70 years of ITV: the early days of the UK’s first commercial channel

Monday 22 September marks the 70th anniversary of ITV, the broadcaster that would become such an integral part of the fabric of British culture following its launch in 1955. By 1963 the ITV franchises would reach all regions across the UK, but in 1955 the service began in London. As the second channel to arrive on British television, and the first challenger to the monopoly of the BBC, its arrival was the subject of intense debate.

In government there were arguments over how to regulate the new television service. Should programmes be sponsored or carry advertising? Who should run the companies and how many should there be? For which regions? The press seemed to delight in stoking something of a moral panic as every figure involved in public life had an opinion about the potential effects of this forthcoming cultural phenomenon, and the public too wanted their say, with demands for local television in regions.

Finally, after much of this debate was conducted in the public sphere, the first franchises were awarded for London in late 1954 – to Associated-Rediffusion for weekday broadcasting and Associated Television (ATV) for weekends. 

With less than a year to launch, the companies set about creating an entirely new television service. Some staff were lured over from the BBC with the promise of more creative freedom, while others were recruited from different fields and hastily trained in television production at the Viking Studio. 

There was no time for tests or experiments, this TV boot camp had to turn out a team ready to make all new television in a matter of weeks. And it succeeded. On the evening of 22 September ITV started its inaugural broadcast, with Associated-Rediffusion and ATV sharing the evening for this special occasion.

A number of ITV production staff recounted these heady days in their career interviews for the British Entertainment History Project and I can’t help but wonder why a TV drama itself has not been made about this turning point for British TV?

While Abi Morgan’s The Hour (2011 to 2012) did a terrific job of depicting the cut and thrust of a British TV newsroom in the mid 1950s it always felt odd that the series was set at the BBC when over at ITV in Associated-Rediffusion, their flagship current affairs series This Week (1956 to 1978) was being produced by a young woman called Caryl Doncaster.

Doncaster had been a documentary producer at the BBC when she was recruited by the first controller of programmes at Associated-Rediffusion to make ‘magazine’ programmes and features for the new channel. When she began the long running flagship current affairs series This Week, it was seen as ITV’s answer to the BBC’s Panorama and regularly scored high audience figures. The films coming out of Associated-Rediffusion’s features department were both vital and popular, and a selection of them were featured at the very first television season presented at the National Film Theatre (now BFI Southbank) in 1957.

This programme was entitled ‘Captive Cinema’, as a counter to the 1956 NFT programme ‘Free Cinema’, which featured early documentaries by Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson, and a nod to the pressures inherent in TV production. Featuring programmes on teenage pop fans, road sweepers and American tourists, Captive Cinema celebrated the possibilities for popular TV documentary. In Doncaster’s words, “We all believe that people are interested in other people and that television commanding vast audiences and reaching the viewer in his home is the greatest medium yet invented for bringing people closer together. We believe equally strongly that we must capture the greatest audiences we can, and compete for ‘viewing figures’ with giveaway shows and dancing girls.”

Marking ITV’s anniversary, and as part of our season celebrating the 70th anniversary of Associated-Rediffusion, we are staging a tribute to Captive Cinema with a programme featuring some of the same titles.

Television documentary looks very different now. There remains a hunger to see people and ways of life depicted in honest ways, but these desires are met through different forms, on streaming platforms and online, and, increasingly, not through television.

But the breakthroughs of early ITV remained key to its success, and a sustained focus on showing important personal stories to mass audiences lives on. There’s no clearer example than the acclaimed Mr Bates vs the Post Office (2024), written by Gwyneth Hughes, whose impact serves as a reminder of the debt that contemporary television still owes to the groundbreaking examples set by ITVs original pioneers.   

Associated-Rediffusion’s flagship Friday night current affairs programme, covering everything from politics to pop music

In this documentary series intrepid reporter Daniel Farson meets people and groups with alternative views, including witches, nudists and vegans.

Terrifically popular quiz show featuring a round where contestants had to answer questions avoiding the use of ‘yes’ and ‘no’, ITV’s popular touch at its best.

All the entertainment of a night out from the comfort of your sofa, courtesy of theatre impresario Val Parnell.

Granada had an early hit with this irreverent look at the news.