The ITV Strike of 1979 | The Strike To End All Strikes | An AMTV Documentary

It's the 1970's. Inflation is soaring, unemployment is rife, and the unions hold a lot of power. In the world of television, after several pay disputes with the big bosses of ITV, the bubble finally burst. A burst that would see the vast majority of the ITV Network go off the air for almost 3 months...
Join me, as we take a look at the fascinating story behind the ITV Strike of 1979
Sources for the video and audio used in this documentary are included in the credits at the end
MY LINKS:
Patreon - / adammartynamtv
Twitter - AdamMartynAMTV
With Thanks To Our Patrons: (as of 09/01/2022)
Assistant Floor Managers
- Daniel Davies
- Kirstin Dougherty
- Phil Atkin
- Darius
- Jack Davis
Producers
- Joseph 'Gerkuman' Adams
/ gerkuman
- KNIGH7
/ @knigh7
- Jenny Tea
- James Brindley
- Macra99
/ macra99
Please like, comment, share, subscribe and check out my other videos! :D
#ITVStrike #1979 #AMTV

[@DanTheStripe]

Superb documentary. Something I thought I'd have absolutely no interest in at all, thoroughly gripped for 14 minutes.

[@johnking5174]

Channel Television had their own arrangement with the unions in 1979, who were not stupid, and knew prolonged industrial action at Channel TV would destroy the company, so the unions agreed to keep the channel on air, but refused to allow Channel have any network programme fed to them from London. Channel TV relied in films, TV movies, regional shows, cartoons, American/Australian/Canadian imports to fill around six hours of television per day during the strike.

[@zetametallic]

Born 1976. I remember a couple of things from this strike: 1. Watching the strike caption with my Grandad and him telling me that "ITV is coming back on tonight, finally". A few days later, he talked about it with my mum. I loved the Michael Samms Singers jingle; still do. 2. I visited Alderney in September 1979 and saw Channel TV in action. My parents were really impressed they were still on air seeing that Granada was on strike.

[@bendover9663]

I'm not a socialist or anything like that but lesson to be learnt here is pay people fairly what they deserve and you'll be okay

[@notNajimi]

Well I am, and I hope other workers take note of what happens when collective action is exercised. Join a Union!

[@the-np4mr]

@@notNajimi corny

[@LeroyZee]

​@@the-np4mr Socialism is cool, not corny. Long live the internationale

[@the-np4mr]

@@LeroyZee haha yeah, I was 14 too

[@LeroyZee]

@@the-np4mr So was I.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

Just two corrections: 1) the ITV regions didn’t all go off on one day, they gradually went off (some going off quickly then coming back on briefly) between 6th and 10th August. There was an *excellent* Twitter account in 2019 documenting the ITV strike from first rumblings to happy workers returning to work. 2) 6th August wasn’t the start of the poor industrial relations for this strike. The issue of pay behind the strike had actually been brewing for a while. Yorkshire had their strike over Christmas 1978/79, and IIRC STV and Border had had strikes earlier in 1979 followed by almost all regions (bar Westward - whose ACTT members voted not to strike - and Channel) having a one-day strike on 23rd July 1979. On all those occasions the management had managed to placate the unions only for a short time, not actually resolving the issues, which resulted in 11 weeks of strike action.

[@lastp6905]

Is there a link to this Twitter account? I’d like to have a look at it

[@christopherwilliams2093]

There was also a strike on 30th July before Thames staff walked out on 6th August 1979, and then, as you say, gradually all companies walked out.

[@video99couk]

Strangely I remember nothing about this. Perhaps as a 14 year old lad, I really couldn't care less if there was no Corrie. These days I suspect even less people would notice if ITV went off air.

[@karlkammer3050]

Nice to see some insight on the ITV strike, it helps to put the BBC strike in perspective also. Mind you, the BBC was always getting hit with strikes, usually at crucial times in the broadcast seasons.

[@samanthabarry5817]

I remember it well

[@yosefdemby8792]

I read about this in a Jim Henson biography. It talked about British union's strict rule to stop filming at 8 P.M., often leaving the cast of The Muppet Show in the dark. It would drive Henson and his crew nuts!

[@yosefdemby8792]

Nevertheless, the ATV crew had the time of their lives!

