0:00:02 > 0:00:04- Good evening.- This is BBC Two. - Blast off!
0:00:04 > 0:00:05I've got a story to tell you.
0:00:05 > 0:00:06What happened?
0:00:06 > 0:00:10- # Da-da-da-da, doo-doo-do-doo-doo. # - Give us a job.
0:00:10 > 0:00:11My darling John.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13I miss him, I know I shouldn't do this.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Hello and welcome to this week's Whistle Test.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19BBC Two hit the air
0:00:19 > 0:00:22on 20 April, 1964.
0:00:22 > 0:00:23This anniversary series tells
0:00:23 > 0:00:26the stories of some of the programmes that shaped it.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36But first, how it all began.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41TRUMPET FANFARE
0:00:41 > 0:00:45When BBC Two was announced, ie the second channel,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48an awful lot of those who would be involved
0:00:48 > 0:00:51were already whacked from the effort
0:00:51 > 0:00:53of finding a competitive response to ITV.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57The idea of another channel was, "Oh, my God, not more," you know!
0:00:59 > 0:01:02It was 625 lines, not 405,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05so somehow we had to persuade the world at large
0:01:05 > 0:01:07that they should spend some money on a new set.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09That was only half the problem.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Every studio in which we made programmes had to have new cameras
0:01:12 > 0:01:15and it tested every system the BBC had at the time.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21I was required to create a complimentary alternative,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24so that when you came to the end of a programme on BBC One, you could
0:01:24 > 0:01:26switch across and there would be a lovely programme on BBC Two.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28The fact of the matter is
0:01:28 > 0:01:30I didn't have anything like enough programmers.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37We were supposed to start the network off
0:01:37 > 0:01:40and having gone through the rehearsals,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42and they had gone quite well, for a nine-minute programme
0:01:42 > 0:01:44so you can't have too much go wrong,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47or at least that's what we thought.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50I was in my office obviously intending to watch there
0:01:50 > 0:01:55with friends. And at seven o'clock, suddenly all the power went.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58All the screens that I was sitting looking at went blank
0:01:58 > 0:02:01and then people burst into the production gallery,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03a couple of engineers saying, "Disaster,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07"there's been a power failure due to a fire at Battersea Power Station.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09"There are no lights in all of West London."
0:02:09 > 0:02:10I said something silly like,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12"Well, what's that going to do for BBC Two?"
0:02:12 > 0:02:16And the guy looked at me and said, "Without power we cannot transmit."
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Tonight of all nights there has been a loss of electric power
0:02:21 > 0:02:24at our main studios at Television Centre in West London.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29The newsroom were asked to put out a bulletin to explain
0:02:29 > 0:02:32what was happening, to those who COULD receive BBC Two.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34TELEPHONE RINGS
0:02:34 > 0:02:35Excuse me.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Just like Channel One. Hello.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Unlike Channel One, there's nobody there.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45By nine o'clock, we were thinking, "We'll be on the air until midnight
0:02:45 > 0:02:47"if the power comes on just now."
0:02:47 > 0:02:49And then, of course, by half past nine it hadn't come on
0:02:49 > 0:02:51so we decided the only thing to do
0:02:51 > 0:02:53was to start again the following day.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56That is all for the moment, I think.
0:02:56 > 0:02:57Anything else?
0:02:59 > 0:03:04That's all we have for the moment, but we will be keeping in touch.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06It was, of course, wonderful publicity.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09- NEWS REPORT:- 'A massive breakdown at Battersea Power Station
0:03:09 > 0:03:11'brought chaos to the centre of the capital,
0:03:11 > 0:03:12'but the biggest disappointment
0:03:12 > 0:03:16'was at BBC Television Centre where the curtain failed to go up
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'on the opening night of a brand-new channel, BBC Two.'
