Carlton Television
Encyclopedia
Carlton Television was the ITV
franchise holder for London
and the surrounding counties
including the cities of Solihull
and Coventry
of the West Midlands
, south Suffolk
, middle and east Hampshire
, Oxfordshire
, south Bedfordshire
, south Northamptonshire
, parts of Herefordshire
& Worcestershire
, Warwickshire
and east Gloucestershire
from 09:25 every Monday to 17:15 every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Television
as a single entity (ITV London
), but the two companies are still separately licensed. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc
under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Carlton has been branded on air as 'ITV1
' since 09:25 on 28 October 2002.
's Carlton Communications
to bid for an ITV
franchise. Having failed to buy into Thames Television
in 1987, Carlton finally succeeded in ousting that broadcaster in the 1991/92 franchise round, for reasons that were seen as political.
A controversial edition of Thames Television's This Week documentary series dealt with the killing of IRA
members in Gibraltar by a British Army's special forces
unit. Titled Death On The Rock
, the programme infuriated the UK Conservative
government, led by Margaret Thatcher
, as well as British tabloid newspapers. Death On The Rock went on to win a British Television Academy Award
.
It has been widely believed, but not fully proven, that the 1990 Broadcasting Act
was used to revoke Thames' ITV franchise licence because of Death On The Rock's criticism of the British Army.
headquarters to the LNN playout centre from where Carlton went on-air with an opening ident featuring the then Town Crier of London, Maurice Jones, with the then-famous slogan of Carlton, "This is Carlton! Television for London", ringing the bell three times, and the first announcement from continuity announcer Graham Bannerman. He started the first continuity announcement for Carlton with these words: "And a very Happy new year. Welcome to 1993, and our first programme live from Trafalgar Square
, here's Chris Tarrant with A Carlton New Year." The station's first programme was the entertainment special A Carlton New Year, produced in-house and presented by Chris Tarrant
. After the special, the movie Best Defense
, which starred Dudley Moore
and Eddie Murphy
, aired, which began after Carlton's second ident, with the Cadets of the Royal Navy, saying the slogan, was shown. Idents from 1993-94 had the slogan: "This is Carlton. Television for London.", "This is Carlton" or "You're watching Carlton."
Unlike Thames (which was both a production company and a broadcaster, and following a merger, continuing to produce programmes under the name Talkback Thames), Carlton chose to commission most of its programming from independent production companies. Its contract to hold the ITV franchise licence disallows the company to commission all programming, therefore it was compulsory for Carlton to produce a minimal amount of programming for the network.
The first ever Carlton programme to be broadcast nationally was Surprise Party, effectively the same format as This Is Your Life
, previously a mainstay of predecessor Thames Television. Hosted by Michael Parkinson
, the first celebrity to be the subject of the show was entrepreneur Richard Branson
. At the end of the hour-long show, Michael Parkinson told viewers to keep their eyes out for another Surprise Party. However, no further programmes were ever made.
Alarm bells had been ringing before Carlton even transmitted as part of the ITV network, as one notable commission with wide publicity was The Good Sex Guide, inviting scorn and derision from conservative newspapers, before it had actually been broadcast.
about truthfulness in broadcast journalism in May 1998, when The Guardian
carried a series of articles alleging the wholesale fabrication of a much-garlanded 1996 Carlton documentary, The Connection, which had purported to film the route by which heroin was smuggled into the United Kingdom from Colombia
. An internal inquiry at Carlton found that The Guardian's allegations were in large part correct and the then industry regulator, the ITC
, punished Carlton with a record £2-million fine for multiple breaches of the UK's broadcasting codes
. The scandal led to an impassioned debate about the accuracy of documentary
production
.
, Westcountry
, and part of HTV
(via Granada
), as well as the rights to the archives of ITC Entertainment
and its former sister company ATV
, and the Rank film archive. HTV was the only region owned by Carlton not to be subject to a full rebrand as Carlton. Both "HTV West" and "HTV Wales" stayed with their then-current idents; however upon Carlton's purchase, the animated introduction and music to the idents were replaced by the sequences and audio in use with Carlton's graphical package. The logo and endboard of the ident remained unchanged however, using the generic hearts look of 1999. Carlton also did not acquire most of HTV's production facilities, most of which Granada retained.