[@AdjustableSquelch]

yeah it was all pretty shitty back in those days. Had a friend who did some work at the beeb. Trying to do a run through of the show, there is a light on a trolley in the middle of the floor. Bloke goes to wheel it out the way and somebody says 'thats lighting union work. if you move that we will come out on strike as a demarcation dispute'

[@t.p.mckenna]

Actually, the pressure was as much from the management side. A studio shift might be twelve hours, after which there would be a overtime rate that would kick in which would make life very expensive.

[@philthornton1382]

@@AdjustableSquelch demarcation strikes are exactly why unions needed crushing

[@bt3743]

@@philthornton1382 You mean like when hundreds of working class miners were put out of a job destroying their communities for years to come

[@nicktimo11]

Good watch. As a Crystal Palace fan, this strike has always been talked about, as it coincided with the one and only time our club hit the top position of Div 1 (English footballs top tier). The Big Match (LWT) would have almost definitely featured Palace’s 4-1 home win to Ipswich that shot them to the top, but due to the strike, one of the club’s most prestigious moments was not captured on film. I was actually at the game as a very young lad and do recall it, but would’ve dearly loved to have had it immortalised on screen to enjoy later. There was a chance that BBC’s Match of the Day could’ve shown it but Liverpool and Forest (the country’s two top sides at that point) played each other, so that was their main game. They also featured a Div 2 game which was normal practice back then.

[@ridbensdale]

“Mummy, why is Granada blue?” Me. August. 1979. Superb video as always sir :)

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you Ben! I probably would have asked a similar question to my parents if I was a lad at the time 😂

[@pchristy102]

One thing that is often forgotten about the ACTT (the technicians union), was that the leadership could not call a strike. Unlike other unions, each individual shop had to call a strike ballot to see if their members supported the action or not. This is why the network did not go off the air all at once. One of the last (if not THE last) was ITN. As I recall, it became increasingly embarrassing to ITV that the only programme they could air was the news, which of course, headlined with the ITV strike! Eventually they managed to "engineer" the shop to strike by "firing" a completely blameless shift leader, which immediately got everyone out! I gather similar action was done at other franchises to ensure solidarity amongst the supposedly independent companies. The funny thing is that most of the engineering grades were highly qualified, and had no problems finding alternative employment during the strike! Indeed some were so successful that they had great difficulty extracting themselves from obligations when the strike was finally called off! Thank you for the interesting (and pretty accurate and balanced) take on this piece of history!

[@edwardburek1717]

My God, the wasted summer of 1979. I never thought I'd see the Blue Screen of Death again. Great video, well researched as well.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you Edward!

[@johnking5174]

@@AdamMartyn I have heard, that some lucky viewers living in the border areas of Northern Ireland were better off, as they managed to receive the two Republic of Ireland stations RTE 1 and RTE 2 so they had some choice, even though RTE were well known was budget reasons to have limited broadcasting hours, they at least had 2 channels more to pick from. RTE were also affected by the 1979 ITV strike, as ITV companies had signed a programme agreement with RTE, meaning certain ITV shows would not be available to RTE during the strike.

[@BigCar2]

A very fair documentary, not taking either side, just giving us the facts. Thanks!

[@johnking5174]

When ITV did return from their strike, they had a huge headache of putting together a schedule. For the first time since the 1968 strike, their returned meant a proper networked schedule. Unlike what ITV regions used to do, bouncing programmes around the schedule, one fully networked schedule from London was provided to help the channel get back on its feet. Regional variations returned fully within a week or so.

[@LisaSargent03]

Sapphire and Steel were stopped, but we had an aerial that we stuck out the window to get Southern TV.

[@jellybean_91]

Excellent video! Very well-researched and presented, and also very objective yet also entertaining. I'm very happy to see some power coming back to the workers and their unions in the face of the pandemic; I have no sympathy for wealth-hoarding employers, who wouldn't have that wealth without the labour of their workers.

[@KopperNeoman]

When you realise that the very idea of a strike is inherently capitalistic, then suddenly the likes of Google and Amazon backing socialist wokery makes so much sense.

[@johnhandelaar]

(Leonard Parkin's first words when back on the air actually make sense if you know that the full all-out strike began not "one morning", but bang in the middle of his last "News at 5.45" in July.)