0:03:19 > 0:03:23We decided that we would not actually specifically refer
0:03:23 > 0:03:25to the disaster of the night before,
0:03:25 > 0:03:27but the first thing you'd see would be this candle
0:03:27 > 0:03:29and it would stay like that, flickering away,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32until the time came to start.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Good evening, this is BBC Two.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38The first programme that went on the air for BBC Two
0:03:38 > 0:03:39was in fact Playschool.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42TITLE MUSIC PLAYS
0:03:42 > 0:03:44Hello. I'm Virginia.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Hello, I'm Gordon.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49I came up with this seven faces of the week idea
0:03:49 > 0:03:51which took each night and said
0:03:51 > 0:03:54it's only going to have one sort of programme.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And by doing it that way, themed nights if you like,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00I was able actually to create seven days of television.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03One night was all repeats, for example,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05but it did allow us to get on the air in April.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08THEME MUSIC TO THE GREAT WAR
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Individual programmes got particular notice by critics and the fact
0:04:12 > 0:04:15that they were well received reflected well on the channel.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22- FILM NARRATION: - 'You ate beside the dead.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25'You drank beside the dead.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27'You relieved yourself beside the dead.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31'You slept beside the dead.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:33We had a regular series called "Jazz 625",
0:04:33 > 0:04:34which is just what it sounds like.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39Every week, we had some really good jazz people. We had Duke Ellington.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41MUSIC: "Take the A Train."
0:04:50 > 0:04:52'And now we come to Match Of The Day.'
0:04:52 > 0:04:56TITLE MUSIC PLAYS
0:04:56 > 0:04:58We persuaded the football league to let us show recorded
0:04:58 > 0:05:02highlights of matches that day at seven o'clock on a Saturday night.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05And we had the presumption
0:05:05 > 0:05:08to break the FA's rule, which was
0:05:08 > 0:05:12no televised soccer before ten o'clock at night because it might
0:05:12 > 0:05:15affect the spectator gate for soccer
0:05:15 > 0:05:17and we hadn't told them either.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Well, all hell broke loose.
0:05:19 > 0:05:20Welcome to Match Of The Day,
0:05:20 > 0:05:25the first of a weekly series coming to you every Saturday on BBC Two.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29The trouble eventually blew over and Match Of The Day was soon to head
0:05:29 > 0:05:32a long list of successfully negotiated
0:05:32 > 0:05:33transfer deals to BBC One.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39THEME TUNE PLAYS
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Dick was a trainee at the BBC
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and I was in what I suppose I'd now call my "gap year".
0:05:48 > 0:05:49Ian was out of work
0:05:49 > 0:05:53and living with a couple of Geordies around the corner.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55A really good person working with me in those days was Bill Cotton.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58And Bill came into my office one day and he said,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02"Mike, I've got a training exercise which Dick Clement has done."
0:06:02 > 0:06:08Bill Cotton, legend has it, rushed in to see Michael Peacock,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Chief of Programmes,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14carrying a 16mm projector and a tin of film
0:06:14 > 0:06:17and showed it on Michael Peacock's wall.
0:06:17 > 0:06:18Get away!
0:06:18 > 0:06:21And there was what became The Likely Lads.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23You must be joking?!
0:06:23 > 0:06:25We just couldn't believe our luck.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Hey, it's massive! Look at the size of it, eh?
0:06:28 > 0:06:30- Come on, get up on the back.- No. - Come on, come on.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Hey, it's great.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36- Vroom! Raaar!- Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Highway patrol, highway patrol.
0:06:39 > 0:06:40Follow that car.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42THEY MIMIC MOTORBIKE ENGINE
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Are Batman and Robin enjoying themselves?
0:06:46 > 0:06:49We didn't specify exactly where it was.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51We made it vaguely northeastern.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55All systems go. Three, two, one, blast off!
0:06:55 > 0:06:57AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It was mostly shot in Harlesden, actually.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Audience research had something called the RI,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13the reaction index.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15And ours was incredibly high.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17And they weren't even from the northeast these people,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19they were all in Barnet or Hertfordshire.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22If you can't lick 'em, join 'em.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23I'm in.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26I'm in the REME with you.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27Well, what's the matter?
0:07:27 > 0:07:28You've signed on?
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Three years, yeah.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Where are you going? What's this?
0:07:32 > 0:07:33I'm going home.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36What, you're on leave already?!
0:07:36 > 0:07:37No, I've been discharged.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40They failed me on my medical.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42What?
