A note to any extra-terrestrial beings that may come across this video: If you are exploring the universe and you find a big structure, a big compass-like structure, then, yeah, that was ours, we'd quite like it back, thanks.
Oh wait....That's probably why Vrillion disrupted the Southern Television broadcast in 1977. They probably thought the Southern logo was an alien like symbol which made them think it was a message from earth to get them to talk to us. They possesed Southern Television to give up the symbol to the aliens, so they made sure they lost the 1980 IBA Franchise thing deliberately, and the final moments of Southern is actually of the aliens claiming the Southern Television symbol. How interesting!
They really outdid themselves with this signoff. The look on the faces of the "Southern People" really gives off this "Why would you do this to us?" image and the star spinning off into space with a somber-sounding jingle is the bitter icing on the cake.
Many of the front-facing staff continued presenting for TVS. What I hadn't realised was that Jack Hargreaves was a Southern board member, and was actually part of setting up ITV as a whole.
Very sad indeed to see the Southern star fade away amongst all the other stars in the universe never to come back. Brings a tear to my does that. I was after all, bought up in Kent and Southen gave us great programming. Especially childrens TV programs after school. Thank you Southern for the lovely memories.
Everyone talks about the star finding its final resting place in space, but that last camera pan out, looking at all the staff members, w/ the music swelling is perfectly timed, and is also extremely moving. I hope someday someone uploads the entire show.
Southern was very old school broadcasting that reflected an England sadly no longer with us. The hours of hard work these presenters put into making regional entertainment for 23 years was outstanding, there were so many itv franchisees back in the day..I think Southern was undoubtedly the best. It just had that family feel to it. I’m from the midlands the old ATV/Central stomping ground but we did get some southern shows up here..they were all great and I loved the acoustic jingle. I’m writing this as the 40th anniversary of Southerns demise approaches in just 9 days time..and coincidentally Fred Dineage only retired from broadcasting on regional itv in the south LAST WEEK!
That one final,distant play of the southern jingle as the star shines in space.. even though I wasn’t around when Southern was still alive(or born in the UK at all, i’m American) it still brings a tear to my eye.. long live southern and all of the itv regional franchises of the past .. you will be missed 😢
@TheAnneLeveridge Thank You for your comments. Like you I think the 'Southern star' spinning into space for eternity was actually quite a nice, even imaginative touch.....
6:53 "We said at the start that we'd come to celebrate, and I think we have. We've enjoyed remembering, and I'm sure you won't forget. So, with a final farewell smile from those Southern people who've become to many of you... true friends...It's Goodbye From Us"
Read the whole story and comments but in my opinion this was a classy way to bow out. I come back to this from time to time as I remember enjoying a lot of Southern programmes growing up. Shame the complete final programme isn't available online. I would love to get the Southern Fantasia from this show in high quality, I doubt it was ever played again after this but it's marvelous and captures the occasion perfectly.
The star ending is creepy. Southern were extremely bitter of their loss, hence the abrupt sign off, no 'switch off your sets, no 'once again a very goodbye...etc'. I'm sure Chris Robbie went on to be on screen announcer for TVS when I were a lad...
I was just over a year old when this was televised so obviously dont remember, but this is one of, if not the most unique and bizarre night time closedown in the whole of British tv broadcasting history.
Funereal and perhaps a little overly dramatic, but a fascinating insight into 1980s British broadcasting. The star spinning off into the distance was a nice and unexpected touch.
The company has long since gone and yet in the latest Blu-ray release of Worzel Gummidge, there is an option to start each episode with the Southern TV ident, so even after all this time, the love for that ITV station is still there. 👍🙂
Thank you for this of course and very much well done too. The end of Southern was a real shame at the time too-and of course there was no mention of TVS who were to follow them at all! It really was as plain as that at the time too. But on ITV then at the time that is what the IBA had decided of course so too. Take care!
Your comments I completely agree with. The Southern management thought they were invincible, and were really shocked to learn they had lost the franchise - and reacted very badly and bitterly towards TVS. For many people the Southern logo represented a cross, especially as the bottom taper was longer pointing 'South' However, to those in the know if was always a 'star' The fact that the star spinning into the universe happened confimed it. Thank you for your comments.
You should be very proud of your father's achievements as he headed up the finest regional magazine programme of them all. Often imitated, never equalled. Thankfully Derek Heasman continued Terry's fine work when he took over 'Day By Day '
This needs to be taken in context. Television then wasn't what it is today. Southern Television was also a family. The comrarderie was obvious throughout the years and heartbraking near the end with the Day By Yesterday team poking fun at each other like only friends can do, and thanking their viewers through song. Showing that it wasn't just about going to work - there was something more going on. This show was saying "You have smashed apart our family." In today's context, where everything is owned by one gigantic company and everything is centralised, nationalised, dispassionate, slick, and hi-tech this is unprofessional and downright childish... but this was 1981 regional television, and one of the most successful franchises in television history - human beings who made television programmes with their hands, for their region, for their extended family of viewers. I find this one of the most emotional things ever shown on television, because the guards were down and it was just "Look at us, we're the humans who've been working for you, and now it's New Year's Eve and we're all out of a job."
I was 4 years of age when Southern started. I remember sitting on my fathers knee in 1960, when the first Coronation Street was broadcast. I was 6 by then I remember it very well, a few weeks later my father passed away. That memory has stayed with me ever since, more for my dad than Corrie.
7:20 ..(for 10 seconds) It does have a striking resemblance to the pink panther theme... it is little cheeky! The notes used in the melody are different to the PP theme but the phrasings are quite deliberate... aside from that, could I say, thank you for recording,keeping and uploading this programme. .
Thank you for the posting here-it is excellent! It is amazing, but on the 31st December 2011, it will be exactly 30 years since this Southern Television send off-and though it paved the way for TVS and Meridian to come, it was indeed one of the things that led to the rot of television today-in particular ITV1 I feel!
And of course now so too, it is more than that at nearly 42 years ago old as time moves on. But of course I feel there as I did there before too. Thank you!
Hi There, You have to remember that SOUTHERN TV was one of the origianl ITV Companies, and thought itself 'unbeatable' The manangement was very conservative in it's outlook, and was very surprised when it lost it's franchise. This prog was of course no ordinary nightime closedown, It was Southern's 'swan song' the rotating Southern Star back into the universe was itself I think, quite a good idea. Glad you enjoyed the prog.
