Torchy the Battery Boy has opened up for small children a whole new world of delightful characters created by the sympathetic imagination of Roberta Leigh.
Made specially for ABC Television by Associated-British Pathé, Torchy has become a friend as real as Peter Pan to millions of British children
John Halas makes a drawing for Foo Foo, the original and entertaining new cartoon character introduced by ABC this season.
These children’s films were specially commissioned from the brilliant cartoon team of Halas and Batchelor, who are also working on further series for ABC Television
Although in ABC Television’s activities the accent has always been on youth, the elderly are not forgotten, and three Armchair Theatre playwrights last season reminded viewers that the root of the problem of dealing with the aged usually lies in ourselves
Alun Owen’s second play, After the Funeral, directed by William Kotcheff, centred round a fine old Welshman, Charles Carson and his grandson, Hugh David left, who wanted the old man to provide a genuine Welsh background for his home
Stanley Mann’s Fifth Floor People, directed by John Moxey, showed an old couple, Elizabeth Begley and J. G. Devlin, whose miserable existence in a dingy attic hung like a cloud over the future of their young neighbour downstairs, Billie Whitelaw
One of the most important playwrights of 1960 has been Clive Exton, whose first play under an ABC contract was Where I Live.
William Kotcheff directed this moving story of a housewife, Ruth Dunning, whose jealousy of her brother and sister-in-law, Lloyd Lamble and Madge Ryan, led her to destroy her own self-respect when she forced them to take their turn at housing her old father, Paul Curran
A parent-child relationship was also the theme of A Shilling for the Evil Day, an Ulster story by Joseph Tomelty which was one of several plays with a strong regional flavour presented by Armchair Theatre.
J. G. Devlin and Elizabeth Begley, both distinguished Ulster players, came together again in this drama of a fishing village on All Souls’ Night.
Charles Jarrott, an Englishman who had made his name in Canada, came home to join ABC as a director, and this play showed the combination of warmth, sensitivity and technical brilliance that has earned him much praise throughout the year.
George Haslam designed the sets
Still in a provincial setting, Armchair Theatre presented Girl in the Market Square, a strong story by ABC contract writers Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice.
John Moxey gave the direction an authentic flavour of regional vitality, helped by the designs of Peter Mullins and a rousing performance by Leo MacKern as the watch committee chairman and newspaper proprietor who ran over a girl driving home from a civic dinner and tried to cover up for the sake of his family and employees.
Rupert Davies Played the police chief and Andrew Ray the son who unmasked his father
Subjects of controversy in provincial areas are the basis of two separate regional documentary programmes, ABC of the Midlands directed by Marjory Ruse and ABC of the North directed by Reginald Collin, in which local Arts, Business and Current affairs are reviewed each week on the ABC Network
▲ Councillor Denis Thomas, Chairman of Birmingham’s Public Works Committee, explains the Corporation’s plan to carry the main Coventry Road on stilts to the City boundary, a plan which has stirred up strong feelings among residents along the road, one of whom is seen with the Councillor and interviewer Marie Sheringham
Host David Mahlowe introduces ABC of the North at the Company’s Manchester studios
Should York’s ancient Guildhall have been rebuilt, or should the City Council have provided something more in keeping with present needs?
The Lord Mayor of York right discusses the question with local journalist Stacey Brewer and architect David Leckenby
In May 1959, ABC Television founded the world’s first Religious Training Scheme for Churchmen and women.
The Company felt that few Churchmen understood the workings of television and the exciting opportunities it offers them to influence people, so, with the co-operation of the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster and Church leaders, ABC now presents three Courses each year for the various denominations, on each of which twelve people are trained by the Company’s staff.
Above, the Bishop of Manchester inaugurates the first Course, flanked left to right by Mr Howard Thomas, managing director of ABC Television, Dr E. G. M. Fletcher, MP, deputy chairman of the Associated British Picture Corporation and the Rev L. G. Tyler, Anglican adviser to ABC Television.
ABC’s monthly Sunday evening religious programme Living Your Life presents many controversial aspects of religious thought.
‘The Challenge of Communication: Television’ is discussed above by a distinguished panel comprising left to right
Trevor Williams, Religious Correspondent of the Daily Herald
Canon Roy McKay, Head of Religious Programmes for the BBC,
Michae Redington, Producer of Religious Programmes for ATV,
John Bachman, Professor of Theology at the Union Seminary in New York
The Rt Rev Dr J. C. Heenan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, is one of many notable churchmen of the North and Midlands who have appeared on Living Your Life
The viewer at home sees only the essential part of the show being transmitted, but the studio audience can watch the works go round.
What the camera saw of ABC’s popular quiz show For Love or Money is shown in the viewfinder above; what the audience on the spot saw is shown below.
Eddie Kebbell and Marjory Ruse have both directed this programme
Bob Monkhouse, one of the few British entertainers who is a top line comedian and comedy writer as well as a star compère, has become a resident host of ABC Light Entertainment shows.
From the long-running For Love or Money he went on to present the public to the public in Candid Camera, which spotlights in a good-natured way the generosity and sense of humour for which our island race is famous.
Ronnie Taylor directs the programme
Candid Camera’s backroom boys push jokester-in-chief Jonathan Routh towards a filling station in a car without an engine
Having coasted in to a stop, Routh asks the attendant to find out why the car refuses to start again
‘You’ve got no engine!’ says the attendant, but Routh is not satisfied
‘Something queer here’ mutters the attendant, and has a look round the back
‘This bloke’s a nut case’ says the attendant to the colleague he has called to investigate the mystery
Eleven showbusiness celebrities faced ABC cameras in Face in Focus, a series designed to bring out the personality behind the public image.
Frankie Vaughan talked about the Middle Eastern problem to host David Mahlowe, who is seen below with director Marjory Ruse and another guest, Spike Milligan.
Liberace bottom discussed the life he leads away from the sequins and the candelabra
