Search results
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its weekend counterpart.
Sep 22, 2015 · ITV is 60 years old today - so we're looking back at how programmes made by Manchester-based Granada helped shape the channel's six decades of success.
- Overview
- Studios
- Identity
- Programmes
ITV Granada (originally Granada Television or Granada TV) is the Channel 3 regional service for North West England, the licence for the region being held by ITV Broadcasting Limited since November 2008. It is the largest independent television franchise producing company in the UK accounting for 25% of the total broadcasting output of the ITV network. Previously it was held by Granada Television which was founded by Sidney Bernstein and based at Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester since its inception, and which was the only surviving company out of the original four Independent Television Authority franchisees from 1954 before it merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004. It covers Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, northwestern Derbyshire, part of Cumbria and North Yorkshire, and on 15 July 2009, the Isle of Man was transferred to ITV Granada from ITV Border (even though the Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency that is not part of the United Kingdom).
Broadcasting by Granada Television began on 3 May 1956 under the North of England weekday franchise and was marked by a distinctive northern identity including their famous stylised letter "G" logo forming an arrow pointing north, often with the tagline "Granada: from the north".
Granada plc merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004 after a duopoly had developed over the previous decade. The Granada name, as with those of the other former Channel 3 regional licence holders, has completely disappeared except for the regional news bulletins and weeknightly regional news magazine as ITV Broadcasting Limited operates the service with national ITV branding and continuity. Granada Television Ltd still legally exists and is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed on www.companieshouse.gov.uk as a "Dormant company". Other companies listed are Granada Television International and Granada Television Overseas Ltd, but these are either dormant or non-trading.
The North West region is regarded as ITV's most successful franchise, and The Financial Times and The Independent once described Granada Television, the former franchise holder, as 'the best commercial television company in the world'. Nine Granada programmes were listed in the BFI TV 100 in 2000 and some of its most notable programmes include Coronation Street, Seven Up!, The Royle Family, The Jewel in the Crown, Brideshead Revisited, World in Action, University Challenge and The Krypton Factor. Past employees include Paul Greengrass, Michael Apted, Mike Newell, Jeremy Isaacs, Andy Harries, Russell T Davies and Leslie Woodhead.
In the 18 months between the award of the franchise and the start of transmission, Granada built a brand new studio complex on Quay Street. It has been claimed that the site was previously a cemetery containing a pauper's grave, where 22,000 people were buried. However an article in The Sun newspaper and an episode of the TV series Most Haunted seem to be the only sources for this so far. Twelve maps from between 1772 and 1960 show no evidence of a cemetery and buildings are shown on the bull china site from 1807. Part of the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal, which linked the River Irwell to the Rochdale Canal from 1839 to 1922, did however run in tunnel underneath the site. The studios pre-date BBC Television Centre by four years and were the first purpose-built television studios in the United Kingdom.
Bernstein wanted to make Granada Television appear a close rival to the BBC and exaggerated the scale of the studios giving the floors only even numbers so that it appeared there were 12 floors in the building despite there only being six. The studios are operated by 3SixtyMedia, ITV Studios' joint-venture company with BBC Resources Ltd (now at BBC Manchester). The studios produce shows displaced by the closure of the Yorkshire Television studios in Leeds in 2009, including Channel 4's Countdown.
Throughout its history, Granada used the logo of an arrow pointing northwards in idents often accompanied by a tagline 'from the North'.
Granada Television was considered bolder than other franchisees and the BBC, and placed great emphasis displaying the northern style which distinguished it from them. Bernstein believed the north had untapped creative energy that needed cultivation.
In 1958, two years after its launch, Granada's northern style was apparent. Kenneth Clark, of the Independent Television Authority (ITA) which let the franchise, remarked: "We did not quite foresee how much Granada would develop a character which distinguishes it most markedly from the other programmes companies and from the BBC. Peter Salmon, of the BBC said: "Granada made TV programmes in the north; for northerners, reflecting northern culture and attitudes.
From the its launch in 1956 until 1968, when the pointed 'G' logo was introduced, the channel used captions and animations featuring a thin arrow pointing upwards and Granada, in a stylised font, in boxes. The arrow pointed at the "n" in Granada, pointing north and sometimes animated revealing the slogan 'From the North', before the Granada name. The pointed 'G' was originally white on a grey background but after the introduction of colour, grey was replaced with blue, with the name in yellow.