[@WhatALoadOfTosca]

Another strike is why the first few original episodes of Upstairs Downstairs were filmed in black and white rather than colour.

[@johnking5174]

That 1971 strike never knocked off the entire network though. That was simply cameramen being greedy, wanting a whopping pay rise to use the new colour cameras. So, the management said no, and programmes were made in black and white, with no stopping of the schedules.

[@michaelleacy]

This strike affected the Upstairs spin-off Thomas and Sarah. They had just started filming the second series once the strike hit. It was then cancelled and ultimately never made

[@johnking5174]

@@michaelleacy The 1979 strike was an utter disaster for ITV. Summer time was when big dramas would usually record for their autumn series. Work halted on 10th August 1979 and production at the ITV companies would not resume until 24th October 1979. Three months almost of no new productions made. This is why when the strike ended, ITV had a huge task in getting new shows on air. Relying on a large amount of imports and repeats until January 1980.

[@turboslag]

Wow, I must have been very distracted by other things back then, because I have no recollection or knowledge of this! And I was good friends with a YTV camera man at that time! The only strikes I recall are the miners and steelworkers, and the Thatch destroyed those industries and their unions. I recall my YTV pal was paid very well, on foreign assignments he made enough on overtime, expenses etc, to buy a new car! He was also very popular at the pub! People go on about the 70's being bad times but even with the likes of the 3 day week, inflation, VAT at 25% at one point etc, people still managed to buy houses, heat them without starving, have a decent car and generally get on. I worked in a camera and hifi shop at the time, during my holidays from uni and we were always very busy, saturdays were chaos, people just shoving cash in your hands to buy their latest toy or gadget, I could make 50% of my weekely wage in commision on a saturday! Looking back compared to now it was paradise!

[@rjjcms1]

We had full employment up to and including the mid-70s and still low unemployment well into the late 70s. But by the end of 1981 unemployment soared past 3 million and it stayed above that figure for over 5 years! Even once it was in a gradual decline in the late 80s many of the non-unionised new jobs were insecure and often low paid.Whereas people from the generation before me (I was born in 1964) told me about how you could jack in a job pretty much on a whim and get another one the same day,and that would have been in the latye 50s,60s and early 70s,that was a far-off baby boom wonderland that was loong gone by the time I came out of full time education and joined the jobs market in the 80s. The cult of neoliberal economics really did a number on us all with its merciless zeal for downsizing,outsourcing and undercutting over several decades. Against that,you could site the amount of consumer spending on bright new and improved gadgets and hedonism feeding through from the 70s into the 80s,though by the end of that decade people were borrowing more than was advisable. The rampant inflation of the 70s had been defeated but unemployment only fell to about 1 and a half million at its lowest point in 1990 before soaring back up to between 3 and 4 million again by the later half of 1992 in another harsh recession. The recovery from that began in the second half of 1993 but was slow and lead into a grim period of low wages,long hours and job insecurity while the greedy few did very well out of the situation indeed. It wasn't until 1998 that people started sharing in the recovery widely,and then we had a more prosperous period for nearly a decade but one in which everything was underpinned by a debt bubble that grew far too large to be sustainable,from the person in the street through business to eventually government. Unemployment hit its lowest level since 1975 in the last year or two of the Blair decade,before the Credit Crunch of 2007 heralded crash a year+ hence. Austerity was necessary in my view to wrench the public finances out of freefall and back in the right direction,but it was shockingly hamdled as the painful part should have been done in sewveral years not dragged on for an entire decade! Even when the market recovered again wages had been squeezed relentlessly over a period spanning several decades so that the person in the street's spending power in real terms had been drastically reduced,forcing them to either take on ruinous levels of debt to scrape by or spend a huge percentage of their income on essentials such as food,housing,bills,etc. At the same time the favoured 1% were amassing obscene amounts of wealth. The 2010s were characterised by rightful public anger and dissatisfaction with the situation that stoked up the political turbulence of recent times. All this is part of why nostalgia for the 60s and 70s was based on a raft of reasons more than just the music,which I agree is so much better than in recent times,the movies,etc. The squeeze on jobs ended at last in 2013 and cynically depressed wages finally started to rise from about the later part of 2018 in response to public fury - but then Coronavirus came along,followed closely by the new set of problems we all face today.

