With almost every home in the UK boasting a Television in the sixties we ask: what were their favourite programmes?
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1. Doctor Who
Dr Who is the longest-running science fiction TV series in history, airing initially from 1963 to 1989 it told the story of the Doctor, a mysterious traveler in space and time, whose TARDIS (which looked exactly like a police box) can take him and his companions anywhere in time and space.
2. Top of the Pops
“It’s still number one, it’s Top of the Pops!”
On Wednesday 1st January 1964 at 6.35pm, the BBC Television service (now BBC One) broadcast the first episode of Top of the Pops live from a disused church in Manchester. The show was only supposed to last a few episodes. Instead it exceeded all expectations, revolutionised music fans lives and become the longest running music show in the world
3. This is Your Life
Eamonn Andrews and his big red book surprised and shocked many celebrities when he appeared before them with a biography of the guest with the help of family members, friends, and acquaintances.
4. Maigret
Based on the novels by Georges Simenon, the BBC’s version cast Rupert Davies as the detective from the Sûreté. An intuitive detective, Maigret often investigated his cases by watching and listening, getting to know everyone on his list of suspects until someone made a slip or broke down and confessed.
5. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
And now for something completely different
Monty Python’s Flying Circus was outrageously funny and simply the most influential comedy program television has ever seen.
6. Omnibus
Omnibus was a multi-award winning BBC television documentary series, which featured mainly on the people and works in the performance arts. One of the series’ best remembered documentaries is Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie.
7. Dads Army
Dad’s Army introduced the UK to the Walmington On Sea home guard, a bunch of men unable to head off to war, under the command of bank manager Captain Mainwearing.
8. Z Cars
This long-running BBC drama series dealt with the goings on of the Newtown police and their Ford Zephyr squad cars or “Z Cars”
9. Adam Adamant Lives!
Adam Llewellyn De Vere Adamant was a man out of his time, an Edwardian adventurer frozen in a block of ice and revived 64 years later to bring out his towering intellect, deadly fighting skills and implacable integrity to a world whose values are no longer those he had defended.
10. That Was the Week That Was
TW3 was a show unlike any seen before. Each week it was introduced by Millicent Martin who belted out the theme tune, which had its words altered to reflect the week’s news, before heading off into a topical monologue by host David Frost and then onto a series of sketches, songs, cartoons drawn live, monologues and studio debate.
Do you have a favourite show that started back in the sixties? Get in touch and take part in our ByGone Christmases below and tell us which television programmes you and your family enjoy watching.
