Saturday 21 November

BLOGS

blogCategory
Previous
Back to blog
Next

Why I Love...ITV4

ITV4 logo
  • Posted at 11:20am
  • 14 April 2008
  • by MarkBraxton-RT
  • 4 comments

The schedules are liberally sprinkled with backward glances and paeans to the past, but when it comes to yester-vision, ITV4 is in a league of its own. Take a wander through its retrocentric realm (6:00 to 9:00pm daily tend to be the happy hours) and you'll find exotic riches, heady flavours and a language not spoken anywhere else.

But what precisely will you find on ITV4? What can possibly tempt you away from all that is street and happening and now?

Squealing tyres

Why bother with homage, in Ashes on Mars, or whatever, when you can have the real thing? Car chases on ITV4 are excitingly filmed mini-epics, with John Thaw throwing a Ford Granada about in The Sweeney, or Lewis "the pout" Collins of The Professionals thrashing a Capri to within an inch of its extended bonnet.

The dream theme

ITV4 takes you back to the era of theme tunes - so good that we remember them decades later. The catchy muted-trumpet motif of The Saint, Edwin Astley's wintry harpsichord in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), the kettledrum-tastic Space: 1999, the dulcimer-heavy, minor-key magic of The Persuaders! and the raucous pub-rock of Minder (Dennis Waterman's last decent feem-toon)...they're all lodged in the brain, and show no sign of being evicted. As for today's big-hitters, well, I love Spooks like the next person, but can I recall the tune, let alone accurately hum it? Not a chance. And that leads me to...

Titled heroes

Opening titles are something of a forgotten art, and today's good examples (Mad Men and Dexter, say) are the exception rather than the rule. On ITV4, you'll find the most exciting title sequences of all time, with clarity, punch and thrills by the bucketload. Take The Professionals: snappily edited scenes of action, grit and maximum toughness. The perfect advertisement.

The original and best

Remember Vic and Bob in Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) or Val Kilmer in The Saint? No, we've erased them from our memories. What was so wrong with the archetypes? What was crying out to be changed? Nothing. The first Randall had an unforced central pairing that worked beautifully. Similarly, Saints can't be reborn: Roger Moore and his immoveable hairdo were the height of cool.

Back to the future

Before Blade Runner and grime, the future was white and bright, in cult Gerry Anderson creations UFO and Space: 1999. Men wore beige and women had purple wigs. UFOs whooshed to Earth with a ghostly noise and nuclear trash blew the Moon out of Earth orbit. It was all fantastically exciting...and influential. Ron Moore, the genius behind the new Battlestar Galactica, loved the "THIS EPISODE" teasers of 1999 so much that he borrowed the idea for his show.

Of course, watching ITV4 to the exclusion of all else would be catastrophically sad. It would be like Harry Potter remaining transfixed by the Mirror of Erised, living forever in the past.

And of course, some of the politics of those times (sexual, racial and...political) belong in a sparsely patronised museum, covered in dust.

So think of ITV4 more as an amazing resource. One that informs much of what we see today, and featuring aspects of the televisual art yet to be trumped.

Link to this post
Post a comment | 4 comments

Comments

  • Posted on 24 August 2009
  • at 2:07pm
  • by Mike

I thought I was alone with my 'secret' stash of favourite hits! (Professionals, The Sweeney, The Saint, The Champions etc.). It was great to see the original 'Professionals' recently voted the best buddy cop show of all time "... from the opening (brilliant)credits there usually follows '50 minutes of sheer mayhem'...". [It even beat 'Starsky & Hutch'].

  • Posted on 29 September 2008
  • at 1:48pm
  • by Rose

I would like to know why Andromeda has suddenly stopped, I was watching the show and it was stopped mid story, will it be coming back ?

  • Posted on 25 September 2008
  • at 2:37pm
  • by Peter Gray

I have discovered such new programs from the 70's and 60's being in the 80's a kid. Love The Sweeney so much I bought the dvd box set. Also The Professionals, Randal and Hopkirk are now my new favourites...its all new to me these old programs...they fizz with excitement.

  • Posted on 28 April 2008
  • at 8:37am
  • by tanargue

you are sooo right Having aged with Minder and The Professionals it is great to reprise them again. Great dialogue and characterisation. No need for 'strong language'

Tanargue

Post a comment

Do you have something to say about this post? Share your thoughts…

Post a comment

(first or nickname only)

Please do not include any personal or personally identifiable information about yourself or others (including email addresses). All information you submit about yourself or others can be viewed by others.

Thank you for your comment

Thank you for your comments. All comments will be looked at by a moderator, however, due to the numbers of comments we receive, we can't promise that all will be posted on the site.

Post another comment

More


Advertisement