[Radiodog]

Hi

Recently saw a promo clip for ‘ tonight on IT ‘from I think the 1990’s that had. the Bill on at 8pm followed by Londons Burning at 8:30pm.

Any idea what day and year this would have been from ?

Before 1993 it was very rare for Thames shows to be shown during LWT airtime and LWT shows on Thames.

[Neil Jones]

London's Burning frittered between Saturday and Sunday showings, but there was one year where it went out on a Friday (1995?) and by that point The Bill was on three times a week every week of the year. It would be three years later when it became two 1 hour shows a week.

Best guess is probably autumn 1995 at some point, but if you can embed the video somebody more up to speed with these shows may be able to pin it down.

[Brekkie]

I think The Bill had a period on Saturday nights but possibly post-franchise change.

[nwtv2003]

I think The Bill had a period on Saturday nights but possibly post-franchise change.

The Bill first appeared on Friday nights from the 8th January 1993, obviously a week after Thames ceased broadcasting. The Bill did move to Saturdays for a while (along with Londons Burning) but that was short lived before moving back to Fridays.

For the most part the only regular shows from Thames that appeared on LWT were Thames News on Fridays from 1982 to 1987 and the epilogue/Night Thoughts.

On a network perspective LWT, I don’t believe networked anything for Thames. This was also the reason why Morecambe & Wise Christmas Shows were often not transmitted on Christmas Day when it fell on a weekend. It wasn’t uncommon for Thames shows to be repeated over the weekend by other regions.

Sport was the exception to the rule, especially when The Match was a thing, this was contracted to Thames from the 1989-90 season until its demise in 1992. I believe horse racing on a Saturday may have been covered by Thames in some instances, but this was less obvious as everything was credited to ITV Sport.

[lookoutwales]

IIRC, Thames got the OB contract for The Match rather than specifically running the entire production.

On the point of off-peak repeats, HTV Wales in the pre-S4C era made a point of showing LWT sitcoms in midweek (often after 11pm if there was a Welsh language programme scheduled after News at Ten)

Of course, Channel 4 never had any pretence of sticking to the ‘split’ - one of the first night programmes, Book Four, was an LWT show going out on Tuesdays, while Thames’ launch offering was Password on Saturday afternoons.

[Neil Jones]

Of course, Channel 4 never had any pretence of sticking to the ‘split’ - one of the first night programmes, Book Four, was an LWT show going out on Tuesdays, while Thames’ launch offering was Password on Saturday afternoons.

Although it was ironic really that each ITV London company got the ad revenue from each other's programme in that regard.

[Stooky Bill]

IIRC, Thames got the OB contract for The Match rather than specifically running the entire production.

Yes Thames won the facilities contract for The Match, the programme itself was produced by ITV Sport

Here's an internal article about the deal and the facilities they used:
www.arts-tv.org.uk 


ITV Sport was really a seperate entity to both LWT and Thames. It's programmes came from either the weekday or weekend company. When there was a bank holiday World or Sport it came from Thames, not LWT. If the FA Cup final went to a replay it would be Thames doing the OB even though LWT did the first one

This is a great read about LWT's OB fleet and sports coverage
becg.org.uk 

London Weekend Television’s Pioneering Technology – BECG
Skip to content BECG The Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group Menu Home Proj…
  Source: becg.org.uk

As for Channel 4 Racing, I think the OB contract went to a group of 3 ITV companies called something like 3 on 4 Facilities. Two of the three were Thames and Anglia

[Milkshake]

Can we also put to rest that LWT/ Thames didnt promote on each other nights? Thames used to have promos for Firday night LWT and LWT had Monday night Thames.

The Bill switched to a Saturday in April however by jan 1994 it was back to a firday.

[JMT1985]

Can we also put to rest that LWT/ Thames didnt promote on each other nights? Thames used to have promos for Firday night LWT and LWT had Monday night Thames.

The Bill switched to a Saturday in April however by jan 1994 it was back to a firday.

I believe the worst years of the bitterness between Thames and London Weekend Television was 1968 to 1982, this was the period where largely they both ignored each other.

Then came the 1982 franchise changes, and London Weekend Television had an earlier start time of 5.15pm on a Friday and not 7pm - this led to the two companies actually starting to acknowledge each other - especially when LWT contracted Thames News to provide their Friday early evening regional news.

I remember a time when Michael Aspel, who hosted the LWT light and fluffy Six O'Clock Show would hand over to Thames Weekend News, but on most occasions never used the word "Thames" to describe it, he would usually say "tonight's regional news".

But I believe from 1982 onward was the time when their frosty relationship started to thaw.

Morecambe and Wise had other problems than just LWT not wanting a Thames show on their prime time Christmas schedules - the quality of their shows had dropped a lot from when they started in 1978 on Thames and come 1980 Christmas show, it was mostly rehashed material from their BBC era, even in that Christmas special they did a Christmas dinner routine which was mostly a carbon copy of their 1970 routine they did for their 1970 Christmas show.

[Neil Jones]

Morecambe and Wise had other problems than just LWT not wanting a Thames show on their prime time Christmas schedules - the quality of their shows had dropped a lot from when they started in 1978 on Thames and come 1980 Christmas show, it was mostly rehashed material from their BBC era, even in that Christmas special they did a Christmas dinner routine which was mostly a carbon copy of their 1970 routine they did for their 1970 Christmas show.

Eric Morecambe wasn't in the best of health by that point, he'd suffered a second heart attack in 1979 and was quoted as only having months to live at that time, and even when he came back, their writer Eddie Braben was pretty much out of ideas as well, rehashing old ideas as you say for that era of the TV show. The heyday was at the BBC, granted.