documentary series.

[@alanprior7650]

I grew up in Portsmouth area in the 70s and 80s and so the TV stations I grew up with was Southern and TVS. When I left for America in 2016 the ITV regions were merging into one entity. Such a shame. My wife recently got me a t-shirt with the Southern TV logo on it! 😊

[@stephenhall6595]

I was living in the Midlands at the time and we got Colour in 1969 of course however I recall being on Holiday in Cornwall in early 1971 just before Westward went colour and I recall seeing the old Monochrome Test Card D for the last time.

[@dannycarter1966]

"From Norwich, it's the quiz of the week."

[@Nostalgic80s-nd3qb]

Really interesting to see how ITV’s journey to get colour went. Fascinating video. 👌

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@DMiddleton-bj5wc]

Actually b&w survived well into the 70s, with b&w continuity in-between colour programmes ( as was the case with Border) & some b&w reports even on the main news. There was also an edition of Blue Peter ( I think in 1974) that was in b&w. That was all outside of the colour strike on ITV in the early 70s. ATV had a B&W version of zoom 2 which was shorter than the colour one for those programmes still in black & white after their main changeover in 1969.

[@martinhughes2549]

Remember that 625 PAL Colour on UHF needed a vast number of main transmitters, then many relay transmitters. In March 1974 only 79% of the Welsh population could get a UHF signal. In fact, on that date 6% of Welsh homes couldnt get a 405 VHF signal for HTV! 3% could not get a BBC1 405 VHF signal. It took another 20 years to get full coverage and provide a Welsh service to parts of Flintshire. The launch of the colour service of HTV was only at the main Wenvoe transmitter in April 1970 Mendip launched soon after, but it took till 1973 for transmitters at Llandonna, Moel Y Parc,Carmel, etc to start broadcasting BBC1 &HTV in Colour ( some if these tranmitters already broadcast BBC2 in Colour before 1973)

[@radiotracks7865]

Even at the time of the closure of the 405-line service, they were still pockets of Wales that were unable to receive UHF.!

[@richardjordansongs]

As a Beatles fan I regularly see (and get annoyed by) comments on the internet criticising BBC1 for its "decision" in December 1967 to broadcast Magical Mystery Tour in black and white rather than in colour. I guarantee that no viewers in 1967 were complaining about it being in black and white as it just wouldn't have been a consideration at the time. Actually, most of the viewer complaints were about the lack of a discernible plot, a fact which holds true in either black and white or colour. In future I might have to direct those critics towards this video with its explanation of how colour television was gradually introduced in the UK. As it happened, Magical Mystery Tour was repeated in colour over on BBC2 a few weeks later in January 1968 but I suspect only a handful of people and their dogs would have been able to get the full benefit from the transmission.

[@thefrecklepuny]

Where else would anyone get such historically important titbits? Well done for this video!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you! ✨️

[@stevedickson5853]

Yorkshire , HTV , Thames, LWT, ATV, Tyne Tees , and Anglia's signature tunes all sounded particularly good

[@jgcracknell]

There also had to be upgrades to the distribution network. For Granada, Yorks, LWT/Thames it was all just one transmitter. For those like Anglia they had to upgrade their SHF links to Belmont and Sandy. Well the ITA had to do that, so they were beholden to them. There were also those transmitters that were reliant on off air reception. Colour didn't come to the Shetlands until 1976 Grampian and 1977 BBC as there was no UHF link. A midpoint at Fair Isle had to be established. There were other major technical issues such as getting a colour signal from Rosemarkie/Inverness to Skye and the Outer Hebridies through loads of relays across Scotland.

