Editing Television Wales and the West

{{Short description|British independent television franchisee (1958–1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox broadcasting network
| name                 = Television Wales and the West
| logo                 = Tww tv 60logo.svg
| logo_size            = 150
| logo_alt             = 
| logo caption         = 
| image                = TWW until 1968 coverage map.svg
| image_size           = 150
| image_alt            = 
| caption              = Reception areas of the two TWW services when it closed in 1968
| type                 = Region of [[television network]]
| branding             = {{legend|#984ea3|TWW}}{{legend|#ff8900|Teledu Cymru, TWW network for Wales}}
| country              = England and [[Wales]]
| airdate              = {{start date and age|1958|1|14|df=yes}} 
| available            = 
| founded              = 
| founder              = 
| motto                = 
| slogan               = 
| tvtransmitters       = [[St Hilary transmitting station|St Hilary]], [[Preseli transmitting station|Preseli]], [[Arfon transmitting station|Arfon]], [[Moel-y-Parc transmitting station|Moel-y-Parc]]
| license_area         = 
| headquarters         = [[London]], [[Bristol]], [[Cardiff]]
| broadcast_area       = [[South Wales]]<br />[[West of England]]<br />[[West Wales|West]] and [[North Wales]] from 1964
| area                 = 
| nation               = 
| regions              = 
| owner                = Self-owned
| parent               = 
| key_people           = 
| established          = 
| launch_date          = 
| dissolved            = {{End date and age|1968|3|3|df=y}} (after {{age in years and days|1958|1|14|1968|3|3}})
| former_names         = 
| Picture format       = [[405-line television system|405-line]]
| affiliation          = [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]
| groups               = 
| former_affiliations  = 
| webcast              = 
| website              = 
| language             = English and [[Welsh language|Welsh]]
| replaced             = [[Wales West and North Television]] in west and north Wales in 1964
| replaced_by          = [[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West]]
| subsidiary           = 
| footnotes            = 
}}

'''Television Wales and the West'''<ref>[http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/ident/album/tww.php Ident] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715153056/http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/ident/album/tww.php |date=2006-07-15 }} (Transdiffusion Broadcasting System / Electromusications), accessed 19 August 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.rts.org.uk/Information_page_+_3_pic_det.asp?id=4570&sec_id=822 Royal Television Society], accessed 19 August 2006</ref> ('''TWW''') was the British [[ITV (TV network)|Independent Television]] (commercial television) contractor for a franchise area that initially served South Wales and West of England (franchise awarded 26 October 1956, started transmissions on 14 January 1958,<ref>"Welsh I.T.A.; New Station on the Air To-morrow", ''Liverpool Echo'', January 13, 1958, p. 2</ref> the eighth franchise to launch) until 1968.

For the first six years, TWW's service was provided from a single [[Very high frequency|VHF]] transmitter serving both south east Wales and the west of England. The later acquisition of [[Wales West and North Television|Teledu Cymru]] in 1964 allowing TWW to extend its coverage across most of Wales and to provide separate services for the Welsh and English parts of the resulting 'dual region' franchise.

After losing their franchise to [[ITV Wales & West|Harlech]] in 1967, TWW ended their service early in protest long before Harlech was ready to take over. This caused the [[Independent Television Authority]] to organise an [[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West|emergency transitional service]] run by Harlech but using TWW's staff, leftover programming, and some assets.

==History==

===Launch===
Television Wales and the West opened transmission at 4:45 pm on 14 January 1958 with a live, 15-minute opening ceremony by station chairman [[Edward Stanley, 18th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]], programming director Sir [[Ifan ab Owen Edwards]] and Alfred Francis. The master of ceremonies was chief continuity announcer, Bruce Lewis.

At 6:00 pm, ''Youth Wants to Know'', a children's interview programme produced by [[Granada Television]], became the first programme to be broadcast by TWW. In the programme, Lady Megan Lloyd George and Raymond Gower fielded questions from Welsh school children. Following ''Youth Wants to Know'', [[ITN]]'s early evening news at 6:30 pm was read by Huw Thomas from TWW's studios at [[Pontcanna]].

The main opening programme came at 7:00 pm with ''The Stars Rise in the West'', a filmed special introduced by ''[[It's That Man Again]]'' regular [[Jack Train]]. The programme, produced in association with ITN, featured appearances from [[Ralph Richardson]], [[Stanley Baker]] (later a founder of TWW's successors, [[ITV Wales & West|Harlech Television]]), [[Naunton Wayne]], [[Donald Sinden]], [[Tessie O'Shea]], [[Donald Houston]], [[Petula Clark]], [[Tommy Cooper]] and [[Ralph Reader]]. [[Harry Secombe]] also appeared in a short film clip, performing ''[[Nessun Dorma]]''.

===Takeover of WWN===
Another company, [[Wales West and North Television]] (WWN), originally held a separate franchise licence for a much larger but, critically, less densely populated part of Wales, and broadcast under the on-screen name of ''Teledu Cymru''. In January 1964, WWN became the only ITV company to fail financially.<ref name="guardian.co.uk">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/oct/07/citynews.ITV|title=Timeline: ITV 1955-today|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=October 7, 2003|website=The Guardian}}</ref> TWW was required to take over the franchise of its neighbour, which it ran as a separate service under the banner ''Teledu Cymru, TWW Network for Wales''. The two franchises were merged into a single Wales and West franchise.

