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." 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. Consequently, ABC applied for both the Midlands seven-day operation and the contract to serve London at the weekend, preferring the latter.
It was widely expected that the company would be awarded the London weekend franchise. Instead, after an impressive application by a consortium led by David Frost and others, this market was awarded to what became London Weekend Television.
This led to a serious problem for the ITA as ABC was a popular station, whose productions earned vital foreign currency – one such series was The Avengers. Its station management and presentation style were also admired.
While they were still in the running for the seven-day service in the Midlands, it was clear this would be won by ATV, who was also a large earner of overseas revenue, having won the Queen's Award for Export in 1966.
Rediffusion angers the ITA
In programming, Rediffusion was originally considered stuffy but in the previous contract round of 1964, it had re-invented itself, dropping the name Associated-Rediffusion in favour of the trendier Rediffusion London, to reflect the cultural changes of the time, with its output altered accordingly.
By the time of the 1967 negotiations, Rediffusion believed that its contract renewal for London weekday service was a formality, and its application reflected this complacency: the company had treated the ITA high-handedly in interviews.
In the early days of ITV, the company had worked hard to keep the network on-air during financial crises that threatened the collapse of other companies, particularly Granada. It was reported that Rediffusion's chairman Sir John Spencer Wills felt the ITA owed his company a 'debt of gratitude' for this, a comment which particularly annoyed the authority.
During the interview process, several members of Rediffusion management also appeared in interviews for applicants for other regions, principally the consortium of which David Frost was a member, as well as the interview for Rediffusion, leading the ITA to question the loyalty at the company.
ABC and Rediffusion become Thames
The outcome proposed by the ITA was a "shotgun marriage" between ABC and Rediffusion. "The combination of these two companies," announced ITA Chairman Lord Hill, "seemed to the Authority to offer the possibility of a programme company of real excellence." The resultant company was awarded the contract to serve London on weekdays.
Control of the new company would be given to ABC, a move unpopular with Rediffusion. Questioning the ITA's decision, Rediffusion attempted to slow down the merger: only the threat of giving the licence solely to ABC made it relent. To assist Rediffusion financially, the ITA insisted that the new company have two sets of shares: voting shares which would allow ABC to have control (with 51%) and 'B' shares which were to be split equally between the two, thus sharing profits fairly.
The structure of the new company was also a problem. A merger between the two existing contract holders ABC Television Limited and Rediffusion Television Limited was impossible, owing to internal politics, as was a merger between their respective parent companies Associated British Picture Corporation and British Electric Traction. The answer was found to be a new holding company, Thames Television (Holdings) Ltd. ABC's parent, the Associated British Picture Corporation was taken over by EMI in 1969, and in 1979 became part of Thorn EMI.
The ITA ordered ABC's managing director Howard Thomas and its director of programmes Brian Tesler to be appointed in similar capacities at the new station, the only individuals named or specified in all 15 franchise awards. ABC had majority control of the new company and the make-up of its board predominantly (and eventually fully) came from ABC. The use of ABC's old studios at Teddington meant the workforce was predominantly ex-ABC, although those at Kingsway were ex-Rediffusion.
After some discussion as to the name of the new company—some directors favoured ABC London, while others suggested Tower Television to reflect the Post Office Tower and the Tower of London—it was named Thames Television, after the River Thames. This name had been previously considered and rejected by London Weekend Television.
On 30 July 1968, Thames began broadcasting to London. The opening week was disrupted by sporadic strike action; the following week, the action had spread to all of ITV and resulted in the creation of a management-run ITV Emergency National Service for some two weeks.
Each week Thames broadcast from the start of transmissions on Monday until its handover to London Weekend Television at 19:00 on Friday. (From 1982, the handover time was 17:15.)
Studios
The former ABC studios at Teddington became Thames's main production base. Thames's corporate base moved to its newly constructed studios and offices on Euston Road (next to Euston Tower) in 1970, when it relinquished Television House, Rediffusion's former London headquarters. The Teddington studios were highly desirable, as they had participated in colour experiments and were already partially converted by the time of the franchise change, and as such had been sought after by both Thames and LWT.
When Thames was formed, the new company acquired numerous other properties of the former franchise holders. Rediffusion's main studio complex at Wembley was leased to London Weekend Television by order of the ITA before being sold to Lee International in 1977. ABC's Midlands base in Aston, Birmingham (see Alpha Television), co-owned with ATV, was sold in 1971 when ATV moved to new colour television facilities. Its northern base in Didsbury, Manchester, was used by Yorkshire Television prior to its Kirkstall Road studios in Leeds being completed, and eventually sold to Manchester Polytechnic in 1970, with a lease on sales offices in central Manchester being surrendered.
