A BBC training tape from 1987. Including VT playouts of Top Of The Pop's and Tomorrow's World. Featuring the Wood Norton training centre and TVC VT department
I've just come across this again, many years after I left the VT department. I remember and worked with most of the people in the video. Great times in a great organisation.
Just came across this. I was extremely lucky to become an operator in the early 90's and got the tail end of this hayday. I even got to work there in tvc stage 5 and the basement as a vt op. I have worked in many places and roles in the last 29 years, but that time in tvc was absolutely the best.
I was in the VT Dept at this time. I left when Birt started breaking everything and the ITV franchises were heading south in a similar way . The extensive training (Both at Wood Norton and in London), the people and the superb working conditions were simply amazing. I was so lucky to be a part of something special.
Fascinating programme, thanks for posting. It just shows what a tense job it was when any little glitch and 10000000 people would be on your case! Yes this was a time when you got your moneys worth out of the BBC fee, compared to the tripe thats on there now.
I wish I still had that shirt... Great to see this again. I remember Dave, Graham, Roland and Jane making it. Excellent souvenir of bits of TK and VT. All the familiar faces!
I joined the TV industry a couple years after this, in the rival satellite tv sector. No long elaborate training, just learning on the job. No massive support network, as the Transmission controller and assistant covered most of these tasks.. on the plus side we had much up to date equipment and the freedom to make decisions on the spot, ourselves. Plus we would be doing a 12 hour shift. By the nineties, at MTV & Discovery I was broadcasting (alone, with an engineer to handle equipment failures) to 20 million plus viewers, across Europe handling multiple channels, with subtitles and multiple language audio. I had various BBC guys in for training (they were moonlighting) and the were always nervous at how much one person was responsible for... no big support network. I miss it all (but only occasionally)!
BBC also organized similar 10 week intensive courses around the world. I attended one in '98. Although the focus was on the news, we pretty much had to go through everything, from news reporting, to operating cameras, editing, presenting, graphics, even marketing. It included a complete production of an evening news bulletin. There were two groups, TV and radio, with about 10 students in each group. Accommodation was covered and we had an allowance for food that was close to an average national salary at the time (about 200 pounds a month). Unforgettable experience!!!
And how lucky budding creators are today..... Second hand HD Video Camera with SD Card, PC with Sony Vegas, and CZcams to be your Station....and thy sky's the limit... :) ....actually even easier really... Stream Live to your CZcams channel with smart phone... from the street !
I bet the BBC was a good place to work back in the 80s....not now
Wow I made this film in 1987 where on earth did you get it from!!!?
Jean Michel Jarre lives...
Dave Rixon ~ Grindelwald Productions
I've just come across this again, many years after I left the VT department. I remember and worked with most of the people in the video. Great times in a great organisation.
Brendan Mallon is still working for the BBC, 36 years later.
Really goid to see this again, I was in VT Current Ops from 1983 to 1989, the best working days of my life.
Just came across this. I was extremely lucky to become an operator in the early 90's and got the tail end of this hayday. I even got to work there in tvc stage 5 and the basement as a vt op. I have worked in many places and roles in the last 29 years, but that time in tvc was absolutely the best.
I was in the VT Dept at this time. I left when Birt started breaking everything and the ITV franchises were heading south in a similar way . The extensive training (Both at Wood Norton and in London), the people and the superb working conditions were simply amazing. I was so lucky to be a part of something special.
OF course this couldn't be complete without Jarre's music.
Back when the BBC actually had integrity and was relevant. 😮
I was always intrigued by the contra-rotating reels on those Type-C VTRs.
Fascinating programme, thanks for posting. It just shows what a tense job it was when any little glitch and 10000000 people would be on your case! Yes this was a time when you got your moneys worth out of the BBC fee, compared to the tripe thats on there now.
It is so much better talking about this than actually doing it ever was. I am deeply proud that I did. This was shot about a decade after I joined.
I wish I still had that shirt... Great to see this again. I remember Dave, Graham, Roland and Jane making it. Excellent souvenir of bits of TK and VT. All the familiar faces!
I joined the TV industry a couple years after this, in the rival satellite tv sector. No long elaborate training, just learning on the job. No massive support network, as the Transmission controller and assistant covered most of these tasks.. on the plus side we had much up to date equipment and the freedom to make decisions on the spot, ourselves. Plus we would be doing a 12 hour shift. By the nineties, at MTV & Discovery I was broadcasting (alone, with an engineer to handle equipment failures) to 20 million plus viewers, across Europe handling multiple channels, with subtitles and multiple language audio. I had various BBC guys in for training (they were moonlighting) and the were always nervous at how much one person was responsible for... no big support network. I miss it all (but only occasionally)!
Happy days - for me starting in 1969. I learned more at Wood Norton than at any other time of my life. Then spent four happy years at BBC Scotland.
I love this, real experts and engineers rather than just software (I say this as a software engineer).
I worked there from 88-90, then moved to Thames TV for over double the salary. It was an unpleasant place to work generally.
I'm sure that you all remember the 1979 Christmas Tape!
BBC also organized similar 10 week intensive courses around the world. I attended one in '98. Although the focus was on the news, we pretty much had to go through everything, from news reporting, to operating cameras, editing, presenting, graphics, even marketing. It included a complete production of an evening news bulletin. There were two groups, TV and radio, with about 10 students in each group. Accommodation was covered and we had an allowance for food that was close to an average national salary at the time (about 200 pounds a month). Unforgettable experience!!!
And how lucky budding creators are today..... Second hand HD Video Camera with SD Card, PC with Sony Vegas, and CZcams to be your Station....and thy sky's the limit... :) ....actually even easier really... Stream Live to your CZcams channel with smart phone... from the street !