[@BenceVass11]

2:37 “And Yorkshire… well… broadcasting in Yorkshire” Great video alltogether

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@martinhughes2549]

.....and when they got the Belmont transmitter in 1974, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk too

[@rajnirvan3336]

Loved regional ITV. I live in London and would always look forward to the handover from Thames to LWT. Every region always brings back a memory of a show eg HTV was Robin Of Sherwood

[@nepalball2711]

HELP THIS BRINGS ME BACK 2020 MEMORIES

[@blueswingdown]

here's some stuff i researched lol: - the Trident Television company between Tyne Tees/Yorkshire eventually took over the two (they almost renamed them Trident Tyne-Tees and Trident Yorkshire). they later had to de-merge, though Trident continued to hold minority shares for a time. they eventually merged with Grand Metropolitan, who in turn eventually merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo. (Yorkshire and Tyne Tees later merged again in 1992, lasting until they were both acquired by Granada in 1997) - Westward, Border, Grampian, and Channel were unaffected by the infamous 1970-1971 color strike, since they obviously hadn't changed into colour by the time it occured, which pretty much meant they didn't notice much of a difference seeing Valerie Barlow's execution in monochrome (look it up)

[@YeOldeFootballChannel]

I love football, and I have a few more details about that: London Weekend's The Big Match was already recorded (not shown) in colour since October. Granada waited until January 1970 to broadcast their matches in colour. As for Anglia, they had colour in 1970, but they decided to wait until the 1971-72 season for its Match of the Week to be in colour.

[@spencer19731]

You should do a feature on the dates when Itv went 24 hours . I remember as a 15 year old being really fed up that Thames had 24 hours and the ITN news at 5an when TVS was still asleep 😆

[@richardgordon2098]

Although Border TV started colour transmissions in 1971, local studio-based programmes were in black and white until August 1973....and continuity was monochrome for a good while after that. They could screen film based material like adverts, series like The Persuaders and feature films in colour. The first networked series of Mr and Mrs with Derek Batey was a co-production with Tyne Tees and recorded in Newcastle because Border didn't have colour cameras until the late sunmer of '73.

[@martinhughes2549]

@@richardgordon2098 Border had Monochrome in vision continuity till spring 1979.

[@k.voskuyl5775]

reminds of schools IVC being in b&w in the Netherlands until early 80's

[@CulturePhilter]

As late as the very early 1990s I, as a small child, watched SOME tv in black and white because although our family Tv in living room was color I had an old hand-me-down black and white set in my bedroom. It had a actual dial you had to turn each time you wanted to tune into a different channel. 😄

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Stuff the fact that the ITV Channel franchise took another five years to switch to colour broadcasting, just pause a moment and take in the realisation that there existed a separate company just for the Channel Islands at all. Yes, it's famously where you go for tax haven reasons if you've won the lottery and want sunshine but only want to speak English and can't stand foreign food ; but it's like Milton Keynes having its very own ITV company! Even today, over on the BBC, there's no shame shown when they run out of local news before the end of the allotted time in the early evening slot in the schedule. It's quite endearing when halfway through BBC South West's "Spotlight" local news, the presenter faces the camera and utters the time-worn phrase "We welcome viewers just joining us" in a nod to the lack of anything else to report from the Channel Islands BBC news studio and their consequent sloping off home early.

[@DuncanYT2015]

Hay Channel Islands the lucky one out of the crown dependencies when it comes to the BBC as the Isle of Man pays the BBC license every year but no local service like yourself

[@DraigBlackCat]

Interesting. Among the things missing for the programme were the actual cost of buying colour and monochrome TV vs average wages and the cost of TV Licences for colour vs monochrome. We got our first colour TV in 1971 but it was rented and payment was via a coin fed meter on the back of the set. Renting was a popular option as the TVs of the time weren't that reliable and you could change sets when you wanted. Here in NE Wales, at the start of ITV colour service the reception was quite patchy to say the least. My parents lived on Deeside and couldn’t get Harlech but could get Granada's signal from Winter Hill, yet my sister lived only 3½ miles away to the SE, in Broughton, and could receive Granada, HTV and ATV. Another relative lived in the next street to us, only ¼mile away but could receive both HTV and Granada. To cap this off, my brother lived in a bedsit at New Brighton on The Wirral. He couldn’t receive Granada but could get HTV.