Clearly the best part of the parade of presenters at the end was seeing the expressions give the game away as to who had been kept by TVS and who hadn't. You'd think Arnold Wilson had only gotten sacked that day from how pissed off he looked. :D
I really wished they had shotgunned TVS and Southern together, at least Worzel Gummidge might have survived. I liked a lot of what TVS produced but I can't forgive them for killing off Worzel.
@@stephenfreestone7956 I know I read that it was owned by the owners of the Daily Mail at the time, Associated Newspapers as far as I know. I know I read too as others have said that they were very conservative in nature, which the IBA did not really like. Also that Southern did not serve the south east very well, although that they claimed it was because the Bluebell Hill mast in Kent at the time served the Thames and LWT London ITV area instead. And the IBA felt that Southern smelt funny too. When TVS came on in 1982 they were then a dual region instead and that was how they then continued onwards so too. Thank you!
So where did they all go after this dirge-fest? [Updated December 2022] - Christopher Robbie went on to announce for Southern's successor TVS, as did Brian Nissen, who retired in 1987. Robbie is still active as an actor. Nissen died in 2001. - Norman Goodland returned to the BBC in 1982. Goodland died in 2005 aged 86. - Arnold Wilson, despite the sour face, was kept on by TVS for Coast to Coast. He went on to become skiing correspondent for the Financial Times before becoming editor of Ski+board magazine, from which he retired in 2014. - Preston Witts, Christopher Peacock, Fred Dinenage, Steve Harris, Veronica Charlwood, Mike Fuller, Roger Livingston and Mike Field were also retained by TVS. Witts is now the press & PR manager of the Institute of Management in London and until 2017 worked as a freelance journalist for the Stratford Herald newspaper. Peacock later moved to London Tonight and is now an actor. Dinenage retired as anchor of Meridian Tonight in December 2021 ending a career as a journalist that spanned six decades, but can still be seen on CITV in the recent revival of HOW, and his daughter Caroline is a Conservative MP in the constituency of Gosport (though I won't hold that against Fred!). Fuller moved into television production. Field can also still be seen on screens sometimes in the south as a sports journalist. The current whereabouts of Harris, Charlwood and Livingston are unknown. - Peter Clark continued as a newsreader on Coast to Coast and continued helping the local bobbies catch the crims. He is now retired and celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary in August 2018. - David Bobin was also kept on by TVS. He later went on to Sky Sports News. Bobin died in May 2017 aged 71. - John Caine moved to Central News in 1982. He was jailed in 1999 for sexually abusing minors. - Brian Shallcross also made the leap to Coast to Coast in 1982 and also presented the regional political programme Agenda, before joining Capital Radio Group in 1993 as a parliamentary lobby correspondent and seemed to have a residency in the Press Gallery at the House of Commons! Shallcross died in 2009 aged 71. - James Montgomery also went to TVS where along with reporting on Coast to Coast, he became a sailing correspondent, as well as introducing several televised concerts by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta. He married porn star Fiona Richmond in 1985, though they later separated. Montgomery wrote the obituary for Day By Day director Dave Heather for The Guardian in 2005. He was also a co-founder of Ocean Sound, an ILR station for the Solent (now Heart Hampshire) before going on to produce documentaries for BBC Radio. Montgomery died in November 2019 aged 74. - Donald Dougal did not make the leap. It's unknown what happened to him after this programme went out. - Max le Grand is still flying off all over the world as a photographer and motor-sport writer. - Malcolm Mitchell is still with is, he regularly comments on Facebook on Southern-related posts. - Pat Sloman is understood to be longer with us. - Daphne Lee, Cherry Marshall and Lucy Morgan are all in the great Houseparty in the sky. Ann Ladbury used to pop up from time to time on BBC Radio in the south; and remained a master seamstress operating from her home in Yorkshire until her death in May 2020 aged 88. It's unknown if Mary Morris is still with us or not. - Mark Jenner moved his farming programmes to TVS. Jenner died in 2003 aged 81. - Jack Hargreaves made programmes for Channel 4, along with special episodes of "Out of Town" for video, later making a one-off episode for Meridian in 1994. He died the day it was broadcast, aged 81. - David Wilson died in 2012. - Trevor "The Weather" Baker moved his forecasts to TVS until 1988. He died in August 2016 at the age of 94. - Derek Williamson's whereabouts are unknown. - Jill Cochrane moved to TVS where she presented "Not For Women Only" with Derek Hobson from the new TVS Television Theatre in Gillingham. She went on to present "Country Ways" for Meridian. She now runs Vertex Training International, a presentation and media training firm.
Yes "dirge fest" is indeed what to call it! Is it really any wonder why they lost the franchise?, Even this send off was probably the dullest ever made, they all look like their about to be shot! If it was me who ran this I would have had a show that included live s+m and live porn! Loads of punk + metal bands smashing up their equipment and throwing it at the audience and telling them "fuck off you cunts!" They can't ban you for it if your going to be off air anyway?!!
Lucy Morgan went on to do vox pops for TVS for their 'Watch This Space' programme. Ann Ladbury had had her own sewing series on BBC 1 in the 60s before she joined Houseparty so had had a long TV career before this. Daphne Lee went off to live in France taking her daughter Samantha who still lives there. Cherry Marshall went and lived in Frinton-on-Sea where she made haute couture out of charity shop offerings, and Mary Morris went to live in Australia with her dentist daughter after closing her high end cake shop in The Hornet, Chichester.
Well from what I've read TWW went a lot further by closing down before they were due to handover leaving the ITA with a problem. At least Southern remained on air until the end of their licence.
@@cjmillsnun unlike 1992 the licence wouldn't have expired at midnight otherwise the IBA would have taken them off air at that time. ATV also remained on air as ATV until past midnight and didn't rebrand until the following morning. TSW were already running Westward so they chose to rebrand at midnight.
@@michaelmcdonald2348 And still on TSW's very first closedown, Roger Shaw who was the continuity announcer of the day, referred to the station as "Westward", even though they did adopt the TSW at midnight.
@@michaelmcdonald2348What actually happened was that HTV did a deal to take over early but retain the TWW Branding until their official start date. A similar arrangement was made between Westward and TSW.
