“Like the BBC… with adverts” – the BFI is celebrating Associated-Rediffusion with a wide variety of programmes from the archive, including a screening of the 1965 series Object Z. Launched […]
“Like the BBC… with adverts” – the BFI is celebrating Associated-Rediffusion with a wide variety of programmes from the archive, including a screening of the 1965 series Object Z.
Launched on 22 September 1955, Associated-Rediffusion, ITV’s original weekday London television franchise, quickly distinguished itself from the BBC with a heady mixture of highbrow programming and populist fodder, with progressive drama, current affairs, discussion programmes and issue-led documentaries rubbing shoulders with flashy game shows, children’s entertainment and groundbreaking comedies. The company introduced TV advertising to Britain, pioneered broadcasting for schools (the first broadcaster to do so) and in its relatively short life (1955-68) helped create the blueprint for a distinctive British take on commercial television.
The Associated-Rediffusion collection is preserved in the BFI National Archive, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year and is home to the national collection of television as well as the national collection for film and the moving image. This month-long celebration at BFI Southbank features a number of titles newly remastered by the BFI for the season, including the vintage six-part Rediffusion sci-fi serial OBJECT Z (Daphne Shadwell, 1965). Unseen since its first transmission on ITV in 1965, OBJECT Z will be released on BFI Blu-ray on 22 September.
The season also includes two programmes dedicated to comedy featuring comedic legends David Frost, Ronnie Barker, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, The Pythons and David Jason – Ronnie Barker And The Pythons, featuring THE RONNIE BARKER PLAYHOUSE: AH, THERE YOU ARE (Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1968), remastered by the BFI, AT LAST THE 1948 SHOW (Ian Fordyce, 1967) and DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET (Humphrey Barclay, 1967) (both previously released on BFI DVD), and The Fred Shows featuring A SHOW CALLED FRED (Dick Lester, 1956), SON OF FRED (Dick Lester, 1957) and YES, IT’S THE CATHODE-RAY TUBE SHOW (1967). Three programmes dedicated to drama will include The Entertaining Mr Orton featuring ENTERTAINING MR SLOANE (Peter Moffatt, 1968, one of two Peter Moffat TV plays screening in the season), THE ERPINGHAM CAMP (James Ormerod, 1966) and THE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT (James Ormerod, 1967), in celebration of the 90th anniversary of playwright Joe Orton’s birth, Harold Pinter featuring THE LOVER (Joan Kemp-Welch, 1963) and THE CARETAKER (Marc Miller, 1966), with the latter remastered by the BFI. The Classics at Associated-Rediffusion features key canonical works adapted for television by Oscar Wilde, A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (Joan Kemp-Welch, 1960) and Chekhov’s THE THREE SISTERS (Joan Kemp-Welch, 1963).
Elsewhere, a Missing Believed Wiped special will feature the long-lost drama EACH WIND THAT BLOWS (Wilfred Eades, 1960), recovered from the Film is Fabulous initiative and other recently recovered Rediffusion material, with other events exploring THE LOST WORLD OF CHILDREN’S PROGRAMMING and Associated-Rediffusion’s cutting-edge approach to TACKLING RACISM, including THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC (Peter Moffatt, 1967), remastered by the BFI. CAPTIVE CINEMA will recreate the original programme of TV documentaries presented as the subject of the National Film Theatre’s first TV season in 1957; READY STEADY GO! will feature performances from some of the biggest music starts of the 1960s from surviving episodes of this legendary British music programme; and THE PRECIOUS THINGS – ODDITIES AND RARITIES FROM THE BFI NATIONAL ARCHIVE, a special event exploring some of Associated-Rediffusion’s more esoteric programming preserved in the BFI National Archive, will include adverts and magazine programmes such as David Frost’s current affairs led THE FROST PROGRAMME.
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