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Flat feet.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I was sad, I was sad when it came to an end
0:07:47 > 0:07:50because we had such physical fun making it.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53We had a rapport, Jim and I.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56I got it working.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58LAUGHTER
0:08:01 > 0:08:05TRUMPET FANFARE
0:08:05 > 0:08:06Good evening.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Up to now, this particular spot on BBC Two just before the main
0:08:09 > 0:08:13programmes of the evening begin has been the Line-Up spot.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16When BBC Two began we had this early evening publicity programme
0:08:16 > 0:08:19called Line-Up and that's all it was,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22it was a little ten minutes that puffed upcoming programmes.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25However from now on, the Line-Up programme takes on a new
0:08:25 > 0:08:28late-night look and moves on to the end of the evening.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32They realised they could switch Line-Up from its early position
0:08:32 > 0:08:35and put it on late at night, make it longer
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and we could talk much more about television.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Homosexuality male and female in Britain today was
0:08:41 > 0:08:44the subject of a Man Alive enquiry on BBC Two.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48But of course it was wildly unpopular
0:08:48 > 0:08:50amongst my producer colleagues
0:08:50 > 0:08:54who didn't actually care for somebody to appear on the programme
0:08:54 > 0:08:56half an hour after their show just finished and say,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58"Well, that was a load of rubbish, wasn't it?"
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I thought it was quite a good programme,
0:09:01 > 0:09:02in a way slightly unambitious.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05I suppose Line-Up was my big break.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07It really did make a difference to my life.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11When you come to television do you find it an incomplete medium
0:09:11 > 0:09:13compared to stage?
0:09:13 > 0:09:14Er, yes.
0:09:14 > 0:09:15Mr Crosby, this is the first time
0:09:15 > 0:09:18you've done situation comedy on television, isn't it?
0:09:18 > 0:09:19That's true, Joan.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22It was a time when there weren't women in
0:09:22 > 0:09:26daily, current affairs television programmes at all.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29It was a time of short skirts
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and general friskiness.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34And I suppose I was as frisky as anyone
0:09:34 > 0:09:36and that got noticed too.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39A legendary night in the history of Late Night Line-Up
0:09:39 > 0:09:41was what was known as comedy writers' night.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Well, we have an extra guest with us who's just leaving.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48'Another comedy writer who hadn't been invited
0:09:48 > 0:09:50'broke into the studio and was hauled off
0:09:50 > 0:09:53'physically by the director who ran out from the gallery.'
0:09:53 > 0:09:55I am a comedy writer!
0:09:55 > 0:09:57John, cool it, for God's sake!
0:09:57 > 0:10:01'Then Johnny Speight began to be very talkative.'
0:10:01 > 0:10:03If I had to live by myself...
0:10:03 > 0:10:06If I'm writing rubbish I can't live with myself...
0:10:06 > 0:10:08INDISTINCT
0:10:08 > 0:10:12And I was told that if I didn't do something about this,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14the programme was going to be pulled off the air.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16LAUGHTER
0:10:16 > 0:10:17Could I please...
0:10:17 > 0:10:19We'll wrap this up in 60 seconds
0:10:19 > 0:10:21if I can't make a point without being heard.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24We managed to reach our own wrap-up
0:10:24 > 0:10:26without the plug being pulled,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28that's all I can claim happened.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31I think there's no doubt that comedy on tonight's evidence is
0:10:31 > 0:10:33certainly a serious business.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35That's all from Line-up Review, good night.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40# Tell your mama
0:10:40 > 0:10:41# Tell your pa
0:10:41 > 0:10:44# Or get back to Arkansas... #
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Monday night was Beat Room night.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50# ..I say don't do right, yeah... #
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Chart-topping acts and of course the Beat Girls.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56# ..What I see
0:10:56 > 0:10:58# I tell them what I see... #
0:10:58 > 0:11:00Some of whom went on to BBC One
0:11:00 > 0:11:02and Pan's People fame.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05The Beat Girls in the weekly Beat Room.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Appealing to perhaps another sector of the '60s youth market
0:11:10 > 0:11:11was Let Me Speak.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13I am a communist and I'll tell you why.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Described as the speaker's corner of television,
0:11:16 > 0:11:17young people were given
0:11:17 > 0:11:19the opportunity to air
0:11:19 > 0:11:22controversial views in front of Malcolm Muggeridge.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25In power, is the Communist Party of Great Britain going to
0:11:25 > 0:11:29- differ from all other Communist parties in permitting dissent?- Yes.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Why? Because we feel that when we get into power we'll have
0:11:32 > 0:11:35the vast mass of the working people behind us.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38In my job as a senior technician in the physics field
0:11:38 > 0:11:40I observe the orderliness
