TV Hell: TV AM

[@Codestud]

As a kid during the early to mid '80s I loved TV-am and the children's programming at the weekends.

[@jonnyhaw]

Those egg cups are still there as of 2021! What a beautiful thing!

[@Candolad]

The building and the eggcup are listed and cannot be altered.

[@lawrencel1668]

Pleased to hear that thought the building had been totally stripped of those nods to the brand

[@liammustapha6643]

The front of the building that isn't facing the canal has been extensively changed, the canal side has been unaltered along with the eggcups (sans the paint jobs)

[@CloverLovesTT]

the anecdote about how they had nothing to show during the live bombing coverage and kept switching between two pictures…amazing.

[@simonhodgetts6530]

Those opening titles and the music were fabulous- the music was by Jeff Wayne.

[@philipcurnow7990]

Timmy Mallett has a book out. Not really orientated around TVam but some extra production insights of his Wacaday.

[@TheFuture48]

Its not often you hear about a rat joining a sinking ship.

[@Reprobus3]

Nice! This is an underrated comment.

[@johnhodgetts6617]

@@Reprobus3 not really, it was literally in the video!

[@chipbuttytime3396]

Was Happy Days on during the show, about 1987 I am sure I used to record it and it had a clock on it.

[@richardsharpe2966]

I did watch a programme which said that if Sir Michael Parkinson had left tvam back in April 1983 when Anna Ford & Angela Rippon were axed it would have been the end for tvam as the IBA warned them the franchise would have been taken away

[@CARLIN4737]

I love these retros looks back in the day i was about 11/12...in 1983.

[@krisstarring]

Roland Rat was emblematic of the whole TV-am station. As if broadcasting from a converted Rover dealership wasn't crazy enough.

[@johntomlinson6849]

3rd class degree and she was dismissed.....and then they failed - love it!

[@thechristoff78]

Thanks for posting this up!

[@timg5tm941]

Frost tried the high brow approach with LWT in 1968 and that failed too.

[@johnking5174]

David Frost seemed to be the kiss of death for a new television station. I never understood why he took the high brow approach, when he worked with people like the Two Ronnies, John Cleese etc, who were never high brow. Arrogance played a part with him, and remember in 1991 he also failed to win any ITV franchise he and Richard Branson applied for, so another failure there. People tend to gloss over these failures when they review his career. Nixon seems to have overshadowed it all.

[@whatamalike]

David Frost was evidently of the north London intellectual elite; not necessarily wrong in their mindset of pushing a more eyebrow agenda but...the vast majority of British people aren't bothered about an eyebrow agenda. Especially not at 6 in the bloody morning!

[@Blubatt]

at least he didn't get the london, east, and south east franchise in 1991

[@Mchannnel]

@@Blubatt but carlton sucked ass…I wished thames could stay longer :)

[@robertcomer2767]

@@Blubatt No. It was won by something much worse. CARLTON.

[@sodorflubbs5000]

Maybe I’m in a minority of one but I loved TV AM.

[@johnking5174]

You are not in the minority. By 1988 millions were enjoying it. It was in it's first few months that it was unwatchable, with their pompous attitude towards broadcasting.

[@Mozza-g2m]

I never actually seen it, I wasn't a morning person 😂

[@peterwilliamskelhorn6675]

​@@johnking5174i don't remember TV-AM. If i was born in the 80s when itv night time started I'd be up around that time as well

[@richardsharpe2966]

I have often woundered what if TVAM had kepted its franchie in 1991

[@jamesmt142]

Similar endgame really. ITV effectively acquired GMTV resulting in the rebrand to Daybreak and then Good Morning Britain. Both GMTV and Daybreak had nightmare starts and after trying to be different, both inevitably pivoted back to the sofa format made famous by the original Good Morning Britain. The present day GMB is the only one that's successfully veered away from that format. So I actually don't think the course of history would have been that different. There's every chance LWT, Granada, Disney, etc. would have acquired equity when rules allowed - and eventually ITV Plc itself. I also still think Camden Lock would still have been shut down, running the operation out of LWT must have been far more financially viable.

[@AnthonyChara]

Very telling of Peter Jay's contempt for Tim Aitken that he refuses to name him not once but twice!