[@alexbennett7018]

The TV license still has a black and white option intact there are still 4000 black and white tv licenses issued every year.

[@IainDavies-z2l]

ITV were not happy with 625 colour, they wanted to transmit colour on 405 lines. As they could use their existing transmitters. They had experimented with NTSC on 405 lines similar to the BBCs transmissions in the 1950s. TWW had recorded a lot in colour ready for the start of colour but never saw the day as they lost to HTV.

[@EuropaSman]

Would be good to see a follow-up on the BBC regions' transition to colour. I have a childhood memory of an edition of Look East in the mid 1970s that Ian Masters presented from the grounds of the studios St Catherine's Close, with OB trucks in shot. I think it was a special edition of Look East to celebrate BBC East's change over to colour; the colour OB equipment was being used temporarily until the permanent colour equipment was installed. Up until then, I believe the regional opt-out was in black & white. My mum & dad worked at Pye's TV factory in Lowestoft so we had a colour from 1970. I expect my dad bought the set in time for Anglia going colour.

[@andyhame6685]

I remember on Midlands Today - which was in colour from Birmingham - having a feature with the Lord Mayor of Nottingham pulling a big (fake) lever to switch the Nottingham studio to colour working. Previously all inserts from the East Midlands were in B&W.

[@andresbravo2003]

One Step Closer to Colour.

[@garrycowan4394]

It was definitely not until the 80's until my family could afford a colour tv

[@TUTOPA1]

Is it worth doing a video about the pre-colour test programmes that were made? Public Eyes made a test colour episode before the launch.

[@aston-s]

I miss ITV being various different brands

[@diamonddave2622]

A colour TV with a 25" CRT screen was about £350 in 1968. In 2024 that's about £5000 - more than LG's 83" 4k OLED!

[@AdamMartyn]

🤯🤯🤯

[@AdamTheMan1993]

And that's before decimalisation was introduced

[@channelzero2252]

TV launching in Australia has a similar story. Although most of the state capitals had a TV service in time for the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, some smaller towns - including Territory capital city Darwin - didn't get television until 1971! Also, our transition to full time colour did not occour until 1975, despite the fact that we had been broadcasting with the PAL system the entire time. The article "Television in Australia" on Wikipedia has a great summary of it all, although, unfortunately, I cannot suggest anywhere for better detail.

[@AdamMartyn]

I did a whole video talking about Australia's transition to colour TV! If you look in the AMTV Documentaries playlist you'll find it there!

[@channelzero2252]

@@AdamMartyn Oh, I must have scrolled right past it. I've been doing that since the video rental store days 🙄 Thank you! 😁

[@steeviebops]

I have one of the small TVs that's on the desk at Channel TV at 13:02. It's a Sony 9-90UB. Dual standard 405/625.

[@bryyyzy91]

Hearing the old HTV indent music brings back memories

[@CricketEngland]

Don’t forget the Colour TV license was also more expensive than one for B&W televisions and therefore most people didn’t get a colour TV until the price became that same.

[@kinolibby6580]

The black and white licence was still on the go when I set off for university in 2004 with my aunt's old black and white portable T V. It was cheaper than the colour licence so I don't think many people were really factoring in the cost of the licence when they decided to make the switch or not. Mind you my Granny was always furious when they showed classic black and white films on the telly 'is this what I pay my colour licence for?!'

[@stepheng8779]

​@@kinolibby6580It's also why back then a lot of people had Dalmatian dogs as the licences were cheaper 😉

[@alexbennett7018]

The price never became the Same today a black and white tv licence is £57 while colour is £169.50.

[@CricketEngland]

@@alexbennett7018 well that’s still the man factor why so many households took longer to get colour TV’s

[@ArrowXskyReborn]

I didn't know the switch to color didnt occur in the UK until the late 60s. Interesting stuff!