[@sarahhardcastle2433]

Can remember that strike, was 12 at the time just three channels bbc1 showing horse racing and bbc2 showing trade unions conferences!

[@luornu]

This is a trip because I vaguely remember this strike. As a young child I spent hours staring at that blue screen! (I think i was quite fascinated by it) I remember I was confused because the blue screen referred to an 'industrial dispute' when on the news and irl everyone called it a 'strike'. I didn't know what 'industrial dispute' meant, although I quickly picked up from the context that it was the same thing as 'strike'. I think that was the first time I encountered 'idiomatic english vs. formal english' a concept I had hitherto been unaware of (that is a thing that goes back to the norman conquest linguistically-norman french derived words posh, germanic anglo saxon words-common!-the consequences of the norman conquest lived on in 1979!) Also it was weir seeing 'independent television' because I knew the channel as 'itv', I actually didn't know it stood for anything before then!

[@luornu]

nb-unfortunately it's nigh on impossible to find info on this strike without right wing nutjobs/ardent Tories seizing the opportunity to use the episode as a propaganda exercise about the eeeevul unions. Stow the ideology Tarquin! I just want some nice childhood nostalgia about blue screens with white lettering that just showed on the screen for hours and hours on a far off afternoon...(thankyou to you Adam for actually giving a politically neutral account of this event for once!)

[@TumbleTower]

re: Independent Television = ITV. It wasn't very often they showed "Independent Television" on screen. The only time they always showed "Independent Television" onscreen was between ITV schools programmes on weekday term time mornings - they actually put "Independent Television For Schools and Colleges" on the interval slide and on the one minute countdown clock. As a child of the time, dont you remember those?

[@markharrisllb]

I was working as a chef in ‘79, I watched so little TV I'd forgotten this had actually happened.

[@philipadams5386]

I was working for BBC Radio 3 in 1979, and this is the first time I learned that ITV went off the air! But I was 24 years old, had recently moved to London for my job, and had better things to do than watch TV. I still never watch TV!

[@beckyzwhite]

I remember the strike well and how unhappy I was that there was daily fix of Crossroads to be had. But, I also remember some of the gems we discovered on BBC2. As a result of this, my dad relented and agreed to start renting us a VHS.

[@towitfitr]

I was six in 79, and remember the blue screen very clearly. It was also the first time I heard classical music on a regular basis as my mom kept ITV on in the background while she worked. I distinctly remember it was the first time I heard Jupiter from Holst's planets suit.

[@arandomdaciasandero925]

Top-tier documentary, Adam. Thanks for covering the events of the strike.

[@Larry]

Most excellent piece Sir, I really enjoyed it. Are you planning on doing any more old British TV pieces of history? You should definitely consider looking at the war between Sky and BSB in the '80s, insane story!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much Larry! Glad you enjoyed it 😁 I'd love to tackle more TV history topics! I've just released one on the ITV Colour Strike of 1970/71, and have a few more ideas in the works! The Sky/BSB war would make quite the fascinating topic! Thank you for the suggestion!

[@EdgyNumber1]

@@AdamMartyn The Breakfast television battles and the rise of Roland Rat might be an interesting and amusing topic to discuss, yeeeahhhhh!!

[@MrNinjaFish]

Applemask already did a whole docu-series about ITV and BSB. Bit biased but still worth a watch

[@squabbbb]

Hey larry

[@MrNinjaFish]

@@drt1605 Well Murdoch had enough experience at the time having built up his newspaper empire from the late 1960s onwards. Again Applemasks' documentary covers this in detail.

[@birchwoodracing]

Great video. I remember this strike as a 7 year old and wondered at the time why my parents who were avid Southern Television viewers suddenly started watching BBC1

[@pferreira1983]

Ultimately it was airing Buck Rogers in the 25th Century that stopped the good ratings of Doctor Who it had been having.

[@TheGuvOfWythenshawe]

I only learned of the ITV strike of 1979 in October 2006! I was born just after the strike begun!

[@j0hnf_uk]

I remember feeling quite excited to see ITV return to the screens in October of 1979. Especially when they did their, 'start up', routine, (which was generally done at 9.25am every morning), at 5.35pm! Mind you, the excitement didn't last too long, once the news came on. In fact, other than the initial fanfare, it felt very much like, 'business as usual.'

