112-554: ABC Television Limited , popularly known as ABC Weekend TV , was a British broadcaster which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of the " Big Four " companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period. Originally created as Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd , ABC
224-547: A combined population of 10,350,697 (2014 mid-year estimate), and an area of 11,053 sq mi (28,630 km ). The largest Midlands conurbation , which includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton , is roughly covered by the metropolitan county of the West Midlands (which also includes the city of Coventry ); with the related City Region extending into neighbouring areas of Shropshire , Staffordshire , Warwickshire and Worcestershire . Various parts of
336-648: A competitor to the cinema chains, through the launch of ITV . Bernstein bid for the North of England franchise, which he believed would not affect the company's largely southern-based cinema chain. In 1954, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) awarded Granada the North of England contract for Monday to Friday, with ABC Weekend TV serving the same area on weekends. The companies used the ITA's Winter Hill and Emley Moor transmitters , covering Lancashire and
448-582: A coveted London franchise. In contrast, Granada determined to develop a strong northern identity – northern voices, northern programmes, northern idents with phrases such as Granada from the north , From the north — Granada and Granadaland . Bernstein refused to employ anyone not prepared to live in or travel to Manchester and Jeremy Isaacs called him a "genial tyrant" as a result. I think that what Manchester sees today, London will see eventually. Bernstein decided to build new studios rather than hiring space or converting old buildings, an approach favoured by
560-453: A cutback to the amount of programming to be provided by ITN to the network and a substantial reduction in ITN's costs. Once the "Big Four" companies were in profit, the ITA reviewed the performance each of them. ABC escaped with little criticism, except for its presentation, which was considered to be dull and too closely aligned with its sister "ABC Cinemas" brand. ABC took this to heart and launched
672-554: A dialect closer to "northern" but now more influenced by "southern". In a binary choice, the Watford Gap is often considered the dividing point between the north and south of England, with most of the Midlands population sitting above this point. The "midland" name has been used for: Granada Television ITV Granada , formerly known as Granada Television , is the ITV franchisee for
784-483: A few seconds after the continuity before the programme, and continuity was rarely given over the symbol. On 1 September 1989, Granada Television launched a look featuring a translucent pointed G, which rotated into place in time to the music against a natural scene. When the first ITV generic look was launched, Granada Television refused to adopt it, because the Granada Television logo was incorrectly inserted into
896-768: A former cinema in Aston , near Birmingham , and extended it by the construction of additional studios and office space; the site was known as the Alpha Studios. ABC operated a northern studio centre in Manchester and a sales office based in Television House in the city centre. The production facility was converted from a former Capitol cinema in Didsbury . ABC vacated both premises during 1968. ABC also made some entertainment shows such as Blackpool Night Out and The Blackpool Show at
1008-624: A highest point of 330 m (1,082 ft) at Cleeve Hill . Areas of lower hills, in the range 200 m (600 ft) - 300 m (1000 ft), include Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire , Cannock Chase in Staffordshire , and the Lincolnshire Wolds (100 m (300 ft) - 200 m (600 ft)); the latter having some prominence despite their modest altitude given their location in typically low-lying Lincolnshire near to
1120-646: A much-discounted price. The London weekend contractor had launched under the name "Associated Broadcasting Company" (ABC), but ABPC wanted to use the ABC brand for its own service, to match its existing ABC Cinemas brand, so it took legal action against the Associated Broadcasting Company who subsequently agreed to rename as Associated Television (ATV) after broadcasting for three weeks as "ABC". This allowed ABPC to launch its own station as "ABC". ABC's late entry into Independent Television meant that some of
1232-526: A new look in September 1959. Of the original four ITV contractors, ABC had difficulty getting its programmes shown in the London region, which was hampering its reputation. Two of the other contractors had London franchises, and Granada seemed to have a good working relationship with Associated-Rediffusion to show its programmes. ABC found itself in a head-to-head battle with ATV, as, in the early years, these were
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#17328514265201344-521: A saltire Or , meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The saltire is used as both a flag and a coat of arms. As a flag, it is flown from Tamworth Castle , the ancient seat of the Mercian kings . The flag also appears on street signs welcoming people to Tamworth , the "ancient capital of Mercia". It was also flown outside Birmingham Council House during 2009 while the Staffordshire Hoard
1456-514: A series of films featuring flags with its logo against various scenes in the region, accompanied by the slogan 'Setting the Standard'. These introduced local programming, Granada Reports , or promotions. On 2 January 1995, the stripe theme was modified; the pointed "G" was larger on the blue stripe against a computer generated multicoloured background and the "G" was created by filming a large perspex "G" with motion control photography . This ident
1568-411: A successful company could be closed down through no fault of its own. To prevent this, the governing body of ITV, the Independent Television Authority , ordered a merger with the existing London weekday company Rediffusion , with ABC having majority control of the new operation. Despite protests from Rediffusion, the two companies eventually became Thames Television . ABC ceased weekend broadcasting in