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

Colour TV was reasonably prepared for in the UK. Our third channel, BBC2, was only ever broadcast in 625-line so the BBC could use it to test colour. That was in 1964. BBC2 even plugged it with a TV play series called "Theatre 625". Even by 1982 there were still people who had 405-line sets, if the stories of TV engineers called out by people who found they couldn't get Channel 4 are to be believed. The house across the road from me still has a 405 line VHF aerial proudly attached to the chimney, nearly 40 years after the VHF signal was switched off.

[@CricketEngland]

It was thanks mainly to Snooker though that the U.K. got Colour TV

[@stuartj5520]

It was Sir David Attenborough, as Controller of BBC2 at the time, who commissioned the colour series Pot Black (snooker) and Civilisation. We beat the West Germans to colour by 3 weeks, becoming the first western European country to regularly broadcast in colour

[@antster1983]

Not only by ITV region, but also by transmitter! 1969 ==== 15th November - Crystal Palace (Thames/LWT), Sutton Coldfield (ATV), Emley Moor (Yorkshire) and Winter Hill (Granada) 13th December - Black Hill (Scottish), Rowridge & Dover (both Southern) 1970 ==== 28th February - Waltham (ATV) 6th April - Wenvoe (HTV Cymru Wales) 30th May - Mendip (HTV West) 15th June - Oxford (ATV) 17th July - Pontop Pike (Tyne Tees) 14th September - Durris (Ulster) 1st October - Tacolneston (Anglia) 18th November - Sudbury (Anglia) 1971 ==== 18th January - Sandy Heath (Anglia) 15th March - Bilsdale (Tyne Tees) 22nd May - Caradon Hill & Redruth (both Westward) 24th May - Belmont (Anglia - transferred to Yorkshire on 30th July 1974) 19th July - Durris (Grampian) 2nd August - Pendle Forest (Granada - high power relay of Winter Hill, the first high power relay to open) 1st September - Caldbeck (Border) 13th September - Stockland Hill (Westward) 1st November - Hannington & Heathfield (both Southern) 27th September - Craigkelly (Scottish) 1972 ==== 1st March - Selkirk (Border) 30th September - Angus (Grampian) 1st December - Darvel (Scottish) 18th September - Midhurst (Southern) 1973 ==== 26th February - Ridge Hill (ATV) 19th March - Beacon Hill (Westward) 7th May - Blaen-plwyf (HTV Cymru Wales) 21st May - Carmel (HTV Cymru Wales) 11th June - Moel-y-Parc (HTV Cymru Wales) 16th August - Preseli (HTV Cymru Wales) 6th September - Llanddona (HTV Cymru Wales) 8th October - Rosemarkie (Grampian) 5th November - Huntshaw Cross (Westward) 24th December - Rumster Forest (Grampian) 1974 ==== 25th February - Bluebell Hill (Thames/LWT - switched to TVS South East on 1st January 1982) 19th August - Chatton (Tyne Tees) 28th October - Knock More (Grampian) 1975 ==== 1st December - Limavady (Ulster) 19th December - Keelylang Hill (Grampian) 22nd December - The Wrekin (ATV - the last mainland main UHF TX to go colour) 1976 ==== 11th June - Torosay (Scottish) 26th July - Fremont Point (Channel - the last ITV company to broadcast in colour) 30th July - Eitshal (Grampian) 24th December - Bressay (Grampian) 1978 ==== 6th October - Brougher Mountain (Ulster)

[@aungpyaesone4242]

Prior to the May 1976, Channel Island only got BBC1 & ITV. both are on 405 lines only. That's mean, No BBC 2, No 625 lines and No Colour.

[@andyhame6685]

It's an engineering issue. The Channel Islands are fairly remote from Great Britain, so to get a reliable signal there over the sea was an issue at UHF which is where the 625 line signal is broadcast. Colour was even more demanding than 625 line B&W. That's what the delay in getting BBC 2 and colour TV there was down to.

