TV Watershed: 50 Glorious Years

The TV watershed, which continues to be a vital tool in protecting young TV viewers, is 50 years old this month.

In July 1964, Parliament passed the law that led to measures to protect children from seeing harmful or offensive material on TV in the evenings.

Fifty years on, new Ofcom research shows that most adult TV viewers are aware of the 9pm watershed as a valued way of indicating what is suitable for young viewers.

Today, more TV viewers believe the watershed is at about the right time (78% in 2013 compared to 70% in 2008), Ofcom’s report on UK audience attitudes to broadcast media shows...

In the past five years, there have been falls in the number of viewers saying there is ‘too much’ violence (35% of adult viewers in 2013, down from 55% in 2008), sex (26% in 2013 versus 35% in 2008) and swearing (35% in 2013 versus 53% in 2008) on TV...

Latest Ofcom report.

Illustrated with the image above, showing the tidal wave of TV filth that led to the introduction of the watershed:.

1. Dixon Of Dock Green's 'E Just Fell Down The Stairs On The Way To The Cells, Sarge, Honest episode [Category: violence].

2. Steptoe & Son, a 1963 episode caused much controversy after Albert said, 'Bleeding hell, dad! You've only gone and burnt my prawn cocktails again!' twice [Category: swearing].

3. The Sapphic Life and Loves of Ena Sharples, mini-series [Category: just general sex filth, and the descecration of a much-loved British institution].

Coronation Street: The Outsider

Tony Warren, the creator of Coronation Street and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, gives a rare interview with Radio Times to mark the soap's golden jubilee.
Of course magazines are always boasting they have "a rare interview" with someone, but Mr Warren is admirably self-publicity-shy and this one really is.
It's been picked up elsewhere mainly by Tony talking about how Corrie's success led to his own battle with the booze and a lost decade or more, which is well-known.
"Once I went to Amsterdam to get away from it, put on the television and there was Ena Sharples with Dutch subtitles. I put my foot through the screen. After Coronation Street, what do you do for an encore? I had a drink while I thought about it, and one turned into a million."
More interesting for Fagburn is the feeling that only a gay man could have created Coronation Street.
"I was the outsider – but, you see, the outsider sees more, the outsider hears more, the outsider has to do that to survive. And that's what qualified me to write Coronation Street."
But Warren says it was a battle from day one; "In those days, if you were going to work in television and you were gay, you had to be three times as good as anyone else," he says, fire in his voice. "The first Coronation Street writing team contained some of the biggest homophobes I've ever met. I remember getting to my feet in a story conference and saying: 'Gentlemen, I have sat here for two-and-a-half hours and listened to three poof jokes, a storyline dismissed as poofy and an actor described as 'useless for us as he's a poof'. As a matter of fact, he isn't. But I would point out that I am one, and without a poof none of you would be in work today.'"
The struggle continued. In spite of Warren's influence, Weatherfield didn't get its first gay resident until Todd Grimshaw appeared in in 2003; "I campaigned for years and years with subsequent producers to no avail. But I never theorise – I thought that it would all work itself out."