0:11:40 > 0:11:44and intelligence of the great scientist and creator Jehovah God.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47I treat people the way I expect them to treat me.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48I don't care who they are,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52if they're television announcers or just people that come from Sweden.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Yes, I applaud that.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56And now Not Only But Also.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00The pilot that we were commissioned to do was originally called,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03with great originality,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05the Dudley Moore Show.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06Then Peter Cook came in.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10And a colleague of mine for 60 or 70 years now, Mr Peter Cook.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12APPLAUSE
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Michael Peacock saw it along with Bill Cotton.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18They suggested maybe it would be good to have Peter Cook
0:12:18 > 0:12:19the whole time.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22We're pleased to have with us the Mabel Pringle Singers.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26- And with us indeed the leader of the group, Mabel Pringle.- Good evening.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31And so we thought it would be current affairs with comedy,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34music and a guest star.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Would it help if I told you that I was the Duke and Duchess of Windsor?
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Sorry, sir, didn't recognise you, Your Majesty.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Well, actually, Sir, there's a £5 waiting list.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47I understand, it's one of the blue ones.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Thank you very much indeed.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51I love your Oxford accent.
0:12:51 > 0:12:52- Follow your nose, Sir.- Thank you.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55And Madam.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Dudley always told me, he didn't realise until he started
0:12:58 > 0:13:02doing it, how absurd some of the situations and the words were.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04That's when he started to laugh.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07I was just about to drop off when suddenly,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11tap, tap, tap at the bloody windowpane.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16- I looked out, you know who it was? - Who?
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Bloody Greta Garbo...
0:13:18 > 0:13:20LAUGHTER
0:13:23 > 0:13:24..bloody Greta Garbo,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27stark naked...
0:13:29 > 0:13:31..save for a shorty nightie.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- DICK CLEMENT:- It was really the top show at the time.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37And I can see, I can see...
0:13:37 > 0:13:40I can see her knuckles all white.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42And Peter was so incredibly funny
0:13:42 > 0:13:45that I felt totally intimidated,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48which I found out later was Alan Bennett's reaction as well.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51So then I felt that I was in better company.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53But it was a fantastic opportunity for me to do it.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57TINKLY PIANO MUSIC
0:13:57 > 0:13:59We were doing extraordinary stuff.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02We lowered the piano into the Thames and then filmed them
0:14:02 > 0:14:06playing the piano underwater in Butlins holiday camp.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Every Sunday night, people were begging for tickets to come
0:14:09 > 0:14:11and see the show.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14I think I had more fun directing that than anything I have ever done.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16One and a half, please.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18LAUGHTER
0:14:18 > 0:14:21TITLE MUSIC FOR MAN ALIVE
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Man Alive was principally the brainchild of ex-tabloid
0:14:28 > 0:14:30reporter Desmond Wilcox.
0:14:31 > 0:14:37Desmond had a very un-BBC attitude
0:14:37 > 0:14:38towards documentary.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Do you think it's possible for other parents to understand
0:14:43 > 0:14:46the feelings of a mother when something like this happens?
0:14:46 > 0:14:48No.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50It's impossible.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53His famous question was how does it feel?
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- They never caught the man.- No.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00How do you feel about that?
0:15:00 > 0:15:02I feel very bitter.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Very bitter indeed.
0:15:04 > 0:15:11It irritated a lot of constipated critics, who couldn't take
0:15:11 > 0:15:13the emotional power of these stories.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15If he's breathing,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17my child should be breathing.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19And if the Lord answers my prayers,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22he will suffer the way that we suffer.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Light Entertainment said, "We've got to have a quiz,
0:15:28 > 0:15:29"we do need a quiz programme.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31"I mean, they're very cheap and they're very popular
0:15:31 > 0:15:34"and they get a big audience, a loyal audience," and so on.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36So I said,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40"OK, but it's got to be an intelligent quiz."
