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London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised
ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is tra ...
region) was the
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
network franchise holder for
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and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 until 1982) to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights (there was no handover back to Thames on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, LWT would hand over to TV-am at 6:00am, which would then hand over to Thames at 9:25am). From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was
Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...
, the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities (although occasionally a Thames-to-LWT-style handover would appear). Like most ITV regional franchises, including Carlton's, the London weekend franchise is now operated by ITV plc. The "London Weekend" franchise was renewed by Ofcom in 2015 for ten years and is still separately licensed, but is no longer distinguished on air. LWT is now managed with
Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...
as a single entity (ITV London), although the name for the London Weekend licence on the Ofcom site is still "LWT". London Weekend Television Ltd is now (along with most other former regional companies owned by ITV plc) listed at Companies House as a " dormant company".


History


Early years


Creation

The London Television Consortium (LTC) was created and led by television presenter
David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...
, who, at the time, was working for the London weekday ITV station Rediffusion. The consortium also included three ex-BBC members of staff: Michael Peacock (controller of BBC1), Frank Muir (assistant head of BBC comedy) and Doreen Stephens (head of children's output). Rediffusion's Controller of Programmes, Cyril Bennett, also joined the consortium, along with Clive Irving, theatre director Peter Hall"British TV History: The ITV Story: Part 10: The New Franchises"
, Teletronic
and, for financial backing,
Arnold Weinstock Arnold Weinstock, Baron Weinstock, Kt. OMRI, (29 July 1924 – 23 July 2002) was an English industrialist and businessman known for making General Electric Company one of Britain's most profitable companies. The City criticized Weinstock for ...
, managing director of GEC. Frost had originally considered applying for the new Yorkshire region franchise, but the expected high number of applicants led to a change of plans. The second choice was to take on Rediffusion for their contract but, although it held the largest and most profitable licence, it was felt that the company was too powerful to challenge; equally, as an employee of the station, he felt it would be seen as an act of betrayal. Changes elsewhere in the system (notably the decision to make the Midlands licence a seven-day operation) led Frost to believe that the existing Midlands weekday broadcaster
ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...
had a significant risk of losing its London weekend contract. The consortium's application promised a variety of highbrow arts and drama productions. It accordingly caught the attention of the regulator, the Independent Television Authority (ITA), and it seemed to address concerns and criticisms raised in the
Pilkington Report Pilkington is a Japanese-owned glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, United Kingdom. In the UK it includes several legal entities and is a subsidiary of Japanese company NSG Group. Prior to its acquisition by NSG i ...
. The authority had been worried by criticism of the network's output, which was seen as downmarket and the LTC plans were viewed by the ITA as being serious contenders to the quality educational programming of the BBC. So keen was the ITA that it was quoted at the time as saying the LTC had to have its chance, whatever the repercussions. The new company, renamed London Weekend Television, benefited from a slight extension in broadcasting hours, as they were allocated Fridays from 7 p.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday. The LTC had planned on buying the superior Teddington Studios of former contractor ABC Weekend TV, but following ABC's merger with Rediffusion to form Thames Television, the LTC were forced by the ITA to purchase Rediffusion's
Wembley Studios Fountain Studios was an independently owned television studio in Wembley Park, northwest London. The company was last part of the Avesco Group plc. Several companies owned the site before it was bought by Fountain in 1993. Originally a film st ...
and legally obliged to employ all members of staff, although the workforce was slightly larger than LWT had wanted. Having previously worked weekdays for Rediffusion, transmission staff now had to work at weekends, and, as a result, wanted extra pay for the unsocial hours. This led to threats of industrial action, and, with the dispute still unresolved, fifteen seconds into their opening night of 2 August 1968, technicians went on strike and the screens went blank. An
emergency service Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...
was provided by management from the transmission centre of ATV at Foley Street, London.


