Below is a list of early colour TV [1] shows produced in the UK between the late 1950s up to 1970, [2] by which point the majority of programmes were being produced in colour. [3] The list features titles of shows, TV companies, transmission dates, formats and their archival status; noting whether they are lost, partially or mostly missing or have episodes that exist in B&W. [4] Also included are some programmes which had one-off transmissions, where applicable.
BBC2 was the first European broadcaster to show colour programmes from 1 July 1967, ahead of ITV and BBC1, who both began broadcasting in colour from 15 November 1969. This list includes shows that were recorded in colour but whose first UK broadcast was in black-and-white; most of these shows were sold to US networks who were already broadcasting in colour.
Title | Company | TX | Format | Archival Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot | ITC Entertainment | 1956–57 | Film | Exists |
Stingray | ITC Entertainment | 1964–65 | Film | Exists |
Thunderbirds | ITC Entertainment | 1965–66 | Film | Exists |
Title | Company | TX | Format | Archival Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hippodrome Show | ITV (ATV) | 1966 | Video tape (VT) | Some episodes [F 1] |
The Palladium Show | ITV (ATV) | 1966–69 (1 test episode) | VT | Exists |
The Baron | ITC Entertainment | 1966–67 | Film | Exists |
The Saint | ITC Entertainment | 1962–69 (Series 5–6) | Film | Exists |
Title | Company | TX | Format | Archival Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons | ITC Entertainment | 1967–68 | Film | Exists |
Half Hour Story | ITV (Rediffusion) | 1967–68 (1 test episode) | Film | Exists [5] |
Horizon | BBC2 | 1964–present (Series 4 onwards) | Film/ VT | Most episodes exist |
Late Night Line Up | BBC2 | 1964–72 (Jun 67 onwards) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Man In a Suitcase | ITC Entertainment | 1967–68 | Film | Exists |
Once More With Felix | BBC2 | 1967–70 | VT | Some episodes exist [F 2] |
The Piccadilly Palace | ITV (ATV) | 1967 | VT | Some episodes exist [F 3] |
The Avengers | ITV (ABC/Thames) | 1961–69 (Series 5–6) | Film | All colour episodes exist |
The Black and White Minstrel Show | BBC2 | 1958–78 (Series 10–20) | VT | Some episodes exist |
The Flower of Gloster | ITV (Granada) | 1967 | Film | Exists |
The Prisoner | ITC Entertainment | 1967–68 | Film | Exists |
Theatre 625 | BBC2 | 1964–68 (Series 5) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Wimbledon Tennis Championships | BBC1/2 | 1937–present (1967 onwards) | VT | Most colour transmissions exist |
Vanity Fair | BBC2 | 1967–68 | VT | Exists [F 4] |
Title | Company | TX | Format | Archival Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
1968 Summer Olympics | BBC1/2 | 1968 | VT | Exists |
Bobbie Gentry | BBC2 | 1968–71 | VT | Some episodes exist |
Broaden Your Mind | BBC2 | 1968–69 | VT | Lost [F 5] |
Call My Bluff | BBC2 | 1965–2005 | VT | Most episodes |
Cold Comfort Farm | BBC2 | 1968 | VT | Exists |
Colour Me Pop | BBC2 | 1968–69 | VT | Some episodes exist [F 6] |
Danger Man | ITC Entertainment | 1960–68 (Series 4) | Film | Exists |
Gardeners’ World | BBC2 | 1968–present | VT | Most episodes exist |
Goodbye Again | ITV (ATV) | 1968 | VT | Exists |
In Their Own Words | BBC2 | 1968 | Film | Exists |
Marty | BBC2 | 1968–69 | VT | Most episodes exist |
Jazz at the Maltings | BBC2 | 1968–69 | VT | Some episodes exist |
Joe 90 | ITC Entertainment | 1968–69 | Film | Exists |
Late Night Horror | BBC2 | 1968 | VT | One episode exists |
Man Alive | BBC2 | 1965–82 (Series 3–16) | Film/VT | Most episodes exist |
One Pair of Eyes | BBC2 | 1967–84 (Series 2 onwards) | Film | Exists |
Ooh La La | BBC2 | 1968–73 | VT | Series 3 only |
Scott On... | BBC2 | 1964–74 (Series 2–5) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Sherlock Holmes | BBC2 | 1965–68 (Series 2) | VT | Some episodes exist |
The Champions | ITC Entertainment | 1968–69 | Film | Exists |
The Dave Allen Show | BBC1/2 | 1968–69 | VT | Most episodes exist |