The ITC archive is particularly lucrative since it includes such popular shows as Thunderbirds
, The Prisoner
, The Saint
and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
(original version), as well as feature films that include The Return Of The Pink Panther
, On Golden Pond
, and Capricorn One
. Many Rank Organisation
films are also part of the Carlton library. Carlton has released much of this material on video and DVD
via its own label in the UK, and via A & E Home Video
, Acorn Media, MGM Home Entertainment, and Lions Gate Home Entertainment
in the USA. A large number of these films were shown on Carlton's digital movie channel, Carlton Cinema
, however it closed in 2003.
and Wales
, made the decision to remove all regional idents, continuity and branding, and replace them with the single brand, ITV1
. English regional idents were to only precede regional programming, and regional announcements were pre-recorded from London (Wales gets on-screen recognition prior to all programming, see ITV1 Wales
). Unlike Granada-owned regions, Carlton used dual-branding on its regional idents with the Carlton logo, so the Carlton Westcountry and Carlton Central regions were simply known as ITV1 Carlton. Granada-owned franchises preferred simply to place text of the region name under the ITV1 logo. This went on until August 2003, when Carlton dropped the practice, resulting in changing the brands from Carlton Central to ITV1 for Central England, from Carlton Westcountry to ITV1 for the Westcountry. The HTV regions were re-branded ITV1 Wales and ITV1 West of England in 2002.
On 2 February 2004, Carlton Communications plc merged with Granada plc
, creating ITV plc
, which now owns all of the ITV
franchises in England
and Wales
under the ITV1 brand (Wales still uses its own on-screen identity as ITV1 Wales
, but now also uses English ITV1 continuity). In addition, Carlton Video became part of Granada Ventures, and the three English Carlton ITV regions were reverted back to their previous names: ITV1 for Central England again became ITV1 Central, ITV1 West of England became ITV1 West and ITV1 for the Westcountry became ITV1 Westcountry, prior to regional programming in their respective areas.
, Grampian Television
and Ulster Television
) has been known on air simply as ITV1 (London Weekdays). Unlike London Weekend Television
, Carlton Television did not note the last day (25/10/02) of its regional identity on-air. However, the Carlton brand continued to be seen on production captions until 2004. Since Carlton and London Weekend Television now use identical presentation and logos, the division between the London weekday and weekend franchises is now invisible, although the old LWT - now ITV1 (London Weekends) - does have London Weekend Weather, which is sponsored by a different company to that of London Weekdays.
With the merger of Carlton and Granada, Carlton Television and LWT are now run as a single entity (ITV London
), with a single management team appointed to both companies. Both continue to have a separate legal existence however, and still have separate licences, although this is now just a formality.
Upon merger, Carlton lost recognition to programmes made by their companies, which became branded as Granada and the relevant area, for example, all programmes made in London became branded as Granada London. From 16 January 2006, all programmes produced by any ITV plc owned region are branded by ITV Productions.
and managed by London News Network
, a joint company between Carlton and LWT that provided a seven day news service.
Carlton productions that required studio space were booked by the independent production company making them, and were filmed in independent facilities. When Carlton bought Central Independent Television
in 1996, their Nottingham
studios at Lenton Lane became Carlton's, giving them a studio complex that they could use, should the need for one ever arise.
Carlton are to this day based in The London Studios
, albeit as part of the ITV plc
operations housed there.
In 1994, a new in-house look was launched featuring changing backgrounds of colours with a translucent Carlton logo in the centre of the screen, becoming opaque and white at the end of the ident. These idents lasted until 1996, but were deemed not exciting or brash enough for Carlton executives. Lambie Nairn devised the new set, featuring the Carlton logo against a brightly coloured background and various animations occurring. This could be interaction between other letters in the name, letters being replaced by objects, or the letters becoming part of something larger, such as a crossword of places in London. Thirty sequences were produced, including some designed especially to introduce certain programmes.