[@betaman7988]

Very well researched and informative documentary! I'm looking forward to more in this series. To repeat others I'd love to see videos on the ITV Colour Strike of '71, or maybe the BBC strike from Christmas 1978.

[@bernardcullen3652]

I remember that time so well, having started work at Thames Television's Euston Road studios a few days before the walk-outs escalated to a total shutdown.

[@mikeclarke6796]

I still remember that bloody jingle, a real earworm. But it was quite exciting to have the Light Channel back again after such a long break.

[@LeonardStarbuck-pw6wm]

Great documentary I've been interested in this subject ever since it happened the relaunch after the strike was good too Welcome home to ITV!

[@LeonardStarbuck-pw6wm]

Thanks for your hearted reply Adam I remember this strike very well I thought it would go on forever your other videos on your channel look good too!

[@haskeymorrison]

AMTV is so fun in the way it approaches effing test cards and strikes.

[@docscreations6672]

Great video Adam! I was excited to watch this when I saw that you were doing it. I’m kinda fascinated by the 1979 strike because I don’t think we’ve ever had anything like it in the States. I hope you do more documentaries. 👍

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much! I definitely want to do more documentaries so watch this space! 😁

[@wmbrown6]

We've had our own share, but not to that extent. There was the 1967 AFTRA strike, and then in 1977 a prolonged strike by NABET against the ABC network. But it didn't force any broadcasters off the air. In the AFTRA strike, for example, behind-the-scenes techies became brief stars (i.e. Arnold Zenker who filled in for Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News); meanwhile, at NBC Chet Huntley continued anchoring "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" while David Brinkley walked the picket lines. (That, plus RCA dictating cuts into NBC's news division, factored into NBC losing its long lead in the evening news ratings race to CBS before the year was out.)

[@docscreations6672]

@@wmbrown6 Wow, thank you so much for the info! I never knew any of that. It’s fascinating.

[@titanictotired]

I didn't include this in my history of ITV video! 😐 Anyway, enough about me, I'm glad you covered it on your channel Adam!

[@AdamMartyn]

Hope you enjoyed it pal!

[@hugoboss5895]

Remember my old Nan being livid there was no coronation street or crossroads for months. Three channels and that was yalot. Unimaginable in today’s never ending lists of stations and streamers . Life was sweeter back then . Part from ripper.

[@64andyjh]

Great documentary! I remember this strike vividly, and as a young TV addict in the 70s, it was a huge loss having one of three channels off the air, but I never understood fully untill now the reasons behind it. Thanks for the clarification. I also remember that jingle - "Welcome home to ITV" So cheesy, even back then! 😂

[@faithplus1588]

This was so well made. Great Work!

[@DCSMedia]

This was truly excellent and so well put together, it had a great rhythm to it. Fab stuff

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you Clacka! Really glad you enjoyed it! 😁

[@ICanPlayPiano]

As I remember, the blue caption card read 'we will give you further information tomorrow' and there was no background music, unlike with the BBC test card.

[@macra_]

What a great video Adam! Love the documentary style videos, super informative and presented in such a great way. Keep up the fantastic work!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much pal! I'm really glad you enjoyed this one, hope to do more documentary style videos in the future! 😁

[@ArianesDrawingPH]

Wait? 2 weeks ago?

[@43Main]

This person is likely a Patreon supporter, so they might have had early access.

[@amigachris]

Great stuff

[@FernandsLiveShowShow]

A very enjoyable and insightful watch - from this fellow telly geek! Couldn't imagine an 11-week blackout on TV today...

[@rjjcms1]

It was a very different world all right. As I was 14 approaching 15 at the time I'm surprised I don't remember ITV being on strike and off air more clearly. The only reasons I can think of are that I was far more into pop and rock music radio than a telly addict in that era,that that we went to Germany for two weeks in late August - start of September,that I probably went and did things outside until nightfall on most of those summer days and that I was away at boarding school from the second week of September onwards,even if we had a (naturally very popular) TV room in our boarding house. Thanks for this video,which I found very entertaining and informative.

