To mark the fortieth anniversary of Tyne Tees Television (TTTV), a special programme that looks back on some of the stations highlights captured by TTTV cameras as well as programmes they produced that caught the nation's imagination from ground-breaking music series such as The Tube to the adaptations of the novels of Catherine Cookson. Title: Tyne Tees Television. 40 Years of Quality Tyne Tees Television: First Forty Years Over a montage of promotional material distributed regionally...

To mark the fortieth anniversary of Tyne Tees Television (TTTV), a special programme that looks back on some of the stations highlights captured by TTTV cameras as well as programmes they produced that caught the nation's imagination from ground-breaking music series such as The Tube to the adaptations of the novels of Catherine Cookson. Title: Tyne Tees Television. 40 Years of Quality Tyne Tees Television: First Forty Years Over a montage of promotional material distributed regionally during 1958 relating to the setting up of Independent Television in the north east, Tyne Tees Television (TTTV). Views showing the exterior of the new state-of-the-art studio on City Road in Newcastle is followed by technicians inside working equipment. An extended clip from the opening night transmission on the January 15th 1959 of The Big Show featuring English music hall comedian Jimmy James. As the narrator explains how that first night didn’t go off without a hitch County Durham born singer George Romaine performing the Frank Sinatra hit ‘Witchcraft’ alongside fellow singer Ricky Price. In the City Road studio George talks about being confused as to why that song was chosen by the stations first Programme Controller Bill Lyon-Shaw. Over a montage of still images details are provided with regards the light-entertainment programme The One O’clock Show which was the first daytime television programme which stared George Romaine. After explaining that no editions of the programme survive, a second montage of images relating to the Barry Sisters who were a hugely popular part of the show. Speaking from the City Road studio is June Barry, one of the Barry Sisters, who talks about the enthusiasm of those working at TTTV back them and how glad she was to be a part of it. A photograph of a cameraman changes to an interview with Ian Westwater former TTTV Head of Cameras about those pioneering days which were hard work but hugely enjoyable. Both June Barry and George Romaine talk about the early days of TTTV with George explaining how he really wanted to go to work at the ‘fun factory’. Over a montage of still images featuring the man who would become synonymous with television in the north east, television personality Mike Neville talks about those early days and how much fun it was. Over a clip from Your Heritage: The River Wear made in 1962 featuring a young Mike Neville, he talks about how the programme producer was a hard taskmaster. A clip from a special edition of the TTTV political discussion programme Face the Press transmitted 20th March 1968 and featuring a noticeable royal coop and an interview with HRH Price Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Presenter Ludovic Kennedy asks the prince why he chose this particular invitation. The sequence ends on a brief clip of another important political interview recorded in 1986 with then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in which she hopes that she isn’t coming across as a ‘bossy-boots’ and is a reasonable person. Over a montage of clips details are provided on how TTTV film crews travelled through the north east providing footage of a region often ignored by the cinema newsreel. A fire along Newcastle Quayside in 1962 is followed by the dramatic rescue of 23 Greek seamen from the Lebanese freighter 'Adelfotis II' shipwrecked at Herd Sands next to the Groyne lighthouse at South Shields on 20 January 1963. This is followed by dramatic footage showing the crashing of Bluebird K7 and the death of Donald Campbell on Coniston Water on the 4th January 1967 and a clip of a speech made by Dr Martin Luther King Jnr at Newcastle University on the 13th November 1967. A clip from TTTV’s first colour production The Work of Giants transmitted 28th October 1968 is followed by views of the Bilsdale transmitter erected in 1970 that allowed the Tyne Tees signal to be seen as far north as Berwick-upon-Tweed and as far south as Selby in North Yorkshire. Important visitors to the region are also recorded by TTTV cameras including a visit by HRH Queen Eilzabeth II to Eldon Square in Newcastle as part of her Silver Jubilee tour in 1977. The same year a visit by boxing champion Muhammad Ali to South Shields where his wedding is blessed in a local mosque followed by then President of the United States Jimmy Carter visiting Washington in Tyne and Wear. On a stage beside Prime Minister James Callagham he addresses the audience with ‘Howay the lads!’ A clip from the 1984 documentary The People’s Boat showing food aid being loaded onto a ship to be sent to Ethiopia to help the famine there changes to HRH Queen Elizabeth the Queen’s Mother being introduced to several puppets from the children’s programme The Ghost of Faffner Hall while on visit to TTTV to celebrate its 30th anniversary. With the theme from the feature film Get Carter playing in the background, another montage of TTTV archive clips featuring the launching of the tanker Esso Northumbria in 1969 which is followed that of the demolition of a shipyard crane sometime during the 1990s. Other industries in decline feature in this sequence including steel and coal mining both of which end on the demolition of a cooling tower at a steelworks and a colliery tower, possibly at Westoe in 1994. A clip of Margart Thatcher’s ‘Teesside Wilderness Walk’ at Thornaby-on-Tees in September 1987 is followed by of the opening of the Nissan factory at Sunderland in September 1986. Views of the high-tech microchip factory of Siemens on North Tyneside when it and fellow microchip producer Fujitsu close in 1998. Examples of Tyne Tees capturing crime in the region beginning with a police raid and an interview with a senior police officer about his concerns over the legalisation of drugs. Clips follow relating to the Cleveland Abuse Crisis of May and June 1987, Poll Tax demonstrations from 1991, the fire at York Minster in 1984, the BSC ‘Mad Cow’ Crisis of 1990 and the Meadow Hall riots from September 1991. A montage of the strange, the quirky and the downright eccentric follows with models skipping along a glass corridor inside Norgas House at Killingworth in 