0:15:40 > 0:15:44Welcome to BBC Two's game of words and wit, Call My Bluff.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48- Hick-boo.- Gruma.- Alductum. - Trubilian.- Hinch pinch.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51- Yarum.- Afoofoo.- Lomi lomi. - Trolloper.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Now, Hannah Gordon.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Akame.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57- Cherma.- Coptanks.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00- Spava.- Holv.- Mon.- Talloum.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02- Dildnell.- Conky.
0:16:02 > 0:16:03- Yinkiny.- Jip.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05- Sniddell.- Atunk.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10'For the viewers on the BBC, the dramatisation of this
0:16:10 > 0:16:12'long-neglected saga has become a television legend
0:16:12 > 0:16:14'of fact and folklore.'
0:16:14 > 0:16:19The Forsyte Saga was an expensive gamble which paid off.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Running for 26 weeks and costing
0:16:21 > 0:16:23an unprecedented quarter of a million pounds,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27it told the story of one feuding family, and revolved
0:16:27 > 0:16:30around the turbulent relationship between Soames and his wife, Irene.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34- Hello, Soames. Nose down to business?- Shouldn't I?
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Certainly, but don't deprive your pretty wife of her pleasures.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41- Champagne.- She's a good-looking woman. I'm told they don't get on.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43'Traditional British drinking habits
0:16:43 > 0:16:44'have been disrupted to suit the saga.'
0:16:44 > 0:16:46'It became quite clear very early on'
0:16:46 > 0:16:49this was phone-off-the-hook time,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52because the country was hooked.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58Very pretty.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01It was the kind of forerunner of the soaps we have today.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03It was a posh soap, really.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Kill me if you like. I'd rather you killed me.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Kill you? Why should I? No, there's no need to kill you.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12- Anybody can have you, can't they? - No! No!
0:17:12 > 0:17:14'The public reacted very strongly,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17'either on the side of Soames or on the side of Irene.'
0:17:17 > 0:17:21If I had to marry over again, I would marry my same wife over again,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24or a woman as near to Irene as I could find.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28To me, he's a figure like Othello or Orpheus,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32dedicated to love, and this is perhaps not a very British type,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35but I hope that it will become more so in the future.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Irene and Soames were to part, but the feuding carried on
0:17:38 > 0:17:42into the next generation, coming between young lovers Jon and Fleur.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Hello, Jon.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Hello, Fleur.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50There was a way that we had of acting,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52which was very well-spoken, of course.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55It would hurt Mother terribly.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57You've got to choose.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01I would say, "I love you, Fleur." She'd say, "I love you, Jon."
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Good night, my darling Jon.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06Dream about me.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11'We just did it like a live show. There wasn't any time to spare.'
0:18:11 > 0:18:15'I had to race across the studio, out of my pyjamas, I'd already got
0:18:15 > 0:18:18'my dinner jacket trousers on underneath,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21'the dresser would put my jacket and everything, smarten me up,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25'and I'd trip over a couple of cables on my way to the drawing-room set,
0:18:25 > 0:18:31'where Ny was just finishing this Chopin Etude, and I'd get into place,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35'leaning on the piano, just as the camera came round to me.'
0:18:40 > 0:18:43When I commissioned the Forsyte Saga for BBC Two,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46a couple of years later, I had started London Weekend
0:18:46 > 0:18:49and I had Forsyte Saga against me on BBC One,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52so I was really hoist on my own petard.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54'The results so far,
0:18:54 > 0:18:59'sales to 27 countries ranging from Sweden to Zambia.'
0:18:59 > 0:19:03SOAMES DUBBED: Stupido! Impossible!
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Tomorrow, BBC Two starts it colour-launching programmes.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11I thought, "Well, the BBC was the first in the world to produce
0:19:11 > 0:19:15"public viewing television pictures. We aught to be the first in colour."
0:19:15 > 0:19:18But the difficulty was we hadn't got enough cameras.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28It suddenly dawned on me that if we put just four of those cameras
0:19:28 > 0:19:33in Wimbledon, we could televise for hours and hours and hours and hours.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38We guaranteed if you'd got a colour set, you would get
0:19:38 > 0:19:42so many hours of colour a week, and boy, did Wimbledon help in that.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And we were the first in Europe, as a consequence.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49The Germans were furious, I'm happy to say!