In 1999, Carlton's boldest rebrand yet occurred, and it was also to be its last. While other regions were about to adopt the 'Hearts' generic look, Carlton refused the look and instead adopted a package that related back to the Hearts, but put their own distinct take on it. Lambie Nairn was once again commissioned, and a dozen idents were produced and were used depending on the programme to go before it. The idents featured opening films featuring a heart shape, before a star shaped light is emitted from the heart shape, before the screen changes to the Carlton logo, now with added star in top right corner, against a spinning hearts background of different colours, with ITV logo beneath. This look has received criticism, not concerning the idents themselves, but because these idents replaced the brands used by Central
and Westcountry
.
. However, three closed in 2000; and all five were closed by 2003. Most were closed due to funding issues and lack of loyal viewership. They all time-shared on three EPG
positions. Carlton Food Network
and Carlton Select
shared a channel, and Carlton Kids
, Carlton World
and another channel named 'RAW!' shared the second. Carlton Cinema
received an EPG position of its own, but would be periodically closed down to provide bandwidth "On Sport 2" during the ONdigital days.
channel from Carlton, and broadcast both in the UK and Africa. It time-shared with the Carlton Food Network, and ceased transmission in 2003.
broadcast in the daytime. This ceased transmission in 2001.
, it ceased transmission in 2000.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchise holder for London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the surrounding counties
Home Counties
The home counties is a term which refers to the counties of South East England and the East of England which border London, but do not include the capital city itself...
including the cities of Solihull
Metropolitan Borough of Solihull
The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands, in west-central England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary...
and Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
of the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, south Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, middle and east Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, south Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
, south Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, parts of Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
& Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and east Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
from 09:25 every Monday to 17:15 every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
as a single entity (ITV London
ITV London
ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the two Channel 3 broadcast franchises, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television in the London ITV region.-History:...
), but the two companies are still separately licensed. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Carlton has been branded on air as 'ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
' since 09:25 on 28 October 2002.
Creation
Carlton Television was originally a company set up by Michael GreenMichael Green (television magnate)
Michael Philip Green is a British businessman.He attended Haberdashers' Aske's School in Elstree, Hertfordshire on a scholarship and left, aged 17, with four O-Levels....
's Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
to bid for an ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchise. Having failed to buy into Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
in 1987, Carlton finally succeeded in ousting that broadcaster in the 1991/92 franchise round, for reasons that were seen as political.
A controversial edition of Thames Television's This Week documentary series dealt with the killing of IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
members in Gibraltar by a British Army's special forces
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
unit. Titled Death On The Rock
Death on the Rock
Death on the Rock is a British Academy Television Award-winning episode of Thames Television's current affairs series This Week, first aired by the British television network ITV on 28 April 1988. On 6 March 1988, three Irish Republican Army members, Danny McCann, Sean Savage and Mairéad Farrell,...
, the programme infuriated the UK Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government, led by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, as well as British tabloid newspapers. Death On The Rock went on to win a British Television Academy Award
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
.
It has been widely believed, but not fully proven, that the 1990 Broadcasting Act
Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
was used to revoke Thames' ITV franchise licence because of Death On The Rock's criticism of the British Army.
Launch
At the stroke of midnight on 1 January 1993, following ITN's Into The New Year bulletin featuring the Big Ben chimes, technicians at the Crystal Palace transmitter switched from Thames' Euston RoadEuston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
headquarters to the LNN playout centre from where Carlton went on-air with an opening ident featuring the then Town Crier of London, Maurice Jones, with the then-famous slogan of Carlton, "This is Carlton! Television for London", ringing the bell three times, and the first announcement from continuity announcer Graham Bannerman. He started the first continuity announcement for Carlton with these words: "And a very Happy new year. Welcome to 1993, and our first programme live from Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, here's Chris Tarrant with A Carlton New Year." The station's first programme was the entertainment special A Carlton New Year, produced in-house and presented by Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
. After the special, the movie Best Defense
Best Defense
Best Defense is a comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy. It was released in 1984 by Paramount Pictures.-Plot:The movie takes place as two parallel plots separated by several years: Moore is an engineer developing a targeting system on a tank for the United States Army and Murphy is an...