Early programmes
The station continued formats inherited from its predecessors. These included the variety show Opportunity Knocks, Armchair Theatre, the last series of The Avengers, and the detective thrillers Callan and Public Eye, all inherited from ABC. The comedy Do Not Adjust Your Set, though, originated with Rediffusion, and if nominally a children's show, was one of the forerunners of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
More conventional sitcoms, all of which began in Thames's early years, included Father, Dear Father (1968–73), the Sid James vehicle Bless This House (1971–76), and Love Thy Neighbour (1972–76). Another sitcom, Man About the House (1973–76), was successful enough for two spin-offs, George and Mildred (1976–80) and Robin's Nest (1977-81).
The company took over the This Is Your Life format in 1969, several years after the BBC had dropped the show in 1964. Another BBC favourite was comedian Benny Hill, the star of The Benny Hill Show (1969–89), who was placed under contract. Hill spent most of the rest of his career with Thames.
The Sooty Show, cancelled in 1967 by the BBC, now aired on Thames and began on the first day of transmission. It continued after Harry Corbett's retirement in 1975 with his son, Matthew Corbett, and lasted on Thames until late 1992. The company also produced the children's show Magpie (1968–80), intended as a rival for Blue Peter on BBC1, and The Tomorrow People (1973–79), a science fiction series commissioned as an answer to the BBC's Doctor Who.
For preschool children there was Rainbow, which started in 1972 and ran for 20 years. The programme used animation and graphics created by Stop Frame Productions, which later became Cosgrove Hall, a Thames subsidiary founded in 1976 which made animated series for children. During the hours after Rainbow and before the children's slot, Good Afternoon was transmitted, a magazine programme. It began after the IBA allowed non-schools broadcasting in this period of the day, when the government relaxed the regulations around daytime television and featured interview editions undertaken by such broadcasters as Mavis Nicholson, and a weekly consumer programme, which eventually became a programme in its own right; Money-Go-Round.
Thames also produced The World at War (1973–74), a 26-part history of the Second World War using unseen footage and interviews, often of high-level participants. The series, narrated by Laurence Olivier, was commissioned in 1969, took four years to produce, and cost a record £4m (approx £47m in 2018).
Thames gained a reputation for drama with such series as Jenny, Lady Randolph Churchill (1974), with Lee Remick as the mother of Winston Churchill. It won an Emmy as the best series in its category, as Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978), about the abdication crisis, did later. Other successful series in the genre from this period include Shades of Greene (1975–76), Rock Follies (1976), and Armchair Thriller (1978–80). These programmes were made in the then standard 'hybrid' studio video/location film format, but the British industry was in the slow process of dropping the multi-camera studio format for drama, excepting soaps, to making the genre entirely on film.
The Thames offshoot Euston Films was founded in 1971 to specialise in drama output made entirely on film, then still a rare practice. Euston made the police series The Sweeney (1975–78), Danger UXB (1979), and Minder (1979–94), plus the last appearance of Nigel Kneale's best known creation in Quatermass (1979). In this era, Euston also made single one-off dramas such as The Naked Civil Servant (1975).
On 1 December 1976, the punk band the Sex Pistols were interviewed live on Thames's regional news magazine programme, Today. Members of the group uttered obscenities during their interview with Bill Grundy. In his introduction, Grundy said they are "as drunk as I am", but later said his comment was a joke, and had allowed the bad language to illustrate the character of the individuals in the group. The interview filled two minutes at the end of the programme, but the production team feared trouble in the studio if they stopped the programme mid-air. Thames's telephone switchboard was jammed by complaining viewers. Responding to the incident, Thames said in a statement: "Because the programme was live, it was impossible to foresee the language that would be used." The press continued to be interested in the incident for several days. Grundy was suspended and Today ended soon afterwards; his career never recovered. Over time, Thames replaced Today with a more conventional news offering as seen on other ITV stations. Thames at Six was launched, later Thames News.
In 1978, Thames secured a contract with Morecambe & Wise. The comedians had worked for the BBC since 1968 with major national success, but the decisive factor leading the duo to leave the corporation was Thames's offer to feature them as main leads in a film made by the company's Euston Films subsidiary. The comedy duo's leading scriptwriter, Eddie Braben, did not initially move to ITV with them, and with Eric Morecambe's failing health, the new shows never gained the audiences or matched the esteem they had previously enjoyed.
One of the early anchor presenters was radio DJ Tom Edwards.
Industrial relations up to the end of 1979
Like most of ITV, Thames was beset by conflicts with trade unions, notably the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT). A two-week technicians strike in the summer of 1975 shut down the whole of ITV with the technicians being bought off with a 35% pay rise.