0:19:49 > 0:19:51CHURCH ORGAN PLAYS
0:19:51 > 0:19:57David Attenborough's BBC Two really wanted to put TV colour to the test.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Architecture and works of art were the ideal subjects.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04There could only be one man to front it.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08What is civilisation?
0:20:08 > 0:20:09I don't know.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11If there was a big exhibition on,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15K Clark was the man who was called in to do it.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18I can't define it in abstract terms yet,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20but I think I can recognise it
0:20:20 > 0:20:23when I see it, and I'm looking at it now.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32Clark produced the first script, the first programme,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36and Michael Gill read it and went to Clark and said, "This is hopeless."
0:20:36 > 0:20:40And Daddy had to go to him and tear it all up,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44and say, we've got to start again, and wrote it with him.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45Ruskin said,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49"Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54"The book of their deeds, a book of their words and a book of their art.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58"But of the three the only trustworthy one is the last."
0:20:58 > 0:21:03He thought he had a very off-putting manner, and that he was very cold.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06The long dominance of the barbarous wanderers was over,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11and Western Europe was prepared for its first great age of civilisation.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15GREGORIAN CHANTING
0:21:15 > 0:21:18'People feel embraced by the grandeur of the arts,'
0:21:18 > 0:21:21without really being talked down to.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23One does think of him as lofty, but actually,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25that script was very simple,
0:21:25 > 0:21:30'and the mellifluousness of it was a kind of friendly act on television.'
0:21:30 > 0:21:32What happened?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Well, it took Gibbon nine volumes to describe
0:21:35 > 0:21:37The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39and I shall not embark on that.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45When colour came, of course, we were able to do snooker,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47and that was a HUGE success.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49Nobody had been able to do it before
0:21:49 > 0:21:52because all the balls were looking grey.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54TED LOWE: For those of you in black-and-white,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56it's the green over that bottom pocket that he's looking at.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00POT BLACK THEME PLAYS
0:22:00 > 0:22:04In 1969, when I first put Pot Black together,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08I couldn't get eight players.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11There were only seven.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13'Pot Black was born by creating
0:22:13 > 0:22:18'a professional of the amateur champion to make up eight players.'
0:22:19 > 0:22:22At the moment, Charlton, with a break of eight,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24sits right in the middle of the reds.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28'When I first started, there was no such things as commentary boxes.'
0:22:28 > 0:22:32I sat in amongst the audience who I was scared to death might hear
0:22:32 > 0:22:33what I was going to say.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37(So I talked very quietly into the microphone.)
0:22:37 > 0:22:40The culmination of 16 weeks.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44The grand finale, and it's the defender
0:22:44 > 0:22:47versus the challenger, the challenger breaking off.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50The big break for me was getting invited into Pot Black.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52I mean, that was the big thing,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55'because it got your face known around the country.'
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Dennis Taylor, making his debut,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00and at the same time giving four points away.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02The grounding you got just playing that one frame
0:23:02 > 0:23:06enabled you to cope with all sorts of pressures
0:23:06 > 0:23:07later on in your career.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10A big smile.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'What the professionals of snooker are receiving'
0:23:13 > 0:23:19today is all down to that funny little programme called Pot Black.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20POT BLACK THEME PLAYS
0:23:24 > 0:23:26GOODIES THEME PLAYS
0:23:28 > 0:23:31The Goodies combined the comedic talents of Bill Oddie,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor...
