As long ago as December, 1966, when the Independent Television Authority announced that the North and Midlands would no longer be split into weekday – weekend contracts, we have lived with the fact that ABC’s “odd man out” contract would cease to exist.

From that moment we knew that a new Company would have to take over from ABC, either as a 7-day contractor in Lancashire, Yorkshire or the Midlands, or to share the London contract. Therefore, among ourselves, we began to talk not about ABC Television but about the new Company “XYZ Television”.

“XYZ” has become Thames Television, operating what the Authority calls “the prime contract” in London, with ABC interests having the major (marginally) interest in Thames.

Change was inevitable. And change there has been in 1968 – not only in terms of Independent Television, but in terms of the whole country, in its politics and its economy.

ABC, as we have all known it, was already spread-eagled over England, stretched over many centres. Now, geography has played its part in the history of the Company, with the result that one quarter of our staff has had to be hived off away from the Company, and transported over the Pennines into Yorkshire.

Most of the remaining ABC men and women have been able to stay put at Teddington, augmented by Rediffusion technicians from Wembley, whilst a small group of ABC pioneers has camped in Television House, Kingsway, en route for the new Thames Colour Centre in Euston Road (still handy for sentimental journeys to Manchester).

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”

(The more things change, the more they are the same.)

Everything is changed – but the objectives of us all remain as they were, to give the public the finest programmes and the best programme service. Like every other Company in Independent Television, ABC has had its vicissitudes, but very few among us have ever lost sight of the fact that we all work for the public and, with rare exceptions over 12 years, contentious issues have been set aside so that services to viewers should continue.

What now?

A new chapter; not again the early struggling years of ABC with new, untrained staff, learning as they went along. Now, skilled and seasoned veterans, with hundreds of programmes under their belts, go forth with the new Companies. They have learned the ways, mastered their jobs and become the professionals of television. In Yorkshire, the ABC contingent must inevitably form the nucleus of the new Company, for every new army, however brilliantly led, depends upon its élite of battle-hardened warriors.

In London, two all-star teams will be merged into one, rather like a combination of Manchester City and Manchester United. The expert technicians of Teddington will join forces with equally expert operators from Wembley. The veterans of Television House will be rejuvenated with some top talent from ABC.

On the programme side, there has been the opportunity to select the best of two really expert and international teams. The policy in building Thames Programme Department has been to retain whole departments rather than to select individuals. A starry combination it makes – with ABC’s Drama Department, unchallengeably the best in ITV, and ABC’s Light Entertainment Department which has gradually seized the crown from ATV, plus Rediffusion’s eminent Current Affairs and Children’s Departments, and the pioneering Schools Department. The Outside Broadcast Department consists of Rediffusion’s men and ABC’s equipment.

All this has the makings of a great company and its leaders are men who have worked successfully together, each in his own right a key figure in the Television industry.

Although the new regime will mean a splitting of ABC personnel, their work will often be screened side-by-side, for under the new networking system, many of Yorkshire’s programmes will be transmitted in London, while Yorkshire will be taking a high proportion of Thames’ output. The accord at top level between the two companies is very healthy, and there has been the closest collaboration with Ward Thomas, the Managing Director of Yorkshire, and his Programme Controller, Donald Baverstock. This is all reflected in the successful negotiations which have preceded the preparations for going on the air at the end of July.

Changes, splits, divisions, yes – but the one common link is ITV, and working for this same cause, the comradeship, team spirit and goodwill of ABC will endure into Yorkshire and into Thames. For the moment, the ways must part on August 1 but, long term, the deep, long-lived time-tested associations between all who have made ABC will continue and survive.

To some, therefore, we say “Goodbye for now”; but only for now.

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Chorussed the fans –

“We love you Beatles,

Oh! yes we do.

Wherever you go,

We’ll follow you.

When you are not near us

We are blue.

Oh! Beatles, we love you”.

Within twenty-four hours of The Beatles’ triumphant return from America, the four undisputed kings of the pop-world were at Teddington rehearsing for their first ‘home again’ TV show – ABC’s “Big Night Out”.

