They think it’s all over…

...it is now!

With the collapse of Setanta last week, Steve Williams has jumped up from the subs’ bench and written a new addendum to his much lauded history of football on TV, Goalmouths.

So, where did it all go wrong for the channel?

“For those looking for the date the tide turned for Setanta, you could cite December 2008…” says Williams. Why? Well…

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Patrick Dowling, 1919-2009

The Adventure Game

Patrick Dowling, co-creator of The Adventure Game and producer of Vision On and Take Hart, has died. He was 89.

Dowling was a pioneer. He conceived new ways of using television to delight and inspire generations of children, and had the imagination and tenacity to see his ideas come to full fruition.

In doing so he exploited the power of the small screen to both entrance and intrigue.

Dowling’s work was never didactic, in the way of so many of the BBC’s early children’s series. Instead he demonstrated how it was possible to make the educational seem entertaining, and vice versa.

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Two whom it may concern

Okay, so there’s finally something new to read on OTT. And it comes courtesy of Dominic Small.

This was the year BBC2 clocked up its 45th birthday. Since the channel celebrated its 40th, the BBC’s attitude to its portfolio has changed hugely. Nonetheless, BBC2 remains at the vanguard of the Corporation’s technological expansion… as it has from the start.

“BBC2 was an innovative channel from the very beginning. While BBC1 and ITV had previously broadcast on the 405-line VHF system, BBC2 was only available on the then-new 625-line UHF format. This meant viewers had to convert to new technology in order to receive the service. The move to 625-line allowed the development of new services such as colour TV, itself previewed on BBC2 before its rollout to the other channels, and switching off of the 405-line service in 1985.” Read the story »