BBC TV Nationwide Lime Grove 1975

[@bdr200]

Just watching that makes me feel like I've put in a stressful shift. I always imagined programs like that were put together in spacious glamourous offices with armies of people all working to a masterplan, and highly paid presenters being driven around in up-market cars. It's amazing how it came together on a daily basis without lots of timing and continuity problems. The technology today would make it a lot easier to distribute and edit the video but the editorial and content creation decisions are still the same.

[@stephenguppy3466]

And these days we have The One Show. God help us, how standards have fallen.

[@markpunt9638]

I know - in this day and age of technology, it should all be so much easier and yet somehow it’s just so much the poorer

[@grahamd5418]

The One Show is the dreggs of current affairs.

[@philipbooth7779]

Please don't use the G word show some respect. Thanks.

[@stephenguppy3466]

@@philipbooth7779 Bible basher

[@philipbooth7779]

@@stephenguppy3466 Go to Hell

[@2008giles]

What a lovely and insightful programme!

[@BassistPaul]

I remember Lime Grove well; especially recording the music for the Hot Shoe Show in TMS in the mid 80's with a size of orchestra you won't see in broadcast now!

[@robalexander8065]

A great document of TV News production in the mid 70s.

[@BroonParker]

In the least sweary newsroom I've ever seen.

[@anthonyglee1710]

Wow, proper Journalists who worked hard in their profession.

[@sillygoose635]

On a light entertainment show. Right.

[@johnmh1000]

Gosh - I'd been working for the BBC (in central London close to Broadcasting House) for two years when this was filmed. I went to Lime Grove several times. A strange rambling almost ramshackle building in some parts! But the buzz was everywhere and I think this film captures a lot of what it meant to work for the Beeb at this time. Thanks for posting.

[@mickeydodds1]

Sue Lawley was gorgeous 😉

[@sandgrownun66]

So gorgeous that the pop group "The Police", even wrote a song about her.

[@Crazy1Clive]

She retired in 2019.

[@t.p.mckenna]

I was racking my brains for 24 hours, but finally, it came to me: the reporter who sets up the documentary is PHILIP TIBENHAM. He was one of NW's more serious presences and I don't recall him being anywhere near a skateboarding duck or a scooter impersonating vicar. He had a very distinctive voice and was familiar as one of the regular narrators on the Horizon strand. Thank you so much for posting this surviving remnant in such good quality.

[@UKAlanR]

He did a lot of reporting on Panorama too, in his time

[@garrysimpson1395]

Very true.

[@Ampex196]

Good old Bob Wellings; ..... "did you have breakfast this morning?" He could have replied "1 - 2 - 3 ... icicles, rice-icles,.. testing...".... "Is that enough for level, or shall I just recite Parsifal?".

[@robinvanags912]

When I started watching 'Nationwide' in 1979 it had been on the air for ten years - I came to really appreciate it's provision of context and analysis for events of the moment. On a personal note - it fired an interest in the regional BBC studio sites (starting with Plymouth, I visited all in England & Wales that there were at the time this film was made).

[@doctordeej]

Google/Apple maps (street view) shows the loft extension on no 41 Arnold Crescent has gone, it’s been extended and there is a room in the loft. It has a nice new roof now though. 10:50

[@MattDavis_BeechingsGhosts]

Incredibly entertaining, gripping piece of television and perfectly captured 70s iconography! Thank you for sharing.

[@tasercs]

A really enjoyable film... thanks for posting. Just love how the poor man was made to capsise (again) for our benefit.

[@duncanpriestley964]

Incredible. No computers. They had to send the roll of film on the train for broadcast.

[@markpunt9638]

They sent the film for viewing.

[@neilmossey]

Absolutely wonderful stuff thanks for uploading!

[@angelacooper2661]

I remember watching Nationwide, but not at that stage as I was just five. I started infant school and would have been far more interested in Play School!

[@johnking5174]

Nationwide also had the responsibility of providing the regional news for London and the South East, as the BBC didn't give that region a dedicated regional news service until the autumn of 1984.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Today's programmes aren't a patch on this and it shows how low the BBC has sunk.

[@geoffreyevans1549]

Their programmes may have sunk but their licence fee certainly hasn't.

[@adolflenin4973]

@@geoffreyevans1549 What do you mean?

[@gpat64]

Wow. Amazing. I had no idea all this was needed to produce one episode of Nationwide.

[@BroonParker]

4:56 how hungover does Bob Wellings look? Still he perked up as the film went on. A great presenter, he recently left us (March 2022) and is sadly missed. And interesting to see Greville Janner in action before the allegations at 12:33.