1680-590: Is a long, low ridge, which extends for over 15 miles (24 km). The Peak District reaches heights of between 300 m (1,000 ft) and 600 m (2,000 ft); Kinder Scout is the highest point at 636 m (2,086 ft). Further south, the Welsh border reaches over 700 m (2,000 ft) high, at Twyn Llech (Black Mountain), which at 703 m (2,306 ft) is thus the highest point in Herefordshire . The Precambrian Malverns are formed of some of
1792-536: Is also occasionally recognised as being in the Midlands, while a lot of what was historically part of southern Mercia ( Gloucestershire , Oxfordshire , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Hertfordshire , Huntingdonshire , and Cambridgeshire ) is often labelled as "Central England", typically used interchangeably with "the Midlands". Additionally, there are two informal regions known as the South Midlands and North Midlands , which are not NUTS statistical regions of
1904-744: Is furthest away from the coast than anywhere else in England, it typically receives mostly light winds, with warm days and cold nights. Sometimes the Midlands can have very cold nights such as a minimum of −18.7 °C (−1.7 °F) in Pershore on 20 December 2010. The previous day had a maximum of only −8.2 °C (17.2 °F), also in Pershore. Hot days are also possible, such as a maximum of 34 °C (93 °F) in Pershore on 19 July 2006. There can also be very mild winters nights, such as in Bidford-on-Avon when
2016-530: Is the second-largest in the United Kingdom . Other important cities include Coventry , Derby , Leicester , Lincoln , Nottingham , Stoke-on-Trent , Wolverhampton , and Worcester . A saltire (diagonal cross) may have been used as a symbol of Mercia as early as the reign of Offa . By the 13th century, the saltire had become the attributed arms of the Kingdom of Mercia. The arms are blazoned Azure,
2128-480: The 1958 Rochdale by-election , the first election to be covered on television in Britain. Granada's coverage was broad in scope, and it also broadcast two candidate debates. Over 50 years later, Granada Studios hosted the first General Election debate among the leaders of the three main political parties. Granada's boldness was seen in ambitious documentaries such as Seven Up! , which premiered in 1964. The programme
2240-540: The ABC Theatre in Blackpool (owned by ABC-TV's sister company ABC Cinemas). For its pre-filmed series, such as The Avengers (from 1965), ABC used its parent company's Associated British Elstree Studios . When ABC first went on the air, it used the branding of its sister company ABC Cinemas . This featured a triangular shield with the letters ABC upon it, and a bar across it with the caption 'Television'. This lasted from
2352-505: The English Civil War , which is commemorated in a number of place names (Parliament Terrace, Parliament Street, Standard Hill). Areas such as Derbyshire's Amber Valley and Erewash combine attractive countryside with industrial heritage and are home to historic canals and sites associated with the mining industry. The Black Country , broadly the boroughs of Dudley , Sandwell , Wolverhampton and Walsall , played an important part in
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#17328514265202464-562: The European Parliament . Local government in the Midlands is as follows: The unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire (not shown), while classed as part of the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, actually come under the Yorkshire and the Humber region and are therefore not in the officially recognised East Midlands region. The two regions of the Midlands have
2576-625: The Habatales cartoons, the popular shows Thank Your Lucky Stars , Opportunity Knocks , Big Night Out , Doddy's Music Box and Oh Boy! , Tommy Cooper 's shows Cooperama and Life with Cooper , the children's science fiction serials Emerald Soup , Target Luna and its sequels Pathfinders in Space , Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus , and the gritty drama series Callan and Public Eye (both of which continued as Thames productions after 1968). ITV's first weekly series devoted to
2688-661: The Industrial Revolution . The historic counties ceased to be used for any administrative purpose in 1899 but remain important to some people, notably for county cricket . The area is predominantly low-lying and flat apart from isolated hills such as Turners Hill within the Black Country conurbation at 271 m (889 ft) and the Wrekin just south of Wellington in Telford at 407 m (1,335 ft). Upland areas lie in
2800-595: The Isle of Man . Parts of North Wales can receive only the Winter Hill transmissions (i.e. Granada) rather than HTV . Granada retained its franchise in the 1980 franchise review, and invested in multimillion-pound dramatic serial productions such as The Jewel in the Crown and Brideshead Revisited . By the late 1990s the UK commercial broadcasters were considered too small to compete in
2912-461: The West and East Ridings of Yorkshire , including the major conurbations around Liverpool , Manchester, Leeds , Bradford , Sheffield , York and Doncaster . The north and London were the two biggest regions. Granada preferred the north because of its tradition of home-grown culture, and because it offered a chance to start a new creative industry away from the metropolitan atmosphere of London …
3024-614: The counties of Derbyshire , Herefordshire , Leicestershire , most of Lincolnshire (with the exception of North and North East Lincolnshire ), Northamptonshire , Nottinghamshire , Rutland , Shropshire , Staffordshire , Warwickshire , Worcestershire and the West Midlands metropolitan boroughs. Other definitions include a slightly larger area and the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica describes Gloucestershire as "West Midland", Bedfordshire as "South Midland", and Huntingdonshire as "East Midland" counties respectively. Cheshire
3136-408: The "V" segment of the logo, with the line connecting the "G" and the arrow not being added entirely. The company used a version with its translucent logo shown at the beginning, before continuing with the generic ident and ending with the generic ITV logo. On 4 June 1990, Granada Television, in the run-up to the 1990 franchise round, relaunched its on-screen branding to a blue stripe descending from