[@marvy3022]

Nice video. Suggestion, you should do a video on widescreen television and HDTV. The UK were pioneers in widescreen television but it took a few more years for HDTV to become the norm.

[@diaquallo]

What a journey indeed, after all it’s color

[@KristinaMckailMckail-ry2tm]

U&Eden is going to launch on freeview and Freesat on 16th October 2024 and Gold and Alibi will rebrand on 7th November as U&Gold and U&Ailbi

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

Colour TV wouldn't even have taken off as quickly as it did without ordinary people being able to rent TVs. Back in the 1970s and 80s, stores such as Radio Rentals, DER, Granada, Visionhire and Rediffusion were a staple of British high streets. My parents rented their TV from Radio Rentals until 1986. I remember as a child going with them every Saturday into Preston to pay RR the sub for the TV. All gone now of course. The location of Preston Radio Rentals is now a Matalan.

[@CricketEngland]

You forgot Rumberlows as well Also when colour came the Colour license was more expensive than a B&W one so more people didn’t watch colour TV till the license became one standard price

[@Gloryzuki]

*_In colo(u)r._* (Also, nice work you done here lol)

[@CricketEngland]

Southern TV lost its franchise in 1982 to TVS (Television South) who then lost the Franchise to Meridian 11 years later who still sort of run it today hosting the regional new and weather in the South

[@andyhame6685]

You didn't mention ITN, although there was footage from them. I think they were colour from 15/9/69 too from their new studios in Wells Street. One ITV company that didn't make it as far as 1969 was the only one to go bust, Wales (West and North) Television or Teledu Cymru. That was taken over by TWW in 1964.

[@beanotownie]

At the start Channel had a London sales office to sell national advertising which was broadcast locally on 35mm film. I think it was with TSW we began a combined deal and took national ads then local ads were shown at the end of each break.

[@LostsTVandRadio]

What on earth is that machine with a carousel and cartridges at 12:14 ?

[@stickytapenrust6869]

The Yorkshire TV ident you used was a mock. Yorkshire abandoned animated idents when they went colour and would stay that way until they adopted the liquid gold ident in 1986/7.

[@rapidpig]

Adam, I love your work, but (being a pedant) I must draw attemtion to your pronunciation of 'swathes', which ought to be "swaythes" rather than "swoths." Thank you for your kind attention. X

[@johnmacleod4481]

We used to have a Redidfusion tv Adam in a cabinet

[@k.voskuyl5775]

Tyne Tees apparetly used a still ident in it first colour years

[@MartySulls]

Nice upload Adam. I am a massive TV and radio nerd. I find it sad now, that back in the day of BBC and IBA running things 'in house' that there seemed to be a lot of development. For example BBC with Ceefax and joint work with IBA on Nicam etc. Those day have been lost to fragmented ways now. It's all a bit corporate and sterile. Have you done any vids on IBA and BBC engineering announcements? Keep up the good work. You are a good lad.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you bud! I did a whole video on the IBA Engineering Annoucements last year! If you like in the 'AMTV Documentaries' playlist you'll find it!

[@stickytapenrust6869]

Blame every prime minister we’ve had since 1979 for that.

[@goodiesguy]

1:18 Benny with his debut on Thames in Colour, other than Coro Street, that was the BIG colour debut at Wednesday 8pm on the 19th November. It also had the debut of his now famous theme tune and trademark chase with 'Yakety Sax'.

[@harryelliott4310]

ITV

[@philcoogan7369]

OK not gospel but, I recall Border programmes being in BW well into the late 70s I moved to a house that got TV via the Redifusion cable in 73 and some years later they switched from providing Granada to Border and yes the networked programmes were in colour but anything local was in BW at one point they were producing MR&MRS in colour but I understood that this was recorded elsewhere at least initially.

[@martinhughes2549]

They recorded Mr ans Mrs at Tyne Tees in Newcastle. Border bought second hand colour equipment in 1973/74 I understand enabling them to start producing Mr and Mrs in Carlisle

[@duncanpriestley964]

Outstanding summary, although I did think you might touch upon the ITV colour strike.