Southern TV revolved around a Southampton-Basingstoke axis. It was a Hampshire station that never really served Brighton as it should have. Our house wasn’t sorry to see it go.
I've often heard that TV/Radio signals never stop, they keep going out, further into space, so somewhere, this programme is showing, deep out in space........
Technically Christopher Peacock worked for Southern, TVS and Meridian, though he made his Meridian debut after Thames Valley Tonight was absorbed into Meridian Tonight. He’s an actor now funnily enough.
Don't forget Fred Dinenage by the way , he has been with ITV since 1964 till December 2021 , first with Southern TV , than TVS and than ITV meridian. Not only as he seen all the changes on how people watch Local TV in the South and South East , he has survived Job Cuts at ITV in the South aswell . I don't know what happen in the meeting Fred had at ITV meridian in 2008 about which Jobs will go , i bet he had that feeling in 2004 1980 till the end of 1981 and 1991 about is Fred himself getting axed by ITV or not. but he is the coolist newsreader ever
I'm from London (The old Thames/LWT stomping ground) and for me Southern bowed out in a defiant stance towards the IBA unlike Westward when Roger Shaw both closed Westward Television before midnight and at midnight reappeared launching TSW and ATV in the Midlands when Mike Prince and ATV's original announcer Shaw Taylor gracefully bowed out with a tribute to ATV and played the National Anthem at the end of broadcast before it became Central. For Thames and LWT it was also a sad day as well because they also said goodbye to the Bluebell Hill Transmitter thus losing West Kent which also became part of TVS.
Southern were extremely upset at losing their franchise so decided to leave with a stroppy attitude by showing angry upset scowling unhappy faces at the very end, and they deliberately overrun their franchise removal time of midnight deliberately by 45 minutes by staying on air past midnight, as a deliberate parting shot 'act of defiance' to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to show and vent their frustration. You'd think the IBA would've switched off the transmitters at midnight and just pulled the plug on it mid-sentence. At least TVS and Thames Television went out more gracefully when their franchises to broadcast were removed and didn't do a 'Southern Television 2.0' on the newly formed Independent Television Commission (iTc), the IBA's successor.
The Guardian picked up on that in an article of the best and worst Christmas/New Year television, commenting "The look on the face of Arnold Wilson is priceless, if borderline psychopathic. Whether his soon-to-be-ex-colleagues received a few home truths the second the company went off air is sadly unrecorded."
Southern > TVS was in practice not really any different to Westward > TSW in the South West or ATV > Central in the Midlands. Essentially the only things to go with the old company were the brand name and senior management but virtually everyone else would be back at work the following day as employees of the new company, working in the same building and doing the same jobs they had done before, with the viewer noticing very little difference beyond the change of name. At least this was vaguely acknowledged over the Westward > TSW switchover with Roger Shaw announcing the demise of Westward only to then remain on screen and announce the launch of TSW. The end of Southern admittedly was pretty cool for 1981 with the star spinning off into space, but lining all the on-screen personality up for this final bow type ending was just bitterness from Southern's management when most of them weren't actually going anywhere. Fred Dinenage was still doing regional news on the same patch until the end of 2021!
Actually, Christopher Robbie did some continuity during Christmas of 1987 and actually retired from TVS around 1988. And by the way, the man next to him at the end, Brian Nissen (the man grinning at 7:10) was also kept on by TVS. He did continuity announcements at the station until he retired around August of 1987. In fact, Nissen and Robbie were, I believe, the only Southern Television continuity announcers to be kept on by TVS.
I was born in 1987, but had I been around for when Southern were about to be replaced by TVS, I would’ve tuned into part of And It’s Goodbye From Us just to heckle Southern, before turning over to BBC One for Hi There, 82!
Brian Shallcross: AMAZING combover! Chris Peacock and Fred 'Legend' Dinage' went onto TVS. Dinage is still on Meridian anchoring evening news. I vaguely remember Christopher Robbie doing on air continuity at TVS as a kid too in the early 80s.
This company officially signed-off at 1 January 1982 at 00:43 GMT Southern Television's final programme And It's Goodbye From Us ended at 12:43 am on New Year's Day 1982. The programme closed with a medley of songs "to suit the occasion" sung by Lilian Watson and performed by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta under conductor Owain Arwel Hughes. The show's presenter, long-serving continuity announcer Christopher Robbie, signed off from Southern Television with the words: Goodbye songs from Lilian Watson because ... it's goodbye time. We said at the start that we'd come to celebrate, and I think we have. We've enjoyed remembering, and I'm sure you won't forget. So, with a final farewell smile from those Southern people who've become to many of you, true friends, it's goodbye from us. Afterwards, the camera panned to show many of the on-air talent and company executives standing (rather solemnly) as their names were displayed on-screen and the "Southern Fantasia" (composed especially for the show by Jonathan Burton, and performed earlier on in the programme) played in Southern Television's final two minutes. When the piece came to a climactic end, the illuminated logo signs and lights on the set were gradually turned off, fading to the Southern Television Colour Production slide (being shown for the final time), which dissolved into the station's logo, spinning away into an animated starry sky. The acoustic guitar jingle played for what would be the final time with a deep extended echo, and the screen slowly and silently faded to black, remaining that way for close to a minute. There were no closing or shut-down announcements, no suggestions for viewers to switch off their television sets, nor even the customary playing of God Save the Queen. At 12:45 am the transmitters were simply, and abruptly, shut down, putting a permanent end to Southern's broadcasts after 24 years. Exactly 8 hours and 40 minutes later, Television South began broadcasting in Southern's former region. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Television#Closure_of_Southern_Television
This year 2018 is the sixtieth year of Southern Television starting and ITV starting in the South but who made the best programmes Southern or TVS well it's a tie I just couldn't separate them they made great programmes for ITV nationally and locally to
If i was in the south at the time and say sixteen i would think 'Goodbye to 1958' .It is comical and very wholesome music for a northerner in 2015. Was it really this posh for 23 years? What about the Kent people who spoke in a regional accent? What areas did they cover as opposed to TVS?
They haven't, TVS, Meridian, CPV and Carlton were bidding for the South and South East England franchise in 1991, and Meridian came out on top, because TVS overbidded and CPV lost out on quality, Carlton's bid wasn't high enough but eventually won the London Weekday franchise.
