Saturday 2 September 2023

1960s TV shows

At the start of the 60's several TV shows were well established, including the following:


Opportunity Knocks – talent show where public votes decide winners
Dixon of Dock Green – the human side of British policing
What’s My Line? – quiz show about occupations
This is Your life – biographical documentary
Panorama – current affairs programme
Emergency Ward 10 – hospital-based soap
Come Dancing – dancing competition before Strictly

Every year saw new shows - these are some of the ones I enjoyed:
1960
Coronation Street – world’s longest running soap


1961
The Avengers – glamorous espionage series, full of sass and British humour
Songs of Praise – Christian hymns sung in various churches
The Rag Trade – sit-com

1962
Z-Cars – gritty (in its day) police procedural drama
The Saint – mystery spy thriller
Steptoe and Son – sit-com based in scrap-yard


1963
Doctor Who – seminal science fiction drama
World in Action – current affairs documentary series

1964
Top of the Pops – chart-based music show
Horizon – topical scientific issues
The Likely Lads – sitcom set in Liverpool
Crossroads – soap set in a Midlands motel
Not Only … But Also – comedy sketch show

1965
Thunderbirds – iconic sci-fi puppet show
Till Death Us Do Part – sitcom set in East End
Tomorrow’s World – contemporary developments in science & technology

1966
Cathy Come Home – documentary about homelessness
Softly, Softly – police procedural – spin-off from Z-cars
Mission Impossible – spy drama

1967
The Forsyte Saga – tribulations of an upper-class Victorian family
Not in Front of the Children – sit-com
Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width – sit-com

1968
Dad’s Army – comic series about the home guard in 1940s
Gardener’s World – all things horticultural
Please Sir – sit-com set in a school
Morecambe and Wise Show – variety show
Father Dear Father – sitcom

1969
Monty Python’s Flying Circus – surreal comedy sketch show
Benny Hill Show – comedy sketch show
Up Pompeii – comedy set in Rome
The Liver Birds – sit-come set in Liverpool
On the Buses – sit-com
Doctor in the House – sit-com
Randall and Hopkirk Deceased – private detective series

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