First some television history. In 1955 the BBC found itself, for the first time, with competition. Independent television had arrived, amid worries that Britain was about to have its collective brain rotted by a surfeit of commercial vulgarity, game shows and the like.
Those fears were perhaps not immediately allayed by the plans for Independent Television News. It would be regional, the 10pm news would last all of 13 minutes and, while there’d be no ad break, its editor-in-chief, Aidan Crawley, talked up the idea of presenters injecting something of their own personality: “We hope it will give life to the news bulletins.” Cue the broadcaster Christopher Chataway murmuring “good evening” in his clipped RP. ITN was off and away.
Seventy years on, ITV news has been among the network’s best contributions to our culture, and the celebratory ITV News at 70: The Stories That Shaped Our Nation (ITVX/Wed, ITV1, 10.45pm) is a deserved reminder. It has to be said that 60 minutes is not very long to cover 70 years, and with no interviews or talking heads this doesn’t get below the surface: there are no behind-the-scenes stories about the scoops, say, or insight into how Barbara Mandrell found being the UK’s first female newsreader.