Near collapse

Upon resolving the dispute, LWT suffered poor rating figures, as the station's evening viewing schedule included a
Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
musical drama, an avant-garde drama from French film director
Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
, a tribute to Belgian singer-songwriter
Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...
, and '' Georgia Brown Sings
Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
''. As a consequence, viewers deserted its primetime offerings in favour of the more mainstream Saturday night viewing on BBC1. Other ITV stations refused to show LWT productions because of the poor ratings. ATV, now the seven-day Midlands franchise holder after losing their London contract to LWT, refused to transmit any of their programmes in peak time; elsewhere, the powerful sales department at Thames Television, who provided London with a Monday to Friday service, took advantage of LWT's ratings crisis by adopting a "beggar thy neighbour" strategy, encouraging advertisers to use Thames during the week by heavily discounting their airtime. The situation came to a head during a meeting of the Network Programme Committee on 9 September 1968. The NPC was being chaired by Lew Grade, ATV's managing director, and he is quoted as saying on this occasion: "I've succeeded in business by knowing exactly what I hate", he told them. "And I know I hate David Frost." Frost was present, but no one else spoke out against LWT's programming policy. Meanwhile, the £6.5 million it had initially put up for the franchise began to drain away more quickly than its audience figures. Michael Peacock, the architect in David Frost's vision for the future of television, wanted to stick to the principles of their contract with the ITA. ATV dropped Frost's major Saturday night slot altogether and replaced him with comedian Dave Allen, while Yorkshire and
Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
relegated the show to the late evening. In September 1969, Michael Peacock was sacked by the board while six executives resigned from LWT in support. The ITA made it clear that LWT's franchise proposals must be retained. As the crisis at LWT deepened, staff members held a protest outside the offices of the ITA, complaining about the changes happening at the station. An 800-strong petition was handed in to the ITA, to ask for an inquiry about the crisis at LWT. The ITA started to make emergency plans in the event of the company collapsing, and MPs asked questions in Parliament. At the same time, Thames started making enquiries about a seven-day contract in such an event – an offer quickly rebuffed by the ITA. In the general panic that followed, the
General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...
withdrew financial backing and sold its 7.5% share to Rupert Murdoch's
News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...
in November 1970. By December 1970, Murdoch become a part-time executive and injected £500,000 of new capital, increasing his share to 30% as part of the deal, also insisting on terminating Frost and his Paradine Productions, an action that was carried out at once. He continued to increase his stake further and, by the end of 1971, he possessed 39.7%. Rupert Murdoch became managing director in February 1971. When Dr
Tom Margerison Thomas Alan Margerison (13 November 1923 – 25 February 2014) was a British science journalist, author, and broadcaster who founded the magazine ''New Scientist'' in 1956. He was a science correspondent for ''The Sunday Times'', which he joined ...
left the company, he stated "there is no question of personal animosity between Rupert and myself. It's just one of those things: you cannot have two people running a ship." He had believed Murdoch was to become a non-executive director, but it was clear that he was going further than this. Murdoch started restructuring LWT, but within weeks five other board members left. The ITA was unhappy at how Murdoch was able to buy his way into the company, because foreign nationals were legally blocked from owning the ITV contractors. It also demanded assurances that LWT's original programme policies and operations were sound. As a result, the ITA, concerned about Murdoch owning both a television station and significant newspaper interests, forced Murdoch from the chairmanship of LWT, and, on 9 March 1971, John Freeman, best known for presenting '' Face to Face'' for the BBC, became chairman and chief executive of LWT. He said "I expect many people are thinking I need my head examining, but I decided to take it up all the same. The public should have the kinds of programmes it wants, which means you must take into account minority interests as well as majority ones". Freeman made it quite clear that he expected to have full control within the company without any interference from Murdoch. By early May, Freeman reappointed Cyril Bennett as Controller of Programmes, along with many of the original personnel who helped start up the company in 1967. With these changes, LWT became influenced by the same character Murdoch's newspapers had. In time the station became regarded as a populist, conservative counterpart to the more highbrow and liberal Thames; hardly the BBC2-like ideal that Frost and Peacock had envisioned. Audience share grew, and, in 1975, the company won seven BAFTA awards – more than the rest of ITV put together. Although the programming had changed from their original remit, LWT still produced shows which were considered more upmarket, in particular ''Upstairs, Downstairs''. Unlike earlier offerings these attracted high audiences. LWT continued to show arts programming, mainly ''
Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainment ...
'' and its successor '' The South Bank Show''.


