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I suppose that we can get nostalgic about TV Licensing, considering the fact that a licence was just £15 in the mid 1970s, and around £45 in the mid 1980s, give or take a few years and pounds.
We don't have as many TV Licensing adverts on TV these days as we used to many years ago - I am not saying that we don't have them anymore, but they don't look quite as patronising as they used to.
I am certain that lots of people remember the "Columbo" one from around 1977 - I don't personally of course, but I am certain that it made it onto the Charley Live video which was released in the late 1990s, and I believe that it would have been repeated into the 1980s. Most people would regard it as a PIF rather than an advert these days, but as they are scheduled in the same way as adverts are, especially on ITV and Channel 4. Just like PIFs, they did look scary back then, didn't they? If you have a fully paid licence, then you have nothing to worry about - it's as simple as that, I believe.
Cue a man in a specialist van with aerials on top, checking to see whether number 29 So-and-So Avenue has a licence or not, usually wearing headphones and a remote control device.
I also remember the "get a TV licence - it's cheaper than a big fine" slogan in the 1990s, and the one on the bus where the person who was listening to his personal radio had two headphone sockets in his radio - something they don't have in real life.
Of course, my family was fully licenced with colour and black and white TVs in several rooms for decades - and TV Licensing knew that of course. We had a bit of a dilemma a few years ago during the overlap of moving from one address to another, but that was soon "ironed out" when we told the authorities about the situation. I did transfer the licence to my new address rather early.
This is not a thread about whether you were caught without a TV Licence, but to talk about the menacing and sometimes scary adverts that were on in the past. I don't know, but the TV Licensing thing feel very much part of British culture. Even Coronation Street did storylines a few times over the years such as the Duckworths in 1984.
Were these adverts scary or just a laugh at the end of the day?
We don't have as many TV Licensing adverts on TV these days as we used to many years ago - I am not saying that we don't have them anymore, but they don't look quite as patronising as they used to.
I am certain that lots of people remember the "Columbo" one from around 1977 - I don't personally of course, but I am certain that it made it onto the Charley Live video which was released in the late 1990s, and I believe that it would have been repeated into the 1980s. Most people would regard it as a PIF rather than an advert these days, but as they are scheduled in the same way as adverts are, especially on ITV and Channel 4. Just like PIFs, they did look scary back then, didn't they? If you have a fully paid licence, then you have nothing to worry about - it's as simple as that, I believe.
Cue a man in a specialist van with aerials on top, checking to see whether number 29 So-and-So Avenue has a licence or not, usually wearing headphones and a remote control device.
I also remember the "get a TV licence - it's cheaper than a big fine" slogan in the 1990s, and the one on the bus where the person who was listening to his personal radio had two headphone sockets in his radio - something they don't have in real life.
Of course, my family was fully licenced with colour and black and white TVs in several rooms for decades - and TV Licensing knew that of course. We had a bit of a dilemma a few years ago during the overlap of moving from one address to another, but that was soon "ironed out" when we told the authorities about the situation. I did transfer the licence to my new address rather early.
This is not a thread about whether you were caught without a TV Licence, but to talk about the menacing and sometimes scary adverts that were on in the past. I don't know, but the TV Licensing thing feel very much part of British culture. Even Coronation Street did storylines a few times over the years such as the Duckworths in 1984.
Were these adverts scary or just a laugh at the end of the day?
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