Imagine if an American TV station used the Southern Star as a logo? WLVI Channel 56 in Boston. WGN Channel 9 in Chicago. KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles. Those are examples
My sources also tell me that TVS were operating from Terrapin offices from the car park as Southern management would not allow them access to the building until the complete end of their franchise. Also... As a final blow... Southern copped a huge fine for over-running with the above show by 45 minutes... A deliberate stunt to further p1ss off the incoming TVS. Rather pathetic really... And most unprofessional.
@@anthonyperkins7556 You could actually look at this another way, TVS by this time had legally took over with most of the Southern staff taken on, so even though the Southern name was being shown, it was TVS in charge as they bought out Southern lock stock and barrel.
It must`ve been hard not to get a lump in the throat if you were one of the people on the stage once the lights dimmed, you knew then that your job had gone and it would be unlikely that the people who had been a family of sorts over the years would be together like this again. ... But on the flipside, TVS would go the same way, leaving with the same sense of "surprise" that they were to be terminated...
This New Year of course it is indeed now 42 years ago old since this first went out so too? But as others have said; this is just as moving now then really as it was then too? Thank you of course anyway too.
It was odd in a way too that all of those who worked for Southern were not taken on then by TVS-that would have been easier surely too? Also, it was not handled in the same way then as it was with Westward going to TSW or ATV going to Central at the time too. I wonder what the IBA thought of it at all? Most interesting though too all the same.
TSW actually took over from Westward before the official handover date of 1st January 1982. TSW branding started on the official handover date. ATV to Central was just the IBA redefining their dual regional area to East and West Midlands.
Like i said - i think this was a very sad event for all concerned - the opinion that the ending needed to be "bright and cheerful" is of course subjective on your part. i thought it was very moving but then thats subjective on my part. i enjoyed seeing it again. many thanks mike
@premiaire Hi Jason, Thanks for your comments. Yes, ITV are not once what they were. Production values have slipped, programmes are too mainstream these days. Nothing we can do I'm afraid, except to not watch them!. It is good though to look back on the 'old days' Cheers, GLF
That was really quite sad. I don't remember that cos I was only 2 but i'm sure my parents do....what happened next? do you have a video of when TVS tookover?
A note to any extra-terrestrial beings that may come across this video:
If you are exploring the universe and you find a big structure, a big compass-like structure,
then, yeah, that was ours, we'd quite like it back, thanks.
XDDD
Don’t worry about that. Extraterrestrials already “payed a visit” to Southern in 1977, so I’m sure they know exactly where to return it.
Oh wait....That's probably why Vrillion disrupted the Southern Television broadcast in 1977. They probably thought the Southern logo was an alien like symbol which made them think it was a message from earth to get them to talk to us. They possesed Southern Television to give up the symbol to the aliens, so they made sure they lost the 1980 IBA Franchise thing deliberately, and the final moments of Southern is actually of the aliens claiming the Southern Television symbol. How interesting!
It will teach you were to go just like the star in the sky
xddd
Southern Television may be gone, but the star will keep on shining.
Especially as new channel Rewind TV are airing at least one of their shows, Worzel Gummidge!
They really outdid themselves with this signoff. The look on the faces of the "Southern People" really gives off this "Why would you do this to us?" image and the star spinning off into space with a somber-sounding jingle is the bitter icing on the cake.
the southern star returning to space... haunts me, 42 years later
hence why i am here :(
That's the original and long-standing musical accompaniment to the early idents.
Many of the front-facing staff continued presenting for TVS. What I hadn't realised was that Jack Hargreaves was a Southern board member, and was actually part of setting up ITV as a whole.
Very sad indeed to see the Southern star fade away amongst all the other stars in the universe never to come back. Brings a tear to my does that. I was after all, bought up in Kent and Southen gave us great programming. Especially childrens TV programs after school. Thank you Southern for the lovely memories.
Yes it was too-and you are so right there too of course!
Everyone talks about the star finding its final resting place in space, but that last camera pan out, looking at all the staff members, w/ the music swelling is perfectly timed, and is also extremely moving. I hope someday someone uploads the entire show.
And the orchestral instrumental, a kind of doomsday mashup of The Pink Panther and Auld Lang Syne!
The first half of the show can be found on this channel, don’t worry!
Southern was very old school broadcasting that reflected an England sadly no longer with us. The hours of hard work these presenters put into making regional entertainment for 23 years was outstanding, there were so many itv franchisees back in the day..I think Southern was undoubtedly the best. It just had that family feel to it. I’m from the midlands the old ATV/Central stomping ground but we did get some southern shows up here..they were all great and I loved the acoustic jingle. I’m writing this as the 40th anniversary of Southerns demise approaches in just 9 days time..and coincidentally Fred Dineage only retired from broadcasting on regional itv in the south LAST WEEK!
They is only one word for Fred Legend
Fred is indeed a broadcasting legend and still involved with HOW
You are so right there too really-alas of course somehow.
The ending is quite moving; I found I had a tear in my eye!
That one final,distant play of the southern jingle as the star shines in space.. even though I wasn’t around when Southern was still alive(or born in the UK at all, i’m American) it still brings a tear to my eye.. long live southern and all of the itv regional franchises of the past .. you will be missed 😢
That final line up looks like something from the USSR. Everybody smiling had got a job with TVS!
Arnold Wilson was retained by TVS...
Donald Dougal didn’t.
Fred Dineage being super creepy!
@@antster1983 Yeah, and looked like he was going to deck someone. 😛
@@chloejones1548 What Fred Dineage got to complain about, He kept his job with TVS Television South and now Meridian,
I loved Southern TV as a kid and I still love that ident music. The ending of this video gives me the shivers!
@TheAnneLeveridge
Thank You for your comments.
Like you I think the 'Southern star' spinning into space for eternity was actually quite a nice, even imaginative touch.....
6:53
"We said at the start that we'd come to celebrate, and I think we have. We've enjoyed remembering, and I'm sure you won't forget. So, with a final farewell smile from those Southern people who've become to many of you... true friends...It's Goodbye From Us"
Famous last words of 2021
@@debrafalasco7235 *1981
@@agentnintendonate1thee2tan89 ** 1982
January 1st 00:45 GMT
*cue the Southern Star flying off into space to it's grave 😢*
Read the whole story and comments but in my opinion this was a classy way to bow out. I come back to this from time to time as I remember enjoying a lot of Southern programmes growing up. Shame the complete final programme isn't available online. I would love to get the Southern Fantasia from this show in high quality, I doubt it was ever played again after this but it's marvelous and captures the occasion perfectly.