3248-536: The 'quality threshold' applied by the Independent Television Commission . This requirement disadvantaged companies with no previous franchise experience. Granada owned popular television series such as Coronation Street , which it threatened to sell to satellite TV if the franchise was lost. The government responded by relaxing the regulatory regime, so that ITV contractors could take over other companies, and Granada bought several companies. Some at
3360-411: The 2009 ITV regional news cutbacks, Granada was one of three regions unaffected by changes, except for extending its coverage area to include the Isle of Man , which had previously been served by ITV Border. ITV is obliged by UK communications regulator Ofcom to produce 50% of its programmes outside London, something it failed to achieve in 2007 and 2008. With this obligation, retaining Manchester as
3472-509: The BBC in 1994 but still produced by Granada. The company produced The Krypton Factor between 1977 and 1995 (revived by ITV in 2009). One of Granada's longest-running programmes, What The Papers Say , was broadcast by Granada in 1956, was taken over by the BBC in the early 1990s, and later by Channel 4 . The programme introduced the idea of discussing what the newspapers were reporting, continued by Sunday Supplement and The Wright Stuff . In
ABC Weekend TV - Misplaced Pages Continue
3584-619: The Crown , Brideshead Revisited , World in Action , University Challenge , Stars in Their Eyes and The Krypton Factor . Notable employees have included Paul Greengrass , Michael Apted , Mike Newell , Jeremy Isaacs , Andy Harries , Russell T Davies , Leslie Woodhead , Tony Wilson , Roland Joffe , Brian Cosgrove , Mark Hall , Brian Trueman , Michael Parkinson , Derek Granger , Gordon McDougall and Dan Walker . Granada originated as Granada Theatres Ltd, which owned cinemas in
3696-556: The Emley Moor transmitter. The weekend programme service was provided by ABC Television covering both the North and Midlands regions. Following the 1968 franchise awards, Granada Television provided the programme service from Winter Hill for all seven days of the week but lost the seven-day service from Emley Moor to Yorkshire Television . With the national launch of the UHF 625 line colour television service for both BBC1 and ITV on 15 November 1969,
3808-490: The ITA commenced broadcasts of Granada Television on UHF channel 59 from Winter Hill, with high power relays subsequently put into service at Pendle Forest (channel 25 on 2 August 1971, the first UHF relay service to be operated by the ITA), Lancaster (channel 24 on 26 June 1972), Storeton (channel 25 in September 1979), and Saddleworth (channel 49 on 28 June 1984). Most ITV franchisees viewed their territories as stopgaps before winning
3920-757: The ITV merger in 2004, the possibility of selling the Quay Street site was considered, with staff, studios and offices moved into the adjacent bonded warehouse building. ITV anticipated the BBC would buy the land but the BBC opted to move to the Peel Group 's MediaCityUK development in Salford Quays . ITV considered relocating to Trafford Wharf across the Manchester Ship Canal from the BBC at MediaCityUK. Discussions continued for several years and an agreement in principle
4032-532: The London Palladium and broadcast its own alternatives such as Blackpool Night Out . Eventually ATV gave way and agreed to buy more of ABC's shows. Structural changes in the regional contract areas meant that ABC no longer had a contract to reapply for in 1967. The Northern area (split into North West and Yorkshire) was to become a seven-day operation, as would the Midlands. Existing weekday contractors ( Granada and ATV respectively) were correctly considered
4144-461: The Midlands, particularly Warwickshire and Leicestershire, are on occasion referred to as the Heart of England, especially in tourist literature given that the geographic centre of England is generally considered to lie within this arc. Different areas of the Midlands have their own distinctive character, giving rise to many local history and industrial heritage groups. Nottingham played a notable part in
4256-529: The Midlands, the service beginning on 18 February 1956. Soon afterwards, it was also up and running in the North; it began broadcasting in the North West on 5 May 1956, and in Yorkshire on 3 November 1956. It was aided in part by the failure of the original contractor; Kelmsley-Winnick had ordered over £1 million (equivalent to £33.1 million today) of production equipment from manufacturer Pye , which it sold to ABC at
4368-402: The North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its weekend counterpart. Granada's parent company Granada plc later bought several other regional ITV stations and, in 2004, merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc . Granada Television was particularly noted by critics for
4480-469: The North and Midlands regions on Sunday 28 July 1968 and resumed on Tuesday 30 July in the London region as weekday company Thames. ABC operated three production sites and had a further sales office. The main production facilities were the former Warner Studios in Teddington , Middlesex . Although this was outside its contract area, ABC wanted a London base, as many performers could not venture outside of
4592-412: The North of England weekday franchise, the fifth franchise to go to air. It was marked by a distinctive northern identity and used a stylised letter "G" logo forming an arrow pointing north, often with the tagline "Granada: from the North". Granada plc merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004 after a duopoly had developed over the previous decade. The Granada name, as with those of
ABC Weekend TV - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-540: The North/Midlands" before being replaced in 1958 to "ABC, your weekend TV" and again changed in 1964 to "ABC, your weekend television in the North/Midlands". The following who have served as announcers for ABC Weekend TV include: Networked programmes from ABC included the drama series Police Surgeon , The Human Jungle , Undermind , Redcap , The Avengers , the Armchair Theatre series of single plays,
4816-530: The Royal Family's tax loophole in 1991. The programme led a campaign to prove the innocence of the Birmingham Six in 1985 when researcher Chris Mullin questioned the convictions; by 1991 the men had been released from prison. The classic northern working-class soap opera, Coronation Street , began a thirteen-week, twice weekly regional run of half-hour episodes on 9 December 1960. It is still produced at