[@sandgrownun66]

A pity Janner was included, but hindsight is a great thing.

[@johnking5174]

19:45 - this was a complicated opening for the show. First the opening titles, then the regions opted out for 1 minute for their introductions, then the regions opted back in for Mike to introduce what's coming up on the networked show, before handing back to the regions for their own news, whilst London/South East region remained with Sue and Mike for their regional news. This is why Sue is presenting the South East opt out here. Very complicated.

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

To complicated for the BBC to run now even with the easy tech they have, NW was a very challenging programme that seldom cocked up. We lament the passing of competent program makers, editors, cameramen and production staff. Today you can only find ego's very fewIwould say are capable of stringing two sentences together without a retake.

[@johnking5174]

@@WOFFY-qc9te In 1975 with the three TV channel land, there were plenty of egos around at the BBC and ITV. Certain presenters had egos the size of Westminster Abbey, for example Sandy Gall and Reggie Bosanquet at ITN, and Robin Day at the BBC

[@kiethblack3870]

Being a California native, I must confess it was the Monty Python chaps who made me aware of this show. Also Patrick John Scott's music.

[@ewaf88]

Thanks for post , I think I watched this back in the 70s I'm glad I didn't go into broadcasting, as I've never seen such a collection of argumentative egos before. Sue Lawley was only in her late 20s when this was filmed, and apparently was known to have a lot of fun on location.

[@goldylocks3904]

RIP Michael Barratt xx

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

He had a great voice and a welcome friend into our homes, when he said " Can we do something about the air conditioning" I laughed as Lime Grove always roasty. What a slick program the timing was spot on and to think they were shooting on 16mm that had to be developed coulor matched transferred then edited. Amazing.

[@curiositatibus2846]

Nationwide in it's heyday was the training round for many excellent staff, both production and engineering. the limitations of film and a couple of expensive VT machines produced concise and rapid decision making. Ignoring the skateboarding ducks and beer swilling snails, in its heyday the programme was very good at bringing the UK together over serious shared news stories. For example, the decline of fishing or ship-building in Scotland was covered from Yorkshire to the South West. Now, although its easier than ever to share stories, TV news keeps the regions very much isolated, so we learn less about problems from outside our locality. Without digital delay equipment, synchronizing remote colour studios with nano second accuracy to London was always a minor technical marvel. Watching filming on the channel islands reminds of the industrial relations issues in the industry (far worse in ITV) and the disregard for safety in TV at that time.

[@cvbabc]

I remember watching an episode of Nationwide back in the early seventies when Eric Idle was the host. WWIII had just broken out, but Nationwide wanted to get away from that for a bit and instead, test the theory that, sitting down regularly in a comfortable chair could rest your legs.

[@P0RT3RS1GN4LM4N]

A spoof from Monty Python rather than an episode of Nationwide

[@TheGodParticle]

Smoking in the office and comb overs, ah the 70's

[@mauromazzoncini5711]

THANKYOU FOR SHARING THIS

[@tindrum]

The car scene earlier looked like something out of the Sweeney, no glamorous cars, smoking, luckily no shooters!!!!

[@stingray4real]

RIP Michael Barratt

[@jacksugden8190]

I remember Nationwide with Wellings and Barrett

[@johno4521]

With Richard Stilgoe and Valerie Singleton on the 'consumer unit'...

[@jacksugden8190]

@@johno4521 My memory wasn’t what it was, remember Stilgo, but unsure why, remember Val on Blue Peter in the 60’s, and with BBC Radio 4’s PM Programme.

[@mickeydodds1]

Bob Wellings - the quintessential English gentleman.

[@jacksugden8190]

@@mickeydodds1 I remember Bob on That’s Life!

[@jacksugden8190]

Same memories as mine

[@glpilpi6209]

News from all regions of the UK everyday was a very new concept that nobody had tried before.

[@johnking5174]

Strange that a programme about regional news was forced to produce the regional news for London and the South East, as the BBC provided no proper regional news for this region until the launch of London Plus in 1984.

[@markpunt9638]

@@johnking5174 well - current affairs. News, of course, was produced by the spur.

[@johnking5174]

@@markpunt9638 Actually all of BBC News for London and the South East until 1989 was based at BBC Lime Grove studios and not BBC Television Centre. BBC News in the spur block was just for the national news.

[@markpunt9638]

@@johnking5174 but had any major story broken in London or the south-east, it would’ve been covered from spur. Lime Grove was the current affairs headquarters. I know what you’re trying to say though about regional news. But it was always thought that London was not a region in the same way that outlying parts were.