1967, a policeman wearing a flashing beacon on his helmet, pigeon racing, leek growing and a crowd country and western dancing. A montage of clips from the Gateshead Garden Festival in 1990 featuring both gardens and performers interacting with the crowds is followed by a tall ships at sea and crowds walking along the Newcastle Quayside during the Talk Ships Race in 1993. Over crowds enjoying New Years Eve fireworks along the Newcastle Quayside in 1999, the narrator explains how because of digital and satellite technology TTTV is assured a sparking future. Next a montage of clips to show how TTTV enjoyed, reflected and encouraged the north east music scene beginning with Newcastle based band The Animals performing ‘Gonna Send You Back to Walker’ in 1964 possibly on the show The Rehearsal Room followed by an interview with The Beatles for the programme Star Parade filmed from the set of their feature film debut ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. A clip from a 1975 edition of The Geordie Scene featuring local group Geordie performing ‘You Gotta Help Me’ is followed by a clip of another local group Lindisfarne performing their hit ‘Fog on the Tyne’ from a boat on the river and finally Welsh singer song-writer Shakin’ Stevens performing ‘Oh Julie’ on the TTTV children’s music programme Razzmatazz in 1982. Over the opening titles for the groundbreaking music programme The Tube, details are provided on how it brought national attention and international stars. Another montage of musical clips from the programme begins with Alison Moyet and Eric Burdon from The Animals singing ‘House of the Rising Sun’ alongside Jools Holland on piano. This is followed by Paula Yates introducing Sting and The Police performing on state at Gateshead Stadium in 1982 their hit ‘Walking on the Moon.’ Other stars who performed on The Tube follow including Paul Young singing ‘Love of the Common People’ and Tina Turner both performing in 1983. Andrea Wonfor Former TTTV Programme Director talks about how energising it was to want to put the region on the map with programmes like The Tube and why it was important that it was made in the north east. To show how Tyne Tees Television was able to carve an important niche into the world of children’s programming, all of them networked, a montage of clips taken from series they produced beginning with Nobody’s House (1975) followed by Oscar (1976), The Paper Lads (1977), Quest for Eagles (1979), Andy Robson (1983), Supergran (1985), The Ghost of Faffner Hall (1990), Kappatoo (1990), Gimme 5 (1994) and finally The Famous Five (1995). A clip from an edition of Farming Outlook from 1982 changes to an example of TTTV religious programming and a clip from Highway in 1993 with presenter Harry Secombe singing a hymn in the grounds of Byland Abbey in North Yorkshire. To show how TTTV concentrate heavily on programmes for the deaf a clip from Listening Eye made back in 1985 changing to a clip from The Mystery of the Derbyshire from 1990 to showing how the station also producing major documentary investigations. Clips follow from two quiz shows produced by TTTV beginning with Cross Wit presented by Tom O’Connor and Chain Letters presented by David Spikey. To show how TTTV reflected the flourishing arts scene in the region a clip of the Northern Sinfonia performs in 1994. This is followed by a clip of the artist LS Lowry in a documentary made about him by in 1970 and a clip of local artist Norman Cornish taken from his 1977 documentary Shapes of Cornish. A clip of Seaham born singer Thomas Allen performing in 1990 is followed by a montage of international acts arriving at the Billingham Folk Festival in 1994. As Northumberland musician Kathryn Tickell performs on her Northumbrian smallpipes in 1998 the Angel of the North at Gateshead and artistic impressions of the yet completed Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts and nearby The Sage Gateshead, now The Glasshouse International Centre for Music along the Gateshead quayside. Over a montage of still images of her, details are provided on the adaptations of the novels of Catherine Cookson which have brought TTTV to a mass audience and worldwide acclaim. Clips follow from The Cinder Path (1994), The Glass Virgin (1995), The Fifteen Streets (1989) and The Gambling Man (1995) featuring local actor Robson Green. In an interview with Robson, he talks about being a part of these adaptations and how it helped his career. Peter Sloyen from the Northumbria Tourist Board then talks about the importance of these adaptations and how they have attracted people to the region. Over a view of the TTTV City Road studio details are provided on recent events including being taken by Yorkshire Television in 1992. As a man cuts a ribbon at its opening, details are given of a new multi-million-pound studio on Teesside changes to the opening titles for a new hour-long regional news magazine programme North East Tonight presented by Mike Neville who has returned to TTTV after thirty-two years working for the BBC. Over related clips of Mike collecting two prestigious awards he recounts how within a short space of time the programme won both the Royal Television Society award for Best Regional News Programme and the World Award at the New York World Award at the New York Film and Television Festival. Over a montage of related programmes details are provided on how in 1998 TTTV was taken over again by the media and leisure giant Granada and that a brave new era of multi-channel digital television has begun. Working at their desks inside the City Road studios members of Granada Learning team who are at the cutting edge of educational CD-ROM. Returning to Andrea Wonfor now Joint Managing Director for Granada Production, she talks about how she sees it as her job to get out and hustle for Tyne Tees new commissions producing a large range of productions over the next 18-months. The iconic plexiglass and metal entrance to Studio 5 of TTTV and more views of the City Road studios with details being given on the foreseeable future of the station which has been granted a 10-year licence by Independent Television Commission, a vote of confidence in a TV station that has become a distinctive part of the cultural landscape of the north east. Credit: Film Research John Davison, Gillian Robinson Cameras Dave Dixon, Martin Graham Sound Robbie Carruthers, Chris Corner Aston Operator Dawn Frampton Graphic Design Keith Dover VT Editor Keith Tait Executive Producer Graeme Thompson Producer Oliver Martlew End credit: A Tyne Tees Television production. © Tyne Tees Television MCMXCIX