Thames Television - Final Transmission - New Years Eve 1992 

Let's be honest: even if Thames didn't lose its franchise, it would likely go the same way as Carlton and engulf most of the ITV network before merging with Granada. And the fact some of the crap on today's ITV bears the Thames name.

It's just one of the many mishaps the UK has been suffering ever since well...forever!

Different kind of Thames back then...I don't think Ofcom have helped with ITV since they took over from the ITC..

it should've been Anglia not thames

@@chrispearce6024 Ofcom and ITC are useless two of them ruined ITV

spot on analysis....

not really.

Yeah, Thames and Central had Mr Bean.

Back in 1985, Carlton wanted to buy out Thorn EMI and take control of Thames. The then management and the IBA refused to let that happen. Might have been a better result though because it wouldn't have turned into the on screen car crash that headed for London at midnight 1 January 1993!!!

You are so right really-alas of course somehow too.

Agree

Definitely. We had thames tv & london weekend television on our screens in the 70’s & 80’s up to new years eve 1992. Miss those times !!

I'm not even in your country I'm in Canada and I didn't exist 22 years ago as I was only born in 1999 however Thames Television, I also SALUTE you!

And i'm not even from England either but from Ireland and i was only 2 years old when Thames went off air, but i feel the vibe 22 years on! I salute you Thames, you are missed!

I'm only 16 but I SALUTE YOU!!

I was born and lived in the Thames region, visited Teddington and I salute them too. Gone but not forgotten.

I was born in 1980 in the *THAMES* region and loved watching ITV until 1993 when Carlton took over. ITV is screwed up now. I SALUTE YOU THAMES!!

It was such a shame he passed away. This is the man they should employed to run ITV had this never happened.

Perhaps the ITV we have today may never been as bad had Thames, TVS etc kept their franchises

Thames staff in the control room did boo the Carlton name when it came on.

Literally.

Literally.

Sad to hear he has passed but just think of how he would feel to learn what Thames has achieved!! Gold etc sold for profit and Thames albeit as a subsidiary of Fremantle producing 2 of itv' biggest shows!! XFactor & BGT!!

***** Thames's crowning glory was The World At War.

+Mike Humble From humble beginnings at Swindon Viewpoint, joined Thames in 1977 as an assistant to Jeremy Isaacs, working his way to becoming Director of Production and finally Chief Executive in 1985 following the resignation of Bryan Cowgill. He stayed at Thames, launched UK Gold and UK Living on satellite and cable, and was made Managing Director of its new owners Pearson Television until 1995 when he was awarded with a CBE. At the same time he got into bed with Rupert Murdoch and became an Executive Director of News International Television until his death in 1998 at the age of just 54. But I think his heart was with Thames.

identity politics - well done psyop'd sheeple getting with the program automaton !

Back When There's Good Shows Such as... Tweenies Boohbah Horrid Henry Pingu Bob the Builder Noddy Postman Pat Big Cook, Little Cook Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom Fifi and the Flowertots Wallace and Gromit Ed, Edd n Eddy Fireman Sam Rubbadubbers Teletubbies ( original ) Peppa Pig Little Robots Danger Mouse Roobarb Fun Song Factory ( 1998 ) Starhill Ponies The Number Crew Steady Eddie Basil Brush ( 2002-2007 ) Engie Benjy The Likeaballs Playdays Yoho Ahoy BB3B The Wombles ( 1973-1975 ) Bill and Ben ( 2001 ) The Foxbusters ChuckleVision Bodger and Badger Philbert Frog Mr. Blobby Kipper Angelina Ballerina Captain Pugwash Merlin the Magical Puppy SuperTed Trumpton Button Moon Rosie and Jim Tots TV Brum Angelmouse Courage the Cowardly Dog My Parents Are Aliens Wind in the Willows ( cosgrove hall ) Thomas and Friends ( model era ) The Koala Brothers Captain Abercromby The Hoobs Bug Alert Roary the Racing Car The Shiny Show Tractor Tom And Many More.

Better then the rubbish back then.

No Stevie, ITV today is corporate branded nationally networked crap with nothing but tacky talent shows, gameshows, reallity shows, public bating chatshows aka Jeremy Vile, and endless repeats plus thru the night gambling. Hardly great.