Improving fortunes


1970s

LWT's fortunes improved, which helped increase profits, and more money was made available for new programming. In 1972, '' Weekend World'' was launched; a weekly current affairs programme broadcast on Sundays at noon, presented by journalist Peter Jay. In 1974, the Director of Programmes at Thames,
Brian Tesler Brian Tesler (born 19 February 1929) is a British television producer and executive. His career encompassed British television's post-war evolution from a single-channel BBC to the beginning of today’s multitude of cable and satellite channels ...
, left to become Deputy Chief Executive to John Freeman. In the autumn of 1974, LWT challenged the BBC by spending £3.75 million on what it believed represented the biggest range of talent and varied scheduling for viewers, including
Stanley Baxter Stanley Livingstone Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish actor, comedian, impressionist and author. Baxter began his career as a child actor on BBC Scotland and later became known for his British television comedy shows ''The Stanley Baxter ...
,
Danny La Rue Danny La Rue, (born Daniel Patrick Carroll, 26 July 1927 – 31 May 2009) was an Irish singer and entertainer, best known for his on-stage drag queen, drag persona. He performed in drag and also as himself in theatrical productions, television ...
, a number of new dramas and another current affairs show, which helped push up profits to nearly £4 million. In May 1976, LWT was reorganised to form a new company, LWT (Holdings) Limited which allowed the company to expand into a number of new ventures, including
Hutchinson Publishing Hutchinson was a British publishing firm which operated from 1887 until 1985, when it underwent several mergers. It is currently an imprint which is ultimately owned by Bertelsmann, the German publishing conglomerate. History Hutchinson began ...
. The LWT Chairman & Chief Executive John Freeman said "an important factor was the deal would provide revenue from a wholly different source thus in part insulating LWT from the effects of any future adverse fluctuations in advertising revenue". In the same month he stood down as Chief Executive, and the Board appointed Brian Tesler as the company's managing director. Cyril Bennett died later that year, and Tesler doubled as the company's Director of Programmes until he appointed Michael Grade to that role in February 1977. Three decades later the official history of ITV, ''Independent Television in Britain'', observed "Under Brian Tesler's Managing Directorship LWT was to become the success for which its founders (almost all of whom had by that time left the company) had so earnestly striven." In November 1978, News International sold off 16% of its LWT holding, reducing its shares from 39.7% to 25%, as it believed this was going to be one of the outcomes from the '' Annan Report on Broadcasting''. LWT also warned shareholders that heavy spending on programmes would continue to reduce chances of increased profits. News International sold its remaining 25% stake on 13 March 1980, bringing an end to LWT's connection with the Australian tycoon. After the 1979 ITV strike, LWT was hit hard. During November 1979 LWT believed it had managed to only lose around £200,000 over the course of the dispute. Its acquisition of specialist travel and tour operator Page & Moy and its Hutchinson publishing operations helped offset the losses made during the strike. Interim reports in April 1980 highlight LWT profits reducing by £2 million. By November it became clear that LWT profits had remained roughly the same as in the previous year, even with turnover increasing from £70.5 million to £80.5 million.


