Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Category: TV Entertainment
Date: 13.04.2004
Printable version

On the 20 April 1964, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO opened for business to the general viewing public.

However its debut didn't quite go according to plan. The channel got off to a bad start with a power cut which only affected Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO, not Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE or ITV.

With only a few minutes to go before the channel went to air, a power cut affecting the whole of West London meant that the first night's transmission, due to be broadcast from Television Centre, had to be switched to Alexandra Palace.

Armed with only a few candles to aid him, the anchor man, Gerry Priestland, battled in near darkness and total chaos.

The blackout meant that the first show to be broadcast on the channel in its entirety was Playschool which went out the following day.

Shows such as Match of the Day and the flagship science programme Horizon were broadcast in the early days and are still mainstays in the schedules to this day.

Seminal programmes such as (Late Night) Line Up, Jazz 625, and The Beat Room were front-runners to programmes such as The Late Review and Later..with Jools.

The Likely Lads, screened in these early years, became an instant classic making stars out of Rodney Bewes and James Bolam, despite starting life as a training exercise.

Dick Clement was a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ radio producer and was sent on a television director's course and met Ian Le Frenais. Together they wrote a sketch about two lads discussing a date, which Dick filmed.

The then Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO Controller, Mike Peacock, was shown the sketch by Bill Cotton Jnr and jumped at the idea.

The Likely Lads became the first sitcom to be featured on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO.

In 1967 the Government allowed the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ to introduce colour television. With Germany also planning to start colour broadcasting in the same year, the race was on.

On 1 July 1967, the first day of the All England Tennis Championships became the first ever programme in Europe to transmit in colour.

Freed from the confines of black and white, the channel produced a series of ground breaking science and natural history programmes: Civilisation; The Ascent of Man; Whicker's World; The Philpott File; Cameron Country and One Pair of Eyes.

Coverage of snooker had always been hampered by black and white television but the Seventies saw the arrival of Pot Black, a show made possible only by the leaps being made.

However it was a show which also broke the rule that all programmes would be as comprehensible in black and white as in colour.

Commentators were supposed to help viewers but struggled themselves to make a game dependent on colour recognition decipherable in monochrome.

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This led to the apocryphal story of Ted Lowe who famously said: "Steve is going for the pink ball - and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green."

Pot Black became an instant success and established snooker as a television spectacle that captured a devoted following of many millions.

As well as Civilisation, it helped to define Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO's character.

From 1968 onwards Elizabeth R, The Pallisers, War and Peace and other drama productions delighted audiences as did ambitious 13-part documentary series such as Alistair Cooke's America and Dr Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man.

Other productions during this time were The Six Wives of Henry VIII; The Search For The Nile; Clochemerle; The Stone Tape and the now legendary It's a Knockout.

And the hits just kept coming through the Seventies

with classics such as Fawlty Towers; I Claudius; Moll Flanders; Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.

Cookery came to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO in the guise of Delia Smith who made three series of Family Fare. However the series was not re-commissioned as the then Channel Controller, Aubrey Singer, felt Delia wasn't sexy enough.

The late Seventies saw the introduction of landmark current affairs shows such as 40 Minutes and Newsnight.

The unique Not the Nine O'Clock News was a satirical show which launched the careers of Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones, Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson.

Mel Smith tells Happy Birthday Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO of the moment when they realised just how big the show was: "We had no idea that we were anything like a success at all, you know. The viewing figures didn't make much difference to us anyway.

"And then we brought out this album of our songs and it went to number one at Christmas time. It went double platinum and knocked Queen off the top of the album charts. And we thought, 'Oh! We're quite popular then'."

The Young Ones was another Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO innovation providing the first break for comedians Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmonson and Nigel Planer who went on to become mainstays of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ comedy.

The Eighties on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO also brought us Life On Earth; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Yes, Minister; The Boys From The Blackstuff; Edge of Darkness and Flight of the Condor.

Sir David Attenborough tells Happy Birthday Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO the story behind the now famous gorilla footage which was only ever caught on film because the cameraman wanted to, 'Give the boys in the cutting room a laugh'.

In the early Eighties, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO placed great emphasis on single drama and the importance of new writers and directors with Screen 2.

On 25 April 1985, coverage of the World Snooker Championship saw Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO receive its highest ever audience figures: 18.5 million tuned in to see Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in that unforgettable final frame.

