(I thank Laurie Hornsby for corrections to this page)

Independent television started broadcasting in Birmingham, for the Midlands, on February 17, 1956  from the former converted Astoria cinema in Aston Road North. Programming started at 7.45pm when announcer Leslie Mitchell, the presenter who also launched BBC Television in 1936, introduced speakers at a gala ball at the Birmingham Town Hall. Speeches were made by civic heads and the then chairman of the ITA, Sir Kenneth Clark.

One of the highlights of the first night which was watched by an estimated 1,500,000 viewers, was a variety show starring, Barbara Lyon, Bob Monkhouse and Richard Hearne, the children's favourite known as Mr. Pastry. After the Independent Television News there was boxing from the Embassy at Sparkbrook.

Other programmes on that evening were Robin Hood, starring Richard Greene and I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball.

In the early days of independent television within the Midlands two companies held programme contracts, ATV and ABC. ATV held the contract to transmit programmes from Monday to Friday and ABC had the weekend contract.

Both companies decided to operate from the same studios and the name of the joint company set up to organize supplies, offices and staff was Alpha Television Services (Birmingham) Ltd.

The studios were known as the Alpha Studios at Aston.

When the contract period ended, ATV successfully applied for, and were awarded, the seven-day contract for Midlands TV broadcasting.

One of the earliest and best known  shows that Alpha produced was  Lunch Box. It was a first in lunch time TV and outside broadcasts with a variety show being taken directly to the people. The presenter was Noele Gordon, who went on to national fame as motel owner Meg Richardson in the much maligned soap, Crossroads. Music was supplied by The Jerry Allen Trio.

Another popular ATV programme at the time but would now seem a little bizarre, was presented by Godfrey Winn, the Birmingham-born columnist. The programme was called, "Godfrey Winn Speaking Personally" and it dealt with viewers' personal problems.

There was also a quiz game called Dotto, presented by Shaw Taylor. Contestants answered questions to establish an image of a famous face by connecting dots. This was played out in front of an invited studio audience. Shaw Taylor later became a household name with the first show to talk about and identify actual crime and criminals called Police 5 ,in which he would always sign off with his catch phrase,' keep em peeled'!

The Midlands news was read by  Patricia Cox. Another popular announcer was Jean Morton, who later went onto to present the children's show, The Tinga and Tucka Club before becoming a Central TV management executive.

THE GOLDEN SHOT

The last big show to come out of Alpha before the move across the city to a purpose built studio at Bridge Street, was the  game show, The Golden Shot, which had originally been made in London but was then transferred to Aston. The show was initially presented by Canadian Jackie Rae, whose performance was quite bland and he clearly struggled with the fact that the show was live. The stand up comedian Bob Monkhouse, who had been hosting ATV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium, had been a guest on the show and along with everyone else in ATV knew it was failing. Monkhouse was determined to become the presenter so he went to the personal expense of having a telerecording made of his performance and sending it to Lew Grade! Monkhouse got the job in 1967 and did in fact rescue the show making his own input and simplifying it. He  also introduced the catchphrase "Bernie the bolt".

Contestants, via a live phone call, would guide a blindfolded marksman with a crossbow to fire at a target. In the London studio the crossbow was operated by the special effects department but they did not have such a department at Aston so the company advertised for operatives. One of these selected became the famous,' Bernie the Bolt', although unknown to the public there were two Bernies! One contestant even phoned in from a public phone using a television screen in the window of a TV shop alongside the phone box!

The Golden Shot was very much Bob Monkhouse's show and when he left in 1972 it was never the same again. The next presenter, Norman Vaughn, was said to have been nervous and lacked Monkhouse's slickness and quick wittedness. Vaughn was replaced by the ex professional football player & comedian Charlie Williams. Williams was  quite embarrassing to watch, being clearly out of his depth and was replaced again by Bob Monkhouse. Monkhouse had also done a deal with Lew Grade that if he rescued 'The Shot' he would also get to do Hollywood Square's, an American game show brought to England which was re-named Celebrity squares. Lew changed the plan slightly giving Monkhouse 'Squares' but finishing 'The Shot' after a few more episodes. In the final episode Williams and Vaughn appeared alongside Monkhouse for a farewell but whereas as Monkhouse was bidding farewell to 'The Shot' the other two were bidding farewell to their TV careers!.