4928-598: The TV series Most Haunted seem to be the only sources for this claim in 2009. Twelve maps from between 1772 and 1960 show no evidence of a cemetery and buildings are shown on the bull china site from 1807. Part of the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal , which linked the River Irwell to the Rochdale Canal from 1839 to 1922, ran in a tunnel underneath the site. The studios pre-dated BBC Television Centre by four years and were
5040-579: The United Kingdom and their definition varies by using organisation. The former includes the southern parts of the East Midlands and northern parts of Southern England . The latter covers the northern parts of the West and East Midlands, along with some southern parts of Northern England . The West Midlands and East Midlands regions are NUTS 1 statistical regions and were formerly constituencies of
5152-582: The United Nations. Granada Television was received in what is now Greater Manchester , Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire , the south of what is now Cumbria (then Lancashire, and smaller parts of Westmorland and Yorkshire) around Barrow-in-Furness , the High Peak district of Derbyshire ( Glossop , Buxton ), the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire ( Biddulph and Leek ) and
5264-433: The arts, Tempo , was introduced by ABC, as was its first hidden camera show, Candid Camera , and its first attempt to challenge the BBC's dominance of television sport, with World of Sport . ABC also introduced British television's first late night chat show, The Eamonn Andrews Show and, together with ATV, British television's first regular weekly series of adult education programmes. Areas are described in terms of
5376-504: The brand of the unified in-house production arm but on 21 September 2005, it was announced that Granada's name would no longer appear at the end of programmes. The in-house production arm was renamed ITV Productions . The change on 16 January 2006 coincided with a relaunch of ITV's on-screen graphics . Granada's name and logo were still used at the end of programmes made for other networks, such as University Challenge for BBC Two , and old programmes shown on BSkyB channels Sky One , and
5488-476: The capital to record programmes because they were often committed to runs of theatre plays in the West End . Upon the merger with Rediffusion , this site became the main production base for the new company Thames Television . In the Midlands, ABC formed a joint venture with Midlands weekday licensee ATV to oversee the running of a production and transmission facility to be used by both. Alpha Television purchased
5600-475: The company bought for £82,000. The opening night featured Meet The People hosted by Quentin Reynolds and comedian Arthur Askey . Reynolds became inebriated before the broadcast and had to sober up. Granada Television was broadcast by the ITA on VHF Channel 9 (405 lines, monochrome) from the Winter Hill transmitter starting on 3 May 1956, and from 3 November 1956 on VHF channel 10 (405 lines, monochrome) from
5712-492: The company considered ITV could survive only as a single merged entity to have sufficient resources to produce big-budget programmes, a concern that increased when BSkyB began to take ITV's viewing share, leading to less advertising revenue , the source of ITV's income. David Plowright , who had worked at Granada since 1957, resigned in 1992, citing the arrival of Gerry Robinson , who had tightened departmental budgets with an uncompromising business approach. Plowright had been
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#17328514265205824-627: The company's driving force, producing programmes such as World in Action and Coronation Street , and promoting the Granada Studios Tour . His departure angered well-known media-industry figures; John Cleese sent Robinson a fax using "vitriolic language" that called him an "upstart caterer" (a reference to his past employment). John Birt , Harold Pinter and Alan Bennett all supported Plowright for his quality programming. The so-called " Big Five " ITV franchisees, Thames , LWT , Central , Granada, and Yorkshire were expected to take over
5936-433: The county boundaries at the time. After ABC's closure there were significant county boundary changes in 1974, and ITV's regional boundaries have also changed over time. ABC's two franchise regions each had their own continuity announcers, advertisements and regional programmes (mainly news and weather, and the magazine shows ABC of the Midlands and ABC of the North ). Apart from those exceptions, both regions usually showed
6048-438: The details of how the new system would run were already agreed between the ITA regulator and the other three contractors. ABC felt that some of these details were unfair on itself as the smallest contractor, and the only contractor that broadcast only at weekends. In particular, ABC objected to paying one-quarter of the costs for ITN , provider of national news broadcasts for the network, as there would be fewer news programmes at
6160-429: The distinctive northern and "social realism" character of many of its network programmes, as well as the high quality of its drama and documentaries. In its prime as an independent franchisee, prior to its parent company merging with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc, it was the largest Independent Television producer in the UK, accounting for 25% of the total broadcasting output of the ITV network. Granada Television
6272-492: The early days, the pointed G logo was used on two other subsidiary businesses. Firstly came the Red Arrow Television Rental chain. During the days when many families preferred to rent their TV sets to offset poor reliability and changing fashions, and due to the high price of television receivers, this company fared well alongside the established "heavy hitters" such as Radio Rentals . The company's opening promotion