, which starred Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
and Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
, aired, which began after Carlton's second ident, with the Cadets of the Royal Navy, saying the slogan, was shown. Idents from 1993-94 had the slogan: "This is Carlton. Television for London.", "This is Carlton" or "You're watching Carlton."
Unlike Thames (which was both a production company and a broadcaster, and following a merger, continuing to produce programmes under the name Talkback Thames), Carlton chose to commission most of its programming from independent production companies. Its contract to hold the ITV franchise licence disallows the company to commission all programming, therefore it was compulsory for Carlton to produce a minimal amount of programming for the network.
The first ever Carlton programme to be broadcast nationally was Surprise Party, effectively the same format as This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
, previously a mainstay of predecessor Thames Television. Hosted by Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...
, the first celebrity to be the subject of the show was entrepreneur Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
. At the end of the hour-long show, Michael Parkinson told viewers to keep their eyes out for another Surprise Party. However, no further programmes were ever made.
Alarm bells had been ringing before Carlton even transmitted as part of the ITV network, as one notable commission with wide publicity was The Good Sex Guide, inviting scorn and derision from conservative newspapers, before it had actually been broadcast.
Factual inaccuracy in 1996 documentary
Carlton found itself at the centre of a major controversyControversy
Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion. The word was coined from the Latin controversia, as a composite of controversus – "turned in an opposite direction," from contra – "against" – and vertere – to turn, or versus , hence, "to turn...
about truthfulness in broadcast journalism in May 1998, when The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
carried a series of articles alleging the wholesale fabrication of a much-garlanded 1996 Carlton documentary, The Connection, which had purported to film the route by which heroin was smuggled into the United Kingdom from Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. An internal inquiry at Carlton found that The Guardian's allegations were in large part correct and the then industry regulator, the ITC
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
, punished Carlton with a record £2-million fine for multiple breaches of the UK's broadcasting codes
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
. The scandal led to an impassioned debate about the accuracy of documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
production
.
Expansion
In recent years, changes in rules concerning media ownership enabled Carlton to buy out many of the other ITV stations, including Central Independent TelevisionCentral Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
, Westcountry
Westcountry Television
Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993...
, and part of HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
(via Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
), as well as the rights to the archives of ITC Entertainment
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
and its former sister company ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
, and the Rank film archive. HTV was the only region owned by Carlton not to be subject to a full rebrand as Carlton. Both "HTV West" and "HTV Wales" stayed with their then-current idents; however upon Carlton's purchase, the animated introduction and music to the idents were replaced by the sequences and audio in use with Carlton's graphical package. The logo and endboard of the ident remained unchanged however, using the generic hearts look of 1999. Carlton also did not acquire most of HTV's production facilities, most of which Granada retained.
The ITC archive is particularly lucrative since it includes such popular shows as Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
, The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
, The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk , first transmitted during 1969-70, is a British private detective television series starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, respectively. The series was originally created by Dennis Spooner and produced by Monty Berman...
(original version), as well as feature films that include The Return Of The Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther is the fourth film in the Pink Panther series, released in 1975. The film stars Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his third Panther appearance, after the original The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark.Herbert Lom also reprises his role as Chief...
, On Golden Pond
On Golden Pond (1981 film)
On Golden Pond is a 1981 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson was adapted from his 1979 play of the same title. Henry Fonda won the Academy Award in what was his final film role. Co-star Katharine Hepburn also received an Oscar, as did Thompson for his...
, and Capricorn One
Capricorn One
Capricorn One is a 1977 science fiction thriller movie about a Mars landing hoax. It was written and directed by Peter Hyams and produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment. It stars James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J...
. Many Rank Organisation
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....
films are also part of the Carlton library. Carlton has released much of this material on video and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
via its own label in the UK, and via A & E Home Video
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
, Acorn Media, MGM Home Entertainment, and Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
in the USA. A large number of these films were shown on Carlton's digital movie channel, Carlton Cinema
Carlton Cinema
Carlton Cinema was a British digital film television channel, provided by Carlton Television. It launched in November 1998 on the ONdigital platform, and closed down in March 2003, being the last ever Carlton-branded television network. Its sister channels are Carlton Select, Carlton World, Carlton...