[@johnking5174]

@@markpunt9638 If a major news story in London broke, it would have been covered by both Lime Grove and TV Centre. Remember, during BBC Breakfast Time, BBC News was read from the Breakfast Time studio at Lime Grove and not TV Centre. This was the headache caused by the lack of a proper regional news service for this region. At least Thames Television at ITV kicked off a proper dedicated London news service in 1977.

[@iandennis1]

From my experience working in news rooms they have certainly toned down the language

[@johnking5174]

17:00 - As Sue walks to her desk, we catch a quick glimpse of "South East" on the wall behind her. This was the area where the London/South East news would be presented by the Nationwide team, as that region has no regional news team. When the network programme aired, the camera tried to avoid showing that part of the wall.

[@jennyd255]

Ah the glory days of steam powered BBC TV, all off film and 2" Quadruplex tape, and before proper vision synchronisers... "so now as we vision off-lock around the regions lets go Nationwide!" and slightly later on... PA : "TK1 have you got that film yet?" TK1 : buzz buzz PA "shit TK1 says he hasn't got the film," ... pause ... "Ok VT2 have you got your item?" VT2 buzz Director "Ok Bob we're changing the running order - the film hasn't arrived so after the interview we're going straight to the Musical Drains item..." PA Standby VT2 VT2 buzz PA "Run VT" etc... *for those unfamiliar with studio talkback - the response from the channel to studio was via buzzer - one buzz for yes - two for no and three for I cant answer that with a yes or a no. Length of buzz can also indicate how stressed the operator was. All in all it was a miracle that it (almost) all worked... every night!

[@homevideotransfer-vhstodvd9744]

I was a VT editor at Lime Grove and I think the 2 Ampex 2000 were VT 82 and VT 83, we were engineers and video editors, I did find it stressful.

[@jennyd255]

@@homevideotransfer-vhstodvd9744 yep I was up at the center in tel-rec but of course I was also familiar with the grove, and indeed the vr2000s. I loved the film by the way

[@paulashe61]

I miss comprehensive simple documentaries not flashes no dramatics no animation

[@MrClingclong]

Sad how the BBC has declined. These people were hard working, compare them with the idiots in the corporation today....

[@ianjones7488]

Just nostalgia on your part. Do you really think they don't work hard today? Nationwide was just light entertainment (nothing wrong with that)

[@fluxington]

@@ianjones7488 These days the BBC work hard trying to brainwash the masses (who are obviously dumb enough to keep watching and paying for it) with -journalism- activism and the agendas of global corporations that despise the general public.

[@wmbrown6]

Looks like regular Q-TV VPS-100 prompters couldn't have been put on the EMI 2001's, no? Seeing what they did use for same . . .

[@video99couk]

BetacamSP and especially Digital Betacam were still many years away, but would certainly have made the job much easier.

[@alanmusicman3385]

I think our feelings about current TV being inferior to the days of Nationwide and such shows are part rose-tint but partly justified. IMO there are a number of factors involved in that feeling (which I do share). 1) There is so much TV now and we've all seen (or endured) so much that we're harder to please. I've lost count of how many times I have started watching something (factual and drama) and suddenly realised it was a repackaging of something I'd seen before. From the 1960s onward there were a lot of genuinely new things coming along....... 2) In the past there was a constant drip-drip of something new added to the overall TV experience (Live international links, Colour, ever bigger screens, stereo, digital, HD....) that's missing now. For example, the leap from SD to HD was transformative, HD to UHD much less so. 3) Because there is so much TV time to be filled, spam is an inevitability. 4) Camera and studio tech now enable producing empty TV - i.e. great visuals with little actual content - very easy. That is not helped by the fact that a lot of content is made to be sold into multiple markets and is thus made with quite a lot of obvious filler or sacrificial segments and mind-numbing amounts of recap (Channel 5 factual content is particularly bad for that!). 5) With so many channels and so many ways to watch, time-shift, download, collect or buy TV content, the "Shared Experience" factor of a whole nation watching a single piece of content at a single moment is all but gone - few TV shows now attract more than 15% of the nation. Even the highs are not as high as they were. 1966 World cup final had close to 60% of the UK population watching - Morecambe & Wise Xmas show in 1977 watched by about 55% of us, Princess Diana funeral was watched by a comparable percentage in 1997, whereas HM Queen Elizabeth II Funeral in 2022 had about 38% of us watching. 6) There are fewer "commanding" authoritative but accessible presences doing various kinds of TV now. Fewer Ludo Kennedys, Robert Robinsons, Cliff Michelmores, Frank Boughs, dare I say Paxman..... there ARE contemporary presenters of comparable calibre (I would cite Amol Rajan, Emily Maitlis...) but they are a lot fewer.