The Eurovision Song Contest | Various | 1957–present (1968 onwards) | VT | Most transmissions exist [F 7] |
The Morecambe & Wise Show | BBC1/2 | 1968–77 | VT | Most episodes exist |
The World of Beachcomber | BBC2 | 1968 | VT | Lost |
Title | Company | TX | Format | Archival Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
All Gas and Gaiters | BBC1 | 1967–71 (Series 3–5) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Cilla | BBC1 | 1968–76 (Series 3–8) | VT | Most episodes exist |
Civilisation | BBC2 | 1969 | Film | Exists |
Coronation Street | ITV (Granada) | 1960–present (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Exists |
Crossroads | ITV (ATV/Central) | 1964–88 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist [F 8] |
Curry and Chips | ITV (LWT) | 1969 | VT | Exists |
Dad's Army | BBC1 | 1968–77 (Series 3–9) | VT | All colour episodes exist |
Dee Time | BBC1 | 1967–70 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | No colour episodes exist |
Department S | ITC Entertainment | 1969–70 | Film | Exists |
Dixon of Dock Green | BBC1 | 1955–76 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Doctor in the House | ITV (LWT) | 1969–70 | VT | Exists |
Frost on Sunday | ITV (LWT) | 1968–70 (Oct 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
Girls About Town | ITV (ATV) | 1969–71 | VT | Exists |
Grandstand | BBC1 | 1958–2007 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
Hadleigh | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1969–76 | VT | Exists |
Lift Off with Ayshea | ITV (Granada) | 1969–74 | VT | Some episodes exist |
Magpie | ITV (Thames) | 1968–80 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Match of the Day | BBC1/2 | 1964 – present (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
Monty Python's Flying Circus | BBC1 | 1969–74 | VT | Exists |
Mr Digby Darling | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1969–71 (Series 2–3) | VT | Exists |
Nearest and Dearest | ITV (Granada) | 1968–73 (Series 3–7) | VT | Exists |
Not in Front of the Children | BBC1 | 1967–70 (Series 4) | VT | Some episodes exist |
Out of the Unknown | BBC2 | 1965–71 (Series 3–4) | VT | Some episodes exist [F 9] |
Panorama | BBC1 | 1953–present (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
Parkin's Patch | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1969–70 | VT | Exists |
Paul Temple | BBC1/ ZDF | 1969–71 | VT | Some episodes exist |
Please Sir! | ITV (LWT) | 1968–72 (Series 2–4) | VT | Exists |
Pop Go the Sixties | BBC1/ ZDF | TX: 31/12/1969 | VT | Exists |
Pot Black | BBC2 | 1969–2007 | VT | Most episodes exist [F 10] |
Prince Charles Investiture | BBC2 | TX: 1/7/1969 | VT | Exists |
Public Eye | ITV (ABC/ Thames) | 1965–72 (Series 4–7) | VT/Film | All Colour Episodes exist [F 11] |
Q... | BBC2 | 1969–82 | VT | Most episodes exist |
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) | ITC Entertainment | 1969–70 | Film | Exists |
Sez Les | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1969–76 (Series 2–11) | VT | Series 3–11 exists |
Softly Softly: Taskforce | BBC1 | 1969–76 | VT | Exists |
Strange Report | ITC Entertainment | 1969–70 | Film | Exists |
The Big Match | ITV | 1968–92 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
The Dick Emery Show | BBC1 | 1963–81 (Dec 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
The Gnomes of Dulwich | BBC2 | 1969 | VT | Lost |
The Golden Shot | ITV (ATV) | 1967–75 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Some episodes exist [F 12] |
The Good Old Days | BBC1 | 1953–83 (Dec 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes exist |
The Secret Service | ITC Entertainment | 1969 | VT | Exists |
The Sky at Night | BBC1 | 1957–present (Dec 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
The Sooty Show | ITV (Thames) | 1968–92 (Dec 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
The Wednesday Play | BBC1 | 1964–70 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT/Film | Most episodes |
The Worker | ITV (ATV/Thames) | 1965–78 (Series 3–5) | VT | Most episodes [F 13] |