1980s

The 1982 franchise round was the first time LWT had to re-apply for its licence. The original 1968 contract was supposed to have ended in 1974. Instead, the new Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had elected to extend all franchise contracts to 1981, owing to the enormous costs of introducing colour television. While it is debatable whether the licence would have been renewed if LWT had had to re-apply in 1973, by 1982, the company was in good health, and it easily beat off weak competition to secure a second contract – although it lost the Bluebell Hill transmitter near Maidstone to the new Television South, known as TVS, as part of a reorganisation prompted by the creation of the South and South East dual region. However, due to the recession, the company still had to tighten its belt. LWT had developed a reputation in many fields, including co-ordination of the ITV network's sport productions and presentation. In January 1982,
John Birt John Birt, Baron Birt (born 10 December 1944) is a British television executive and businessman. He is a former Director-General (1992–2000) of the BBC. After a successful career in commercial television, initially at Granada Television an ...
became LWT's new Director of Programmes when Michael Grade left to accept the post of Company President at Tandem Productions in the US, while Barry Cox became Head of Current Affairs. Birt's time as Programme Director resulted in a change of direction. He started overhauling the schedules, to maximise audience numbers: his measures to achieve this included moving some niche shows back out of peak time, and putting
Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...
under contract. He criticised how ITV companies were spending huge amounts of money on local programmes and post-watershed dramas, which left a funding gap for shows broadcast between the two periods, which did not help LWT as it only had a two-and-a-half-day franchise period. John Birt also started reviewing spending budgets for all departments to provide the best returns which resulted in ''The Stanley Baxter Show'' being cancelled. LWT also postponed and shelved a number of other productions during the early 1980s, due to cost and frustration with other ITV companies' ideas for the weekend schedules. In 1983, Birt published a document with proposals for an additional £50 million to be spent every year on peak time programmes: shows concerning religion, the arts and current affairs would be pruned to free up cash. His argument for doing this was that ITV made 75% of its money in peak time, but the peak time was riddled with a number of weak slots which reduced the maximum amount of revenue; again, LWT was at a disadvantage compared with the other ITV franchise holders. Birt believed that LWT and others should transfer more of its public service broadcasting commitments to the new Channel 4. LWT finally found a solution in 1985, when an agreement was reached with TVS, which wished to expand its own output for the ITV network. However, as TVS was not one of the " Big Five" ITV companies, it had no real influence on the Network Programming Committee. Under the control of Greg Dyke as Director of Programmes, TVS started to move away from its original philosophy of niche arts and science programming, and began producing more entertainment programmes. The deal helped LWT to fill its schedules with appropriate, domestically-produced programming while not having to increase its budget, while TVS was able to get more of its programmes onto the ITV network slots. TVS retained its original philosophy for its regional and children's programmes. On 29 October 1986, London Weekend Television had acquired a majority stake in the new company, The Silverbach-Lazarus Group, which is a Los Angeles-based home video and television company, which fueled the expansion of SLG's syndication activities and the Regency Home Video branch of the Silverbach-Lazarus Group, distributing product including Entertainment Partners, Gaylord Production Company, Glen-Warren Productions, Newmark Productions, Phoenix Entertainment Group, Schaefer/Karpf Productions and Visual Productions, and decided to add offices for the Chicago branch. In April 1987, Greg Dyke moved from TVS to LWT again to be Director of Programmes (replacing John Birt) – having originally worked at LWT in 1978, before moving to TV-am in 1983 and TVS in 1985. At the same time, LWT started re-sectioning the company in a bid to cut costs and overhaul the working practices within the company ahead of a new franchise period. As part of the cost-cutting review, the idea was floated that LWT could become a "commissioning" organisation – similar to Channel 4 – with its programme production operations being sold off to a new company, in a bid to "sharpen up its competitiveness". Consultancy company NERA was brought in to investigate the matter. The plan was halted in early 1988, as LWT chairman
Christopher Bland Sir Francis Christopher Buchan Bland (29 May 1938 – 28 January 2017) was a British businessman and politician. He was deputy chairman of the Independent Television Authority (1972), which was renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority in th ...
, along with Greg Dyke, started to streamline operations; over four years, more than 690 people were made redundant, whole layers of management were scrapped and working practices were overhauled. But with the plan still a possibility, Dyke was able to offer lavish redundancy payments, ultimately getting the changes through. Greg Dyke explained: "To completely restructure your business for less than a year's profits is a good deal. I have no problem with that." Another change was to make production operations a profit centre, with studios to rent – and with various uses from
Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...
shows to sales conferences. These operations continue to earn millions a year for ITV.