[@ribeirofilm9777]

Loved it! Thank you. A great video with some never before seen material. I'd never seen that slide with the Yorkshire Ripper message. Thank you again, from Campos do Jordão, Brazil.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you very much! There's a great twitter account that shared that Ripper image! Check it out if it's still around 😊

[@aaroncarson]

This was a fantastic video - thanks for your hard work!! I had absolutely no idea that ITV had a strike in 1979 but now I feel wholly educated 🤓 Was not hard to justify hitting subscribe after this 😁

[@mrsamuelwatson12]

This was brilliant, would love more vids like this. Also, your next move has to be getting an ITV staffer from the 1970's to interview. Sure they'll come to you after watching this :)

[@thefurrybastard1964]

I remember the strike. We'd turn over every day in the hopes that ITV were back on the air. Then we had to suffer aa almost 15 minutes of the Welcome Home to ITV song.

[@retro-gamingemulated8203]

Iam 55 years old, and I remember this strike very well, especially it coming back on air.

[@TheDrugOfTheNation]

11:00 I saw that live and have had that tune running through my head ever since.

[@m3snusteve]

Thank you very much Adam I remember the strike very well oh and the welcome home jingle on ITV That brings back a few memories. I as 9 years old at time, great documentary, I enjoyed watching thanks for sharing.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much! Really glad you enjoyed the documentary! More will be coming in the near future!

[@jonathanreed7349]

A great video! I hope there’s more like this to come 😊

[@AdamMartyn]

I definitely want to do more documentary style videos so watch this space 😊

[@peterscotney1]

I,d forgotten all about this ? Amazing bit of nostalgia!

[@thetelegothika5327]

I love these videos! Great to see these kind of behind-the-scenes events which I used to read about on obscure telly websites while at uni. Could you do the beginning of Channel 4 please? the opening months were filled with "follows shortly" caption segments set to library music as they didn't have enough adverts and content to playout.

[@jatlarge6354]

I remember Welcome Home to ITV, especially on TISWAS, who parodied it mercilessly!

[@RebeccaPhythian]

Brilliant docu - really informative 👏🏻 🥳

[@MarkWooldridge143]

Great video. Mind you a nitpick... TV-AM didn't start until 1983 - and it had its share of industrial action (though technology had improved to the point that management could lock out the technicians and run the show themselves). When it came to strike time TV viewer numbers the BBC strike in 1978 caused Sale of The Century to have viewers in excess of 20 million. Well when the Beeb went on strike it was your local ITV franchise (or multiple depending on your location) or nothing. 1979 the Beeb was in competition with.... itself. Surprised they wouldn't have massaged programming to take advantage of being in two channel Britain (except in Scotland...)

[@kawaiilotus]

How many channels where in scotland?

[@lulugamer8082]

0:05 Adam: and now for our reguarly sched-- *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*

[@trevorbrown6654]

I have a vague memory of that strike. Around `1982/3 several ITV regional broadcasters (like ATV and Southern) lost their franchises so I wonder if this strike was at the bottom of it, weakening their financial position to a point that they couldn't afford to renew them. And i'm still getting my head around the union wanting a 25% pay rise. I think those days are long gone.

[@chinnyvision]

ATV didn't lose their franchise, they were just forced to restructure to become Central. Southern didn't take the hint that the IBA wanted the franchises to be locally owned. In either case money didn't come into it.

[@annoldham3018]

I remember this and the welcome, welcome, welcome back to ITV jingle at the end of it!

[@farringtonmccready9994]

great video adam

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you

[@JeremyDuncan]

What an excellent video. As a whovian I only ever hear about how it helped doctor who. Having a full view of it, especially as an American, is a really great privilage.

[@AdamMartyn]

I'm really glad you enjoyed it Jeremy! Thank you for your kind words 😊

[@peterwilliamskelhorn6675]

+Jeremy Duncan I'm a whovian as well. I'm too young to remember the 79 strike and the same with the original doctor who (1963 to 89) but I've got all the stories on dvd

[@rjjcms1]

My era of watching Dr Who regularly was past by the time of this strike,as it straddled about half of the Pertwee and Baker eras when I was an avid fan to the extent of my parents buying me novelisations of stories I hadn't seen from the Hartnell,Troughton and early Pertwee years. I came in at the Daemons in 1971 and went out after the first episode of Image of the Fendahl that was shown on the last Saturday of the half term holidays in autumn 1977. I watched the latter story in its entirety on Dailymotion a few years ago. Perhaps the kids at boarding school were watching whatever was on ITV by then,but weeks before that I remember running into a rose bush in twilight chasing or being chased by school friends in the gardens straight after watching the conclusion of Horror at Fang Rock. I've still not seen City of Death yet,but I hope to get round to viewing that and a few of the best stories I missed soon.