This Is Your Life | ITV (Thames)/ BBC1 | 1955–64, 1969–2003, 2007 (Series 10 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
Take Three Girls | BBC1 | 1969–71 | VT | Some episodes |
This Is Tom Jones | ITV (ATV) | 1969–71 | VT | Exists |
Tomorrow's World | BBC1 | 1965–2003 (1970 onwards) | VT | Most episodes [F 14] |
Top of the Pops | BBC1/2 | 1964–2006 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
Up Pompeii! | BBC1/ ITV (Thames) | 1969–91 | VT | Exists [F 15] |
Where Was Spring? | BBC2 | 1969–70 | VT | Lost |
World of Sport | ITV | 1965–85 (Nov 69 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
World in Ferment | BBC2 | 1969 | VT | Audio Only |
Title | Company | TX | Format | Archival Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
A Family at War | ITV (Granada) | 1970–72 | VT | Exists [F 16] |
A Question of Sport | BBC1 | 1968–present (Series 1 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
Albert and Victoria | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1970–71 | VT | Exists |
Armchair Theatre | ITV (ABC/ Thames) | 1956–74 (Series 10–16) | VT | Most episodes |
Bachelor Father | BBC1 | 1970–71 | VT | Exists |
Barry Humphries’ Scandals | BBC2 | 1970 | VT | Lost |
Braden's Week | BBC1 | 1968–72 (Series 3–4) | VT | Some Episodes |
Blue Peter | BBC1 | 1958–present (Sept 70 onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
Callan | ITV (ABC/ Thames) | 1967–72 (Series 3–4) | VT | All Colour Episodes |
Dear Mother...Love Albert | ITV (Thames/ Yorkshire) | 1969–72 | VT | Series 2–4 |
Disco 2 | BBC2 | 1970–1 | VT | Some episodes [F 17] |
Doctor Who | BBC1 | 1963 – present (Season 7 onwards) | VT | All Colour Episodes [F 18] |
Dr. Finlay's Casebook | BBC1 | 1962–71 (Series 8) | VT | Some episodes |
Father Dear Father | ITV (Thames) | 1968–73 (Series 3–7) | VT | Exists |
Freewheelers | ITV (Southern) | 1968–73 Series 4–8 | VT | Most episodes |
FIFA World Cup – 1970 | BBC/ ITV | 1970 | VT | Most transmissions exist |
For the Love of Ada | ITV (LWT) | 1970–71 | VT | Exists |
Hark at Barker | ITV (LWT) | 1969–70 Series 2 | VT | Exists [F 19] |
How! | ITV (Southern) | 1966–81 (Series 4–17) | VT | Some episodes |
It's Cliff Richard | BBC1 | 1970–76 | VT | Most episodes [F 20] |
Jokers Wild | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1969–74 (Series 2–9) | VT | Exists |
Manhunt | ITV (LWT) | 1970 | VT | Exists |
Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width | ITV (ABC/ Thames) | 1967–71 (Series 4–6) | VT | Exists |
No – That's Me Over Here! | ITV (Rediffusion/ LTW) (Series 3) | 1967–70 | VT | Series 3 only |
Not Only, But Also | BBC2 | 1965–70 (Series 3) | VT | Some episodes |
Oh Brother! | BBC1 | 1968–70 (Series 3) | VT | All colour episodes exist |
Oh In Colour! | BBC2 | 1970 | VT | Exists |
On the Buses | ITV (LWT) | 1969–73 (Series 3–7) | VT | Exists |
Play For Today | BBC1 | 1970–84 | VT/Film | Most episodes [F 21] |
Queenie's Castle | ITV (Yorkshire) | 1970–72 | VT | Exists |
Steptoe and Son | BBC1 | 1962–65, 1970–74 (Series 5–8) | VT | Exists |
That's Your Funeral | BBC1 | 1970–1 | VT | Exists |
The Adventures of Rupert Bear | ITC Entertainment | 1970–77 | Film | Exists |
The Dustbinmen | ITV (Granada) | 1969–70 (Series 3–4) | VT | Most episodes |
The Goodies | BBC2/ ITV (LWT) | 1970–82 | VT | Most episodes |
The Kenny Everett Explosion | ITV (LWT) | 1970 | VT | Fragment exists |
The Lovers | ITV (Granada) | 1970–71 | VT | Exists |
The Misfit | ITV (ATV) | 1970–71 | VT | Exists [F 22] |
Till Death Us Do Part | BBC1 | 1965–75 (Election Special onwards) | VT | Most episodes |
Timeslip | ITV (ATV) | 1970–71 | VT | Exists [F 23] |
Two in Clover | ITV (Thames) | 1969–70 (Series 2) | VT | Exists |
UFO | ITC Entertainment | 1970 | Film | Exists |
Z-Cars | BBC1 | 1962–65, 1967–78 (Series 6–12) | VT | Some episodes [F 24] |
Do Not Adjust Your Set is a British television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then, by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969. The show took its name from the message that was displayed when there was a problem with transmission or technical difficulties.