===Franchise loss===
Partly because its regional programming was so well regarded it came as a great shock when TWW lost its franchise in the 1967 franchise review, in favour of the [[ITV Wales & West|Harlech Consortium]], whose bid promised a glittering future of star-filled entertainment and quality documentaries.

No reason was given for the dismissal (as is common practice for franchise changes) but it was believed that TWW's decision to keep its corporate headquarters in London and not move them to within the region was a significant factor. A darker explanation proffered at the time was that it was "government revenge" against the broadcaster's major shareholder the ''[[News of the World]]'' newspaper, which had printed a series of critical articles about the then [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Harold Wilson]]. This does appear unlikely as although the ITA was answerable to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] it was a wholly independent body.

Despite there being many months left on the contract, TWW quit its franchise early in protest, selling the last five months to Harlech for £500,000 even though the new company was not yet ready to start broadcasting at the time. Following the intervention of the [[Independent Television Authority|ITA]], a temporary service was set up — [[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West]], broadcasting from the old TWW Pontcanna studios in Cardiff, and staffed by former TWW workers, until Harlech (soon renamed "[[ITV Wales & West|HTV]]") was ready to take over its franchise early, on 20 May 1968.

===Closure===
Much of the station's closing night was made up of in-house produced output including ''Live Like A Lord'' (a music and comedy show with mainstay TWW personality [[Ivor Emmanuel]] and [[Clive Dunn]]), [[Teenybopper|teenybopper music show]] ''Discs a Go-Go'' (with future [[Radio Caroline]]/United DJs presenter [[Tony Prince]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uniteddj.com/members/tony-prince-royal-ruler-2/|title=Tony Prince - Royal Ruler}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/music-on-film-and-tv/discs-gogo/|title=Discs-A-GoGo &#124; Nostalgia Central|date=16 June 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403757/|title=Discs a Go-Go (TV Series 1961–1968) |work=IMDb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/04/mike-read-launches-united-djs-radio-online/|title=Mike Read launches United DJs Radio online|date=April 2, 2018}}</ref> and ''Sing Me A Fantasy'' (a musical film). The feature programme of the night was TWW's penultimate production, ''All Good Things'', a late night variety special presented by [[Bernard Braden]] and featuring amongst others, [[Tessie O'Shea]], [[Stan Stennett]], Ivor Emmanuel, [[Manfred Mann]], [[Clifford Evans (actor)|Clifford Evans]], [[Anita Harris]] and [[Morecambe & Wise]]. The programme was preceded by an introduction from company chairman Lord Derby.

Having felt desperately hard-done-by the ITA, and in the fits of a corporate tantrum, the company showed their final display of anger by closing down with ''Come To An End'', a reflective epilogue with John Betjeman, who had made several films for the station, paying tribute to the personnel, programmes and achievements of TWW (which Betjeman affectionately referred to as ''Tellywelly'').

Ironically recorded at the Granville Theatre in London, Betjeman closed the epilogue and the station with these words:

''The new firm, Harlech, which will be centred in Cardiff, must build up its own personality. Tellywelly, you had a warm, friendly and inspiring one. Like many others, I'm very grateful to you. I'm sorry to see you go. It's like the death of an old friend.''

As Betjeman walked out of the theatre and the credits rolled, the camera tilted up to the "EXIT" sign on the wall, and TWW ended its transmission for the last time.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Graham |first1=Russ J. |title=Come to an end |url=https://transdiffusion.org/2015/07/26/come-to-an-end/ |website=Transdiffusion |access-date=30 January 2024|date=26 July 2015}}</ref> An interim service, [[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West]], managed by TWW on behalf of the incoming Harlech Television, replaced it.

==Studios==
TWW operated from two sites – a converted farm at [[Pontcanna]], near [[Cardiff]] (now demolished and replaced by a housing estate) and similar facilities at Bath Road in [[Bristol]].

Although TWW inherited Teledu Cymru's studios in Western Avenue, Cardiff it was decided to sell these and base both operations at Pontcanna. To accommodate this dual presentation and general increase in production the takeover created, £2&nbsp;million was spent on updating and extending the studios at Pontcanna, including a new studio and separate transmission control suites.

TWW was also a player in the development of 625-line colour transmission for the ITV network. Although the bulk of test transmissions and research were conducted for the [[Independent Television Authority]] (ITA) at the [[ABC Weekend TV|ABC]] studios at [[Teddington Studios|Teddington]], TWW leased two prototype [[EMI]] colour cameras and associated equipment in 1966 and began running trials, with shows being transmitted on internal networks for viewing by employees.<ref>[http://freespace.virgin.net/mymail.athome/features/colour/colour.html Historical Television Website<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808084347/http://freespace.virgin.net/mymail.athome/features/colour/colour.html |date=2007-08-08 }}</ref>

==Transmitters and sub-regions==
Until 1965, viewers in both south east Wales and the English West parts of the franchise received ITV on VHF channel 10 from the [[Independent Television Authority|ITA]] transmitter at [[St Hilary transmitting station|St Hilary]] located on Stalling Down, near Cowbridge in south Wales. This did not accommodate separate programme services and so a combined service was provided to viewers in both the Welsh and English parts of the single licence area. Although TWW had studios in both Cardiff and Bristol, the outputs of these were combined at Cardiff into a single programme stream to feed the single transmitter at St Hilary. Hence, for example, local news bulletins involved an on-air switch or handover between the two studios and viewers would alternately see items from both sources.

