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TV Hell
True televisual tales to terrify
The modern television viewer is, it is safe to say, spoiled for choice. Hundreds of channels beam all kinds of programmes into homes to be viewed on giant screens in high-definition colour and with surround sound 24/7/365.
But getting to the stage of lifelike viewing we now take for granted was a long and slow process. The modern television bears as much resemblance to its embryonic predecessor as a Formula 1 Ferrari does to Fred Flintstone’s jalopy. And if I can draw your gaze away from the screen for a moment, I shall reveal some facts about television from my younger days that may horrify you.
There was only one channel
The BBC began television broadcasts in the 1930s. With the wave of affluence after the dust from the Second World War had settled, and Prime Minister Harold MacMillan told British workers they’d never had it so good, TV sets became a must-have household item. But there was only one channel to watch.
That solitary channel remained until 1955, when ITV, Britain’s first commercial channel, started broadcasting, and viewers were introduced to TV advertising. Then, in 1964, BBC2 began, but that would be it for the next eighteen years. We Brits had to make do with just those three channels until Channel 4 started in 1982. Channel 5 came on…