6384-747: The east coast. Lincolnshire is the only coastal county in the Midlands as the region is bordered by Wales to the west. It is also where the Midlands' lowest points can be found as some places fall below sea level, with the lowest points being near Thorpe Tilney in North Kesteven and Stickford in East Lindsey . The Midlands has a temperate maritime climate , with cold, cloudy, wet winters and comfortable, mostly dry, mostly sunny summers. The temperature usually ranges from −0.4 °C (31.3 °F) during winter nights to 24.1 °C (75.4 °F) during summer days. Due to its geographical location, which
6496-711: The end of its own programmes until 31 October 2004. Granada was permitted by the government to merge with Carlton on 2 February 2004 to form ITV plc . The move was a takeover by Granada, whose market capitalisation was double that of Carlton, at nearly £2 billion. Granada owned 68% of the shares and Carlton 32%; chairman designate Michael Green was ousted by shareholders and the majority of new board members originated from Granada. Carlton employees were subsumed in Granada operations or made redundant, with three out of four new departments led by Granada staff. From 1 November 2004, Granada productions were credited "Granada Manchester",
6608-471: The favourites. ABC consequently submitted two applications: one for the service for London at the weekend, the other for the Midlands seven-day operation, although it favoured the first contract. It was expected that ABC would be awarded the weekend London licence, but the strength of another application (from the London Weekend Television consortium ) ruled this out. This led to a situation where
6720-471: The first half of 1969, the famous pointed "G" logo, incorporating the upward/Northward facing arrow used previously into a letter "G" was introduced. This was to be the corporate logo for the Granada Group as a whole (also seen as the logo for Granada's TV rentals firm), so it was introduced to their ITV franchise as a matter of course rather than the ITV franchise choosing to adopt the new branding. This logo
6832-424: The first purpose-built television studios in the United Kingdom. Bernstein exaggerated the scale of the studios, to make Granada appear a rival to the BBC, and gave the studios only even numbers so that it appeared there were twelve despite there only being six. The studios were operated by 3sixtymedia , ITV Studios' joint-venture company with BBC Resources Ltd from 2000. The studios later hosted shows displaced by
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#17328514265206944-401: The former Sky Two (now Sky Replay) and Sky Three (now Sky Mix), until 2009. On 13 November 2006, Granada lost its on-air identity when regional programming voiced ITV1 or ITV1 Granada over a generic ident. Local news coverage was branded Granada News except for the main 18.00 Granada Reports bulletin. Granada Reports ' main rival is BBC North West Tonight , broadcast to roughly
7056-467: The global market, and the ITV franchises began to consolidate with the aim of creating a single company with a larger budget. The Broadcasting Act of 1990 instigated the 1991 franchise auction round, in which companies had to bid for the regions. Mersey Television , a company producing the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside , bid £35m compared to Granada's £9m but Granada won as Mersey's package did not meet
7168-426: The increase in income, Granada tried to renegotiate the contract; Associated-Rediffusion refused, souring relations for many years. The deal was worth over £8m to Rediffusion. By the early 1960s Granada was established and its soap opera Coronation Street quickly became popular, as did inexpensive game shows such as Criss Cross Quiz and University Challenge . In the 1968 franchise round, Granada's contract
7280-656: The last two series of The Avengers ), the name 'Associated British Corporation' was used, to avoid confusion with the US ABC network . As for on-air, the name was for a few months 'Associated British', before becoming 'ABC Television', or just 'ABC'. The names 'ABC Television Network' and 'ABC Weekend Network' were also used, for example in TV Times listings. The station received a joke nickname from Bob Monkhouse , namely "All Bloody Commercials". The station's spoken slogan varied through time, starting off as "ABC – Associated British in
7392-529: The latter on 10 January 1982 around Newport in Shropshire where it dropped to a minimum of −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F). Due to being neither Northern England or Southern England , the Midlands have had cultural elements from both sides in the North–South divide , such as dialect (see also West Midlands English and East Midlands English ). A study has shown that some Midlands areas have traditionally had
7504-517: The lowest profits of the quartet. Granada sought the help of Associated-Rediffusion , the London weekday station, which agreed to underwrite Granada's debts in exchange for a percentage of its profits, without the consent of the ITA, who would have blocked it. Granada accepted the deal, but the popularity of ITV increased and profitability followed. Analysts questioned how Associated-Rediffusion, ABC and ATV were making annual profits of up to £2.7m by 1959 and yet Granada's profits were under £1m. With
7616-411: The multi-award-winning Disappearing World series (between 1969 and 1993) and, from 1984, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Jewel in the Crown for an international audience. These shows were sold overseas by Granada Television International . Another flagship programme, the long-running quiz show , University Challenge was originally aired between 1962 and 1987. It was revived by
7728-522: The new Independent Television network in 1954, collapsed, the ITA approached ABPC to step into the breach. The Corporation agreed to assume the franchises to broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays to the Midlands and the North of England. The contract agreeing to do so was signed on 21 September 1955, the day before Independent Television (ITV) began in London . This left the new ABC five months to begin broadcasting in
7840-406: The new ABC logo. This ident lasted until 1964 when the lettering font was altered slightly from a serif font to the latest bold used by the company, this revision lasting until the company's demise. The logo uses the notion of threes, three triangles making another triangle, with the points of a triangle often being labelled 'A', 'B' and 'C' in geometry. The tune that was used for all of ABC's idents