1990s and takeover

In 1990 LWT created the second ITV Sales company
Laser Sales The ITV network of the United Kingdom began in 1955 as a network of independent broadcasters, each responsible for its own advertising. When the Channel 4/ S4C network arrived in 1982, each regional ITV company also provided the content of adve ...
, to deal with its own and TVS's advertising operations. The Broadcasting Act 1990 brought changes to the way ITV contracts were awarded. No longer a 'beauty-contest', but rather a blind auction, where the winner was to be the applicant who bid the most. LWT threatened not to bid for its franchise again, as opposition to the new franchise bidding process gathered momentum. LWT chairman
Christopher Bland Sir Francis Christopher Buchan Bland (29 May 1938 – 28 January 2017) was a British businessman and politician. He was deputy chairman of the Independent Television Authority (1972), which was renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority in th ...
stated: "We have the programme power into satellite" – it cost both LWT and Thames £43 million for the licence, yet on satellite television would only cost £2 million. LWT denied it was trying to blackmail the government, but admitted the threat of some of the largest contractors packing their bags might make government think again. The controversy led to the introduction of a 'quality threshold' which allowed that, in exceptional circumstances, a bid could be rejected if it were deemed excessive, or that an incumbent could be chosen against a higher-bidding applicant if it were felt that incumbent's programming was 'exceptional'. As described by LWT's managing director Greg Dyke, the franchise round, "became a crapshoot. You had to work out
n the franchise round N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
who was bidding against you. Of those, would they pass the quality threshold and would they pass the financial test". Scottish Television and Central Television both discovered that nobody was bidding against them—and both bid only a token amount. It was the 'quality threshold' that saved LWT. Despite streamlining, and a successful conflict with trade unions, LWT knew that if it were to keep on making quality programmes, it could not over-bid. It had to rely on the quality of its programmes and submit the best offer it could, knowing it could be far less than a rival bid; the strategy worked, and LWT won a third contract with an annual bid of £7.5 million, against a rival who bid £36 million but whose plans were deemed by the new Independent Television Commission to be unsatisfactory. LWT's weekday rival, Thames Television, lost its licence, outbid by
Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
. It was told it could not fall back on its long history of programme-making. After 24 years of existence, LWT survived the station that was its biggest rival. LWT would have a much better relationship with Carlton, and shared many operations including transmission facilities and studio space, and each owning 20% of
GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...
, but most notably creating a joint news service, London News Network, to provide regional news programming across the whole week. From 1993, LWT's low bid made it attractive to others wishing to take it over. Originally, Greg Dyke had planned to use LWT as a springboard to start acquiring companies to build a united ITV. On 6 December 1993, the north-west England franchise-holder
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
launched a hostile takeover for the company, worth £600 million. The takeover bid came about owing to the relaxation of the rules governing the ITV network. LWT tried to outstep the takeover bid with talks being held with Yorkshire Television and Scottish Television. A week later a conflict of words had broken out between LWT and Granada, with Granada claiming the YTV-LWT deal was "Something cobbled together by desperate men".
Gerry Robinson Sir Gerrard Jude Robinson (23 October 1948 – 14 October 2021) was an Irish-born British business executive and television presenter. He was non-executive chairman of Allied Domecq and chairman/chief executive of Granada. Early life Robinso ...
, the Chairman of Granada plc, was also surprised if LWT went ahead with a bid for YTV, especially since it had made £10 million losses that week and was already paying much of its revenue to the government. Reports also suggested if LWT bid for Yorkshire Television it would also form an alliance with Anglia who would takeover Tyne Tees Television. By New Year's Eve, Granada had increased its bid to £658 million. By 7 January 1994, the merger talks between Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television had collapsed because it had proved impossible to reach an agreement on a suitable structure for the new company. A few days earlier Anglia had withdrawn from the proposed alliance, making an LWT takeover of YTV impossible. By 7 February 1994, Granada had increase its takeover bid again to £774 million, but the LWT board once again rejected the offer. Granada's Chief Executive, Gerry Robinson, said: "We are obviously disappointed that having evidently accepted the commercial argument in favour of scale, the board of LWT has not been able to recommend what is a generous offer." Sir Christopher Bland rejected this statement, claiming "the Granada offer is inadequate and still fails to reflect the true value of LWT". On 25 February 1994, LWT had succumbed to Granada's £770 million bid for the company. This resulted in Greg Dyke and Sir Christopher Bland leaving LWT.


ITV London

By 2001, Carlton and Granada controlled all of the franchises in England and Wales, and in 2002 took the decision to unify the playout and branding of all of the companies to become ITV1, with regional references used only in accordance with regional programming. LWT marked its final day on air with a series of tributes to LWT's past, with long-serving continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and
Trish Bertram Trish Bertram is a British television continuity announcer and voice-over artist. Career Bertram started her career in 1982 with London Weekend Television. She joined the pan-European satellite channel Super Channel in 1987 as an announcer and p ...
appearing in-vision in LWT's playout centre in the London Television Centre. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of network continuity announcers announcing for the first time; former
Meridian Broadcasting ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned an ...
announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice. The operations of LWT and Carlton Television were merged to become
ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is tra ...
, a 7-day service. Unlike the other English and Welsh franchises,
ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is tra ...
did not receive regional idents featuring the London name until the 2003 refresh; only one of these idents was ever used at a single junction from launch. Apart from this rare occasion, the channel was only known verbally as "ITV1 London" prior to regional programmes only. In February 2004 Granada and Carlton completed their merger to become ITV plc, owning eleven of the fifteen ITV regional franchises. The LWT logo continued to appear at the end of its programmes until 31 October 2004. However, from 1 November, it was replaced by the new Granada Productions endcap, with programmes either credited as "A Granada London Production", or "A Granada Production" instead. On 16 January 2006, all network productions produced by any ITV plc-owned company were branded as " ITV Productions", which since 2009 has been rebranded as " ITV Studios".


Studios

As already mentioned, LWT's first studio base was the former home of Associated-Rediffusion, the previous London Weekday franchise holder in Wembley (see Fountain Studios). The Wembley studios were problematic, as their costly conversions to colour was imminent. Fortunately, LWT only had to use Wembley until its new purpose-built studios were opened in 1972. The new studios, called
South Bank Television Centre The London Studios (also known as The South Bank Studios, The London Television Centre, ITV Tower, Kent House and LWT Tower) in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Te ...
, included a large tower block named Kent House after the Duchess of Kent who officially opened the complex. It was built on a plot of land named King's Reach. The studios' network ident was KRS, for King's Reach Studios. These facilities were considered at the time the best colour studios in Europe. In 1992 the complex was renamed London Television Centre, and became the centre of ITV plc's studio operations and the chief production centre until closing in 2018.


