Absolutely brilliant! Thames management should have presented him with a medal for being so unflappable.

Bit of confusion there but Philip " safe hands" Elsmore pulls it all together in a splendid fashion. What a calming presence he was.

What an absolute pro he was. So calm, soothing, in control. We miss that kind of professionalism and experience from broadcasting today.

I just love the rough-around-the-edges feeling of this. You actually got a sensation of humans operating machines that bought you television programmes. The awkward brief Morecambe and Wise slide before hastily cutting back to From Thames in Colour. The long silence. The changes in background hiss in the background telling you people are hastily switching things over. The big dirty abrupt cut to Elsmore, the sound of a slamming cupboard door as he starts to talk, his demeanour - visibly uncomfortable at being suddenly dumped on screen with probably five seconds notice and told to ad-lib, awkwardly fiddling about with paper on the desk, the look of relief when he's told he can stop waffling and get back normal transmission... TV now is too polished, too professional. There are no fingerprints, there are no signs of people working behind the scenes.

@christopherwilliams2093

Жыл бұрын

The continuity announcer did have access to certain things in ITV, just like the BBC did, and it was evident that at LWT the cut from ident to clock was operated by the continuity announcer.

@MarkPentler

Жыл бұрын

Things are better when they are better. Faux nostalgia isn't a great thing. I'm happy we don't have to wait for tapes to spool up or have to deal with big picture rolls on cuts or whatever

@ukvhstelevisionarchive-fs9ut

Жыл бұрын

@@MarkPentler For sure. I suppose all nostalgia is faux nostalgia in a way - a fondness for the old ways. If it's a desire to do things the way they used to be done because they were better, is it really nostalgia? Or is it simple pragmatism? Objectively, doing stuff with this technology wasn't better, but I think there's a side effect that connects people to media in a way you just can't now. Tapes running through machines. Mechanical things happening behind the scenes. Real people behind a camera telling you what's happening. Kit that broke down reminded you that the stuff you were watching was coming from a physical place staffed with humans and operated by appliances, some of which went wrong occasionally. It just felt... warmer. Silly, I know... but picking a programme from a playout server and cueing up a transition just doesn't have that whimsical romance about it. Even stupid things like station clocks showing judder, reinforcing the fact that you're actually looking at a real clock set up in a studio somewhere with a camera pointing at it... just felt reassuring to me. Low tech solutions for low-tech problems. You want to show people a clock, so point a camera at a clock. It's more slick, cleaner, more polished now... but I just miss that stuff.

@th8257

5 ай бұрын

​@@ukvhstelevisionarchive-fs9utI suppose the question is, why did you feel the need to be reassured?

@marnanel

4 ай бұрын

​@ukvhstelevisionarchive-fs9ut Kipling has an interesting poem called "The Boy God" about nostalgia, where the punchline is that even something as day-to-day and functional as a steam engine could be romantic if you look at it the right way. From this distance, it makes the point all the better.

Philip was brilliant, I remember watching him between programmes, always friendly, unflappable and one of the best continuity announcers of the time. Thanks for sharing!

It's bizarre that in 1987 Thames still has a "in colour" continuity card. Feel like that should have been dropped at most a decade ago.

When did Thames phase out invision continuity. I don't remember it much beyond 1988.

Miss Thames tv. And the presenters too.

Strange how Thames were repeating Morecambe and Wise even in 1987, four years after they made their last ever show. Their Thames era of shows were not the best, but it helped Thames fill an hour cheaply.

@christopherwilliams2093

Жыл бұрын

At least they were thinking about their viewers' interests, particularly near Christmas!!!!

@johnking5174

Жыл бұрын

@@christopherwilliams2093 Their Morecambe and Wise content was not great, not in the same league as the content the BBC had to repeat. Filled a nice slot, and got some cheap adverts sold.

Thames were responsible for networking the ITV system during the weekdays. Looks like they had a break down in their control suite. Other regions would have had to fill in as well.

@christopherwilliams2093

Жыл бұрын

Not necessarily, unless they had their own trailers to air...

@johnking5174

Жыл бұрын

@@christopherwilliams2093 Thames did co-ordinate the network back then. The London regions were given the responsibility to ensure the smooth running of the network. Playout of network shows of course came from the regions they were made in, but the networking of programming was all co-ordinated from Thames (6am Monday until 5.14pm and 59 seconds on a Froday) and LWT (5.15pm on Friday until 5.59am and 59 seconds on Sunday).

@jasejj

Жыл бұрын

​​​​@@johnking5174 Can't believe I'm actually going to agree with cwilliams here but I think he's right. It looks like there was a minute and a half between programmes that would by filled locally and Thames's ACR went on the fritz, leading Phil to have to cover. Other regions would doubtless have gone without a problem, either playing out their own promo or (in the case of a number of smaller stations) just letting their announcer fill for a minute (scheduled of course). If the next programme was affected as well (that's not clear here) then of course there would have been some frayed nerves around the country! I suspect that YTV would have just left up their rotating symbol for a while with no apology, and at Tyne Tees it would have turned into an excuse for Bill Steel to waffle on about some event he was due to host the following day and crash into M&W about 20 seconds after everyone else 😂

@dpscaptures4935

Жыл бұрын

I think transmission resumed in the middle of a commercial. Breaks at that time would usually have been 2 x 2.5 mins of ads during HTH and another 2 minutes plus continuity before the next programme. Copied during a tape clear out in the mid-90s - I should have kept the whole junction!

@christopherwilliams2093

Жыл бұрын

@@johnking5174 When Thames went on strike in 1984 network responsibility was passed onto Tyne Tees Television or to another nominated network contractor.

Continental movie. LOL

Who's Ed Wood wood wood?

@Kaytee48

4 ай бұрын

Scottish actor, best remembered for the equaliser but famously played the cop in the wicker man.

@luisreyes1963

2 ай бұрын

You mean Edward Woodward?

I remember this guy from when I was a kid back in the 70’s, nice to put a name to a face, looked him up on wiki, and so glad to see he’s still alive. For some reason, I always thought he died. Nice clear, non regional accent, easy to understand and easy on the ear too. They knew what they were doing back then. I haven’t watched the idiot box in 20 odd years, for obvious reasons. But this was great to see and hear, a real unbiased professional.

An hour of the "From Thames in Colour" card would be preferable to "Highway To Heaven" (although Michael Landon fans might dispute that.

@gary.h.turner

Жыл бұрын

How Thames could claim it was "from" them I don't know - it was plainly "from" the USA!

@applemask

Жыл бұрын

@@gary.h.turner They transmitted it.

WTF

Probably BBC types doing their usual sabotage,they hated Thames guts.