ITV To Celebrate 50th Anniversary This Year
ITV will this year celebrate its 50th birthday, having made its inaugural broadcast on 22 September 1955, championing itself as the largest commercial broadcaster in Europe and “the home of some of television’s best-loved programming”.
The broadcaster will mark the occasion with a variety of one-off programmes and live events, designed to entertain and involve viewers across the country.
The first of the celebratory programmes is to air in June, with Melvyn Bragg’s documentary, The Story of ITV: The People’s Channel. The focus of the on-air celebrations will then be concentrated around the anniversary itself in mid-September and will include 49 Up, revisiting the lives of children filmed by World in Action in 1964. As ITV celebrates its 50th anniversary, the programme catches up with the group as they approach their half-century mark.
Elsewhere, the broadcaster will screen Avenue Of The Stars, honouring British stars past and present with a new walkway along the River Thames in a permanent tribute to the entertainment world. ITV’s 50 Greatest Shows will also celebrate the broadcaster’s history of entertaining the nation, counting down its best-loved programmes, as voted for by the public, in a three-hour celebration show.
Iconic advertising will also be remembered in the celebrations, with Best Ever Ads featuring footage of the Smash Martians, the Gold Blend couple, PG Tips’ chimps and the Milk Tray man in a special, hour-long show telling the stories behind the ITV ads that are just as entertaining as the shows they appeared in.
What Did ITV Do for Me? will feature some of the biggest names in television, recalling how the broadcaster changed their life and career forever, with one pivotal moment, one role or one appearance.
ITV’s celebrations will culminate in a gala dinner at London’s Guild Hall in October, attended by the Queen and echoing the event featured in ITV’s first transmission in 1955.
Commenting on the celebrations, Nigel Pickard, director of programmes for ITV, said: “We wanted to take this opportunity to underline ITV’s heritage as the UK’s first and best-loved commercial network. The world has changed considerably in the last 50 years but ITV still has the same proud traditions of innovation and quality at the heart of its programming.”
He added: “50 years on, ITV is ready to face the challenges of the future with a family of channels making programmes that are relevant and valuable to today’s viewers and that will secure its place at the heart of British television for decades to come.”
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