Whilst the original service provided by TWW from St Hilary had to carry a mix of content for viewers on each side of the Bristol Channel, the west and north of Wales were served by other VHF transmitters which carried a more specific Welsh programme service branded Teledu Cymru. TWW had acquired the licence to broadcast to the west and north of Wales following the commercial failure of WWN.

Following the acquisition of WWN, a second VHF transmitter (using VHF channel 7) was added at St Hilary in 1965 to effectively extend the Teledu Cymru network into SE Wales thus permitting programmes of specific interest in Wales to be broadcast exclusively to Wales whilst running a separate schedule for English and South Wales viewers on channel 10.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/405-Lines/tx-list.html#ITA |title= The UK 405-Line Television Network|website=www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414222659/http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/405-Lines/tx-list.html#ITA |archive-date=2012-04-14}}</ref> This was the first significant step in providing two distinct and separate programme services for Wales and for West and effectively established TWW's area as a 'dual region' during the last few years of their tenure.

==Identity==
TWW's on screen identity consisted, originally, of a circle containing the letters TWW, with a large 'T' in the centre and a small 'W' to either side. This apparently static caption was used for the first few years of the station's existence before the familiar box logo appeared. This logo was animated and formed when the boxes rotated revealing one letter at a time, accompanied by a twelve-note fanfare.<ref name=HHG>{{cite web|title=Idents, Clocks and Testcards|url=http://www.hhg.org.uk/ids.html|publisher=Harlech House of Graphics|access-date=21 August 2011}}</ref>

Following the acquisition of WWN, their Teledu Cymru branding was utilised by TWW for the North and West Wales service. The TWW logo was added beneath the Teledu Cymru dragon, along with the caption 'Network for Wales'.<ref name=HHG/>

==Programmes==
TWW did not produce many programmes for the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network, although the monthly Sunday evening Welsh musical entertainment show, ''Land of Song'', proved very popular during its six-year run 1958–64; TWW's news and local programming were well regarded (it won many plaudits for its sensitive coverage of the [[Aberfan Disaster]]).

Its Welsh magazine programme was called ''[[Amser Te]]'' (''Tea Time''). Amongst other items, it featured a regular cookery item hosted by [[Myfanwy Howell]] and the popular Welsh music show ''[[Gwlad y Gan]]''.

TWW also launched the careers of many famous faces, who appeared on their early broadcasts. These include [[John Humphrys]] and [[Claire Rayner]]. TWW was the first to showcase [[Adge Cutler]] – his appearances on the TWW programme 'The Cider Apple' led to Adge's fame spreading and the formation of [[The Wurzels]]. [[Michael Palin]] was one of the presenters of TWW's pop show 'NOW!'. Bruce Lewis was one of TWW's main news presenters; he went on to write various books about his experience during the Second World War, "Aircrew, a Few of the First", plus other titles such as ''How to be A TV Presenter'' – his son, [[Peter Lewis (announcer)|Peter Lewis]], hosted ''Movie Magazine'' and went on to announce for TWW, HTV West, and most famously, LWT.

==See also==
* [[Wales West and North Television]]
* [[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West]]
* [[ITV Wales & West|HTV]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.hhg.org.uk/ Harlech House of Graphics (unofficial history site)]
* [http://625.uk.com/tv_logos/flash/tww_channel_10.asp Animated TWW Channel 10 logo], 1960s, from 625.uk.com
* [http://625.uk.com/tv_logos/flash/wwn.asp Animated TWW/Teledu Cymru ident], 1964, from 625.uk.com

{{s-start}}
{{s-other|[[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] regional service | #00C0C0 }}
{{s-break}}
{{s-non | reason=New service }}
{{s-ttl | title=South Wales and the West of England | years=14 January 1958 – 3 March 1968<br />as '''TWW''' (general service) }}
{{s-aft | after=[[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West|Independent Television Service<br />for South Wales and the West]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Wales West and North Television]] | as=Teledu Cymru }}
{{s-ttl | title=Wales | years=27 January 1964 – 3 March 1968<br />as '''Teledu Cymru, TWW Network for Wales''' }}
{{s-aft | after=[[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West|Independent Television Service<br />Teledu Cymru]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{ITV}}
{{Television in Wales}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Television Wales And The West}}
[[Category:ITV franchisees]]
[[Category:Television in England]]
[[Category:Television channels in Wales]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1958]]
[[Category:Mass media in Bristol]]
[[Category:1958 establishments in Wales]]
[[Category:1968 disestablishments in Wales]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 1968]]