[@johnking5174]

1988 to 1991 were the big mega years for TV-am. They thrashed BBC into the ground, to the point where the BBC had given up and in 1989 reverted to bread and butter news at breakfast. Three years of their imperial era and mega ratings. However the party ended come 16th October 1991 when they found out they would lose their franchise from 1st January 1993.

[@NPGLAMB]

good movie to listen while I work

[@stuartgray7490]

You could make a great movie out of all the things that happend at TVAM over the 9 years it was on air

[@ritz2467]

It's weird there's little to no mention to Robert kee's fate after the inaugural episode. We know he was eased out quickly but I'd like to know more details to his sacking.

[@rtc9063]

I don't think there's every been a set that ever came close to the original 1983 set and then they destroyed it and it looked like that had the plasterers in and it was just covered in plaster. Even GM-TV copied it to some degree after their on air launch was an embarrassing disaster.

[@robertcomer2767]

The IBA should have forced them to take ITN's news service. Apparently they were approached but Jay didn't want the ITN logo. I'm fact what was the point of the IBA - they were absolutely useless.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

The IBA should have brought TV-am to heel on the ACTT strike.

[@pak8606]

The IBA were much better than the ITC.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

@@pak8606 They were a regulator with clout over the liberal light touch Independent Television Commission (ITC) and Radio Authority (RA)

[@cosmicwartoad2587]

they should have never got rid of tv-am

[@centrevezgaming4862]

and breakfast tv launched Ulrika Johnson who went on to co-present the UK version of gladiators with john fashanu and Sharon Davies short stint on the show as a gladiator but at least TV-AM gave us Loraine Kelly and Eammon Holmes that both survived TV-AM for GM-TV and Eammon later on to present Sunrise on SKY with Charlotte Hawkings that later replaced by the likes of Sarah Hewson. Sara-Jane Mee and Isobell Webster For Sports Jacqui Beltrao a former 80's tennis star but the rest is history

[@stingray4real]

It also launched the career of Mike Myers who did Wide Awake Club in SACADAY Sound Asleep Club .He achieved stardom in Wayne’s World and Austin Powers films.

[@centralgalaxy]

It’s simple really. Anne had the X factor. Nick was the everyman. Chemistry just fit.

[@perilouspalms2497]

No, Anne had a miscarriage.

[@Cloud_Owl]

And not a single mention of Timmy Mallet. In my opinion, TV-AM was so much better than what the BBC had to offer. The Jeff Wayne soundtrack will be forever in my memories.

[@christopherhulse8385]

Where is Roland Rat today?

[@lunacougar]

He was Prime Minister for a while.

[@perilouspalms2497]

They should have just had Anna Ford doing yoga stretches for 3 hrs. Sitting her in between two public school queens with faces like melted church candles was a terrible mistake. 'Knock one out before work' and non of this news and weather trash

[@johnking5174]

If I was in charge of TV-am I would have had the following: Mondays to Fridays - 6.00am Daybreak with Angela Rippon and Anna Ford. 6.30am-9.15am Good Morning Britain, morning magazine with Michael Parkinson and Mary Parkinson hosting Mons-Thurs, with Fridays hosted by David Frost and Anna Ford. At the weekends, children's shows, reviews of the week, Frost on Saturday and Sunday along with news. That would have been my restructure in 1983, it might have worked.

[@rtc9063]

The problem was they only had to work six months a year so there was never going to ever be any continuity on Good Morning Britain under those arrangements.

[@johnking5174]

@@rtc9063 As someone said, the original Famous Five were arrogant and pompous in their attitude towards running TV-am

[@johnking5174]

16:23 - "its most successful programme" - the reason why Parkinson and his wife succeeded at the weekends was 1) There was no rival on air, as BBC Breakfast Time aired Mon-Fri only, with Sat/Sun just Open University on BBC1 and BBC2 with Channel 4 not starting until mid/late afternoons. Yes, Parkinson was a better presenter than David Frost, however he was not up against any competition at 7.00am on Sats and Suns.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

I have asked Trish Bertram this question but she couldn't answer it but did anyone know if whether TV-am came to an arrangement with LWT that if there was a major incident at TV-am such as the power failure which affected London in October 1987, did Mary and Michael or any other live presenter have to evacuate to LWT in such circumstances because it would take 12 minutes on tube plus 30 minutes bus ride to get over to LWT?