[@AdamMartyn]

I already did a full video on the colour strike, so didn't feel it necessary. Could have perhaps given it a passing mention I suppose!

[@stevedickson5853]

Has anyone heard or remembers the Yorkshire television morning Start up tune from the 70s , called the Yorkshire March, ts simply the bees knees , the 80s ( 82 onwards) version isnt bad either

[@ashdrive]

The Hey Day of ITV....

[@Wenlocktvdx]

Wonder why The Golden Shot wasn’t in colour until late ‘73

[@Redrally]

Lovely!

[@TheDaveWoods]

Interesting that most of the colour regional idents had a blue background to them

[@AdamMartyn]

I think blue was seen as one of the best fits to show off colour!

[@martinhughes2549]

It looked acceptable to the vast majority of people who had monochrome receivers. Most people had monochrome sets until the late 70s.

[@MrSean64]

2:31 That Yorkshire logo was fanmade by Dave Jeffrey and wasn't used.

[@CricketEngland]

It was thanks to Snooker that the U.K. got colour TV

[@chloewilliams1112]

It was definitely thanks to snooker that our family got colour TV. Around October 1972 we dropped in to see some relatives and their new colour tele and either by design or by accident they were watching Pot Black (the snooker programme). It was mind blowing having only seen snooker in black and white up until that point and sure enough during the Christmas school holidays that same year our first colour TV (rental) was delivered and installed just in time to see our very first colour programme at home. Michael Rodd's Screen Test. Happy memories.

[@highpath4776]

Dont forget folk rented TV sets (and Radios, etc) so the transistion cost was not always a great lump sum outlay. However there was a 1969/71 problem. A lot of sets had Purchase Tax on the initial price, then the rental companies had to charge weekly or monthly VAT to the renter on this previous higher price. As it ended up when investing in new sets they actually ended up generally claiming more VAT back from the treasury than was due on monthly rents for quite a few years. Though generally now rental has disappeared there must be some scope (sic) for it to return with the cost of large SMART TVs and so on being in four figures in some cases.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

People also had to put a deposit down on a set if the set they were renting was less than 3 years old.

[@chikamotokenji3217]

Interesting history 😄

[@stephenhall6595]

It was a fascinating time for me as a TV and Radio Anerak Kid at the time. I always recall seeing test Card F on ITV ATV for the first time in 1969 I recall the London Version too .

[@ntvalt4361]

The logo features a horizontal gradient that transitions from yellow to green, creating a visually appealing and modern look.

[@pak8606]

I always found it a but surprising that Ulster had colour before Anglia, given Anglia were one if the medium sized companies but Ulster were one of the smallest. The big five were the first to colour, the middle five were next (with the exception of Anglia who launched colour after Ulster) and the small five barring the exception mentioned were last to go colour. Ulster were the only one of the five smallest to have colour by the end of 1970.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

Ulster earned about the same as Anglia but didn’t contribute anywhere near as much to network output because their resources were mainly tied up with covering the Troubles.

[@pak8606]

@@stickytapenrust6869 Ah never knew that. Maybe things were different in 1970 but I always thought the largest of the small companies were Westward/TSW

[@centrevezgaming4862]

The first ever Uk television advertisement was for a brand of toothpaste called Gibbs SR in 1955 the brand got discontinued in the 80’s .

[@AdamMartyn]

Certainly was! A did a whole video about it last year!

[@Synthematix]

When i was a lad there were only 3 stations, yet there was always something on the box worth watching, now we have 500 channels and its all shite

[@pak8606]

I actually thought HTV switched in Wales on 6th April 1970 and in the West on 30th May 1970. Didn't realise it was 4th April 1970.

[@martinhughes2549]

I think the Mendip transmitter was launched a bit later than Wenvoe?

[@pak8606]

@@martinhughes2549 That's why I thought Wales was just before West.