Continuity announcers

Ruth Anders, Sue Peacock,
Trish Bertram Trish Bertram is a British television continuity announcer and voice-over artist. Career Bertram started her career in 1982 with London Weekend Television. She joined the pan-European satellite channel Super Channel in 1987 as an announcer and p ...
, Keith Harrison, Robin Houston, Glen Thompsett,
Annie St John Annie St John (born Ann Florence Heywood; 8 September 1954 – 10 December 1990) was a British television broadcaster. Originally from Blackpool, Lancashire, she attended Blackpool Aspire Academy, Blackpool Collegiate Grammar School for Girls an ...
and Peter Lewis served as continuity announcers for LWT.


Presentation

LWT's initial on-screen look featured the name London Weekend Television in white zooming in on a black background accompanied by an electronic jingle; some shows, such as '' On the Buses'', used only a still caption "From London Weekend Television", either in silence, or over the start of the show's theme music. This was replaced the following year by an ident featuring a rotating disc (a stylised laurel wreath) on screen against a grey (later orange) background with the caption in the centre accompanied by a simple acoustic ident theme. The '"Television" part of the name was dropped on-screen, with LWT merely called "London Weekend". LWT's most recognisable identity – the 'River' – was introduced on Friday 18 September 1970, featuring a stripe made up of blue, white and red moving across the black background in the shape of an 'L' and 'W'; the 'Television' part of the name remained absent. Designed by graphics designer Terry Griffiths, his modified version introduced in early 1978 revived the full name; at the end, the river sections snapped down into the striped LWT logo. The ident jingle, composed by Harry Rabinowitz, was also remixed. LWT dropped in-vision announcers in January 1983, and on Friday 9 September that year, introduced a new local CGI ident, bearing the company slogan 'Your Weekend ITV', with an additional ident appearing in 1984. On Friday 29 August 1986, a new set of CGI idents by The Computer Film Company aired for the first time: *Genesis, in which the stripes fold on letter by letter, seen on networked productions until December 1987. *Solari, a vertical venetian blind effect seen in the London region only. A separate cel-animated ident for children's programmes was also used, accompanied by a different version of the station's ident theme. On 1 September 1989, LWT adopted the first ITV generic look and retained it until 30 August 1992, with their three coloured stripes featuring in their segment of the corporate ITV logo. The 1986 'Solari' ident returned during 1991/1992 to introduce local programming. LWT replaced the 1989 ITV generic ident on 4 September 1992 with a large 3D logo forming from the left to a remixed version of the generic music, with two versions: 'Flying Blocks' and 'Flare'. On 30 August 1996, an updated ident and logo was introduced, splitting the river colours of red, white and blue on the individual respective letters, L, W and T, with six different versions. On 12 November 1999, LWT adopted the second ITV generic look, based on the theme of hearts. LWT was the only company to drop this look on 24 March 2000, replacing it with the theme of a video wall. The first version of the ident had two problems: the colour scheme was in essence primarily red, and the soundtrack theme consisted of electronic beeps. This ident was altered from July 2000, reducing the red colour scheme and featuring a significantly remixed soundtrack, and another revision on 11 August 2001 included the new ITV1 logo and, from November that year, the itv.com website as well. By 2001, Carlton and Granada controlled all of the franchises in England and Wales, and in 2002 took the decision to unify the playout and branding of all of the companies to become ITV1, with regional references used only in accordance with regional programming. LWT marked its final day on air with a series of tributes to LWT's past, beginning with an authentic startup routine leading into the ITN Morning News. All elements of the startup were recreated in Macromedia Flash and in the 16:9 aspect ratio, created by Dave Jeffery. Later that day, a recreation of LWT's famous River ident would lead into ''The South Bank Show'', which would be the last programme broadcast under the LWT name. The show was followed by a final signoff featuring continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing 'in-vision' to toast the departing station, and a montage of LWT presentation across the years, assembled by senior ITV presentation producer Gareth Randall. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of announcers announcing for the first time; former Meridian announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice. The operations of LWT and Carlton Television were merged to become ITV London, a seven-day service. Unlike the other English and Welsh franchises, ITV London did not receive regional idents featuring the London name until the 2003 refresh; only one of these idents was ever used at a single junction from launch. Apart from this rare occasion, the channel was only known verbally as "ITV1 London" prior to regional programmes only. On 2 February 2004, Granada and Carlton completed their merger to become ITV plc, holding eleven of the fifteen ITV regional franchises. The LWT logo continued to appear at the end of its programmes until 31 October 2004. From 1 November, the end caption (endcap) was replaced by a Granada endcap, with programmes either credited as "A Granada London Production", or "A Granada Production" instead. From 16 January 2006, all network productions produced by any ITV plc-owned company carried an "ITV Productions" endcap, and then from the start of 2009 adopted the "ITV Studios" brand.


