TV in the 1960s

•Black and white

•Only three channels (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV)

•Only broadcast at certain times (approx. 4pm – midnight on weekdays)

How would people’s viewing habits have been different in the 1960s?

Key word: duopoly‘a situation in which two suppliers dominate the market’

BBC was (and is) a public corporation governed by Royal Charter and funded by the licence fee.

ITV was the only commercial channel and was highly profitable. It could afford larger budgets than the BBC.

How would these factors have affected the programming on both of these channels?

Global TV

The Avengers was originally aired at 9.05pm (primetime) on Saturday 27 November 1965.

Earlier that day, the only foreign programme broadcast that day was ‘Lost in Space’, an American sci-fi series.

The Avengers was sold to over 90 countries by 1969.

ABC (the American Broadcasting Company) invested $2m in the fourth series of The Avengers. This led to:

•It being shot on location, not just in a studio

•Greater camerawork

•A more sophisticated soundtrack

•The following series being filmed in colour

Consider: what are the possible disadvantages of an American company investing in a British TV show?

The differences between BBC and ITV

ITV was seen as a working class channel

BBC was seen as more middle class

The BBC’s flagship drama of the 1960s was based on novels by a Nobel prize-winning author

ITV’s The Avengers was seen as more daring, youthful, irreverent and sexy.

Do you still think that there is a difference between ITV and BBC?

Television audiences in the 1960s

Both BBC1 and ITV aimed to attract mass audiences

They expected to keep audiences for the whole evening

(BBC2 was self-consciously niche)

Programmes such as The Avengers allowed ‘tent pole’ scheduling – the evening’s viewing was held up by popular shows

The series format meant that people stayed loyal to a channel

Resolutions in each episode meant audiences could miss a show and still watch the next one

Uses and gratifications

Personal identity – audiences could see themselves in…

Steed, who represented a debonair English gentleman with a lightness of touch

Peel, who represented Swinging London in her self-confidence and sexuality

Social interaction

Households watched TV together and fewer programmes meant people would be talking about it at work, on the bus, etc.

The enigmatic relationship between Steed and Peel got people talking

Entertainment

Audiences were more naïve in the 1960s and TV could offer a magical escape

This was a spy drama, formulaic, but always exotic and exciting

Surveillance

This show could provide a sense of looking into an inaccessible world:

•of the upper middle classes

•and espionage