, however it closed in 2003.
Merger and unification
In September 2002, Carlton and Granada, having now acquired all the franchises in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, made the decision to remove all regional idents, continuity and branding, and replace them with the single brand, ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
. English regional idents were to only precede regional programming, and regional announcements were pre-recorded from London (Wales gets on-screen recognition prior to all programming, see ITV1 Wales
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
). Unlike Granada-owned regions, Carlton used dual-branding on its regional idents with the Carlton logo, so the Carlton Westcountry and Carlton Central regions were simply known as ITV1 Carlton. Granada-owned franchises preferred simply to place text of the region name under the ITV1 logo. This went on until August 2003, when Carlton dropped the practice, resulting in changing the brands from Carlton Central to ITV1 for Central England, from Carlton Westcountry to ITV1 for the Westcountry. The HTV regions were re-branded ITV1 Wales and ITV1 West of England in 2002.
On 2 February 2004, Carlton Communications plc merged with Granada plc
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
, creating ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
, which now owns all of the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchises in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
under the ITV1 brand (Wales still uses its own on-screen identity as ITV1 Wales
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
, but now also uses English ITV1 continuity). In addition, Carlton Video became part of Granada Ventures, and the three English Carlton ITV regions were reverted back to their previous names: ITV1 for Central England again became ITV1 Central, ITV1 West of England became ITV1 West and ITV1 for the Westcountry became ITV1 Westcountry, prior to regional programming in their respective areas.
ITV London
Since 28 October 2002, Carlton Television (in common with all the other ITV companies, except Scottish TelevisionScottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
, Grampian Television
Grampian Television
Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...
and Ulster Television
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
) has been known on air simply as ITV1 (London Weekdays). Unlike London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
, Carlton Television did not note the last day (25/10/02) of its regional identity on-air. However, the Carlton brand continued to be seen on production captions until 2004. Since Carlton and London Weekend Television now use identical presentation and logos, the division between the London weekday and weekend franchises is now invisible, although the old LWT - now ITV1 (London Weekends) - does have London Weekend Weather, which is sponsored by a different company to that of London Weekdays.
With the merger of Carlton and Granada, Carlton Television and LWT are now run as a single entity (ITV London
ITV London
ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the two Channel 3 broadcast franchises, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television in the London ITV region.-History:...
), with a single management team appointed to both companies. Both continue to have a separate legal existence however, and still have separate licences, although this is now just a formality.
Upon merger, Carlton lost recognition to programmes made by their companies, which became branded as Granada and the relevant area, for example, all programmes made in London became branded as Granada London. From 16 January 2006, all programmes produced by any ITV plc owned region are branded by ITV Productions.
Studios
Carlton, as a publisher broadcaster, never made any of their programmes themselves and so had no need for any studio facilities whatsoever. As a result, they were based from a newly opened playout centre located within LWT's studios in LondonThe London Studios
The London Studios is a television studio complex which is owned by London Weekend Television and has been home to the London Weekend ITV provider since 1972...
and managed by London News Network
London News Network
London News Network was a television news and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each company holding a 50% stake...
, a joint company between Carlton and LWT that provided a seven day news service.
Carlton productions that required studio space were booked by the independent production company making them, and were filmed in independent facilities. When Carlton bought Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
in 1996, their Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
studios at Lenton Lane became Carlton's, giving them a studio complex that they could use, should the need for one ever arise.
Carlton are to this day based in The London Studios
The London Studios
The London Studios is a television studio complex which is owned by London Weekend Television and has been home to the London Weekend ITV provider since 1972...
, albeit as part of the ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
operations housed there.