ITV is fuck all with a capital F. at least now thames is in tv heaven with their parents Rediffusion and ABC

@@alexmacleod3728 I haven't owned a TV for about 5 years, didn't watch it very much from around 2005. Last I really saw ITV it was absolute garbage. I am somewhat aware of the programmes it now shows and they look absolutely dreadful. I think I pass, on Vernon Kay eating a kangaroo's testicle.

@@97channel was only 21 (finshed uni that year) when it finished i was in Tears that night

What was wrong with Carlton?

​@@eightiesmusic1984 Carlton was an awful ITV franchise serving London throughout the weekdays, they ruined ITV in the Midlands and the South West. The only thing I remember from Carlton is that they had made some children's programmes like Mopatop's Shop with Jim Henson TV Europe.

wait, you worked at Thames? that's wonderful! how was it like working there?

Each day felt like I was going on holiday - it never felt like "work". The people who "worked" there were the best in their field.

Denise Rayner cool. :D

Maybe the government was more interested in the money than quality :(

And I see Teddington studios have been demolished too. The Euston studios went some time ago. There are few tangible remains of TTV now :(

Thatcher? The Prime Minister in 1992, was John Major.

It was Thatcher who caused the downfall of Thames, TVS, TSW & TV-AM. Look up the Broadcasting act 1990. Look up the demise of TV-AM and you will find a letter from Thatcher to Bruce Gyngel

LOL

Thames A Talent For Television. Crapton A Talent For Mindless Shit.

Even though Carlton was not up to the same standard as Thames, it was still an improvement on the low quality service that bears the name of ITV nowadays.

@@DalstonKingsland Back When CBeebies Didn't Exist Yet !

Damm true 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

True, the decline of British TV generally...

"Quakity"

Have a look who produces X Factor and Britain's got Talent. I think you'll be surprised and upset. It's Thames.

Do you know what the three landmarks in the Thames Television ident were? I could only recognize two of them (Big Ben and the London Bridge).

@@joeorsini6110 Looks like St Paul's Cathedral.

And where is she today...🤔 (⚰️) Yet we're still here....👍🏼 A lesson in there some where...

They bid an annual fee of £2,000 because they discovered there was no competition against them. Same for Scottish Television. Border Television bid £57,000 per annum even though they also went unopposed. Meanwhile, Channel Television won by default with the lowest annual stipend allowed of £1,000, after their rivals, the CI3 Group (comprising, as rival groups tended to do, of former Channel Television staff) annual bid of £102,000 was disqualified after they failed to reach the ITC's "quality threshold".

um, yeah it has recovered.

@@sillygoose635 No it hasn't. The quality of mainstream television, particularly that of ITV, is now nothing but downmarket garbage of a similar level to US television.

@@CrankCase08 Yes, it has, ITV has vastly improved it's programming, just like US Television, compared to the actual downmarket garbage you pine for to return.

@@sillygoose635 There's no accounting for taste. It's not for nothing that the viewing figures for mainstream television are continually plummeting, despite the proliferation of channels available.

@@CrankCase08 You continue to spew your nonsense.

right.

But now its in german hands, by the media giant Bertelsmann from Gunthersloh vía Freemantle Media.

X-Factor, Got Talent...

@Group JW Productions Yeah, and sadly RTL is known for his biggest ammount of rubbish tv, same with Carlton.

Nope. You'd have to build the audience from almost scratch. Think X Factor generation. (I know "Thames" do X Factor, but the real Thames wouldn't touch that rubbish with a bargepole!)

RTL was the founder of Channel 5 in 1997 particularly since Thames was involved in this

agree, its not false nostalgia...The strong, if not world class regional element of the broadcasting was clear for all to see...

Carlton wanted to buy Thames in the mid 80's but the IBA wouldn't let them. So they only had to wait a few years later, got the London franchise on a bid they couldn't then pay for. Yet the ITC didn't once go in and threaten to revoke its licence because the network centre had come in. And of course all the Thames shows were still being pumped into the system. So they got away with it for the first few years. They should never have been awarded that contract on quality based on outsourcing their programmes to independent contractors. Richard Dunn was spot on the day he lost the franchise when he said "they had no track record to go upon and the bid was only based on paper promises". Not only was he spot on with his £33 million bid but nobody could foresee the appalling continuity and the programmes made were shoddy to say the least. Londoners must have been in shock as we were when ATV was taken off the air to be replaced the appalling presentation of Central that took three years to get right. But George Russell should be ashamed to see the mess he signed off on and then ITV employed him in a major position years later!!!!! It may have had something to do with the way everyone got fed up and bought a satellite dish and how nobody including those at ITV gives a damn about ITV anymore.

