[lookoutwales]

Which ITV company had the best opt out studio or location, in each of the three of them?

I doubt you can really answer that question.

There's not a huge amount of Telethon clips online from every region (speaking personally, I was too young to remember it) and its legacy, as documented elsewhere, is somewhat tainted to the point that some within ITV came to disown it in hindsight.

AFAIK, only one or two regions have featured it in their anniversary retrospectives in later years - HTV Wales for one (not including those sound problems in 1990)

That said, as someone pointed out in the YT comments for the Bob the Fish film, the charity purpose may have been better served and appreciated in smaller regions far more closely connected with their audience than the Big 5, for instance. Take TSW (to the point they announced their final total for 1992 in the dying seconds of their franchise)

[Humphrey Hacker]

I doubt you can really answer that question.

There's not a huge amount of Telethon clips online from every region (speaking personally, I was too young to remember it) and its legacy, as documented elsewhere, is somewhat tainted to the point that some within ITV came to disown it in hindsight.

AFAIK, only one or two regions have featured it in their anniversary retrospectives in later years - HTV Wales for one (not including those sound problems in 1990)

That said, as someone pointed out in the YT comments for the Bob the Fish film, the charity purpose may have been better served and appreciated in smaller regions far more closely connected with their audience than the Big 5, for instance. Take TSW (to the point they announced their final total for 1992 in the dying seconds of their franchise)

The ever reliable Neil Miles has this:
www.youtube.com 

[Blubatt]

Having not been born to watch the Telethons, looking at the myriad of clips and Matthew's wonderful documentary, it came across as a lazy coattail grab by the ITV companies to outdo BBC's own Telethons, with a vague remit.

Causes to improve the lives of disabled people, speaking as someone who is disabled, are good, but I think I would have sided with the protesters at the time, if I was alive then.

[Humphrey Hacker]

Having not been born to watch the Telethons,  looking at the myriad of clips and Matthew's wonderful documentary, it came across as a lazy coattail grab by the ITV companies to outdo BBC's own Telethons, with a vague remit.

Causes to improve the lives of disabled people, speaking as someone who is disabled, are good, but I think I would have sided with the protesters at the time, if I was alive then.

The idea was a noble one but the execution was poor to say the least.

[Andrew]

I’ve got one of those blue bug soft toy things, I’m hoping it’s still in my parents attic.

Although it looks a bit cringe now, and the cause was a bit vague, I bet everyone wishes forums like this had existed back in 1992. You just don’t get lengthy live broadcasts like this anymore, as we all know the remaining telethons have mostly been reduced to 3 hours of presenters linking into VTs. The nearest lengthy broadcast is probably election night!

[Neil Jones]

I’ve got one of those blue bug soft toy things, I’m hoping it’s still in my parents attic.

Although it looks a bit cringe now, and the cause was a bit vague, I bet everyone wishes forums like this had existed back in 1992. You just don’t get lengthy live broadcasts like this anymore, as we all know the remaining telethons have mostly been reduced to 3 hours of presenters linking into VTs. The nearest lengthy broadcast is probably election night!

Forums did exist, but it was bulletin boards and/or Usenet back in the day.
Whether it was the sort of thing you'd discuss on a BBS is another matter.

Usenet is more likely but since Google took over Deja and broke half the interface in the intervening years, good luck finding any posts from the time.

[Humphrey Hacker]

A couple of points about Telethon.

After the first one finished in 1988 Richard Whiteley said he suffered from depression for a fortnight afterwards so as soon as the second one finished he flew to Portugal and felt depressed there. Shows how much a person's state of mind is affected by such an undertaking.

Is it just me of did anyone else think the protestor that barged her way onto Telethon 92 was Saffron Burrows?

[robertclark125]

Would I be correct in thinking, in all three Telethons, between 06:00-09:25, when TV-am were broadcasting, that there were no regional opt outs?

[nwtv2003]

Would I be correct in thinking, in all three Telethons, between 06:00-09:25, when TV-am were broadcasting, that there were no regional opt outs?

This is what I’m not sure of either, but FWIW the listings for the 1988 Telethon had virtually no TV-am input at all, they even had ITN News Headlines scheduled during TV-am hours, but for context they were coming out of the strike at that time. Can’t say for 1990 or 92.

[Steve in Pudsey]

I guess that depends on your definition of opt out - wouldn't they have been running TV-am's bit through the regions to add the local phone number captions?