The actual few minutes ending shown here is quite dignified. By all accounts the rest of the programme was not.
Best. Final sign-off. Ever.
You can't get any better than that, folks! X3
All this is the most Haunting Closedown in UK Television History
@@HarenchiFairy
Excellent Closedown in my opinion!
@@andymerrett TVS had to finish on time though as by the end of 92 it was 24 hour tv
@@dlamiss Yes of course by then it was so too as now really.
what about Disney XD Japan?
The star ending is creepy. Southern were extremely bitter of their loss, hence the abrupt sign off, no 'switch off your sets, no 'once again a very goodbye...etc'. I'm sure Chris Robbie went on to be on screen announcer for TVS when I were a lad...
He did indeed, alongside Brian Nissen. Both of them left TVS in 1987.
They were fake smiling in all of this.
The final ident does have a certain end of the world vibe to it
I was just over a year old when this was televised so obviously dont remember, but this is one of, if not the most unique and bizarre night time closedown in the whole of British tv broadcasting history.
Funereal and perhaps a little overly dramatic, but a fascinating insight into 1980s British broadcasting. The star spinning off into the distance was a nice and unexpected touch.
Trivia: Pay attention to the star. When it zooms out you can still see it spinning. It will then stop and fade.
This was without doubt a classy and memorable ending to an ITV station. It was of it’s time.
8:55 Even us in the States feel saddened.
Southern Television
1958-1981
9:30
The Station that once served the South now returns to the stars, up to TV Heaven.
Lmgamer mese along with abc rediffusion tww and atv London
@@alexmacleod3728 Not to be confused with the australian channels
What TV heaven?
The company has long since gone and yet in the latest Blu-ray release of Worzel Gummidge, there is an option to start each episode with the Southern TV ident, so even after all this time, the love for that ITV station is still there. 👍🙂
There's a Blu ray release of Worzel Gummidge? How did I miss that? I'm ordering that right now!
9:38 Change da world, my final message. Goodbye.
Thank you for this of course and very much well done too. The end of Southern was a real shame at the time too-and of course there was no mention of TVS who were to follow them at all! It really was as plain as that at the time too. But on ITV then at the time that is what the IBA had decided of course so too. Take care!
Your comments I completely agree with. The Southern management thought they were invincible, and were really shocked to learn they had lost the franchise - and reacted very badly and bitterly towards TVS.
For many people the Southern logo represented a cross, especially as the bottom taper was longer pointing 'South' However, to those in the know if was always a 'star' The fact that the star spinning into the universe happened confimed it.
Thank you for your comments.
R. I. P. Southern Television 1958-1981
This year should have been 62 years very long time
Brings back memories. My dad Terry Johnston worked at Southern TV for many years.
You should be very proud of your father's achievements as he headed up the finest regional magazine programme of them all. Often imitated, never equalled. Thankfully Derek Heasman continued Terry's fine work when he took over 'Day By Day '
This needs to be taken in context. Television then wasn't what it is today. Southern Television was also a family. The comrarderie was obvious throughout the years and heartbraking near the end with the Day By Yesterday team poking fun at each other like only friends can do, and thanking their viewers through song. Showing that it wasn't just about going to work - there was something more going on. This show was saying "You have smashed apart our family."
In today's context, where everything is owned by one gigantic company and everything is centralised, nationalised, dispassionate, slick, and hi-tech this is unprofessional and downright childish... but this was 1981 regional television, and one of the most successful franchises in television history - human beings who made television programmes with their hands, for their region, for their extended family of viewers.
I find this one of the most emotional things ever shown on television, because the guards were down and it was just "Look at us, we're the humans who've been working for you, and now it's New Year's Eve and we're all out of a job."
Love that post 👍👍👍
So many memories growing up in the 1980s
Well, not necessarily, as most of Southern's employees were quickly brought in by TVS.
But Fred Dineage survive and he move over to Television South.
And yes it was such a shame then too of course as well for sure.
What a sad departure from TV!!
I grew up on southern television and remember the close down...TVS and Meridian have never really quite lived up to southern.
I was only 7 when Southern ended so I don't have a lot of memories of it - I suppose I've always been a TVS person :)
I was 4 years of age when Southern started. I remember sitting on my fathers knee in 1960, when the first Coronation Street was broadcast. I was 6 by then I remember it very well, a few weeks later my father passed away. That memory has stayed with me ever since, more for my dad than Corrie.
May your father sleep in peace
I hope the Southern Star sees Vrillon one day.
7:20 ..(for 10 seconds) It does have a striking resemblance to the pink panther theme... it is little cheeky! The notes used in the melody are different to the PP theme but the phrasings are quite deliberate... aside from that, could I say, thank you for recording,keeping and uploading this programme. .
Christopher is a great host
The star spinning into space is a nice touch.
It served its purpose, now it can rest
Thank you for the posting here-it is excellent!
It is amazing, but on the 31st December 2011, it will be exactly 30 years since this Southern Television send off-and though it paved the way for TVS and Meridian to come, it was indeed one of the things that led to the rot of television today-in particular ITV1 I feel!
And of course now so too, it is more than that at nearly 42 years ago old as time moves on. But of course I feel there as I did there before too. Thank you!
Hi There,
You have to remember that SOUTHERN TV was one of the origianl ITV Companies, and thought itself 'unbeatable' The manangement was very conservative in it's outlook, and was very surprised when it lost it's franchise. This prog was of course no ordinary nightime closedown, It was Southern's 'swan song' the rotating Southern Star back into the universe was itself I think, quite a good idea. Glad you enjoyed the prog.
Can you make a full southern television final closedown, please
Clearly the best part of the parade of presenters at the end was seeing the expressions give the game away as to who had been kept by TVS and who hadn't.
You'd think Arnold Wilson had only gotten sacked that day from how pissed off he looked. :D
Actually Wilson was kept on by TVS.
