The British commercial station ITV started broadcasting in 1955 and for months we in Britain have been seeing all sorts of congratulation from the station with viewers being encouraged to vote as to what has been their favourite ITV shows over the last 50 years . The voting forms appeared in TV guides and on the official ITV website but you can only vote what was on the list that ITV had drawn up !
A fair way of finding out what has been the greatest shows ITV has produced over the last 50 years ? I don't think so . What about LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR , a sit-com that would see its producers jailed if it was made now due to its politically incorrect tone but which topped the TV audience charts in the early 1970s . What about the tough macho heroics of THE PROFESSIONALS that schoolboys of my generation loved ? There's other shows that deserved to get a mention like Nigel Kneale's 1979 QUATERMASS conclusion or his anthology series BEASTS from 1976 but none of these shows made the short list
That's what wasn't included so lets look at what was . TONIGHT WITH TREVOR McDONALD ( 45 ) , DEATH ON THE ROCK ( 40 ) are these amongst the greatest , most controversial shows that the channel has produced ? So why was DEATH OF A PRINCESS not included ? It should also be pointed out that shows like FAMILY FORTUNES ( 50 ) and CANDID CAMERA ( 44 ) were based on American shows so their inclusion must be seen as dubious . Likewise THE AVENGERS ( 17 ) which is best known for the colour Emma Peel era was financied by American money so it's debatable if it should qualify as an ITV show and since THE PRISONER ( 30 ) was produced by Lew Grade's ITC company it certainly shouldn't qualify . Perhaps the most farcical aspect is ANT AND DEC'S TAKEWAY coming in at second place . What ?! You're trying to say this is the greatest thing in the history of ITV after CORONATION STREET . Someone's having a laugh since it ended up being second in the Saturday night viewing figures opposite DOCTOR WHO which proves once and for all that these TV list shows are an insult to viewer democracy
