Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broadcast from 09:25 Monday morning to 17:15 Friday afternoon (19:00 Friday night until 1982) at which time it would hand over to London Weekend Television (LWT).
Formed as a joint company, it merged the television interests of British Electric Traction (trading as Associated-Rediffusion) owning 49%, and Associated British Picture Corporation—soon taken over by EMI—owning 51%. Like all ITV franchisees at that time, it was a broadcaster, a producer and a commissioner of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and, as one of the "Big Five" ITV companies, for networking nationally across the ITV regions. After its loss of franchise in 1992, it continued as an independent production company until 2006.
The British Film Institute describes Thames as having "served the capital and the network with a long-running, broad-based and extensive series of programmes, several of which either continue or are well-remembered today."[2] Thames covered a broad spectrum of commercial public-service television, with a strong mix of drama, current affairs and comedy.
After Thames was acquired by FremantleMedia it was merged with another Fremantle company, Talkback, to form a new independent production company, Talkback Thames; consequently, Thames ceased to exist as a separate entity, but it, along with Talkback's own logo, continued to be used separately until 2006, when a new logo for Talkback Thames was introduced. However, on 1 January 2012, the Thames brand was revived when Talkback Thames was split into four different labels: Boundless, Retort, Talkback and Thames, within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm. Thames was once again amalgamated with Talkback to form a new company called Talkback Thames in 2025.
History
Formation
Background
From its formation in 1954, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) offered broadcasting licences to different companies for weekday and weekend service in its first three Independent Television network locations, the London area, the Midlands, and the North. The initial six contracts were parcelled out to different companies. Associated-Rediffusion (Rediffusion) won the London weekday service while Associated Television (ATV) operated weekends. ATV also won the weekday service in the Midlands, while ABC Weekend TV operated the weekend service. Granada Television won daytime service in the North, and ABC the weekends.
Geographical and structural changes led to the first significant shakeups of the network, a process that started in 1967 to take effect from 1968. As part of these changes, the separate weekend service was eliminated in the Midlands and North, who would instead be served by a single seven-day schedule. The London weekday/weekend split schedule remained the same, although the weekend contract was extended to include Friday evenings, but was opened to new applicants.
ABC loses franchises
As a result of the changes to the schedule, ABC was at risk of losing both of its existing franchises, the weekend services that would be going away.
Television and movies
In 2021, Fremantle were licensing various Thames Television programmes to British television channels such as That's TV and Talking Pictures TV.[52] Programmes from the Thames archive include:
Documentary
- This Is Your Life
- Attack on the Liberty (1987)
- Death on the Rock (This Week series) (1988)
Comedy
- The Benny Hill Show
- Father, Dear Father
Branding and presentation
The first idents to be used comprised a plain screen with the words 'from Thames' written in white in the Helvetica font, and a vignette that resembled the famous ident, containing famous London landmarks. The first ident was used to signify programmes made at Rediffusion's old studios at Adastral House, the latter, shows that came from ABC's former Teddington Studios.[54][55] Some programmes recorded at Teddington, such as some episodes of the 1969 series of "Callan" did, however, use the "from Thames" caption, indicating that they may have been edited at Adastral House rather than Teddington. Both of the company's logos were accompanied by a fanfare called Salute to Thames, composed by Johnny Hawksworth.
With the introduction of colour, the ident was remodelled on the vignette, this time using photographs rather than drawings. This ident was designed by agency Minale Tattersfield. It was originally shot by stop-frame animation on 16 mm film, then shot again on 35 mm film in 1976 and finally digitised on computer in 1984.[56] All of these animations featured the same design, which consisted of the skyline slowly rolling up from the River Thames along with the logo, which was reflected briefly on the water and then quickly faded to its static position at the centre of the ident.
From 1992
Thames Television was involved in an attempt to win the new Channel 5 licence[58][59][60] when it was first advertised in early 1992. Thames was the main shareholder in a consortium (alongside Warner Bros. Television and others) called Channel Five Holdings. The consortium became the only bidder for the licence in December 1992 after two other groups dropped out.[61] However, the ITC rejected the bid as a result of concerns about its business plan and investor backing.[62] The deadline was therefore extended twice before the licence was handed to Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited.[63]
Culture
Thames is often quoted as a prime example of a commercial public-service broadcaster with shows covering all aspects of the spectrum and the largest producer in the network. Its shows achieved massive audiences and are still remembered many years later. This is sometimes attributed to the culture of the company, which could be claimed to be a continuation of that at ABC. That station was more highly regarded by the ITA (amongst others) than Rediffusion whose programming was seen as downmarket and whose management-style was viewed as high-handed. The two companies allowed Thames independence (although in later years there were accusations that they both treated the company as a cash cow).
The children's department also spawned the independent production company Tetra Films, which would later revive some classic Thames children's programmes for ITV – The Tomorrow People (1992–5, in association with Thames-owned Reeves Entertainment for ITV and Nickelodeon) and Rainbow (1994–96, for HTV) – along with a range of original film and television productions.
See also
- Thames (2012-2025)
- Euston Films
- Talkback Thames
- Thames Silents
- Associated-Rediffusion
- ABC Weekend TV
- Carlton Television
- London Weekend Television
- ITV (TV network)
- History of ITV
External links
References
- Overview for Thames Television Limited Companies House^
- Richard G. Elen. Thames Television Screenonline, retrieved 20 May 2007^
- Black, P. The Mirror In The Corner – People's Television, Hutchinson, London, 1972, pp. 102-103^