Identity
Carlton's on-screen identity was launched in 1993 with an ident package featuring London personalities. These people, who lived and worked in the capital would appear against a brightly coloured background with the Carlton logo in the top left corner, and would say the phrase, "This is Carlton, television for London", or other variations of the theme. In excess of sixty idents were produced and used from 1993. This was replaced by a single montage of individuals used from later on in the year until 1994.In 1994, a new in-house look was launched featuring changing backgrounds of colours with a translucent Carlton logo in the centre of the screen, becoming opaque and white at the end of the ident. These idents lasted until 1996, but were deemed not exciting or brash enough for Carlton executives. Lambie Nairn devised the new set, featuring the Carlton logo against a brightly coloured background and various animations occurring. This could be interaction between other letters in the name, letters being replaced by objects, or the letters becoming part of something larger, such as a crossword of places in London. Thirty sequences were produced, including some designed especially to introduce certain programmes.
In 1999, Carlton's boldest rebrand yet occurred, and it was also to be its last. While other regions were about to adopt the 'Hearts' generic look, Carlton refused the look and instead adopted a package that related back to the Hearts, but put their own distinct take on it. Lambie Nairn was once again commissioned, and a dozen idents were produced and were used depending on the programme to go before it. The idents featured opening films featuring a heart shape, before a star shaped light is emitted from the heart shape, before the screen changes to the Carlton logo, now with added star in top right corner, against a spinning hearts background of different colours, with ITV logo beneath. This look has received criticism, not concerning the idents themselves, but because these idents replaced the brands used by Central
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
and Westcountry
Westcountry Television
Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993...
.
Continuity Announcers
Carlton used a number of continuity announcers throughout the years.- Hilary Holden (1994–1997)
- Mark Lipscomb (1993–2002)
- David AllanDavid Allan (broadcaster)David Allan is a British television continuity announcer and radio presenter.-Radio career:...
(1995–2002) - Graham Bannerman (1993–2002)
- Adrian Finighan (1993)
- Fiona Goldman (1993–2002)
- Erica Longdon (2000–2002)
- John Mckenzie (2000–2002)
- Peter Tompkins (2000–2002)
Productions
Some notable Carlton commissions are listed below:- Alphabet CastleAlphabet CastleAlphabet Castle was an educational children's television program produced in the UK. It began in September 1993 with a series of 27 episodes aired on ITV Carlton, and ran until December 1995 and later shown on CBeebies and the CITV Channel in 2006 and 2007. It had three main characters: King...
(1993) - AfterBob with Elvira (1995)
- Dale's Supermarket SweepDale's Supermarket SweepDale's Supermarket Sweep was a UK game show based on the American Supermarket Sweep TV show format.-1993 - 2001:The original show was recorded in the Television House in Nottingham, which was renamed the Carlton Studios in 1996...
- Inspector MorseInspector Morse (TV series)Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....
- Draw Your Own ToonsDraw Your Own ToonsDraw Your Own Toons is a British television program that was produced by Buena Vista and Meridian Television for CITV. Four series were aired between 1998 and 2001. Each series was broadcast over the space of a week in either October or December...
(previously produced by Meridian) - Mopatop's ShopMopatop's ShopMopatop's Shop is a television series that which premiered on CITV in the UK in 1999. 260 ten-minute episodes were made and aired daily. It was a co-production between Jim Henson Productions and Carlton Television.-Production:...
(1999) - Rosie and JimRosie and JimRosie and Jim was a British children's television programme which appeared, on and off, on CITV since the early 1990s. The programme was the creation of John Cunliffe, in collaboration with Anne Wood and Robin Stevens, Robin Stevens] also played the character Jim...
- Police Camera Action!Police Camera Action!Police, Camera, Action! is a police video programme made by Optomen Television for ITV and broadcast on the ITV Network and ITV4. The program was originally commissioned through Carlton Television....
- PlayboxPlayboxPlaybox was a TV programme for pre-school children aged 2-5, which ran during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United Kingdom on ITV and was produced by Central Independent Television. It was the first ragdoll show to be made by ITV...
- Grizzly Tales for Gruesome KidsGrizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids' is a series of books by Jamie Rix and a TV series produced for ITV.The original TV series was based on the award winning collections of cautionary tales by Jamie Rix. Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, Ghostly Tales for Ghastly Kids, Fearsome Tales for Fiendish Kids and More Grizzly Tales for...