0:23:36 > 0:23:39..together with a whole bunch of technical wizardry.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48This is day two of Twinkle's occupation of the City of London.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Michael Aspel, BBC, London.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02Hello, and welcome to this week's Whistle Test.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04WHISTLE TEST THEME PLAYS
0:24:07 > 0:24:09The BBC were looking to find a niche
0:24:09 > 0:24:13for this kind of new, developing album music,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16singer-songwriter, progressive music,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18and across the board, you know,
0:24:18 > 0:24:20the programme became fantastically eclectic.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Music was being treated a bit more seriously.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27It wasn't just the pop of Top Of The Pops,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29and I thought television should reflect that.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32# The world is getting out of our control. #
0:24:35 > 0:24:38It was so great to work in there for bands who came in.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41I mean, there was a sense of freedom about the programme
0:24:41 > 0:24:44that encouraged them to be expressive.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56The time that we realised the impact the programme was beginning to have
0:24:56 > 0:24:58was when Focus appeared on the show.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Polydor, the record label,
0:25:02 > 0:25:08had had to transfer all pressing plant activity
0:25:08 > 0:25:10to the pressing of Focus albums
0:25:10 > 0:25:13for the next ten days to try and keep up with the demand
0:25:13 > 0:25:16that had been created from their appearance on the programme.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18If you're putting out something and you don't really know
0:25:18 > 0:25:21whether people want to see it or not and you get that response,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24it sort of charges the battery to go on for a bit longer.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33It became one of the great experiences of my life,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37you know, my seven years of Whistle Test, it was fantastic.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47The late '60s and early '70s saw an explosion in costume drama.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Ingrate!
0:25:53 > 0:25:56But perhaps the most unlikely success of all
0:25:56 > 0:25:59was an everyday story of Roman folk.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04I, Claudius was a kind of
0:26:04 > 0:26:10domestic drama about the most powerful family in the Western world.
0:26:12 > 0:26:13It's the story of
0:26:13 > 0:26:19an apparently semi-idiotic Roman aristocrat
0:26:19 > 0:26:21'called Claudius.'
0:26:21 > 0:26:23If that head of yours doesn't stop twitching,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25I'll have it off and stuck on a pole.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27That'll fix it.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Th-th-thank you, Grandma.
0:26:29 > 0:26:35Who, as a result of all kinds of miserable and violent,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38vicious manoeuvrings, eventually finds himself
0:26:38 > 0:26:43in a position in which he is being made Emperor of Rome.
0:26:43 > 0:26:51Senators, I understand you do not want another emperor,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54but it seems you have... been given one.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59The decision to shoot I, Claudius in the studio was an artistic one.
0:26:59 > 0:27:00It wasn't based on money.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04There is an intensity and a concentration in a studio
0:27:04 > 0:27:07that you do not get, I feel, on locations.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10He believes that she poisoned our grandfather.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14He believes she will stop at nothing to ensure Tiberius follows Augustus.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16He believes she's mad!
0:27:17 > 0:27:20- SIAN PHILLIPS:- 'We didn't get very good notices at first.'
0:27:20 > 0:27:26And I said all that - p-p-p-p - without stuttering! Well, n-nearly.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30The fact that we were all in togas and doing very authentically
0:27:30 > 0:27:36Roman things, but talking in modern English, they found it very weird.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38What is the watchword for tonight, Caesar?
0:27:38 > 0:27:42What about, give us a kiss?
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Then the critics started to realise the style of it,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48and then people caught on.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51- How long have we been married? - Don't you remember?
0:27:51 > 0:27:5350 years, and in all that time,
0:27:53 > 0:27:55you've never been able to tell one plant
0:27:55 > 0:27:59from another, and suddenly, you know all there is to know about pruning.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00Wonderful!
0:28:00 > 0:28:07The things that work best on television are the family.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10'I think that was the fascination of it.'
0:28:10 > 0:28:13To tell you the truth, I couldn't give a damn about Drusus and Nero.
0:28:13 > 0:28:14But they're your brothers!
0:28:14 > 0:28:17Yes, I know, but then you don't like Aunt Livilla,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19and she is your sister.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Now, I love my sisters, Uncle.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Yes, I know.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29It is the king the king of soaps. It is what a soap should be.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Quite a story, wasn't it?
0:28:36 > 0:28:40# Oh, what happened to you?
0:28:40 > 0:28:42# Whatever happened to me?
0:28:44 > 0:28:47# And what became of the people
0:28:47 > 0:28:51# We used to be?
0:28:51 > 0:28:54# Tomorrow's almost over
0:28:54 > 0:28:58# Today went by so fast
0:28:58 > 0:29:02# It's the only thing to look forward to
0:29:02 > 0:29:05# The past... #