Pat Sloman looking a bit saucy, licking her lips :)
Southern management could not believe the had been shafted by the IBA, they were really bitter and let is show.
I really wished they had shotgunned TVS and Southern together, at least Worzel Gummidge might have survived. I liked a lot of what TVS produced but I can't forgive them for killing off Worzel.
The management was the problem - its ownership was the problem - both of which Southern refused to sort out.
@@stephenfreestone7956 I know I read that it was owned by the owners of the Daily Mail at the time, Associated Newspapers as far as I know. I know I read too as others have said that they were very conservative in nature, which the IBA did not really like. Also that Southern did not serve the south east very well, although that they claimed it was because the Bluebell Hill mast in Kent at the time served the Thames and LWT London ITV area instead. And the IBA felt that Southern smelt funny too. When TVS came on in 1982 they were then a dual region instead and that was how they then continued onwards so too. Thank you!
Also if you lived in east Kent, you could pick up Anglia as well, although of course they are a different area region anyway so too.
Which amounted to three different ITV areas as such too I guess of course?
You watch this & you know people like Fred are like Oh dear, how sad, never mind, then run down the road to join TVS.
A lot of the presenters were freelance. Fred did a lot of work for Anglia, I believe, including the quiz show Gambit.
So where did they all go after this dirge-fest? [Updated December 2022]
- Christopher Robbie went on to announce for Southern's successor TVS, as did Brian Nissen, who retired in 1987. Robbie is still active as an actor. Nissen died in 2001.
- Norman Goodland returned to the BBC in 1982. Goodland died in 2005 aged 86.
- Arnold Wilson, despite the sour face, was kept on by TVS for Coast to Coast. He went on to become skiing correspondent for the Financial Times before becoming editor of Ski+board magazine, from which he retired in 2014.
- Preston Witts, Christopher Peacock, Fred Dinenage, Steve Harris, Veronica Charlwood, Mike Fuller, Roger Livingston and Mike Field were also retained by TVS. Witts is now the press & PR manager of the Institute of Management in London and until 2017 worked as a freelance journalist for the Stratford Herald newspaper. Peacock later moved to London Tonight and is now an actor. Dinenage retired as anchor of Meridian Tonight in December 2021 ending a career as a journalist that spanned six decades, but can still be seen on CITV in the recent revival of HOW, and his daughter Caroline is a Conservative MP in the constituency of Gosport (though I won't hold that against Fred!). Fuller moved into television production. Field can also still be seen on screens sometimes in the south as a sports journalist. The current whereabouts of Harris, Charlwood and Livingston are unknown.
- Peter Clark continued as a newsreader on Coast to Coast and continued helping the local bobbies catch the crims. He is now retired and celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary in August 2018.
- David Bobin was also kept on by TVS. He later went on to Sky Sports News. Bobin died in May 2017 aged 71.
- John Caine moved to Central News in 1982. He was jailed in 1999 for sexually abusing minors.
- Brian Shallcross also made the leap to Coast to Coast in 1982 and also presented the regional political programme Agenda, before joining Capital Radio Group in 1993 as a parliamentary lobby correspondent and seemed to have a residency in the Press Gallery at the House of Commons! Shallcross died in 2009 aged 71.
- James Montgomery also went to TVS where along with reporting on Coast to Coast, he became a sailing correspondent, as well as introducing several televised concerts by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonietta. He married porn star Fiona Richmond in 1985, though they later separated. Montgomery wrote the obituary for Day By Day director Dave Heather for The Guardian in 2005. He was also a co-founder of Ocean Sound, an ILR station for the Solent (now Heart Hampshire) before going on to produce documentaries for BBC Radio. Montgomery died in November 2019 aged 74.
- Donald Dougal did not make the leap. It's unknown what happened to him after this programme went out.
- Max le Grand is still flying off all over the world as a photographer and motor-sport writer.
- Malcolm Mitchell is still with is, he regularly comments on Facebook on Southern-related posts.
- Pat Sloman is understood to be longer with us.
- Daphne Lee, Cherry Marshall and Lucy Morgan are all in the great Houseparty in the sky. Ann Ladbury used to pop up from time to time on BBC Radio in the south; and remained a master seamstress operating from her home in Yorkshire until her death in May 2020 aged 88. It's unknown if Mary Morris is still with us or not.
- Mark Jenner moved his farming programmes to TVS. Jenner died in 2003 aged 81.
- Jack Hargreaves made programmes for Channel 4, along with special episodes of "Out of Town" for video, later making a one-off episode for Meridian in 1994. He died the day it was broadcast, aged 81.
- David Wilson died in 2012.
- Trevor "The Weather" Baker moved his forecasts to TVS until 1988. He died in August 2016 at the age of 94.
- Derek Williamson's whereabouts are unknown.
- Jill Cochrane moved to TVS where she presented "Not For Women Only" with Derek Hobson from the new TVS Television Theatre in Gillingham. She went on to present "Country Ways" for Meridian. She now runs Vertex Training International, a presentation and media training firm.
+Anthony Hobson Nissen retired in August 1987, not 1985.
Yes "dirge fest" is indeed what to call it! Is it really any wonder why they lost the franchise?, Even this send off was probably the dullest ever made, they all look like their about to be shot! If it was me who ran this I would have had a show that included live s+m and live porn! Loads of punk + metal bands smashing up their equipment and throwing it at the audience and telling them "fuck off you cunts!" They can't ban you for it if your going to be off air anyway?!!
Malcolm turned up on a Facebook post recently.
Lucy Morgan went on to do vox pops for TVS for their 'Watch This Space' programme. Ann Ladbury had had her own sewing series on BBC 1 in the 60s before she joined Houseparty so had had a long TV career before this. Daphne Lee went off to live in France taking her daughter Samantha who still lives there. Cherry Marshall went and lived in Frinton-on-Sea where she made haute couture out of charity shop offerings, and Mary Morris went to live in Australia with her dentist daughter after closing her high end cake shop in The Hornet, Chichester.
A dirge fest yes but there is no doubt that that southern fantasia is a brilliant piece of music
the sign off is top 10 saddest anime moments
9:28 R.I.P Southern Television (1958-1981)
The most bitter close down of an ITV station in history although TWW did a good fist of one back in 1968!
Well from what I've read TWW went a lot further by closing down before they were due to handover leaving the ITA with a problem. At least Southern remained on air until the end of their licence.