7952-414: The new broadcasting system, but was persuaded to do so by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and the manager of its Pathé News subsidiary Howard Thomas , who became the new company's managing director. ABC operated two franchises, one in the Midlands, which was the fourth ITA franchise to go on air, in 1956, and the other in the North of England, which was the sixth franchise to go on air, later
8064-463: The north is a closely knit, indigenous, industrial society; a homogeneous cultural group with a good record for music, theatre, literature and newspapers, not found elsewhere in this island, except perhaps in Scotland. Compare this with London and its suburbs — full of displaced persons. And, of course, if you look at a map of the concentration of population in the north and a rainfall map, you will see that
8176-407: The north is an ideal place for television". Bernstein selected a base from Leeds and Manchester. Granada executive Victor Peers believed Manchester was the preferred choice even before executives toured the region to find a suitable site. Granada Studios , designed by architect Ralph Tubbs , was built on a site on Quay Street in Manchester city centre belonging to Manchester City Council , which
8288-500: The northern hub, and an £80m move to MediaCityUK on 25 March 2013, ITV appears to be committed to the Granada region for the foreseeable future. In the eighteen months between the award of the franchise and the start of transmission, Granada built a brand new studio complex on Quay Street . The site was reportedly previously a cemetery for pauper's graves , where 22,000 people were buried. An article in The Sun newspaper and an episode of
8400-728: The oldest rock in England (dating from the Cryogenian period, at around 680 million years old) and extend for 8 miles (13 km) through two West Midlands counties ( Worcestershire and Herefordshire ) as well as northern Gloucestershire in the southwest . The highest point of the hills is the Worcestershire Beacon at 425 m (1,394 ft) above sea level (OS Grid reference SO768452). The Cotswolds – designated an AONB in 1966. – extend for over 90 miles (140 km) through Oxfordshire , Gloucestershire , Wiltshire , Somerset , Warwickshire , and Worcestershire . They reach
8512-657: The only two companies whose franchises operated at the weekend. ATV had close connections with the Moss Empires theatre chain (through ATV's Val Parnell ) and the Grade Organisation theatrical talent agency (through ATV's Lew Grade and his brother Leslie ) and felt they had the expertise to make expensive, high-status drama, variety and comedy shows, and leave the cheaper "provincial" off-peak weekend programming to ABC. This would have been to ABC's financial disadvantage, since ABC (with its two regions to ATV's one region at
8624-467: The other ITV companies and by the BBC at its original Manchester studios . The investment in new studios in 1954 contributed to Granada struggling financially, and the company was close to insolvency by late 1956. All four ITA franchisees were expected to make losses in the first few years of operation, but Granada's was a significant sum of £175,000 (nearly £3.5m in 2011). When it first became profitable, it had
8736-560: The other former regional licence holders, is only referenced onscreen during regional news bulletins and the weeknight regional news magazine; ITV Broadcasting Limited operates the service with national ITV branding and continuity. The North West region is regarded as ITV's most successful franchise. Nine Granada programmes were listed in the BFI TV 100 in 2000. Some of its most notable programmes include Sherlock Holmes , Coronation Street , Seven Up! , The Royle Family , The Jewel in
8848-514: The pointed G logo, made slightly thinner and placed in a box at the top of the screen. The dual branding of Granada Television and ITV lasted until 28 October 2002, when regional identities were dropped in favour of the new ITV1 channel brand. The celebrities ident package featured plain ITV1 idents for all national programmes, and Granada Television placed under the ITV1 logo for regional programmes. This practice continued until 16 January 2006, when no name
8960-555: The proposed closure of the Yorkshire Television studios in Leeds in 2009, including Channel 4's Countdown. In September 2010, the noted 1950s red landmark "Granada TV" sign on the roof and entrance of Granada Studios on Quay Street was removed for safety reasons after maintenance found it was badly corroded. The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) now owns the sign, deeming it important to Manchester's cultural heritage. After
9072-531: The rate of three one-hour peak-time episodes a week after over sixty years, and is the longest-running television soap opera in the world. Such set-pieces as Siege Week and the 2010 Tram Crash were filmed at the studio. The company also produced gritty drama series such as A Family at War (1970–72), set during the Second World War. Granada produced The Stars Look Down (1975), Laurence Olivier Presents (1976–78), Brideshead Revisited (1981),
9184-566: The remaining divisions passing to rival company Carlton due to competition laws. A year later, it acquired Border from Capital Radio Group. By 2002, Granada had established an effective duopoly of ITV with Carlton Television , owning all the ITV companies in England and Wales. The remaining franchises in Scotland, ( Scottish and Grampian ), UTV in Northern Ireland, and Channel in the Channel Islands , remained independent. Granada
9296-531: The same programmes simultaneously. Midlands The Midlands is the central part of England , bordered by Wales , Northern England , Southern England and the North Sea . The Midlands correspond broadly to the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia , and later became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are now split into two official regions, the West Midlands and East Midlands . The Midlands' biggest city, Birmingham ,
9408-533: The same region. In 2009, ITV removed the Granada brand from all departments including its international production arm, Granada America which became ITV Studios America. End credits on programmes made at The Manchester Studios were credited to ITV Studios . ITV made cutbacks, dropping 600 jobs in 2009, which effectively closed the Yorkshire Television Leeds Studios; more redundancies were made in London, leaving Granada relatively unscathed. In