[@ian_b]

That office really needs more desk space doesn't it?

[@michaelturner4457]

Porcupines on Salisbury Plain was the most important story of the day.

[@garrysimpson1395]

The days of the swamp meaning film was king. HAPPY DAYS!

[@garrysimpson1395]

A great film of a great programme.

[@ebismusic8813]

I’m stressed as hell after that !

[@AnnabelleJARankin]

Where are they now? Great bunch of people!

[@Bruce-vq7ni]

Probably deceased - This was 47 years ago.

[@AnnabelleJARankin]

@@Bruce-vq7ni I was around (year I was 21!) and still alive and well...

[@MrDannyDetail]

@@Bruce-vq7ni Wikipedia lists ten presenters of Nationwide during 1975, as follows: Michael Barratt (b 1928) Bob Wellings (1934-2022) Bernard Falk (1943-1990) Valerie Singleton (b 1937) Richard Stilgoe (b 1943) Frank Bough (1933-2020) James Hogg (b 1937) Sue Lawley (b 1946) John Stpaleton (b 1946) Martin Young (b 1947) The youngest still-living person on that list will reach 75 next week, so understandably the 7 still-living presenters are all retired now, though wikipedia does state that John Stapleton still sometimes appears as a cover presenter on LBC.

[@t.p.mckenna]

Well, M Barrett has just this weekend and Bob Wellings a few weeks back.

[@t.p.mckenna]

A nice line in MB's Grauniad obit was that in 2019 he hosted reunion for sixty former Nationwide staff.

[@sensiblename295]

That was brilliant.

[@smudge0161]

All through its history, television news and current affairs just lift 99% of their content from newspapers.

[@roberthorwat6747]

Good evening and welcome to 'Nationwide'. The programme where we do rather wet things nationally and also give you the chance to see some rather wet items in the Regions. Well, everyone is talking about the Third World War which broke out this morning. But here on 'Nationwide' we're going to get away from that a bit and look instead at the latest theory that sitting down regularly in a comfortable chair can rest your legs. It sounds very nice doesn't it, but can it be done? Is it possible or practical for many of us in our jobs and with the sort of busy lives we lead to sit down in a comfortable chair just when we want? We sent our reporter John Dull to find out. - Monty Python's Flying Circus series 4 episode 4.

[@mistofoles]

"Apparently, two of the monks have gone on holiday, and they're getting a new Dame...He's a man." What ?? :/

[@highpath4776]

The Monks were on Gurensey, The Dame of Sark is some kind of official role there,

[@richardbrown1189]

6' 38" looked like an early version of Zoom but without the pictures!

[@MarkPMus]

0:53 Imagine trying to work out which phone was ringing!

[@welshlad6427]

Ah the good old days ❤️

[@pmbprod]

My dad.

[@deaniweenie]

Amazingly interesting film showing the nightmarish hell involved in producing what can only be described as a load of old cobblers. Everything shown was just trivial pointless nonsense but because we only had 3 channels back then this stuff was really all we had to watch.

[@andrewtorres765]

Monty Python’s Flying Circus did a parody of Nationwide, I think in S4, even using their titles and music

[@johnking5174]

Not the Nine O'Clock News it was who did the parody and it is available here on KZbin

[@andrewtorres765]

@@johnking5174 I guess they both did, because I remember the Python one clearly. S4, Eric Idle anchoring, Graham Chapman reporting from an easy chair on Westminster Bridge

[@luornu]

the editor is so dismissive of porcupines being seen on salisbury plain! How short sighted of him! Obviously Wiltshire's version of the Surrey Puma. (Showing my age there!)

[@MorningtonCrescent]

Victoria Lucas needs to work on this.

[@mistofoles]

"Rushes" are the pre-filmed segments that were approved by the director, but have not yet been checked or edited ( But you probably knew that already, right ? ).

[@homevideotransfer-vhstodvd9744]

Yes, but originally mentioned on feature films, a positive was made overnight and roughly edited, so the director could look and make sure he had the footage he would need for future editing, before striking the set and moving on. But on Nationwide everything was done in a rush.

[@krunkle5136]

3:15 that middle aged guy riding a motorbike to work.

[@user-zt1er1uj6i]

No tally light on Cam2 (EMI 2001AND Vinted HP419 ped)

[@rtc9063]

God those Lime Grove Studios were an utter dump.