@@michaelmcdonald2348 You mean past the end of their licence... 43 minutes past.
@@cjmillsnun unlike 1992 the licence wouldn't have expired at midnight otherwise the IBA would have taken them off air at that time. ATV also remained on air as ATV until past midnight and didn't rebrand until the following morning. TSW were already running Westward so they chose to rebrand at midnight.
@@michaelmcdonald2348 And still on TSW's very first closedown, Roger Shaw who was the continuity announcer of the day, referred to the station as "Westward", even though they did adopt the TSW at midnight.
@@michaelmcdonald2348What actually happened was that HTV did a deal to take over early but retain the TWW Branding until their official start date. A similar arrangement was made between Westward and TSW.
Southern TV revolved around a Southampton-Basingstoke axis. It was a Hampshire station that never really served Brighton as it should have. Our house wasn’t sorry to see it go.
I've often heard that TV/Radio signals never stop, they keep going out, further into space, so somewhere, this programme is showing, deep out in space........
This is very creepy! What’s with the line up at the end with the Pink Panther theme as the accompanying music. Like Madame Tussaud’s waxworks!
When the show is over, we neither hear the National anthem nor an announcement about switching our televisions off altogether as a fire precaution.
Fred Dinenage is the only one who survived ITV South under 3 names.
That's why he's called the 'Southivor'. :D
Fred Dinenage - He found out How! now he only wants to know Why?
No Jill Cochrane worked for all three stations too.
Indeed, in fact he is still presenting ITV News Meridian today!
Technically Christopher Peacock worked for Southern, TVS and Meridian, though he made his Meridian debut after Thames Valley Tonight was absorbed into Meridian Tonight. He’s an actor now funnily enough.
When tvs took over it was the best thing that happened I worked for southern then tvs most staff were kept on even presenter's to keep familiar faces.
Don't forget Fred Dinenage by the way , he has been with ITV since 1964 till December 2021 , first with Southern TV , than TVS and than ITV meridian. Not only as he seen all the changes on how people watch Local TV in the South and South East , he has survived Job Cuts at ITV in the South aswell . I don't know what happen in the meeting Fred had at ITV meridian in 2008 about which Jobs will go , i bet he had that feeling in 2004 1980 till the end of 1981 and 1991 about is Fred himself getting axed by ITV or not. but he is the coolist newsreader ever
I'm from London (The old Thames/LWT stomping ground) and for me Southern bowed out in a defiant stance towards the IBA unlike Westward when Roger Shaw both closed Westward Television before midnight and at midnight reappeared launching TSW and ATV in the Midlands when Mike Prince and ATV's original announcer Shaw Taylor gracefully bowed out with a tribute to ATV and played the National Anthem at the end of broadcast before it became Central. For Thames and LWT it was also a sad day as well because they also said goodbye to the Bluebell Hill Transmitter thus losing West Kent which also became part of TVS.
Excellent quality!
9:23
BUGS: Well What Did You Expect In An Opera? a Happy Ending?
Not my normal type of thing but lilian Watson has an amazing voice
Looks like a fun night.
Southern were extremely upset at losing their franchise so decided to leave with a stroppy attitude by showing angry upset scowling unhappy faces at the very end, and they deliberately overrun their franchise removal time of midnight deliberately by 45 minutes by staying on air past midnight, as a deliberate parting shot 'act of defiance' to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to show and vent their frustration.
You'd think the IBA would've switched off the transmitters at midnight and just pulled the plug on it mid-sentence.
At least TVS and Thames Television went out more gracefully when their franchises to broadcast were removed and didn't do a 'Southern Television 2.0' on the newly formed Independent Television Commission (iTc), the IBA's successor.
CARLTON
The Guardian picked up on that in an article of the best and worst Christmas/New Year television, commenting "The look on the face of Arnold Wilson is priceless, if borderline psychopathic. Whether his soon-to-be-ex-colleagues received a few home truths the second the company went off air is sadly unrecorded."
Southern > TVS was in practice not really any different to Westward > TSW in the South West or ATV > Central in the Midlands. Essentially the only things to go with the old company were the brand name and senior management but virtually everyone else would be back at work the following day as employees of the new company, working in the same building and doing the same jobs they had done before, with the viewer noticing very little difference beyond the change of name. At least this was vaguely acknowledged over the Westward > TSW switchover with Roger Shaw announcing the demise of Westward only to then remain on screen and announce the launch of TSW. The end of Southern admittedly was pretty cool for 1981 with the star spinning off into space, but lining all the on-screen personality up for this final bow type ending was just bitterness from Southern's management when most of them weren't actually going anywhere. Fred Dinenage was still doing regional news on the same patch until the end of 2021!
i miss things like this from another time...sure its bizarre.. but i like it..
NOOOOOOOOOOO! MY SOUTHERN TELEVISION!!! I WANT IT BACK!!!
Actually, Christopher Robbie did some continuity during Christmas of 1987 and actually retired from TVS around 1988. And by the way, the man next to him at the end, Brian Nissen (the man grinning at 7:10) was also kept on by TVS. He did continuity announcements at the station until he retired around August of 1987. In fact, Nissen and Robbie were, I believe, the only Southern Television continuity announcers to be kept on by TVS.
I was born in 1987, but had I been around for when Southern were about to be replaced by TVS, I would’ve tuned into part of And It’s Goodbye From Us just to heckle Southern, before turning over to BBC One for Hi There, 82!
Brian Shallcross: AMAZING combover! Chris Peacock and Fred 'Legend' Dinage' went onto TVS. Dinage is still on Meridian anchoring evening news. I vaguely remember Christopher Robbie doing on air continuity at TVS as a kid too in the early 80s.
Christopher Robbie returned to acting and the stage after he left TVS. I gather he is still acting today at the age of 85
This company officially signed-off at 1 January 1982 at 00:43 GMT
Southern Television's final programme And It's Goodbye From Us ended at 12:43 am on New Year's Day 1982. The programme closed with a medley of songs "to suit the occasion" sung by Lilian Watson and performed by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta under conductor Owain Arwel Hughes. The show's presenter, long-serving continuity announcer Christopher Robbie, signed off from Southern Television with the words:
Goodbye songs from Lilian Watson because ... it's goodbye time. We said at the start that we'd come to celebrate, and I think we have. We've enjoyed remembering, and I'm sure you won't forget. So, with a final farewell smile from those Southern people who've become to many of you, true friends, it's goodbye from us.