9520-484: The same year. It lost both its franchises in 1968, but merged with another franchisee to form Thames Television , which held the London weekday franchise for 24 years. From 1967, ABC's sister company, ABC Television Films, used the name Associated British Corporation on its exports to the US, such as the last two series of The Avengers . When Kemsley-Winnick , one of the consortia that had been awarded two franchises in
9632-430: The ship canal on Trafford Wharf. Planning permission was granted, and building work began on 6 September 2011 with the goal of completion in 2012. ITV Granada moved to MediaCityUK on 25 March 2013. Throughout its history, Granada Television used the logo of an arrow pointing northwards in idents, often accompanied by the tagline "from the North". Sidney Bernstein wanted to present a northern identity. Granada Television
9744-639: The south of England. It was founded in Dover in 1930 by Sidney Bernstein and his brother Cecil; it was named after the Spanish city of Granada , which Sidney had visited on a holiday. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1935; Granada Theatres Ltd became a subsidiary of the new company. In the 1950s, the Bernsteins became involved in commercial television,
9856-441: The station's launch in 1956 until September 1959. The ITA had criticised ABC's original presentation style for being bland and too much attached to the existing ABC Cinemas chain. As a result, ABC created a new brand ident featuring three arrows pointing to the bottom of the screen to reveal the letters ABC in turn and leaving a triangle behind and on top of the letters. At the end of this, the three triangles would snap together into
9968-455: The temperature at 6 pm was as high as 15.2 °C (59.4 °F) on 9 January 2015. At 8 am the following morning the temperature was still at 13 °C (55 °F). Both the highest and lowest temperature ever recorded in England were in the Midlands, the former on 19 July 2022 around Coningsby in Lincolnshire where it reached a maximum temperature of 40.3 °C (104.5 °F), and
10080-685: The ten smaller franchises. Granada wanted to consolidate with Yorkshire and Tyne Tees to "counter the potential dominance of the south east", and the prospect of being taken over by Thames. Granada made a hostile bid for LWT in December 1993, but LWT believed Granada had "little to offer" despite having three times the market capitalisation; Granada, however, completed the take-over in 1994. Granada continued to expand by acquiring Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television for £652m in 1997 and bought UNM 's television assets for £1.75 billion in 2000 – by which it acquired Anglia and Meridian and some divisions of HTV –
10192-421: The top of the screen, containing the pointed "G", against a plain white background accompanied by the same music as previously. Variations were seen from which the stripe formed from a falling feather or was backlit. On 2 May 1992, the stripe descended to reveal a rainbow of colours before becoming the usual blue and this ident stays on screen until 1 January 1995. On 3 January 1994, Granada Television introduced
10304-404: The weekend than on weekdays. ABC's managing director Howard Thomas, former head of Pathé News , felt that ABC could provide its own news for a fraction of ITN's price, but the ITA would not allow this: regional companies were responsible only for regional news, and national news should be independent of the regional companies. ABC lobbied both ITN and the ITA for change, which eventually resulted in
10416-400: The weekends) would have to pay two-thirds of the expensive costs of ATV London's shows, while ATV would pay only one-third of the costs of ABC's cheaper shows. ABC fought back, first of all, by selling some of its pre-recorded shows to Associated-Rediffusion (instead of ATV) to broadcast to London on weekdays. Secondly, it refused to buy some of ATV's top-rated shows such as Sunday Night at
10528-744: The west and north of the region with the Shropshire Hills to the west, close to the England–Wales border and the Peak District area of the southern Pennines in the north of the region. The Shropshire Hills reach a height of 540 m (1,771 ft) at Brown Clee Hill and includes the Long Mynd , Clee Hills and Stiperstones ridge. Wenlock Edge , running through the middle of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB),
10640-415: The word "GRANADA" between two horizontal lines was introduced, the channel used captions and animations featuring a thin arrow pointing upwards and Granada, in a stylised font, in boxes. The arrow pointed at the "n" in Granada, pointing north and sometimes animated revealing the slogan "From the North", before the Granada name. After the use of the word "GRANADA" between two horizontal lines was phased out in
10752-400: Was a computer-animated pointed "G" against a graded background and a cake covered in candles in the pointed G shape. On 1 September 1986, Granada Television reverted to using a caption featuring a gold or chrome 3D pointed "G" on a graded blue background. Granada Television used in-vision continuity featuring northern personalities giving messages. It was common for the logo to be seen for
10864-476: Was a social experiment which followed the lives of 14 British children aged seven. It tracked their lives at seven-year intervals to discover whether their hopes and aspirations had been achieved. The documentary was voted the greatest ever by esteemed filmmakers and its latest installment, 63 Up , premiered in 2019. Seven Up was part of the World in Action documentary series between 1963 and 1998, which won awards but
10976-489: Was a vibraphone playing the notes A-B-C ( la-te-doh ). Out of this look, ABC Television developed a strong corporate identity, effectively becoming the first British TV station to recognise the importance of corporate branding. The company itself was originally called Associated British Cinemas (Television) Limited , which by 1957 had been shortened to A.B.C. Television Limited . However, from about 1967, on exports made by its sister company A.B.C. Television Films Ltd. (such as
