Television

The Story of ATV Today – An Illustrated Talk

Back in 2011 and 2012 I was, along with a group of like-minded TV-loving friend, part of “ATVLAND.productions” and we produced 2 DVD documentary series charting the television history of the “ATV Centre” Studios in Birmingham, and the Midlands News Magazine Programme “ATV Today”.

From ATVLAND in Colour
Available from Amazon (click the image) or direct from www.macearchive.org/tv-nostalgia
Available from Amazon (click the image) or direct from www.macearchive.org/tv-nostalgia

Both “From ATVLAND in Colour” and “From Headlines to Tight-Lines: The Story of ATV Today” were released by the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) and were very well received.

“The Story of ATV Today” even went on to win an international film-makers award in 2013 from the Federation of Commercial Audiovisual Libraries (FOCAL) for Best Use of Footage in a Home Entertainment Release.

In September 2013 as part of the promotional activities, as co-producer I was asked to give a talk about the “The Story of ATV Today” series at Tipton Library. I recorded this ‘illustrated talk’ featuring a number of clips and trailers from the programmes as well as some behind the scenes stories of the production of the documentaries. Now in 2021 I’ve re-discovered my original camcorder recording and so I’ve re-constructed the complete talk over 2 parts.

Part One looks at the the early years of local news in the Midlands and the development of “ATV Today”

Part Two looks at some of the hard-hitting news stories of the 70s, plus some of the programme’s personalities.

Click the links to play them in YouTube, or scroll down and play them here – choose which part you want from below and it’ll play in the big window.

If you like what you see – and you’d like to get hold of the DVDs (if you don’t already have them) then both DVD sets remain available from Amazon and Macewww.MACEarchive.org/tv-nostalgia