Till Death Us Do Part is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975. The show was first broadcast in 1965 as a Comedy Playhouse pilot, then as seven series between 1966 and 1975. In 1981, ITV continued the sitcom for six episodes, calling it Till Death.... The BBC produced a sequel from 1985 until 1992, In Sickness and in Health.
Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction and horror anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971.
A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast.
All Gas and Gaiters is a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of John Wraith when writing the pilot. All Gas and Gaiters was also broadcast on BBC Radio from 1971 to 1972.
Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Meet the Wife, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, Up Pompeii!, Not in Front of the Children, Me Mammy, That's Your Funeral, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and particularly Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010. In all, 27 sitcoms started from a pilot in the Comedy Playhouse strand.
Tele-snaps were off-screen photographs of British television broadcasts, taken and sold commercially by John Cura. From 1947 until 1968, Cura ran a business selling the 250,000-plus tele-snaps he took. The photographs were snapped in half of a normal frame of 35mm film, at an exposure of 1/25th of a second. Generally around 70–80 tele-snaps were taken of each programme. They were mostly purchased by actors and directors to use as records and examples of their work before the prevalence of videocassette recorders.
The Saint is a British crime television series that aired in the United Kingdom on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It was based on the literary character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels over the years. In the television series, Templar was played by Roger Moore. Templar helps those whom conventional agencies are powerless or unwilling to protect, often using methods that skirt the law. Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal is his nominal nemesis who considers Templar a common criminal, but often grudgingly tolerates his actions for the greater good.
Several portions of the long-running British science-fiction television programme Doctor Who are no longer held by the BBC. Between 1967 and 1978, the BBC routinely deleted archive programmes for various practical reasons—lack of space, scarcity of materials, and a lack of rebroadcast rights. As a result, 97 of 253 episodes from the programme's first six years are currently missing, primarily from seasons 3, 4 and 5, leaving 26 serials incomplete. Many more were considered lost until recovered from various sources, mostly overseas broadcasters.
Pipkins is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981.
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network. The series starred William Russell as the eponymous Sir Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table in the time of King Arthur at Camelot.
The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture.
The Dad's Army missing episodes are lost episodes and sketches of the British television sitcom Dad's Army. The programme ran for nine series from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. Three out of six episodes from the second series and two of the four Christmas sketches are missing because, at that time, the BBC routinely reused videotape as a cost-saving measure.
The Colour Strike was an industrial action by technicians at ITV companies which ran from 13 November 1970 to 8 February 1971. Due to a pay dispute, technicians refused to work with colour television equipment. Some shows made during this period aired in black-and-white as late as December 1971.
Dear Mother...Love Albert is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 15 September 1969 to 6 June 1972. It was created by and starred Rodney Bewes. Bewes co-wrote and produced the series with Derrick Goodwin. The show regularly appeared in the TV ratings top ten throughout its three-year run.
Colour recovery is a process that restores lost colour to television programmes that were originally recorded on colour videotape but for which only black-and-white copies exist. This is not the same as colourisation, a process by which colour is artificially added to source material that was always black-and-white, or used to enhance poor-quality original sources. Colour recovery is a newer process and is fundamentally different from colourisation. Most of the work has been performed on PAL programmes, but the concept is not fundamentally restricted to that system.
Lost television broadcasts are television programs that were not preserved or recorded after their broadcasting, making them lost to time. They cannot be found in studio archives or any other historical record. This phenomenon primarily affects shows or movies that aired before the widespread use of home video recording and digital archiving.
Paul Temple is a British-German television series which originally aired on BBC1 between 1969 and 1971. 52 episodes were made over four series, each episode having a running time of around 50 minutes.