George, Paul, John and Ringo had landed at London Airport in the cold, grey hours of Saturday morning to be greeted by the screams of 10,000 eager and delighted fans. And no less tumultuous a welcome awaited the Liverpool group when they arrived at the studios to keep their date with ABC.

Fans Gather Overnight
Beatles fans began to gather outside the studio gates hours in advance of the planned arrival of the four boys. Many hundreds of youngsters had made their way to Teddington straight after a long vigil at the airport the day before and had camped out all night in the hope of catching yet another fleeting glimpse of their idols.

“They’re Coming Up by Boat!”
ABC officials, concerned for the safety of their much mobbed star guests, had worked out an elaborate plan to dodge the mad, wild, scrambling crowd gathered around the gates. From a secret rendezvous the Beatles were taken by car to the river and transferred to a police launch for the rest of the journey to Teddington. But somehow the secret leaked out and word quickly spread among the fans, “They’re coming up by boat.”

Riverside Pandemonium
For a time then it was pandemonium. Crush barriers and commissionaires were swept aside as thousands of Beatlemaniacs rushed to throng the river bank. Harrassed [sic] but good natured ABC security guards finally managed to restore some semblance of order. But not before several over-eager teenagers had fallen into the water and been dragged back on the bank again, soaked to the skin.

By the time the police launch drew alongside the landing stage shortly after 11.00 a.m., excitement was at fever pitch. The Beatles, standing in the cockpit and smiling broadly, acknowledged a roar of greeting, stepped ashore, paused for a moment for the photographers and then, with a final wave to their fans, made a dash for the safety of Studio 1.

Half-an-hour later the rehearsals for “Big Night Out” were under way and, as the boys went through their paces with programme hosts Mike and Bernie Winters, other TV cameras were recording the scene for inclusion in another ABC scoop, “The Beatles Are Back!” – a 30 minute documentary covering the first 48 hours of their return to Britain.

Split Second Timing
Produced by Lloyd Shirley and directed by Tom Clegg, “The Beatles are Back!”, which was transmitted over the National Network on Sunday night, was, in itself, a major achievement in television programming and split second timing. Researchers, writers, cameramen and production staff had worked around the clock from early on Saturday morning evolving a format, shooting material on film or video tape, marrying the two together and getting the programme on the air in time to live up to ABC’s reputation for spot-on technicality.

Said producer Lloyd Shirley, “It was a race against time and there were moments when it looked as though we couldn’t possibly make it on schedule. But we had a great team and the Beatles couldn’t have been more helpful so everything worked fine.”

It was not until hours after “The Beatles Are Back!!” had gone out over the air that George, Paul, John and Ringo finally left Teddington, their recording stint over and “Big Night Out” safely on the shelf. It had been another long and tiring day. And outside in the darkness the patient fans were still waiting.

The Beatles and all the other top Mersey groups are heading for Montreux. Not in person but on videotape – to the festival of world TV light entertainment in April.

Official Entry
ABC TV learnt this week that their special Lucky Stars show ‘The Merseybeats’ which was transmitted on the ITV Network last December, has been selected as the official Independent Television entry for the Montreux Golden Rose Award.

Golden Rose
Another accolade for the Mersey groups, Thank Your Lucky Stars, producer Philip Jones and ABC TV who are hoping to add the Golden Rose to the two Melody Maker awards for the top pop-music show won by Lucky Stars over the last two years.

ABC TV plan to give viewers across the National Network more exciting light entertainment shows, with Sunday night series ‘Blackpool – Night Out’ in the summer.

Top Performers
Starting on July 5th and continuing for 10 weeks in the Sunday Palladium slot, this will be a one-hour variety show transmitted live from ABC’s new theatre at Blackpool. As well as featuring much of the comedy and musical talent that abounds in the North today, the show will star all the top-line performers in Blackpool for the summer season.

‘Blackpool – Night Out’ will be the best evening of entertainment that ABC TV has brought viewers yet.

With the story of ABC TV’s Beatles scoop comes more news of the Company’s success in the light entertainment field. ‘Big Night Out’ – the popular variety show which viewers in the rest of the country see on Saturday nights – is to be screened on the London ITV channel on Tuesdays by Associated-Rediffusion, the weekday contractor. First London screening will be The Beatles’ home-coming show on March 3rd at 8.0 p.m.

