BBC1 Continuity 24th May 1988, Neighbours, BBC 6 O'Clock News 

The Six O Clock theme tune was a proper news theme BRING IT BACK

The 1988 repeats of both Steptoe And Son and later that year Fawlty Towers on BBC1 were both getting 15 million+ viewers

Still one of the best tv news themes ever IMO!

I was just reminding my dad of this. I would be sitting on the carpet watching the end of Neighbours and my dad would return from work, lift me up, and sing "Neighbours, he's a little babby Neighbours" to the theme tune, and then (probably after a Midlands Today highlight) the intro to the Six O'clock News, almost always with Nicholas Witchell.

The female news reader, Sue Lawley, mentions a trial at the Old Bailey. I was on the jury of that trial, five men trying to defraud a Swiss company saying that they had TOW anti tank missiles from Col Oliver North. You Tube is something else, I was searching Thunderbirds and ended up here?

They've never bettered that Six O Clock News music and title sequence.

From this 1988 video Sally Taylor announces in the South Today headlines "The Russians invade one of the country's top secret research establishments near Salisbury but it was smiles all round." Thirty years later in 2018 the Russians were back in Salisbury & it again involved chemical weapons but the smiles were definitely missing this time..

3:01 "The six o'clock news from the BBC". very well introduced back then.

Holy crap! I can actually remember those snippets of Thora Hird and Barry Norman with Palin and Idle!! My 10th Birthday way at the end of May '88. Neighbours back then was a real hotbed of Talent - not just Kylie, but Guy Pearce and Jim Dale :)

That news into was the best ever. I only remember it as I was young and HATED my dad having the news on as I found it boring at that age!

I love old news theme music, specially designed to scare the shit out of any small children who may have been watching.

I was able to hum that news tune *immediately* - it was buried deep somewhere in my memory! nice tune. better than BBC's current news song.

The Steptoe And Son repeats in 1988 were from the final series first shown in 1974

I remember sitting in my grandparents' living room (in Scotland) and hearing this!

I wish they'd bring this theme tune back.

02:45 Sequence is still fresh and commanding today.

Preferred all news bulletins with their own unique theme

Russians "invading" Porton Down is very ironic considering the Skripal poisoning of 2018.

I was just a few weeks away from adulthood ie eighteenth birthday. Remember this era well, especially the theme tune!

Alan Dale is also HUGE in Lost, a fantastic presence in that show.

God Tuesday evenings were shit, with an evening's line up like that and only three other channels from which to choose! My favourite 6 o'clock news theme. Only 'cos I remember that the most when I was 7!

2:26 ''30,000 hippies could march on Stonehenge for the summer solstice'' LMAO never liked Sally Taylor but that was funny! I was 4 then

@Maundervision I recently acquired a tape which has several Steptoe episodes but also has the 1986 season finale of Neighbours(the episode where Clive gets knocked out during a boxing match and dreams about a pantomime being performed). This episode would have been around this time period so I'm guessing that the Steptoe episodes were also recorded then.

Got to say that's a great news theme - bit before my time!

Lotsa nice stuff there - I think those Steptoe repeats were pulling in something like 15 million viewers (still got some recordings of that run). Also, is it me, or has Sue got her eyebrow pencil on a bit skew-whiff on her left brow?!

It was certainly recorded in May rather than April - perhaps Sue wore the same outfit a month later?

@darren2514fv These were the days when people only had four channels thats probably why. Not much in the way of choice on tv back then.

The Day when my Brother was Born

wow how long is the end credits for Neighbours? :P

I don't know why, but I have a feeling this is from April 1988 for some reason, as Sue Lawley was wearing that same outfit when she announced the death of Kenneth Williams.

He didn't have tape with BBC Six O'Clock News from 23rd May 1988!

Some interesting comments here. It told it how it was that no news was as ever good news. I liked that theme tune, and liked it even better from 1993 when it came from that Vertual studio.

The cue dot was late . . . should have gone off at the switch to News which was on time, just as well news didn-t actually use it as their cue which they should do... Of course this recording was the South region opt, so the first cue dots {i forget the sequence, 30seconds, 15 and 5 perhaps, dot on} we missed. BBC used Cue Dots when going to a Live source.

BA's profits up 41%? That's got to be a long time ago....

this is a better news tune

birds of a feather was a good one too

24 May 1988. England and Colombia drew 1-1 with Gary Lineker scoring.

My brother was born that day

DID SHE SAY "HIPPIES"??

Have you got the full six o'clock news sequence

Hi. I don't suppose you can tell me, what episode is this taken off of?

Alan Dale not Jim Dale, funny though, i've always got the two mixed up. Great memories.

This is Tuesday 24th May 1988.

SPORTSNIGHT NUFF SAID

@neilrwilkinson Vastly better than now and notice you only got brief highlights of a football international then, not the live match, football haters like me had it a lot easier in 1988 LOL.

unfortunately yes I do.

good news tune

It seems as if the Russians were taking notes.

Yep back in the days when the news was the news. No bias and no agendas. Even the delivery was better, straight to the point and quite formal. People were happier back then. No internet, no social media. No wokery. If you weren't there, you wouldn't understand and you are lucky that you dont know what you've lost.

@AidanLunn nahh man, people thought there mobile phones were rubber bricks and dey h8ted dem 4real lol

Very Dramatic music accompanying South Today. 30,000 hippies indeed

its Thursday May 26th 1988.

That schedule wasn't very exciting with a vintage episode of Steptoe and son at eight thirty. We must have been more easily amused back then

1:06

2:46

Mobile phones were crap then. an computers.

even your comment is now 5 yrs old, are you still on this account ?.

@AidanLunn ... I'm here to cause trouble.

Everything about this version of the Six O Clock News theme is fully sick......and bring back International Pro-Celebrity Golf!!

@AidanLunn i dont fink so, dey sucked back then in the 70s

2:46