[@peterwilliamskelhorn6675]

@@rjjcms1 I'm too young to remember the original doctor who (1963 to 1989) but I've got all the classic stories on DVD (not missing)

[@rjjcms1]

@@peterwilliamskelhorn6675 Excellent. I wish I had. I was born in 1964,and between 7 and 13 when I watched it regularly.

[@43Main]

Wow! This document is amazing!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you so much!

[@Pilgrimsnugget123]

Great video adam

[@spudgun889]

Very good!! That was class

[@mrgreatbritain]

This makes me proud of our Channel Islands ❤️

[@richardthornton77]

Great work!

[@JoeyTheBeastHD]

Amazing Video, I hope you do more Documentary style of videos

[@AdamMartyn]

Thanks Joey! I definitely want to do more in the future!

[@caeserromero3013]

Just think, without the strike, the Yorkshire Ripper might not have been caught if people were too busy watching Corrie and Crossroads to report him :)

[@paulohagan3309]

Doubt it.If I remember right he was caught by chance when policemen searched his car after stopping him on suspicion of false number plates and then after searching the area around the car while holding him.

[@BobbyDazzler440]

Excellent work! Good job you kept those ratings slides from your Who videos. ;-)

[@AdamMartyn]

Always good to reuse what you already have eh! 😉😁

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

Excellent documentary Adam!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thanks Roger! Definitely want to make more!

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

@@AdamMartyn That's awesome Adam!

[@melasn9836]

I don't know why, but the thought of someone staring at that blue screen, just hoping that the shows will come back, is darkly amusing.

[@lorrainebowe9585]

I didnt realise that there was a strike on ITV and other commercial channels about pay I can't remember the 1979 strike even though I had just become a teenager in that year thankyou for this programme about the strike it has taught me something about this and what it was about that was interesting to watch I have just started watching your programme on KZbin about television and would like to comment on how good these are

[@davidallitt]

I was 7 years old & remember this well,it affected my whole family. Life was different then,&as a family we would watch tv of an evening,looking forward to certain programmes on certain nights of the week.In hindsight, we had better produced material to watch

[@System_Sega]

Man, Britain in the late 70s seemed kinda Depressing, what with strikes, cost of living, 3 day weeks and random power blackouts.

[@stickytapenrust6869]

3 day weeks and power blackouts were in the early 70s.

[@DasTubemeister]

I was a teenager then. It wasn’t as depressing as old news clips make out. Most peoples lives weren’t affected by world and UK news events. I remember the strike starting.

[@blastfromthepast8344]

No... it was great. They were fun times. And I'm being serious. I'd rather go back and live then than where we are now... think about that.

[@andrewsvonja1039]

It's coming back in 2022 lol

[@misterteaification]

@@stickytapenrust6869 three-day weeks yes, but there were power blackouts on occasion throughout the 1970s - the ones during the Heath government are simply the best-remembered.

[@pixelised_4497]

Fascinating video, thanks very much!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you for watching! Glad you enjoyed it 😊

[@shaunlaws5551]

I am fifty. Years of age and I remember the itv strike i was eight years old at the time

[@m3snusteve]

@Shaun Laws I was 8 going on 9 at the time I remember it very well now I’m 51.

[@berwickboy316]

Thanks very much , i remember this well , very well researched , but I have to say if ITV went off air now i don`t think i would miss them !!

[@paulashe61]

The season 17 dr who blu ray has a great industrial action video.

[@salus1231]

Whilst my personal memories of the 1970's are quite happy, it was a grim decade for industry, environment, housing, architecture, town planning railways, road safety, pollution, football violence and unions ran the country....but great for movies, TV, music , games and actual football matches

[@yellowbelly06]

The tune at the end was the first thing broadcast by ITV when the strike resumed, performed by the Mike Sammes Singers. Dull fact #3286 is that the voice shouting ‘Sound on’ and ‘Vision On’ belonged to a gentleman called David Claridge who went on to create and be the voice of Roland Rat and his friends.