A colour emblem was used from the 1970s until it was replaced by a series of idents to celebrate Granada's 30th anniversary in 1986, when it was a computer animated pointed "G" against a graded background and a cake covered in candles in the pointed G shape. In 1987 Granada reverted to using a caption featuring a gold or chrome 3D pointed 'G' on a graded blue background.
Granada used in-vision continuity featuring northern personalities giving messages. It was common for the logo to be seen for a few seconds after the continuity before the programme, and continuity was rarely given over the symbol.
In 1958, Granada Television broadcast coverage of the Rochdale by-election, 1958 – the first election to be covered on television in Britain. Granada's coverage was broad in scope and it also broadcast two candidate debates. Over 50 years later, Granada Studios hosted the first General Election debate between the leaders of the three main political parties.
Granada's boldness was seen in ambitious documentaries such as Seven Up! which premièred in 1964. The programme was a social experiment which followed the lives of 14 British children aged seven. It tracked their lives at seven-year intervals to discover whether their hopes and aspirations had been achieved. The documentary was voted the greatest ever by esteemed film-makers and its latest instalment, 56 Up, premièred in 2012. Seven Up was part of the World in Action documentary series between 1963 and 1998 which won awards but was controversial. It garnered a reputation for hard-hitting investigative journalism and its producer Gus Macdonald commented that the programme was 'born brash' and Paul Greengrass stated that David Plowright told him, "don't forget, your job's to make trouble." World in Action demonstrated hard-hitting investigative journalism and explored issues such as police corruption at the Metropolitan Police in 1985 and revealed the Royal Family's tax loophole in 1991. The programme led a campaign to prove the innocence of the Birmingham Six in 1985 when researcher Chris Mullin questioned the convictions and by 1991 the men had been released.
The classic northern working-class soap opera Coronation Street started a 13-week, two-episodes-a-week regional run on 9 December 1960. It is still produced at the rate of five peak-viewing episodes a week after 50 years, and is the longest-running soap opera in the world. The company produced gritty dramas such as A Family at War (1970–72).
Granada produced The Stars Look Down (1975), Laurence Olivier Presents (1976–78), Brideshead Revisited (1981), the multi-award-winning Disappearing World series (between 1969 and 1993) and, from 1984, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Jewel in the Crown for an international audience. These shows were sold overseas by Granada Television International.
Another flagship programme, the long-running quiz show, University Challenge was originally aired between 1962 and 1987 and revived by the BBC in 1994 (produced by Granada). The company produced the Krypton Factor, between 1977 and 1995 (revived by ITV in 2009). One of Granada's longest-running programmes, What The Papers Say, was broadcast by Granada in 1956, was taken over by the BBC in the early 1990s, and was shown by Channel Four. The programme introduced the idea of discussing what the newspapers were reporting, continued by Sunday Supplement and The Wright Stuff. In the 1970s, Granada produced situation comedies, often based around life in the north west including Nearest and Dearest, The Lovers and The Cuckoo Waltz followed by Brothers McGregor and Watching in the 1980s.
Granada drew on 1970s pop music with shows such as Lift Off with Ayshea and the Bay City Rollers show, Shang-a-lang. Granada's So It Goes showcased the punk phenomenon, bringing the Sex Pistols and the Clash to our screens. The station also produced Marc, presented by glam rock star Marc Bolan. The show was in production when Bolan was killed in a car accident in 1977. Granada produced Allsorts from 1989 to 1995 for CITV, featuring Wayne Jackman, Andrew Wightman (who later produced Granada's talent show Stars in Their Eyes), Virginia Radcliffe, Jane Cox and Julie Westwood.
Jul 15, 2024 · Lucy Meacock has decided to leave ITV Granada after 36 years as the main presenter of ITV’s flagship news programme Granada Reports. Lucy began her broadcasting career at Tyne Tees TV...
- Ella Wilcox
Granada received a seven-day franchise for the North West, while the newly-established Yorkshire Television was granted a seven-day franchise for the area east of the Pennines. This decision infuriated Sidney Bernstein to the extent that he threatened to take the ITA to the United Nations.
21 hours ago · A nurse who left her 10-week-old baby home alone while she went to work has been jailed. Ruth Auta, 28, tried to persuade her childminder to lie to police to cover her tracks when she returned ...
People also ask
What is ITV Granada?
When did Granada become ITV?
What happened to Granada TV?
Is Granada TV CC-BY-SA?
Dec 4, 2023 · Watch the latest from ITV News - ITV Granada is now available on ITVX. You can catch up on our latest evening news programme, as well as a selection of stories from across the region.