- Dave AllenDave Allen (comedian)David Tynan O'Mahoney , better known as Dave Allen, was an Irish comedian, very popular in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada in the 1960s and 1970s. He also became known in the United States through repeats of his shows on public television. His career had a major resurgence during the late...
(1993) - STARStreet*
- CatchphraseCatchphrase (game show)Catchphrase is a British game show based on a short-lived US game show of the same name. It ran on ITV in the United Kingdom between 12 January 1986 and 19 December 2002, originally hosted by Northern Irish comedian Roy Walker....
Other Ventures
Between 1996 and 2003, Carlton owned a number of extra channels, carried initially on analogue cable, and also later on their flagship platform, ONdigital too, although none of them ever made it onto Sky DigitalSky Digital (UK & Ireland)
Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...
. However, three closed in 2000; and all five were closed by 2003. Most were closed due to funding issues and lack of loyal viewership. They all time-shared on three EPG
Electronic program guide
Electronic program guides and interactive program guides provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus displaying broadcast programming or scheduling information for current and upcoming programming...
positions. Carlton Food Network
Carlton Food Network
Carlton Food Network was a British digital television channel, provided by Carlton Television, showing food and cookery programmes. It launched in September 1996, and closed in November 2001...
and Carlton Select
Carlton Select
Carlton Select was a British digital television channel, owned by Carlton Television. It was launched in February 1997, and closed down in March 2000. Its sister channels were Carlton Cinema, Carlton Food Network, Carlton Kids and Carlton World....
shared a channel, and Carlton Kids
Carlton Kids
Carlton Kids was a digital children's television channel, provided by Carlton Television, which started broadcasting in 1998 and closed in early 2000. Its sister channels were Carlton Food Network, Carlton World, Carlton Cinema and Carlton Select...
, Carlton World
Carlton World
Carlton World was a British digital television channel, launched in November 1998 and closed down in early 2000. Its sister channels were Carlton Kids, Carlton Food Network, Carlton Select and Carlton Cinema...
and another channel named 'RAW!' shared the second. Carlton Cinema
Carlton Cinema
Carlton Cinema was a British digital film television channel, provided by Carlton Television. It launched in November 1998 on the ONdigital platform, and closed down in March 2003, being the last ever Carlton-branded television network. Its sister channels are Carlton Select, Carlton World, Carlton...
received an EPG position of its own, but would be periodically closed down to provide bandwidth "On Sport 2" during the ONdigital days.
Carlton Cinema
Carlton Cinema was the Carlton channel which showed classic movies, but also unusually for a movie channel, cartoons. This ceased transmission on 31 March 2003, the last of the five Carlton channels to do so.Carlton Select
Carlton Select was the main entertainmentEntertainment
Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...
channel from Carlton, and broadcast both in the UK and Africa. It time-shared with the Carlton Food Network, and ceased transmission in 2003.
Carlton World
Carlton World was a general entertainment and factual channel broadcast in the evenings, with sister Carlton KidsCarlton Kids
Carlton Kids was a digital children's television channel, provided by Carlton Television, which started broadcasting in 1998 and closed in early 2000. Its sister channels were Carlton Food Network, Carlton World, Carlton Cinema and Carlton Select...
broadcast in the daytime. This ceased transmission in 2001.
Carlton Kids
Carlton Kids was a children's channel and showed most of all of Carlton's children's imports, and programming from Carlton's regions. Time-shared with Carlton WorldCarlton World
Carlton World was a British digital television channel, launched in November 1998 and closed down in early 2000. Its sister channels were Carlton Kids, Carlton Food Network, Carlton Select and Carlton Cinema...
, it ceased transmission in 2000.
Carlton Food Network
Carlton Food Network was the Carlton channel devoted to cookery, and time-shared with Carlton Select. It was later re-branded 'Taste CFN', and ceased transmission in late 2001.External links
- ITV plc at itv.comItv.comitv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
- Carlton Screen Advertising
- Carlton Television at TVARK