Robert Comer that's sad words but true..I grew.up in the late 1970s and 1980s..Thames was beyond superb...

Don’t forget Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends too!

because it was never about quality or even cash: Maggie vowed to put Thames out of business, period. They could have bid three times the amount, they were screwed!

@@swannvictor1388 exactly, if they bid over Carlton, the itc would have probably pulled a TVS on them and said "they overbid" Maggie wanted Thames out of business

@@alexandreb.1101 Mrs. Thatcher didn't like 'Death On The Rock' that Thames TV made as part of 'This Week', this was the reason why she wanted Thames gone.

That's the sort of programming people don't remember Thames for

I was thinking the same thing too.Didn’t Thames distributed Danger Mouse?

Cosgrove Hall moved to Anglia.

Now Zippy, George, Bungle and Geoffrey Are Out on the Streets, Hungry, Thirsty, Cold and Homeless. Eating from the Trash Cans in the Alley, Fending for Themselves, And Sleeping on the Dirty Hard Ground. #BringBackRainbow!

Bungle and George maybe... That Zippy was a bit of a pain in the a**! Yes - I STILL don't like him 😤

I think that was made by Yorkshire TV.

IKR ? BTW, what did Zippy ever do to you ?

@@george-nu5nr oooh! The ONE character from the old days of Thames I actually could've knocked out. 🤐🤛 Come to think of it, I don't actually remember him "zipping it" any time during the series. 🤔

The 1979 cover by The Tourists of Dusty Springfield's 1963 song "I Only Want To Be With You".

Blame Maggie Thatcher, because she hated the documentary that Thames made as part of 'This Week' called 'Death On The Rock' and she wanted to secretly get rid of Thames TV as part of the Broadcasting Act 1990.

At the End of the day, it's all down to money, Richard Dunn bid for what he thought was worth for the franchise whilst having to pay staff and production team. Even if Thames Television had won the franchise, it would have made no differents, We would still have had the Single ITV that was compose up on us in laters years, With Granada buying out Thames LWT, whilst swallowing up Central TVS or Meridian Anglia Channel TSW or Westcountry as it called.

@@scottpeacock5492 It's a real shame to think that television had gone down so bad in the space of 20 years. I live in Ireland and the telly has gotten worse than ever. The main broadcaster RTE gets money from a television licence from everyone and they are getting advertising revenue on top of that (it can be up to 5 to 6 minutes of adverts in between programmes and during programmes), and the only things they put on is lifestyle programmes about health, the environment or how 'great' our government is, violent drama's, and chat shows like the Late Late Show (it was great up until 1999 when Gay Byrne left the programme) with the driest people you will ever meet, talking about the same things as I said for lifestyle programmes. They only have one comedy programme and it's not even funny, because all they do is make a joke out of anyone who lived in Ireland in the 80's and make them out to be complete retards altogether, which is wrong. The only breakfast show on television on TV3 called Ireland AM, is complete rubbish. The newsreaders are angry looking, the presenters now are always talking about their children and how hard done by they are, and even when the news is finished for the hour, the presenters will keep talking about the news, and the bad bits of news at that. TV3 are the same as RTE. They rarely show old programmes, both import UK programmes or even our own old programmes like Glenroe, Hall's Pictorial Weekly and The Riordans, probably because they don't want people to realise how bad their programmes are nowadays. Only for us having SKY television, we would never watch the television, because Irish television is unwatchable.

@@europa2000man Can you see British television in Ireland I wonder?? I have not been there at all, but I have often wondered if that is the case??

@@brucedanton3669 Yes. You can get most of the British channels on Sky, free satellite, cable services and overspills from Northern Ireland or Wales (maybe not so much the case now since digital is not as easy to receive as analogue was). Before RTE began television (Ireland's main broadcaster) in 1961, some people were able to receive the BBC and some ITV channels, especially along the east coast of Ireland. Some sources claim that Ireland could receive television as early as 1949 from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter in the British Midlands.

Thames Still exists as a production company

@@Irisey274 These days as a production label of Fremantle, which makes Blankety Blank for the BBC.

No