Programmes


Programmes

Other notable early shows included ''
We Have Ways of Making You Laugh ''We Have Ways of Making You Laugh'' is a comedic television series produced by Humphrey Barclay and directed by Bill Turner for London Weekend Television. Frank Muir hosted the show. It featured Kenneth Cope, Eric Idle and Katherine Whitehor ...
'' (a sketch show starring Frank Muir which was due to be the first programme scheduled to be aired on LWT, but industrial action blacked it out early in the first show); the children's fantasy '' Catweazle''; and several sitcoms, including the popular ''
No, Honestly ''No, Honestly'' is a British television sitcom that starred real-life married couple John Alderton and Pauline Collins as Charles ("C.D.") Danbee and Claira Burrell. It depicted their meeting and courtship up to their first wedding anniversar ...
'', '' On the Buses'', '' Please Sir!'', '' Me and My Girl'' and '' Mind Your Language'', and cult favourites such as '' End of Part One'', '' Whoops Apocalypse'' and ''
Hot Metal ''Hot Metal'' (1986–88) is a British sitcom produced by London Weekend Television about the newspaper industry. Written by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall, it is very much a continuation in style from their previous sitcom '' Whoops Apoc ...
''. The channel also created the comedy-clips format with '' It'll Be Alright on the Night'', ''
Clive James on Television ''...on Television'' or ''...on TV'', is a long-running late night television programme on ITV. The programme, which was made first by LWT and then Granada Productions, featured a number of clips from unusual or (often unintentionally) amusing ...
'' and '' Game for a Laugh''; the latter in turn spawned '' Beadle's About'' and '' You've Been Framed!''. Although as a weekend station, LWT tended to concentrate on lighter material than its weekday neighbours Thames and Carlton, it did produce a number of successful drama series too. '' Within These Walls'' was a prison drama starring
Googie Withers Georgette Lizette Withers, CBE, AO (12 March 191715 July 2011), known professionally as Googie Withers, was an English entertainer who was a dancer and actress with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television. ...
; '' Lillie'' was based on the real-life story of Lillie Langtry (with
Francesca Annis Francesca Annis (born 14 May 1945) is an English actress. She is known for television roles in '' Reckless'' (1998), ''Wives and Daughters'' (1999), ''Deceit'' (2000), and '' Cranford'' (2007). A six-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 1979 ...
reprising the role from
ATV ATV may refer to: Broadcasting * Amateur television *Analog television Television stations and companies * Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra * ATV (Armenia) * ATV (Aruba), NBC affiliate * ATV (Australian TV station), Melbourne * ATV (Austria) * AT ...
's '' Edward the Seventh''); and ''
The Gentle Touch ''The Gentle Touch'' is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which began on 11 April 1980 and ran until 1984. The series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police off ...
'', starring Jill Gascoine, was the UK's first drama series with a female police detective as the lead role. However, by far the station's most successful drama was ''
Upstairs, Downstairs Upstairs Downstairs may refer to: Television *Upstairs, Downstairs (1971 TV series), ''Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971 TV series), a British TV series broadcast on ITV from 1971 to 1975 *Upstairs Downstairs (2010 TV series), ''Upstairs Downstairs'' ...
'', a successful attempt to produce a costume drama comparable in scale to BBC1's '' The Forsyte Saga''. Neither did LWT neglect other responsibilities; it established the long-running Sunday lunchtime political series '' Weekend World'' and a variety of regional programmes including award-winning current affairs series ''The London Programme'' and the light-hearted magazine show ''
The Six O'Clock Show ''The Six O'Clock Show'' was a regional television magazine show broadcast in the Greater London area and produced by London Weekend Television between 1982 and 1988. The Friday evening programme was launched on Friday 8 January 1982 and prese ...
''. It also pioneered multicultural programming via the work of the in-house London Minorities Unit, which produced '' Gay Life'', the world's first gay television series, and the youth documentary series ''Twentieth Century Box''. The company also became heavily involved in social action with the use of on-air and off-air campaigns by the London Community Unit (LCU), later relaunched as LWT Action. The Sports Department at LWT featured programmes such as '' World of Sport'' which ran for 20 years on a Saturday afternoon and was billed as ITV's answer to BBC1's ''
Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...
''. Other shows included '' Saint and Greavsie'', '' On the Ball'', and ''
The Big Match ''The Big Match'' was a British football television programme, screened on ITV between 1968 and 1992. ''The Big Match'' originally launched on London Weekend Television (LWT) – the ITV regional station that served London and the Home Counties ...
'' (renamed ''The Match'' between 1988 and 1992). The latter two shows were hosted for many years by ITV's main football commentator Brian Moore. Major programmes on LWT included most of ITV's weekend line-up, which included gameshows and comedies like Friday- and Saturday-night favourites '' Play Your Cards Right'', ''
The Two of Us ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
'', '' Square Deal'', '' Close to Home'', ''
The Piglet Files The Piglet Files is a British sitcom produced by London Weekend Television (LWT). The show consisted of three series totalling 21 episodes that ran between 7 September 1990 and 10 May 1992. The programme follows the life of reluctant MI5 agent ...
'', '' Second Thoughts'', '' Faith in the Future'', '' Popstars: The Rivals'', '' Surprise Surprise'', ''
You Bet! ''You Bet!'' is a British game show that aired on ITV between 20 February 1988 and 12 April 1997, initially hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1988 to 1990, then by Matthew Kelly from 1991 to 1995 and finally by Darren Day from 1996 to 1997. Format ...
'', '' The Moment of Truth'', '' Blind Date'', '' Gladiators'', '' Barrymore'', ''
My Kind of Music ''My Kind of Music'' was a British game show that aired on ITV from 8 February 1998 to 29 March 2002 and is hosted by Michael Barrymore. The show's main theme, "My Kind of People", where presenter Michael Barrymore sang some of the lyrics when a ...
'' and '' Don't Try This at Home'', and long-running Sunday night drama series '' Agatha Christie's Poirot'', '' Forever Green'', '' The Knock'' and '' London's Burning''. Nigel Lythgoe, who won infamy as a judge on ITV's pop talent show '' Popstars'' and now appears on the BBC's '' So You Think You Can Dance'', is a former controller of entertainment at the company, working as an executive producer on many of the station's top-rating programmes during the 1990s and early 2000s. LWT also owned 50% of London News Network Limited, producers until February 2004 of the news programmes ''London Today'' and ''London Tonight''; regional news for London is now produced by
ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...
and known as '' ITV News London''.


