opened on April 29th 1961, and transmitted for 20 years until the end of 1981.
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Westward - origins
Look Westward - stills
Cider Cellar (1965)
Local TAM ratings 1965
original drama (1967)
Some Westward TV Schedules:
Saturday November 23rd 1963,
Sunday July 5th 1964,
Thursday December 17th 1964,
Saturday May 8th 1965,
Wednesday July 6th 1966,
Monday October 7th 1968
To main tv menu
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Westward Studios were sited at Derry's Cross Plymouth. Whilst excavating the site, bones were unearthed, apparently those of French prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars! Bidders for the franchise included the eventual winners led by Peter Cadbury, then chairman of Keith Prowse. Unsuccessful was a group that might have provided an interesting media company; formed by British Lion Films, it was supported by show biz luminaries as varied as the Boulting Brothers, Henry Hall and Brian Rix. Another group World Television Productions, headed by EMI, probably frightened the ITA off with their grandiose plans. Whilst giving a nod of course to local material, Lord Boothby, one of the directors promised "music, ballet and drama programmes of a very high order. We hope to present Shakespeare on the lines already achieved by Sir John Gielgud." In fact an incredible 15 applications were received to run this station.
on April 29th 1961, transmitting on
So Westward gained the contract because of its local involvement. Cadbury claimed that "194 of our subscribers actually live in the area," so no wonder he stated his company had "no intention to compete with the major networks in the spectacular or in plays requiring large casts." Perhaps he'd learnt from the mistakes of others! "There's a wealth of material for local programmes...local industries such as cheese-making, mead, carpets, oysters, tin-mining could be developed into interesting programmes." For this reason perhaps he made the improbable remark "noone is likely to make a fortune from this venture." Other executive officers were Frank Hoare MD (who'd been in films since 1932), Baynham Honri, Technical General Manager (in films since 1921) and Emile Littler, Programme Controller.
To publicise the new station the Westward Exhibition Train, hosted by Mr Jack Train (!) visited 22 towns from February 1961. It included a Cinema Coach where visitors could see 16mm film clips from programmes to be screened.
Westward was never really a major ITV player. Which is perhaps why I would nominate its most lasting contribution as being Gus Honeybun, the popular local puppet rabbit. Westward TV closed on the last day of 1981, Gus one of the few to survive into the new era with TSW.
Westward TV Menu
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mute footage from early Westward TV news stories
including
top left, a cave rescue,
top right, a medals ceremony, possibly associated with the rescue
bottom left, an idyllic village scene, contrasted with
bottom right, the summer holiday traffic congestion
Westward Television Menu
Cider Cellar
The picture is from Westward TV's monthly Saturday night series Cider Cellar was hosted by Robin Hunter.