The late Eighties saw the channel try out new and distinctive ideas. Shows such as The Late Show found a place in the schedule and it was during this time that the controversial Def II - a youth 'channel within a channel' - was born.

Despite facing harsh criticism at the time, the vibrant on-screen packaging was unique and fresh. The frenetic visual style, although much lampooned, was also to become much imitated.

The face of Def II was Normski who tells Happy Birthday Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO for the first time where he believes the distinctive name and motif came from.

The next few years saw the channel consolidating its reputation for being both risk taking and cultural, with its continued investment in new comedy and drama.

The channel launched the careers of Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Alexei Sayle and John Sessions, as well as screening seminal shows such as Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit; Troubleshooter; Video Diaries; Tosca and Truly Madly Deeply.

When Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO first screened Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit it was a time when lesbianism and homosexuality were only just beginning to enter the public arena and being debated openly.

Speaking to Happy Birthday Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO, actress Janette Winterton says: "Overall we were cusping a movement of change in British society which we both helped to happen, but benefited from too. It was the right time, it was the right place. Oranges had to happen."

Despite the shifts in social and cultural opinions, graphic images of same sex intercourse had never been screened on mainstream television.

Oranges caused a storm of controversy when it was picked up by the nation's self proclaimed moral guardian, Mary Whitehouse, even before it went to air.

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Beeban Kidron, Director of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, says: "There was this whole move against the programme before if even came out. Spearheaded by Mary Whitehouse who actually, inadvertently I think, gave us our huge viewing figures, because everyone wanted to see those 'lezzers' on screen."

As the channel moved through the Nineties, more established series like Top Gear and Gardeners' World were joined by several themed seasons of programming like The Thatcher Week, The Clinton Night and The Kennedy Night.

These became regular features and drew on both non-fiction and fictional material.

This is something which continues into the present with the current If... series.

As with previous decades, the Nineties further enhanced Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO's growing stature and produced yet more highly acclaimed drama.

This Life and Our Friends in the North captured the era's political and cultural zeitgeist and brought new audiences to the channel.

The Fast Show, Shooting Stars and Mrs Merton ensured that those audiences stayed with it.

In 1998 food became the new rock and roll as The Naked Chef made it cool to cook again. The show was an instant hit and encouraged a new generation of budding chefs to throw away the ready-meals-for-one and reach for the lemon grass.

The show turned the genre on its head and made a star of Jamie Oliver. It also introduced the viewing public to a whole new cooking lexicon.

Patricia Llewellyn, producer and voice behind the camera on The Naked Chef, says: "All the language used, like the catchphrase pukka, were all his. And actually, we did get to the point where there was a bit of a pukka overload and we used to allow ourselves something like eight pukkas a show."

Two Fat Ladies was another cookery show which stepped outside the normal confines of the genre. Clarissa Dickson Wright talks to Happy Birthday Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO about her time with Jennifer, just how popular they were, as well as that bike.

But it wasn't all about cooking - Cops; Alan Bennett's Talking Heads; Big Train;Gimme Gimme Gimme; Gormenghast; The Royle Family; Shooting The Past and The League of Gentlemen all made their mark during this time.

With a new century came a raft of new programmes and formats.

Technological advances have paved the way for more innovative, interactive projects such as Restoration, The Big Read and Great Britons to happen, introducing audiences to a whole new viewing experience.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ grown comedies continue to make their mark, most notably with the recent award winning shows, Dead Ringers; Double Take; Marion and Geoff; The Office; the mainstream Asian comedy, The Kumars at No 42, and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ THREE co-commission Little Britain.

Drama continues to court both controversy and acclaim: Babyfather and Manchild divided critics but delighted the audiences they were aimed at who, for so long, felt that they had been marginalised and misrepresented.

Historical and cultural strands like The Hunt for Britain's Paedophiles; The History of Britain; The Secrets Of Leadership; Seven Wonders of the Industrial World and The Fall Of Milosevic have served to further highlight the channel's continued commitment to provide a forum within which political issues, both current and historical, can be debated.

The range and depth of output across the channel throughout its 40 year existence has seen Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO become a byword for innovative and groundbreaking programming.

Jane Root, Controller of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO, says: "The most enjoyable thing about the channel is that it brings surprise, sophistication and innovation to a range of things.

"It has always been famous for creating both popular comedy and thought-provoking programmes.

"That sense of variety has been there all the way though the channel's history."

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Happy Birthday Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO, Tuesday 20 April, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TWO,
8.00-11.00pm