When Channel 4 started.

[Chris68]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Channel 4 starting sticks in my mind, because they had a test card up weeks before in preparation. We were going on holiday for a week and it would start broadcasting while we were away so I tuned the tv into the test card so it would be ready when we got back. We returned home to find we had been burgled and the tv was one of the things taken.

[darren]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Only brookside could have got away with swearing if it had been on later like say 10 o clock at night.
I know american football nfl was shown in the first year of channel 4 and went on for many yrs gary imlach presented the show.

when brookside began, it was very political and the actors used to actually swear in it, because phil redmond wanted gritty reality. But there were loads of complaints, so all that stuff was eventually toned down. Swalk sounds familiar, nicola cowper starred in it i think. I also recall a similar series, dear heart, not sure if it was on itv or channel four. The night c4 started was quite exciting as after months of build-up a brand new channel had arrived like a new baby, and the old bbc channels had lost the plot - they still have! A breath of fresh air was needed. And it was good to have another channel showing adverts! Sadly, c4 has dumbed down like most of them: Big brother (now on 5) hollyoaks, googlebox Etc. I hardly watch it now...

[Twocky61]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

One of C4's ;programme in the Schools slot was 'Crip on a Trip' where a lad called Dom is in a wheelchair with a condition that stunts his growth. A group of friends take him on holiday around Europe

[beccabear67]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Watching some early Brookside I found on youtube. I can relate to the Lucy Collins character a bit (though we were working class), sad that the actress died young as did the lady playing her Mother.

Looked up some of the other early Channel 4 shows... The Comic Strip Presents shows were maybe the highlight, and The Tube of course... No Problem! was a Jamaican family sitcom... and The Snowman for Christmas, while The Far Pavillions was a historical drama set in India.

[beccabear67]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Brookside did get about us surreal in it's plots as any soaps, seems to be some sort of inherent seed in the form no matter how relatively realistic it might start off. In Brookside's case it was named for an actual close development near Liverpool they just bought up and used for the show.

I read that Channel 4 was meant to cater to minority interests somehow. I think possibly some bureaucrats wanted to say it answered complaints they'd had about (fill-in-the-blank interest) not getting coverage?

[agfagaevart]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Anyone have any memories of when Channel 4 started? Late 1982 wasn't it? Was it exciting to have an entire new channel as well as new shows? I guess there's a political aspect to it existing at all, I wonder if any people boycotted it that didn't like Thatcher or whatever at the time.

I have an interest in the Brookside soap and how it changed over time. Also S.W.A.L.K., a show for teens connected with me pretty strongly for some reason at the time. It had this photo-comics gimmick with Prunella Scales as the advice lady appearing in a bubble to give her stereotype advice which contrasted with the reality played out in the show (like the main character's older sister getting married after becoming pregnant and moving out).

I guess it wasn't all that many years after Channel 4 launched that satellite and Sky and specialty channels came along.

When Brookside began, it was very political and the actors used to actually swear in it, because Phil Redmond wanted gritty reality. But there were loads of complaints, so all that stuff was eventually toned down. SWALK sounds familiar, Nicola Cowper starred in it I think. I also recall a similar series, Dear Heart, not sure if it was on ITV or Channel Four. The night C4 started was quite exciting as after months of build-up a brand new channel had arrived like a new baby, and the old BBC channels had lost the plot - they still have! A breath of fresh air was needed. And it was good to have another channel showing adverts! Sadly, C4 has dumbed down like most of them: Big Brother (now on 5) Hollyoaks, Googlebox etc. I hardly watch it now...

[Twocky61]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

One very disturbing show C4 commissioned was "Mini Pops"

This was in the style of the BBC's Top of the Pops

What was disturbing was the fact the girls all made up and dancing were children

Minipops was a television series broadcast in 1983 on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Designed primarily for younger viewers, it consisted of music performances on a brightly coloured set featuring children singing then-contemporary chart hits and older classics. The children were usually made to look like the original performers, including clothing and make up. Controversy was raised when children singing songs that often contained a subtext of adult content (in adult costumes and make-up) which led to Channel 4's commissioning editor to cancel the show after only one series.

[zabadak]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

C4 introduced me to The Prisoner!

[HG]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

I remember rushing home from school to see the launch and watching it through a snowy picture as in my area it was a couple of years before our local transmitter was switched on to broadcast channel 4.

[beccabear67]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

I've seen Countdown, but not my favorite game show. Didn't know it went back to the very start of the channel!

I remember in the '70s (and probably the '60s)... excess bits of air time was filled with 'vignettes', scenes with music dubbed over top. A really early one that is vivid for me is of windmills. I remember test cards with music as well, and the please stand by - experiencing technical difficulties bits. I thought maybe by the '80s that had finally ended. In Canada we also had a strange channel that was a camera in a studio panning back and forth over various clocks, like and oscillating fan. One 'clock' was a barometer though, but some were of the time in Ottawa and in Greenwich. I think that channel disappeared sometime when I was nine or ten.

[Twocky61]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Brookside inspired East Enders & Holly Oaks

[staffslad]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

Yes, I remember "Lost in Space" was shown on Sundays around lunchtime, and after they completed the series "Voyage to the bottom of the Sea" and "Land of the Giants" took its place.

[Richard1978]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

I'm too young too really remember the lauch, but I remember Countdown quite early on.

It was good for more obscure imports, especially children's shows. I remember me & a friend getting into Lost In Space when it was shown on C4 in the later 1980s.

An early show which raised a lot of eyebrows (but not for me at the time) was the Minipops.

[zabadak]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

I remember it struggled for advertisers at first, there were test cards (or something) in place of commercials sometimes...

[staffslad]

Re: When Channel 4 started.

I remember being excited about having a new channel--the first time it had happened in my memory. I am not sure if I watched the first "Countdown" but they showed a TV drama about a mentally-disabled man living with his mother on the first night or very shortly after. In the early days they showed colour episodes of "The Avengers" very late on Saturday nights. Unfortunately, C4 at that time didn't have enough advertisements to cover late night programmes, so "The Avengers" would have commercial breaks, but with no commercials, just music playing for a couple of minutes over a still image.