When they heard about the deal, Mike and Bernie Winters – regular hosts and comedians on ‘Big Night Out’ – said “We are excited at the news, it’s great that the London audience will get to see the show – now everybody in the country will see The Beatles and see us too”.

Programme Tribute
A-R’s decision to take ‘Big Night Out’ is the crowning tribute to a show which has been building a great reputation for itself amongst ABC TV’s own weekend audience in the North and Midlands. The programme was devised in June 1962 with a strong regional flavour, and billing a lot of the tremendous variety talent that exists in ABC TV’s area. Today the show has won national acclaim – and even international recognition when it was sold to Australia last summer. ABC TV has even bigger plans for maintaining the show’s success – and viewers across the whole country can look forward to some very exciting Big Nights Out in the near future.

ABC’s candid cameramen capture more moments from the Great Day at Teddington. The four boys seconds before they stepped ashore, Paul McCartney smiling a greeting to his excited fans, and George Harrison and John Lennon in conversation during a break in the ‘Big Night Out’ rehearsals.

On January 19th 1963, four hesitant, rather young lads turned up nervously at the main entrance to ABC’s Teddington studios, to appear for the first time on TV in ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’. No one took any notice of them arriving. The commissionaire had their names, but to the rest of the world they were virtually unknown. On the scripts in their hands, their names appeared way down the bill.

Back in Style
Today – only a little over a year later – those same four boys returned in triumph to Teddington Studios. But this time it was through the back way, by river, because their entry to the front of the studios was barred by thousands of screaming and struggling girls who had waited, many of them all night, to catch a glimpse of their idols and the biggest rave Britain (and now the States) has known since the war . . . The Beatles.

First Producer
Waiting to welcome the boys was producer Philip Jones, who directed their debut on ABC TV last year. Phil – who has made a big name for himself in TV light entertainment with Lucky Stars, Big Night Out and ABC spectaculars starring Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee – will be directing the Beatles again tonight on their first British TV show since their return from America.

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The Press Conference was arranged by Mr. Arthur Jones, Yorkshire Press Executive, and Mr. Barry Wynne, Head of Press and Publicity.

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With MIKE and BERNIE WINTERS once again in the hosting spot, this sixty-minute production produced by PHILIP JONES will draw its talent from the great names of the entertainment world including those who are headlining the North’s big summer shows. Already booked to appear are: THE BEATLES, FRANK IFIELD, THE BACHELORS, SOPHIE TUCKER, DIANA DORS, THE SEARCHERS and CILLA BLACK.

Other regular Blackpool Night Outers include LIONEL BLAIR and His Dancers and the ABC TELEVISION SHOW-BAND, under the baton of Musical Director BOB SHARPLES.

While BLACKPOOL NIGHT OUT has provided one of the biggest OB sound problems for the technical boys, it means the summer months by the sea for Producer PHILIP JONES and Designer BRIAN EATWELL and their families.

Others taking up residence in or around Blackpool for the run of the show include PA JEAN FENTON, Choreographer LIONEL BLAIR, dancers PATSY SPENCER and GILLIAN BOWDEN and, of course, MIKE and BERNIE WINTERS, their wives and children… Mike’s wife Cassie having successfully found a house for them all while the rest of the family worked on the last BIG NIGHT OUT series at Teddington. (Bernie’s wife SIGGI HEINE was one of the original dancers.)

Meanwhile Philip, Jean and Brian have secured office premises for the season above a cafe just across the road from the theatre – ever known a Production team not to find a built-in tea trolley?

After months of planning, technicians are now capable of running up the largest number of microphones ever – no less than 31. Under the supervision of Assistant Technical Manager, KEN PIKE, who was responsible for much of the original television installation at the theatre, a truck has been specially fitted out as a sound control room, camera platforms constructed specially for the job with built-in cabling, and talk-back systems devised whereby almost everybody can talk to everyone else.

Easing this great challenge to the Mobile Operation, of course, are the seven camera point boxes and thousands of feet of cable originally built into the theatre – 1,250 ft plus 1,050 ft vision, 6,150 ft micro and 2,700 ft of talk-back cable.