[@MarkWooldridge143]

Also the only "programme" to air network wide during the strike were the IBA Engineering Announcements.

[@robertcomer2767]

Amazing to think they went back to work paid even more than they ever asked for.

[@arthurvasey]

9:02 Dick from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five! The Dr Who adventure, Shada, was made, but never actually shown - although footage from it was Tom Baker’s contribution to The Five Doctors - it was written by Douglas “Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” Adams - most of the story formed a part of his novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency! With ITV blacked out by that blue caption, the viewing options on that particular night at that time were Dr Who on BBC 1, The Open University on BBC 2 (blokes with glasses talking about maths and science) or nothing! Also, in the Tyne Tees region, there was a regional caption broadcast one day, which was replaced at some point in the afternoon by something not seen on ITV daytime telly since about 1972 - engineering tests!

[@rjjcms1]

Julian,Dick,George,Anne and of course Tim the (golden retriever?) dog!

[@LyndonSoulGroove]

Remember it well....even though I was only 7 years old, I recall going on Holiday and watching Dr WHO. Glad you mentioned former PM, that has its legacy today with so much out sourcing and week unions

[@PlutoPebble]

This is really intresting how much of an impact and disruption it caused.

[@MrJohnSeager1]

Great documentary - you should do one on the itv franchsie system - including 1991

[@Pauldjreadman]

As always with KZbin, I come across this channel by accident. Interesting content.

[@edcola6671]

The ITV networks: (go on strike) Channel: No, I don’t think I will.

[@chucklefun487]

Great video welcome welcome welcome home to Itv.

[@Cheeseburgerandfries2006]

That was brilliant Adam

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@Cheeseburgerandfries2006]

@@AdamMartyn your welcome

[@johnmiller0000]

The great ITV strike of 1979 was no great loss - crap programming was always ITV's strong point.

[@bongolatuni3656]

The bbc is getting there soon enough

[@shakespearo]

The strike interrupted the long-awaited showing of Tropic of Ruislip, based on Leslie Thomas' book. To the best of my knowledge, the full run of episodes were never aired.

[@leewilson2140]

I remember the jingle Welcome back to I.T.V.When they got back on air!!

[@AdamMartyn]

Good little earworm to return with !

[@johnking5174]

@@AdamMartyn Hi Adam. Back in 1979, one other aspect why people really missed ITV during the 1979 strike was that ITV was the only channel which provided a proper daytime television service all year round. Launching in October 1972, ITV offered proper daytime shows from midday onward, with 9.30am - 12.00pm dedicated to schools programmes. However come the summer months, when schools programmes were off air, ITV companies tended to start at 10.00am each day with family entertainment. BBC One simply did not have the budget to provide a proper daytime service all year round, and so during August and September 1979, BBC One daytime was empty, with only cricket, horse racing, show jumping, news and Watch with Mother filling the very empty schedules. On many weekdays, BBC One aired barely 1 to 2 hours of daytime shows before kids TV start around 4.00pm, whereas ITV would have been on air from around 10.00am each day. That was the biggest factor in people missing ITV, as those at home during the day had to resort to BBC Radio or independent local radio for daytime entertainment.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@@johnking5174 In September 1979, BBC1 still showed schools programmes during the week in term time, with Swap Shop and adult education/religious programming on Sundays as well as Open University!!!!

[@johnking5174]

@@christopherwilliams2093 Yes, but outside term time from early July to mid September there was nothing on.

[@rjjcms1]

@@johnking5174 Spot on with that summary of the situation in your OP - evokes memories for me. Shows like Crown Court and General Hospital were among the ITV afternoon staples.

[@servalan65]

Fascinating stuff. I remember this very clearly. However, like your good self, I loved Doctor Who, so I was happy. Thank you xxxx

[@paulashe61]

The popularity of Dr Who ie viewing figures is squered

[@TheLogoWorldUK1]

1:27 Oh eyyup, Rhythm Is A Dancer! Great tune!

[@cartergames3793]

Happy to be one of the early viewers

[@jbtv7955]

Cool video Adam of the itv 1979 strike Channel Television was lucky that they avoided the strike and back in them good days they were more strikes.

[@robrob9208]

Amazing ty

[@Wolfington]

I remember Len Fairclough stopping in the street to directly address the viewer and fill them in on what was happening pre strike