CROSSROADS

The soap crossroads  started on the 2nd November 1964 it was the first daily serial on UK television. On a Monday the show would be set up for the week there would then be two shot on a Tuesday, two on Wednesday and one on Thursday. Later on episodes were reduced to four a week.

Lew Grade came up with the original idea of a daily serial centred around a Bed & Breakfast in the Midlands from which the writers made it into a motel. Crossroads was a massive success, although sometimes knocked by the critics for shaky scenery and dialogue, it won many awards. In 1973 it won the Sun newspaper award for top ITV series and it went on to win this award a further two times in successive years. The star, Noelle Gordon who played Meg Mortimer, won the TV Times award for most compulsive female character 8 times and was the first award winner to be elevated to the TV Times Hall of Fame.

Other notable stars where Sue Hanson (married to Carl Wayne, lead singer of The Move)

Paul Henry, who played nitwit Benny

Jane Rossington who played Noel Gordon's daughter

Ronald Allen, who played David Hunter

Roger Tonge, who played Sandy Mortimer

Tony Adams, who played Adam Chance

Joy Andrews, who played Trish Hope

Other well knowns who dropped in were, Jess Conrad, Arnold Ridley, Tony Britton, Larry Grayson, Joe Loss. Malcolm Mac Donald and Kay Dotrice.

After the 3000th episode of Crossroads a celebration dinner was held at the Chateau Impney at Droitwich on Tuesday 19th September 1978 and attended by the cast.

Paul Mc Cartney re-recorded the theme tune which was used between 1975 and 1984

Crossroads held the record of the most episodes of any soap ever, 4510, only overtaken by Coronation Street in 1997!

Noele Gordon was eventually sacked from Crossroads. Known for being a little difficult, the management had grown tired of her and Crossroads but sacking her did not have the desire effect and the series staggered on for another 6 years but it's best years had gone. The last episode of Crossroads was shown April 4th 1988.

THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS

On the weekends big shows came up from Teddington such as Thank Your Lucky Stars which started in April 1961 and was to be the answer to the BBC's Juke Box jury which had been running on BBC since 1959.

Keith Fordyce was the first presenter before he moved to front Ready Steady Go,  but the best known presenter was Brian Matthew, who still hosts a Saturday morning radio show on Radio 2. Amongst  other presenters were, Pete Murray, Jimmy Saville, Sam Costa, Alan Dell, Barry Alldis, Kent Walton (who later went on to be the ITV wrestling commentator), Jimmy Young and Don Moss. (Laurie Hornsby has informed me that this list of presenters is incorrect, just shows what happens when you refer to the works of others! I only remember Brian Matthew presenting this show ansd as soon as i back in touch with Laurie Iwill amend this list)

Don Moss first introduced a  weekly panel of youngsters in a part of the show that was called 'Spin a Disc', This was a direct copy of Juke Box Jury where the latest singles were played and the panel then passed judgment on the records, giving marks out of five. It was this part of the show which created an unlikely star in the shape of 16 year old Janice Nichols from Wednesbury.

Her comments, "Oi'll give it foive",  in a broad Black Country accent became a national catchphrase, and she soon found herself in demand on television and in the newspapers. Such was her appeal that she was given a regular weekly spot on the show.

The show was performed in front of a live audience who sat in the former circle of the cinema and was an instant success as it featured the groups everyone wanted to see.

One of the biggest acts ever to appear on the show were the Beatles who appeared on January 19th 1963 to mime to their second single From Me To You, it being their professional debut television performance.

When the Beatles and the Rolling Stones appeared most of the floor technicians became unofficial bouncers in an attempt to restrain the girls from pulling the boys off the stage!

It was this show that introduced the nation to the Mersey sound and was the brainchild and work of producer Phillip Jones, a former Radio Luxembourg programme assistant.

American acts also appeared including, The Ronettes, Brenda Lee, and The Supremes.

Sadly the original studio which was next to Aston Road Post Office, has been demolished. the site is now occupied by a local radio station.

Anybody who can give any further information about the studios or the programmes should contact  us via the email address on the home page