11088-554: Was already suffering from competition with the internet. The failure of ITV Digital cost Granada and Carlton losses estimated at over £1 billion reducing the company's value from 2001 to 2003. On 28 October 2002, in a network-wide relaunch , Granada was rebranded as ITV1 Granada. The Granada name was shown before regional programmes, but this has ceased; its name has all but disappeared from screens, as have all other ITV regional identities. Since rebranding, all continuity announcements are made from London. The Granada logo appeared at
11200-467: Was apparent. Kenneth Clark , of the ITA , which let the franchise, remarked: "We did not quite foresee how much Granada Television would develop a character which distinguishes it most markedly from the other programmes companies and from the BBC." Peter Salmon , of the BBC said: "Granada Television made TV programmes in the north west; for northerners, reflecting northern culture and attitudes." From its launch in 1956 until 1968, when an ident featuring
11312-448: Was changed from weekdays across the northern England region to the whole week in the North West from Winter Hill transmitting station. Yorkshire was defined as a separate region and the contract awarded to Yorkshire Television , broadcasting from Emley Moor transmitting station; its transmissions could be received in parts of North Lincolnshire . Bernstein was angered by the decision to split "Granadaland", and claimed he would appeal to
11424-498: Was considered "bolder", " gritty " and more " Socialist " in its identity than the other more "sedate" and " Conservative " ITV franchisees and the BBC, and placed great emphasis displaying the northern style which distinguished it from them. Bernstein believed the north had "untapped creative energy" that needed cultivation. Granada was one of the few regions that did not play the national anthem at closedown . In 1958, two years after its launch, Granada Television's northern style
11536-483: Was controversial. It garnered a reputation for hard-hitting investigative journalism and its producer Gus Macdonald commented that the programme was "born brash". Paul Greengrass said that David Plowright told him, "don't forget, your job's to make trouble." World in Action demonstrated hard-hitting investigative journalism and explored issues such as police corruption at the Metropolitan Police in 1985 and
11648-517: Was founded by Sidney Bernstein at Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester and is the only surviving franchisee of the original four Independent Television Authority franchisees from 1954. It covers Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, and parts of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cumbria, and North Yorkshire. In 2009, the Isle of Man was transferred to Granada from ITV Border . Broadcasting by Granada Television began on 3 May 1956 under
11760-531: Was in a poor financial state and closed the Granada Studios Tour in 2001, citing decreasing visitor figures. The real reason was the decision to increase production of episodes for Coronation Street to five per week. Without access to that set, the highlight of the tour, the Granada Studios Tour venture was no longer viable. The company also closed Granada Film. The emergence of digital television cut ITV's viewing share, decreasing advertising revenue, which
11872-600: Was on display in the city before being taken to the British Museum in London. The cross has been incorporated into a number of coats of arms of Midlands towns, including Tamworth , Leek and Blaby . It was recognised as the Mercian flag by the Flag Institute in 2014. There is no single definition for the Midlands. If defined as being made up of the statistical regions of East Midlands and West Midlands , it includes
11984-481: Was one of a number of commercial television companies established during the 1950s by cinema chain companies, in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television, which was taking away their cinema audiences. In this case, the parent company was the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)—owner of ABC Cinemas —which initially did not wish to become involved with
12096-520: Was originally white on a grey background (although occasionally seen as black on a white background) but after the introduction of colour, grey was replaced with blue (after a short period of using white symbol/yellow lettering/purple background), with the GRANADA name in white and the G symbol in yellow. A colour emblem was used from the 1970s until it was replaced by a series of idents to celebrate Granada Television's 30th anniversary on 3 May 1986, when it
12208-616: Was reached in 2008. In March 2009, in the recession, Granada announced it would remain at Quay Street, but after a change of management, talks resumed in January 2010. Two years later, on 16 December 2010, Granada announced it would move to the Orange Building in MediaCityUK alongside the University of Salford . It planned to build a studio to produce Coronation Street on the opposite bank of
12320-448: Was to give every new customer a small, Hiawatha-style figurine to stand on top of their new TV set. Upon its success, the name was later changed to Granada TV Rental. Based on the results of this company, Granada Television dipped its toes into the office furniture rental business, and carpet sales and fitting for larger business customers, with Black Arrow. This business was less successful. In 1958, Granada Television broadcast coverage of
12432-435: Was used, and Granada Productions was replaced with ITV Productions on programme end boards. The Granada Television logo continued on end boards until this date. The Granada name was used on announcements before local programming over a generic ITV1 ident until all non-news regional programming was scrapped. On 14 January 2013, ITV1 reverted to its original name of ITV , along with all other ITV plc-owned franchises. During
12544-447: Was used, from a variety of angles, until 7 November 1999, by which point additional idents based on surreal surroundings, such as a fish blowing a bubble with a G inside, which floated to the surface, or a camera zoom into the eye of a housewife to reveal the G in her eye, were introduced on 2 September 1996. All of the idents were replaced on 8 November 1999 when Granada Television took the generic hearts idents . Granada Television kept
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