Two years later in May 1977, another strike occurred when production assistants at Thames refused to operate new video equipment. Thames proceeded to sack all the technicians for breach of contract. The following month, both sides backed down over the issues, with all technicians returning to work.
The worst strike to hit the network originated at Thames. Failure to reach agreement on pay increases and shift allowances in the 1979 pay round resulted in technicians switching off power to the transmission facilities at the Euston Road centre on 6 August. After management restored power, the technicians walked out. Within four days, all but one ITV station had gone off-air after the ACTT asked members at other companies to walk out in claim for a 15% pay rise. The network was off the air for 10 weeks.
Later programming
Other Thames shows included This Week (known as TV Eye between 1979 and 1985), Rumpole of the Bailey, the game shows Strike It Lucky, Give Us a Clue and Name That Tune, and the drama Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest.
Thames sitcoms during the 1980s and early 1990s included Keep it in the Family, Never the Twain, After Henry, and Mr. Bean. The Mr. Bean pilot episode, starring Rowan Atkinson as the titular character, was first broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, and the eventual run lasted beyond Thames holding of its franchise. Less well-known is its adaptation of Andy Capp (1988), starring James Bolam. Two of its post-franchise sitcoms found more success when they transferred away from ITV – Men Behaving Badly, which moved to the BBC in 1994 and Is It Legal?, which moved to Channel 4 in 1998. Both were written by Simon Nye and co-produced by independent company Hartswood Films.
A few years after The World at War, Thames broadcast Hollywood (1980), a 13-part documentary series about the era of the America silent cinema. This series, produced by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, was followed by the company sponsoring Thames Silents, a project undertaken by Brownlow and Gill of the restoration and screenings (in a limited number of cinemas and on television) of major films from the silent era. The two men followed Hollywood with series dedicated to leading comics of the silent era, Unknown Chaplin (1983) and Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987). A programme on Harold Lloyd (The Third Genius) followed in 1989. Hollywood and the Chaplin series were narrated by the actor James Mason.
Unusually for a commercial broadcaster, Thames also produced lavish versions of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Thames's subsidiary production company Euston Films continued to produce many of Thames's highest-profile drama contributions to ITV network programming to the end of its ITV franchise. These included Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983), Jack the Ripper (1988), Capital City (1989–1990), Selling Hitler (1991), and Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1992).
The Bill (1984–2010) began as a one-hour series of separate stories in 1984, but from 1989 until 1998 was broadcast several times a week, usually in a 30 minute slot. Its storylines became overly melodramatic and focussed far more directly on particular police characters rather than the crime from 1998 and its return to the hour long slot and then became much more a soap opera in 2002 (when individual story titles were dropped) until coming full circle dealing predominantly with crime again in about 2007 for the last few years of its existence.
Programming controversies
In January 1985, the company made a deal with international distributors for US production company Lorimar to purchase the UK broadcasting rights for US drama Dallas, at that time transmitted on BBC1. This broke a gentlemen's agreement between the two sides not to poach each other's imported shows. Thames paid £55,000 a show compared to the £29,000 of the BBC. The deal brought condemnation from the BBC and from other ITV stations, who feared the BBC would poach their imports, pushing up prices.
The BBC planned to delay transmission of the episodes of Dallas that it already had, with the hope to broadcast them at the same time Thames broadcast its new purchases. Ultimately, pressure from several ITV companies (especially Yorkshire Television) to the IBA forced Thames to sell the series back to the BBC at a loss. Bryan Cowgill, the managing director of Thames left the company, as he believed his position was untenable since the board was unwilling to support his plans to buy the series. In October, Thames paid the BBC, via the IBA, £300,000 in compensation to make up the shortfall in additional cost for new episodes of Dallas.
The most controversial programme Thames broadcast was the documentary "Death on the Rock", part of the current affairs This Week series. The programme questioned the authority of British troops who had shot dead suspected IRA members allegedly planning a terrorist attack on a British military ceremony in Gibraltar. The documentary was regarded almost as treason by many Conservative politicians, and The Sunday Times made claims about one of the witnesses interviewed which were later found to be libellous.
The following year, in 1989, Thames ended the contract of Benny Hill, a stalwart at the station since 1969. It was believed that the comedian was dismissed because his shows were considered offensive and politically incorrect, but John Howard Davies said the decision was taken because of falling ratings, very high production costs and Hill was looking tired. The show at its peak had 21 million viewers, while the last episode had nine million.
Industrial relations in the Thatcher era
Through the early 1980s, Thames experienced a series of local disputes while management deliberately confronted contractual ‘rackets’, and pursued the introduction of new technologies based on operational requirements rather than precedent. For Thames’s management, this was a materialist operation with a clear dimension, and to weed out unscrupulous bargaining and working practices.