Afterwards, the camera panned to show many of the on-air talent and company executives standing (rather solemnly) as their names were displayed on-screen and the "Southern Fantasia" (composed especially for the show by Jonathan Burton, and performed earlier on in the programme) played in Southern Television's final two minutes. When the piece came to a climactic end, the illuminated logo signs and lights on the set were gradually turned off, fading to the Southern Television Colour Production slide (being shown for the final time), which dissolved into the station's logo, spinning away into an animated starry sky. The acoustic guitar jingle played for what would be the final time with a deep extended echo, and the screen slowly and silently faded to black, remaining that way for close to a minute. There were no closing or shut-down announcements, no suggestions for viewers to switch off their television sets, nor even the customary playing of God Save the Queen. At 12:45 am the transmitters were simply, and abruptly, shut down, putting a permanent end to Southern's broadcasts after 24 years. Exactly 8 hours and 40 minutes later, Television South began broadcasting in Southern's former region.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Television#Closure_of_Southern_Television
Next year should have been 62 years long time
R.I.P SOUTHERN TELEVISION 1958-1981
This year 2018 is the sixtieth year of Southern Television starting and ITV starting in the South but who made the best programmes Southern or TVS well it's a tie I just couldn't separate them they made great programmes for ITV nationally and locally to
Ha, yes. I hadn't thought of it like that; great comment.
Yes, Yes and Yes!
Southern never quits you'll see!
If i was in the south at the time and say sixteen i would think 'Goodbye to 1958' .It is comical and very wholesome music for a northerner in 2015. Was it really this posh for 23 years? What about the Kent people who spoke in a regional accent? What areas did they cover as opposed to TVS?
Imagine if Southern TV came back in 1993. I wonder if they would've played the clip again of the star disappearing but in reverse.
Read my comment on how Southern TV would be like in an alternate universe.
They haven't, TVS, Meridian, CPV and Carlton were bidding for the South and South East England franchise in 1991, and Meridian came out on top, because TVS overbidded and CPV lost out on quality, Carlton's bid wasn't high enough but eventually won the London Weekday franchise.
@@joeorsini6110 for the people who cant look it up i'll say it southern would still broadcast for some years before it became itv in 2002 the end
Yes, you are correct. Quite a number of staff did transfer to TVS though, but as you stated TVS too were in the same boat several years later....
GLF
@onthetellybox
Hi,
The whole programme is on 'My Channel', but in four parts. Thank You for your comments.
GLF
9:37
change da world
my final message. Goodb ye
(Windows 95 startup music plays)
Imagine if an American TV station used the Southern Star as a logo?
WLVI Channel 56 in Boston.
WGN Channel 9 in Chicago.
KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles.
Those are examples
Bits of it did sound like it, you're right there! XD
Paedo smiling John Caine at 7:27.
At least Southern had the opportunity to say goodbye! The US network DuMont (1946-1956) had the rug pulled out from under it by creditors!
My sources also tell me that TVS were operating from Terrapin offices from the car park as Southern management would not allow them access to the building until the complete end of their franchise.
Also... As a final blow... Southern copped a huge fine for over-running with the above show by 45 minutes... A deliberate stunt to further p1ss off the incoming TVS.
Rather pathetic really... And most unprofessional.
Still I'm sure it was worth every minute!
Southern were right to throwing a parting shot to the new company by this act of defiance
Couldn't the IBA have just pulled the plugs at midnight.
@@christopherhulse8385 But they chose not to do so as the company was bowing out.
@@anthonyperkins7556 You could actually look at this another way, TVS by this time had legally took over with most of the Southern staff taken on, so even though the Southern name was being shown, it was TVS in charge as they bought out Southern lock stock and barrel.
And I want that sothurn star to come back out of the universe -- for living!
R.I.P Southern television
Chris Robbie - a former cyberman in Dr Who.
An old friend of mine worked for Mary Morris at her restaurant in Chichester West Sussex.
I remember all those faces so well
It must`ve been hard not to get a lump in the throat if you were one of the people on the stage once the lights dimmed, you knew then that your job had gone and it would be unlikely that the people who had been a family of sorts over the years would be together like this again. ... But on the flipside, TVS would go the same way, leaving with the same sense of "surprise" that they were to be terminated...
I miss it!
This New Year of course it is indeed now 42 years ago old since this first went out so too? But as others have said; this is just as moving now then really as it was then too? Thank you of course anyway too.
It was odd in a way too that all of those who worked for Southern were not taken on then by TVS-that would have been easier surely too? Also, it was not handled in the same way then as it was with Westward going to TSW or ATV going to Central at the time too. I wonder what the IBA thought of it at all? Most interesting though too all the same.
TSW actually took over from Westward before the official handover date of 1st January 1982. TSW branding started on the official handover date.
ATV to Central was just the IBA redefining their dual regional area to East and West Midlands.
Yes of course that was so then too. Thank you!@@gbhxu
Like i said - i think this was a very sad event for all concerned - the opinion that the ending needed to be "bright and cheerful" is of course subjective on your part.
i thought it was very moving but then thats subjective on my part. i enjoyed seeing it again. many thanks
mike
Is it possible that the full program can be uploaded to youtube in one piece?
Why did they have to make it like a wake?
It seems it was like a wake. They loved their station and they just lost it
Yes it was quite sad actually! The TVS VT's are all on my Channel for you and others to enjoy!
This is the part where all legands cried
Thanks for the memories
Do you have the full recording of Southern last programme please
As a teen of the 80s, TVS was the ITV channel. Southern probably had high quality programmes, just seems antiquated.
That was quite a different matter. Southern were far from insolvent. It was the IBA's decision not to renew its franchise.
@premiaire
Hi Jason,
Thanks for your comments. Yes, ITV are not once what they were. Production values have slipped, programmes are too mainstream these days.
Nothing we can do I'm afraid, except to not watch them!.
It is good though to look back on the 'old days'
Cheers,
GLF
That was really quite sad. I don't remember that cos I was only 2 but i'm sure my parents do....what happened next? do you have a video of when TVS tookover?