[@MegaDeansy]

01:30 - enter the stereo-typically dressed reporter !

[@AndrewHalliwell]

Shame about Frank. Career ruined jsut because he was a bit kinky in his private life. These days, they wouldn't bat an eyelid

[@johnking5174]

Cocaine and hookers, didn't go down well with the audience who considered him family friendly and uncle Frank.

[@AndrewHalliwell]

@johnking5174 Thought it was the BDSM that he got outed for.

[@johnking5174]

@@AndrewHalliwell Snorting cocaine too. So he was extra happy after his eventful nights away. This is why he was able to present Breakfast Time at 6.30am

[@atmakali9599]

All that urgency for nothing. Everyone wrapped up in their own hysteria and self importance. Nothing’s changed.

[@adolflenin4973]

Jordan Henderson come to console Mount, is better. Real Liverpool Lads!

[@t.p.mckenna]

The Bob Wellings planning permission story only seemed to turn up about lunchtime and it was all stitched together in a few hours. That included the film being rushed back for developing and editing and Bob Wellings just getting back into the studio with ten minutes to airtime. Between London and the regions they generated fifty minutes of live television every day which is an incredible turnover.

[@atmakali9599]

@@t.p.mckenna we’d all be much better off if television had never happened.

[@adolflenin4973]

@@atmakali9599 You should blame Scottish named Baird for that. He invented tv 😅

[@adolflenin4973]

Everybody love BBC. everything from British land are the best.

[@ebismusic8813]

2:25 who’s this ?????😮

[@mikebuckley2077]

Was that a young Tony Blair I spotted

[@ebismusic8813]

2:25 who’s this??????

[@andypalin3287]

Great times! Today is just s..t! 😵

[@tabascocat5102]

Cannae here a thing?

[@kenmeade9924]

sounds fine on the video, check speakers, ears, settings etc

[@tabascocat5102]

@@kenmeade9924 Weird. EVERYTHING else works-all other KZbin videos, my MP3 files, radio-everything. Huh?

[@fluxington]

@@tabascocat5102 It's audio on the left channel only.

[@tabascocat5102]

@@fluxington Cheers. Thats explained then.Only got a working right spkr!

[@humansrants1694]

It's like they are running a war.

[@asensibleyoungman2978]

1:06 Looks a right shit tip lol

[@CM73878]

Everything looks so primitive.

[@VictorOctavian]

"'ello luv!" Them was the daze: when the BBC worked hard for our money. What a difference to today's self-important libtards telling us what to think, from a sofa, while reading an autocue.

[@Earhairy]

"What a difference to today's self-important libtards telling us what to think, from a sofa, while reading an autocue." The BBC have been using autocue since the 1950's, cretin.

[@stepheng8779]

Yeah cos they didn't use autocue then did they? Good old days eh with Frank Bough, Jimmy Savile & Rolf Harris? 🤦 And Stuart Hall forgot him, they were rampant 😂

[@jamesnicholson2503]

TV,was a lot better.

[@markwatkins8309]

2.24 Can't be? A young Tony Blair? Lookalike I guess?!

[@johnking5174]

I think it was simply someone who looked very like him. In 1975 Blair was graduating from Oxford, and by all accounts had much longer hair than this man in 1975.

[@kevindouglas8652]

Old Fashioned Journalism. What a Fantastic Concept. Much Missed.

[@susanhughs1031]

Mr Mark Watkins, Please Do Have To Meantion That Filthy Disease's Eyesore B-liar Parisite So-called Human, I Want To Ask You Politely Not Under Any Circumstances NEVER EVER MEATION THAT FILTH B-LIAR STINKING DIEASED ALIEN 👽👽👽 INFESTATION, EVER AGAIN,!!!! I Ask You Very Politely Not Wishing To Be Rude To You,!¡ That's Never My Intentions, I Wish You All The Best Wishes Stay Safe And Well And Healthy 👍👍👍😀👍💪🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, Good Luck To You,. 💪👍,.

[@atmakali9599]

Everyone looks tired and dirty.

[@homevideotransfer-vhstodvd9744]

Tired and dirty was the 1970s

[@adolflenin4973]

Still better than aljazeera and cnn

[@AnnabelleJARankin]

Heavy make-up, dyed hair, expensive clothes, power dressing and pretentiousness were very bad taste in '70s...

[@welshlad6427]

Better than today.

[@adolflenin4973]

@@AnnabelleJARankin Pakistani cannot understand that. They just hate Britizh