The new ABC Blackpool stands on a site associated with show business for more than sixty nine years.

The new theatre – which justifiably claims to be Europe’s most luxurious showplace – has been erected at a cost of more than £300,000, embodying all the latest facets of contemporary design with emphasis placed throughout on good taste and comfort… plus the fact that it has been wired to cater for today’s ever-increasing television audience, enabling programmes to be swiftly and easily screened direct from the North where the biggest stars are performing in their fabulous Summer Shows.

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We know, though, that we have to avoid slumping into a rut by merely continuing our existing programmes. The challenge is to find new ideas and programmes that will eventually replace even the most successful of our current productions. As you will know well enough from your own experience, a successful programme is rarely a flash in the pan, but generally the result of painful and painstaking work over months and sometimes years. So the task is to maintain and improve our present productions and yet simultaneously create new programmes.

The new Network Programming plan continues the situation whereby the four major companies provide the bulk of the national programmes. The change is that ABC will contribute a higher percentage of the weekend programmes and will strengthen its position on the network.

First of all we shall make more ARMCHAIR THEATRES. Instead of alternating the Sunday plays fortnightly with ATV we shall produce two out of three.

THE AVENGERS will be “rested” until the end of the year: (It is physically impossible to produce a first-class programme every week and many preparatory months have to be spent on scripts and putting a good number of shows “in the bag”). Yet we have THE AVENGERS slot to fill on the network and that means one or perhaps two new one-hour programme series to get into shape. We piloted SCANDAL, then decided not to proceed with it. Now we are launching a new series called THE PROTECTORS. Intensive work is taking place on other subjects and probably we shall be making pilots of new series ideas at Didsbury.

ABC was already well established as a force in Drama, as we were in Religion. Our latest breakthrough has been on Light Entertainment, and it is heartening to see BRIAN TESLER’s work reaping its rewards. THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS has climbed over JUKE BOX JURY to the very top and everyone will have been pleased to see this show chosen as Britain’s ITV entry for the Montreux Festival.

Then BIG NIGHT OUT has continued to improve and it was a proud night for PHILIP JONES when “B.N.O.” swarmed over the weekend barriers and became a London weekday Top Ten show. Then this summer we shall have another ABC variety show on the network, replacing the Palladium show on Sunday nights. This will be BLACKPOOL NIGHT OUT, our biggest effort yet in Light Entertainment.

TEMPO has also come up well and on page 43 of its official handbook “ITV 1964” the Authority describes this as “the major constant feature dealing specifically with the Arts.”

Our Religious programmes have brought us high prestige and we have made a good start in Adult Education.

In colour, too, ABC has pioneered the French SECAM system, and throughout Europe ABC is regarded as the leader of colour television in ITV.

This sounds a complacent piece but it is not intended to be written in such a vein. This is an assessment of where we have reached, and a reminder of how hard we shall have to work to continue the progress of the past year, our biggest year ever.

At ABC, we have the resources, the people, the ideas, the experience, the initiative — on to the 7-day week!

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He has already made plans. “I’d like to let you in on some of them,” he said. “I think you’d find them as exciting as I do. But … we are not the only ones in this tough field, you know!”

What we do know is that Philip Jones was first to feature a catchy tune that was later named Sidesaddle. It made pianist Russ Conway famous. And that among the winners Philip Jones has given viewers are Thank Your Lucky Stars, Spot the Tune, Melody Ranch, The Alan Young Show and Make Up Your Mind.

He views programme planning this way: “Skimping on the preparation of a show can reduce a possible smash hit to a merely passable half-hour. That’s shocking. You’ve got to be ruthlessly attentive to detail in the fiercely competitive work of small-screen technique.”

With TV expanding so fast, Philip Jones sees one of his great hopes being realised before long. The aim will be to put selected stars in a financial position that enables them to live largely on their TV income. This, he feels, will be a bargain buy in the long run.

His own connection with TV began with the birth of Granada. He had previously spent six years with Radio Luxembourg (comparative unknowns with him then included Teddy Johnson, Peter Murray and Keith Fordyce).

Article source: TVWorld magazine issue 1, covering Saturday 26 September to Friday 2 October 1964

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