70's TV

[dabees]

Having spent my early years watching television in the 70's i noticed a curious thing.

There tended to be a division in social viewing, i was reared on the BBC, but (i hate to say this) some of the poorer kids were all watching ITV.

There seemed to be a division between the kids who watched Blue Peter and those that watched Magpie, that was often born out in intelligence and wealth.

This wasn't an upper class primary school, just a small CofE school in a newtown. I was from a working class family that wanted to better themselves. Most ITV families were happy with their lot.

Did anyone else notice this growing up during the 70's? Or was it just my school?

[crisgal]

i know what you mean.
it must have come from my parents I suppose - well my mum especially. She was a BBC fan and we rarely saw ITV.

We were definately blue Peter kids and I did feel the kids who saw Magpie were missing out somehow.

Even when Tiswas started, my mum tried to persuade us to stick to Swap Shop!
Needless to say - we only lasted a week!

[dabees]

I was always a Swapshop kid Crisgal, Tiswas just wasn't my thing.

I've always been a little afraid of the unknown. lol

But i look back now and wonder why? I'm sure social conditioning has something to do with our views, nature v nurture. We all suffer and benefit from both.

[Ice.Maiden]

When the BBC had the monopoly, it seems to me that ITV was looked down on because they used advertisers to fund much of, if not all, of their broadcasts - so they were the "poor relation". I think that a certain type of snobbery still exists within TV circles, and amongst those who choose to watch BBC instead. It's much the same with newspapers. Someone coined the "rag" and "gutter press" phrases, which've been attributed to national papers like The Sun. In fact, it's the biggest selling daily paper in the country, yet there are still folk who won't admit to reading it! Very sad!

[rojash]

The readership of The Sun is around 4 million. Although this makes it the single most read daily, it only constitutes around 10% of the adult UK population. So, 90% of UK adults don't read The Sun, and it's therefore not that surprising that lots of people don't admit reading it - it's because they don't!

[coco pops]

I was told that "poor" people watched itv , that was in mid 60's.

[Bathsheba]

I wasn't a kid in the 70's, but I used to watch Magpie just to see Mick Robertson! x

[kawa4]

i guess ur right the better of watched the bbc. we watched blue peter if mum had 2 bob 4 the meter.

[Jenga]

Never noticed this! I remember my mum made us watch Blue Peter though and not Magpie. I think it was because she liked Blue Peter. Maybe she liked Shep!

[Booldawg]

The BBC were very 'establishment' in the 70s. They had the monopoly on stuff like 'Trooping the Colour' and The Budget.

TBH We didnt have a TV set from when I was 8-13; best thing ever to happen to me - I read books alot :-)

[Oneeyedvic]

I was never allowed to watch Grange Hill since it could have been a bad influence!

[saxy_jag]

The kids who watched Magpie were probably only watching it because they fancied the presenters.

Let's be serious, though. I come from a family of factory workers and grew up on a council estate. I was allowed to watch any channel I liked for kids' TV (and it often was BBC - Jackanory, Blue Peter, Grange Hill etc.), but as soon as that was finished, it was ITV news and ITV for the rest of the evening. The ITV news and that regional programme they always do around teatime was considered 'more our sort of news' even though we got West Midlands news and we lived in the East Midlands, so it still wasn't relevant.

My parents always thought BBC was a bit too intellectual for them, I think (indeed, Mum says as much even now). We certainly never watched BBC2 - that was telly academia to them and not for the likes of us at all. I pretty much adopted their viewing habits into my adulthood.

These days, however, I hardly ever watch ITV. It's mainly one of the BBC channels, Channel 4 or comedy repeats on UKTV or Dave. Maybe this reflects my intellectual growth, as I left school at sixteen with zero o'levels and spent several years doing menial work in factories and supermarkets before starting to educate myself, going to university and getting a degree.