TVR was formed and headed up by David Roe, Ian Abrahams and Ross Compton: they were originally backed by SGB Scaffolding, Great Britain – and later to be backed by The Crown Agents. TVR initially they took on a different but important “The Horse Box stance”, for although they did have a small four camera scanner (known as “the horse box”) with Marconi MK IVs, their main thrust was at the premises in Windmill Street, for they were very close to the Post Office tower and had direct lines from and to the Post Office Tower. With Denis Hinstridge, John Cotterill and Harold Grey, a switching centre was installed and enabled any of the 6 or 8 VT machines to record or transmit directly to or from anywhere. 

Alan Gibbons, Ross Compton 

A very small studio was headed up by Alan Gibbons, Senior Cameraman. This served as an up-the-line presentation or even a small commercial studio. Doug Hopkins was on sound with Bob Smith Langridge heading up the studio engineering. Harry Storey from InterTel joined Alan and Bruce Brown (Aus) after his stint at freelancing in about 1967/8 and a little later I also joined them. Within a short time TVR had grown and in 1969 the new premises in Whitfield Street, just a street away, was acquired to enable Windmill Street to expand and use the old studio space for more VTRs. Whitfield Street was to have a slightly larger custom-built studio with accompanying facilities. The site was very carefully chosen – for as in the case of Windmill Street and in keeping with many well proven time and motion studies – the pub – ‘The Hope’ – was directly across the road.

The following paragraphs were supplied by Chris Patten:

Other uses for the Windmill Street studio – it was used by ITN for their news bulletin for a period up to the launch of their Flag Ship “News at Ten” programme. They used their own studio to build the News at Ten set and then did weeks of rehearsal from it, all the time putting out their regular late evening news service from TVR. Another interesting point was that because TVR had multiple VTRs and the TV networks were continually running short of VTRs, TVR was used by both the commercial stations and the BBC for additional VTR facilities. They generally needed to use their own in house VTRs for production and editing work, the TVR VTRs were often used to put the programmes to air. I can remember on more than one evening I walked down the VTR area corridor at TVR and watched three adjacent VTRs transmit the network programmes to air for BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV. At that moment the whole of UK television was originating out of a small facility in Windmill Street. 

Soon after “News at Ten” started one of the national newspapers, I think it was “The Sketch”, decided to do a live 30 second ad in the mid news break. ITN did not want to do it, so TVR did it from their Whitfield Street studio, feeding the signal to ITN to go to air nationally as the first commercial of the break. I would think that this was a first for UK commercial television. The Sun commercials were all made from this studio, some even went out ‘Live On Air’ – directed by Mike Kent and Lynn Curry who later married Graham King of “The Sun” Newspaper … Week after week the rapid pace of these ads kept us on our toes as they advertised the latest and greatest stories.  Mike Kent and Harry Storey enjoying the perks of the job, chatting up a Page 3 girl prior to action.  Many other commercials also filled the studio as we had a set building workshop run by three chippies Don, Sid, and John Wall. In no time they would build and erect a kitchen or lounge. I mention the people a great deal as the industry then, as probably still today, breeds so many characters of note. Don Ball and Margie Woods (secretary) Xmas party.  Sid, a slightly older Chippy, used to bring his lunch box in every day, for they never quite knew when they could have a break to eat something. One day someone spotted he had some pound notes in the box. “What’s the money for Sid?” “Oh, it’s my wife puts it in every day for the Taxi.” “But you go home by tube!” “I know, but she says if I ever get an erection whilst I’m at work I must down tools and get a taxi home.” Sid used to wear a brown overall with his pencil in his top chest pocket and when hanging wallpaper or anything he would stick drawing pins in the surrounding double seam around the pocket. He was Cockney by nature and very cheeky and often made racial remarks, one day he went too far so I gave a hard slap on his chest pocket. Apparently, for I didn’t wait around for the response, when he removed his shirt his pin stabbed chest resembled a perforated postage stamp with a large nipple centre surrounded with the blood red square of pin pricks. 

Bob Gardham came to TVR just before his London Weekend “Big Match” connection to arrange for us to cover a football match somewhere up north.

Ken Mauman 

Ken Mauman was the resident Unit Manager at the time and introduced me as the senior cameraman and Bob went to lengths to explain his approach to shooting, which was a much closer, tighter style than ever seen before. Ken then explained that he would not be in attendance as he had a prior commitment, saying that I would look after anything Bob required and would act as Unit manager. Bob said that would be fine. He then asked to have a meeting with the senior rigger/driver as he would like to arrange meeting him on site – Ken said no problem, he will be on site when you get there. No one was more taken aback than Bob when I drove the scanner up alongside his parked car at the ground. “Bloody Hell, what’s TVR? A one-man band? Where are the riggers?” “They’ll be along in a minute in another truck but let’s go and sort out what you need as I drive and rig too”. Bob lived off free beers for quite some time as he told that story, for it flew in the face of the unions who were quite strong in those days with the one man -one job approach. 