Regional news programmes

From 1982 until it launched a proper news service of its own in 1988, LWT also showed Thames Weekend News, produced by Thames Television, on Friday evenings, until December 1987. *'' LWT News Headlines'' (1982–1988) *''
LWT News ''LWT News'' was a regional news service provided by London Weekend Television, serving the Greater London area in various formats between January 1982 and 3 January 1993. History On Friday 1 January 1982, LWT began extending its broadcasting h ...
'' (1988–1993) *'' London Tonight'' (1993–2002; continues on
ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is tra ...
)


See also

*
Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...
*
GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...
* London News Network *
Rutland Weekend Television ''Rutland Weekend Television'' (''RWT'') was a television sketch show on BBC2, written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series were broadcast, the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes in ...
* Thames Television


References


Further reading

*
Docherty, David David Docherty is a British writer, journalist, academic, television executive and producer and former CEO of the National Centre for Universities and Business. He writes both fiction and non-fiction, the former falling into the thrillers genr ...
, ''Running The Show: 21 Years of London Weekend Television'', Boxtree (1990),


External links

*
LWT ident parade
YouTube
The Ultimate LWT Website (unofficial)
History of London Weekend Television and downloadable video clips.

A history from the British Film Institute
LWT at TV Ark

Original LWT animated black and white logo, mid-1969
(Requires Macromedia Flash version 4 or later).
Original LWT new first animated colour logo, late 1969
(Requires Macromedia Flash version 6 or later).
Original animated old LWT "River" logo of 1971
(Requires Macromedia Flash version 6 or later).
Original animated ending LWT start logo of 1978
(Requires Macromedia Flash version 4 or later).
London Weekend Television Label, Discodogs
{{Authority control Television channels and stations established in 1968 ITV franchisees Peabody Award winners Television in London Television channels and stations disestablished in 2002