Centrel night time

[seiko]

As some may be aware I have been trying to get a better picture of Night Time television, on itv from 1987 - 1999.

One of the first companies to go 24 hours was Central, but very little is know about its over night services in public doman.

I would like to ask the following questions:

* When did Central first go 24hours day?
* when did it first Job finder appear.
* Did Central ever take Night Network.
Part1; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1xR_Cl334U
part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRn0BwH7wBY

Was it 1995 when Central stop doing its own service and joined up with the new london feed, and does anyone have a date for this?

And does anyone else have any other information about night time on Central? Or even the london feed from 1995 -1999

[Lee Bannister]

I can't give a definitive answer on this, but from memory Central went for it big time. Closedown was usually around 12-1am, but in pushing the boundaries towards 2-3am, they introduced those "More" idents, and began their local news inserts. To begin with it wasn't every night, but it soon progressed to that. Plus "Central Jobfinder" appeared almost immediately to fill in the gap between closedown and TV-am coming on air.

Incidentally, it was *always* branded as "Central Jobfinder" both in local press and, for the most part, on screen.

I don't recall ever having seen Night Network on there and consequentally don't know much about it. I have no memory of it being mentioned in any listings. I guess the only time it might have seen the light in the Central region would be when Carlton began consolidating things (from '95 onwards), but that depends on when Night Network ended.

In my memory Central pioneered overnight broadcasting on ITV, indeed they were the first region to run "Prisoner" (Cell Block H) and the first region to conclude it in 1991 (I have an off air of the final episode, and of a Central News report just before it). I seem to remember that Yorkshire followed, but only really with their own variant of Jobfinder. Then LWT created Night Network and Granada joined the party.

As I say, mostly from memory, but it's as I saw it at the time.

[Jack94]

I don't know much about nightime on Central, but I do have some Jobfinder from 1993 an episode of 'nightshift' from 1996 and I think I do have a little bit more nighttime stuff on another tape but can't remember.

[westward]

I can't offer any precise dates, but can tell you that Central Jobfinder came in quite early, around 1985, as a teletext based service. It was a service jointly provided by Central and the Manpower Services Commission.

Central's foray into late night broadcasting was mirrored by other ITV companies in 1987 - I know Granada started showing films and Americas Top Ten which stretched the broadcasting day to around 2 / 3am from early 1987 in their 'Nightlife' strand. This later became known as 'Night Time' from 1988 when they filled in the remaining 3 hours to the start of TV-am.
Some other regions took the Granada feed, but as we know Central remained independent and stuck with their own night service which was fully Central branded throughout... It would make sense that Central's night service would be replaced by the one from Carlton in 1995 after they took over the company - saving themselves some money in the process... By 1999 all regions had the same ITV service through the night as regional variations disappeared.

[ATV-Central 4 ever]

In the TV Times listings, I remember Central Jobfinder being branded with the year, so it would be "Central Jobfinder '86", "Central Jobfinder '87" etc. I don't remember seeing it listed in 1985 but it could well have been. At the time, I remember the variations for other regions being completely different but I didn't realise there was a common night time service in use outside the Central region.

[seiko]

I'm lead to believe in 1988 Central and GRANADA provided a joint service for a few months but ( march ) but fell apart around June/July.

Granada night time start in sept 88 until 95 with lwt was brought up thus Manchester shut down and moved to london, same time Carlton started making its cuts

Night network started in August 87 - March 89

I still none the wiser about central

[seiko]

In my memory Central pioneered overnight broadcasting on ITV, indeed they were the first region to run "Prisoner" (Cell Block H) and the first region to conclude it in 1991 (I have an off air of the final episode, and of a Central News report just before it). I seem to remember that Yorkshire followed, but only really with their own variant of Jobfinder. Then LWT created Night Network and Granada joined the party.

As I say, mostly from memory, but it's as I saw it at the time.

Lee, I forgot to say Central was not the first itv company to start Prisoner, that honer went to YTV in 1984 ( I believe YET was the last as there only ever played it out once a week. )

If anyone would like more information bout Night time services outside central you may found this helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Network

Not much to go on about Central service alas. I should asked, did central pay for Live CA?

[seiko]

I have found out something interesting, its seem when Granada and central started there 24 hours operations, on the short lived up join. Another ITV company joined as well, "Scottish television"

[ATVEast]

From 25th April 1987 there was no closedown listed and "Jobfinder" began at the later time of shortly before 3am. This also appears to be the date Cell Block H began.

Saturday 25th April 1987
10:45pm Prisoner Cell Block H
11:45pm Film - The Amityville Horror
1:55am Film - Wild Geese
3:45 News followed by Central jobfinder

Monday 27th April 1987
11:05pm The New Avengers
12:05am Prisoner Cell Block H
1:05am Film - Benjamin (1966)
2:0am News followed by Central Jobfinder

All other regions (including LWT, Granada and Yorkshire) had closed down by 1:25am (most of them around 12:30am), so the news must have been local, perhaps the announcer reading out the headlines over a caption?