[@johnking5174]

@@christopherwilliams2093 TV-am used the studios of Thames Television after the storm of 1987 which knocked out power to London. TV-am studios at Camden Lock didn't have their generator working properly, and so for the first hour or so on air, they used the continuity studio at Thames based at Euston Road which was around 2 miles away from each other.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@@johnking5174 I realised that, but what if there were similar circumstances, say this happened on a weekend would LWT have had something in place for TV-am weekend presenters to get over to the South Bank in a similar circumstance?

[@johnking5174]

@@christopherwilliams2093 Possibly. Weekend TV-am was mostly pre-recorded which would have made it easier a tiny bit. LWT controlled the linking of the network ITV over the weekend back then, as yes they could have used one of their continuity studios, depending if Kent House had a back up generator.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@@johnking5174 Also, I have found out it would take TV-am presenters three minutes to walk to the tube station at Camden then twelve minutes to get across to Waterloo, then 30 minutes' bus ride to Kent House studios.

[@johnking5174]

TV-am in 1983 should have launched with a much lighter fare. 6.00am-6.30am Daybreak, news programme with Angela Rippon to start the day. Robert Kee as a substitute. 6.30am-9.15am Good Morning Britain: Much more lighter magazine style programme with news. David Frost should have just done Mons-Weds, with Anna Ford joined by Nick Owen and Anne Diamond for the rest of the week. Commander Philpott should have never been hired. A lighter tone, but still the topical magazine format could have worked better.

[@jacksugden8190]

For me at the time it was toss up between the BBC and tv-am, I liked some of the tv-am presenters and the catchy theme tune, however in 1983, the BBC has a naff studio set and wooden presenters to match.

[@johnking5174]

BBC Breakfast Time just pitched it perfect in 1983 - the blend of news and features not news heavy was just a delight for 6.30am. TV-am was just far too heavy, boring, dull and dry as toast. My parents told me they watched BBC Breakfast Time every morning, however by the time I was born in July 1985 they switched to TV-am, as the programme then was much better. You agree?

[@johnking5174]

7:23 - Parkinson said here "God knows how we got on air" - well I would have thought you would have had an enormous amount of time to plan and get it organised. The contract for breakfast television was awarded on 28th December 1980. TV-am launched on 1st February 1983. 25 months they had to prepare. How the HELL did it take you so long??

[@evonne_o]

And he with the other members of the famous 5 were massive names. No excuses.

[@NPA1001]

Well Parkinson and Rippon were tied to Their BBC contracts until mid 1992 and Ford the same with ITN who both saw TV am as competition and wouldn’t let them go sooner. No excuse for Frost who just assumed because it was him it would all work out.

[@iainrobertson1690]

It burst its own bubble

[@greenpedal370]

It's extraordinary that union members think they can stop going to work with impunity. Of course you fire the buggers!

[@centrevezgaming4862]

Lloyd Grossman the guy who is famous for through the keyhole

[@MonaichFother]

Thanks for posting that. I'll make a note of that immediately.

[@stingray4real]

He does brands of cooking sauces like pasta sauces .

[@dlamiss]

And masterchef before it became the shite show it is now

[@mikeh5431]

All of those wannnabees couldn't hold a light to old Terry Wogan on Radio 2, doing it all alone and 1000 times better

[@robin231176]

The person who comes out worst here was Michael Parkinson - his hypocrisy will forever be a stain on his legacy.

[@LordMazzello]

TVam was better than GB News!

[@spindriftbeach6082]

Toothache is better than GB News 😂

[@andywatts8654]

Gb news is hounded by ofcom - tieing the hands of that channel

[@phill6859]

​@@andywatts8654GB news breaks the law repeatedly

[@lbyrne74]

I bloody hated Roland Rat.

[@phill6859]

I loved him. He saved tvam

[@seanadamson280]

Itv do everything terribly.

[@heggy_69]

What is up with that guys accent lmao

[@ritz2467]

Lloyd Grossman's mid Atlantic accent

[@waltertaylor44]

@@ritz2467 He has a cracking line of pasta sauces now

[@lovemykiss9]

Tim Aitken looks like Donald Trump in his younger days...