Back in the InterTel days, although everyone had to be a union member of either ACTT for technical staff or NATKE for rigger drivers, InterTel had set the pace for Facilities as we broke all the rules to stay alive. At Haliford studios on a Pop Show I was a No 4 Cam. on the end captions which were done in those days with separate cards being pulled alternately between two cameras. My caption puller accidentally knocked the caption light and I caught the light and re-adjusted in a flash to enable them to switch to my camera in time for the next caption. The shop steward walked over to me and swore at me asking why I touched one of his lights. “Do you know our fathers went on a hunger march to keep their jobs?” He ranted and raved on, then called the whole studio out on strike. It took management an hour or two to negotiate a return to work. What would have happened if he knew I was working camera on my old riggers card. For Trevor had said that for six months I had to work both as a rigger and a cameraman. 

At TVR – another first of that time – I and Hugh McCann went to Liverpool to record The Scaffold Pop group, the recorded material was transferred from a video signal on to film to be distributed. The quality of both these Video-to-film transfers and Eidophor projection were abysmal by today’s standards but, in those early days, it was all that was available … just about acceptable. It was indeed a time of transition and development in the industry, for new ideas were being tried just about every week. The tape to film system was much later surpassed by the Gemini system of shooting using a video camera to record the rushes to later view and edit whilst having the piggyback film camera as the final product. A major event was the Richmond Jazz Festival shot for the US market and the Beatles hit “Paperback Writer” was shot at Richmond Film Studios for the show “Shindig” in 1965. 

The Facility business was continuing to grow, and new setups were popping up to deal with the increase in demand for TV material. Granville Theatre in Fulham was a venture put together by Peter Lloyd and Bill Stewart some years earlier and utilized the old Theatre as a film and TV studio: Senior Cameraman at that time was Peter Thiery and Barry Dodd was then a trainee. I recall freelancing on quite a number of COI programmes and a Cliff Richard special comes to mind. Harry Storey tells of a Beatles shoot and remembers the stage was slightly tilted and one had to push camera and pedestal uphill. Eventually the studio was vacated and most of the work went to Keith Ewart’s new studio in Wandsworth which originated in 1968 and a year later with the installation of Marconi Mk1Vs and the Gemini system, they continued with a variety of work for some years on. The incredible Granville Theatre was later disgracefully demolished in 1971 as it should have been saved as a historical building. 

Meantime TVR had built a scanner of its own (simply known as the blue truck) it was bigger and, of course, state of the art. One of its early jobs in 1970 was to go to Malta to cover the launch of a new car – the Rootes Group ‘Avenger’. The scanner and its look-alike Tender were dispatched by sea and the crew were flown out later to coincide with its arrival. Acts were rehearsed and rehearsed again as there was no sign of the ship and worse, apparently, no contact with the skipper. Just some of the crew enjoying the scenery whilst waiting. Days were to pass where we all peered and searched the horizon for signs of a ship. … Mending nets at Valetta Harbour … any ship would do as word had come through that the ship had suffered in a storm. Anxious days indeed … Then on one sunny morn two blue dots appeared on the horizon. Binoculars were summoned and there floating along were two large blue trucks but no sign of the great ship. When an hour or so passed only then could we discern a small freighter with two giant trucks strapped on deck. On arrival, the captain said it was touch and go for he nearly had to cut them loose fearing his small freighter would capsize in the storm. The shipping company had missed the deadline for the proper vessel of adequate size and stuck the trucks atop this little boat to meet their commitment. “PHEW!!!! Close shave.

In Malta, Ted Ray, an established comedian was one act, Lionel Blair and his dancers, Amy McDonald the blonde bimbo (acted) were also present. The show, directed by Keith Beckett, went well, except the press cold-shouldered Ted Ray on the opening press night and he wanted to commit suicide, but on the second night for the Dealers we, the crew, rallied and clapped and roared approval at his lines, and it help spark a great success. George Gardiner contemplating, blue truck background – George Gardiner had celebrated with champagne far too much the night before and a couple of hours or so before the next show I found him, late morning, lying in the midday sun by the pool, fully clothed just as the night before in his suit and big tie, all totally ripped to shreds, as he’d fallen over a wall into a nearby cactus bed. With Bruce Brown’s help we carried him back to his shower, dumped him fully shredded and turned the cold tap on full blast. Then half-carried him to his camera and tied him to it sans ripped jacket and tie.  Keith wanted to know why he kept pointing his camera at the ceiling. Sad really.