Television South
Encyclopedia
Television South was the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 franchise holder in the south and south east of England
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...

 between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK broadcasting arm referred to as TVS Television plc.

During their 11 year history TVS produced a number of notable programmes for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 network especially in the fields of drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

, light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...

 and children's programming. They were also a significant regional broadcaster producing a wide range of programmes for their area with the flagship being the nightly award winning news programme Coast to Coast produced as two separate editions for the south and south east.

They ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1992 after they lost the franchise to Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....

 during the review of franchise holders in 1991. The company was sold to International Family Entertainment Inc. (IFE) in 1993 (now Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

 subsidiary ABC Family Worldwide Inc.). Television South's name, abbreviation and logo are now owned by an independent production company.

Formation

TVS was formed to apply for the franchise for South and South-East of England in the 1980 ITV franchise round under the working title of South and South-East Communications Limited, following discussions between James Gatward (a television producer), Bob Southgate (a television executive who had previously worked at ITN and Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

) and Martin Jackson (a journalist). Finance was provided by Barclays Bank and the investment bank Charterhouse. The franchise for this area was the most hotly contested with seven other applicants besides TVS and the incumbent, Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...

.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...

 (IBA) decided to review the franchises in 1980, with the changeover in franchise holders (where applicable) occurring on 1 January 1982. At the changeover, the IBA had decided to change the area covered from the south to include the south east and included the Bluebell Hill transmitter, associated relays and the main relay at Tunbridge Wells which previously were covered by ITV's London contractors. To reflect this the contract area served by Southern Television, which was previously titled the South of England area was renamed South and South-East of England. In order to serve the new region better the IBA expected the successful applicant to operate separate facilities for both the south and the south-east, known as a dual-region, with new additional facilities to be built in the South East.

Following submission of their application, TVS were anticipating that they would be forced into a shotgun marriage with Southern but won outright since their plans for a better mix of programmes and greater investment were considered good enough to operate the franchise alone. This was the official line given by the IBA, but it was also considered that Southern's non-local ownership (the majority shareholders were companies based in London
Associated Newspapers
Associated Newspapers is a large national newspaper publisher in the UK, which is a subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust. The group was established in 1905 and is currently based at Northcliffe House in Kensington...

 and Dundee) and their very conservative nature led to it being dropped in favour the more interesting proposals made by TVS in their franchise application.

The Broadcasting Years

TVS began broadcasting at 09:25 on 1 January 1982. The new dual-regional station sprang to life with its new specially composed startup music – variously named but referred to in-house as TVS Gallop, accompanied by a programme menu and clock. Continuity announcer Malcolm Brown, previously an announcer at Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

, made the opening announcement:
Following the first airing of the station's first ident, the first programme to air was a Coast to Coast special entitled Bring in the New, presented by Khalid Aziz
Khalid Aziz
Khalid Aziz LVO DL started his career as a journalist, becoming the youngest producer in the BBC at Radio Leicester. And at the age of 24, the youngest presenter of a 6 o'clock BBC TV regional news programme, Look North from Leeds...

. A number of presenters made the transition from Southern to TVS. All production staff were transferred as part of the then union agreements within ITV that no technician should lose employment as a result of franchise changes. 200 staff were also recruited for the facilities at Gillingham and Maidstone although a small number of these were made redundant after the company went on-air as the studios struggled to reach production capacity, restricted by TVS's limited access to the ITV network.

TVS was soon recognised as an ambitious company (in contrast to the rather staid Southern
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...

) that wanted to be a 'major player' within ITV and not be just a large regional company. At that time, networked programme schedules were agreed by a committee with representatives from the "Big Five" ITV companies Thames
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

, LWT
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...

, Central
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...

, Yorkshire
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...

 and Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

. The rationale was that the larger ITV companies should bear more of the production costs as their size enabled them to.

This led to criticism in some quarters that the larger of the remaining 'regional' ITV companies, such as TVS, Anglia
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...

, STV
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...

, Tyne Tees
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...

 and HTV, found it difficult to get network access for their grander productions, or that they were left with softer non-primetime sectors, such as children's and religious television.

TVS attempted to get the "Big Five" turned into the "Big Six", as during the mid 1980s its revenues were greater than those of Yorkshire Television, and often equal to those of LWT. The attempt failed, although TVS did form an alliance with LWT which enabled some of its shows to obtain primetime network status. Ultimately, in the 1990 Broadcasting Act the "Big Five" committee was replaced with an independent ITV Network Centre.

Expansion

TVS's franchise in a prosperous area generated large profits. Restrictions on network programming resulted in the search for non-television investments. Speculative small investments in UK companies were followed by the purchase of the American media company MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises
MTM Enterprises was an American independent production company established in 1969 by Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show for CBS...

, founded by Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore
Mary Tyler Moore is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show , in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as...

 and responsible for many US hit shows including Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...

. MTM specialised in the syndicated television market in which programmes made independently and sold to the major American television networks. As a result of this purchase, the company was restructured in 1989 to become TVS Entertainment, with the television arm renamed TVS Television.

TVS was banking on benefiting from this syndicated market and so borrowed heavily to finance the £190 million purchase with the expectation of huge financial rewards. The purchase initially boosted TVS' profits, but a faltering US economy led to a downturn in US television fortunes.

Uncertainty over the high price paid by TVS for MTM led to its share price falling in October 1989. TVS was also failing to secure network slots for its programming, and the company axed 200 jobs in Northam and Maidstone. As it entered the 1990s, TVS' finances were poor, and this would have an impact upon its chances of retaining its franchise when it came up for renewal in 1991.

Loss of Franchise

In 1990 a new Broadcasting Act
Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...

 was passed by Parliament, which deregulated broadcasting in the UK and removed the monopoly on programme production held by franchise holders. Changes to network broadcasting and the introduction of cable and satellite channels meant that ITV needed to be leaner and fitter to compete with its new rivals.

The Act saw the replacement of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) by the Independent Television Commission (ITC). The Act also changed the rules for the allocation of ITV franchises: In previous franchise battles, incumbents were judged on track record and future plans while new applicants were judged on potential and financial backing. Under the new scheme, incumbents and new applicants still had to undergo this examination but now also had to submit a cash bid, payable annually, via a single sealed bid based on what they valued the contract at. One other change made was that applicants no longer had to own production facilities or produce shows in-house, allowing them to become publisher-broadcasters and opening up the ITV network to independent producers.

The original draft of the Broadcasting Act stated that the applicant with the highest cash bid would win; however following fears that this would financially stretch the network and diminish programme standards the concept of a 'quality threshold' was introduced. Incumbents and applicants had to pass this first before cash bids were even considered; even then if a cash bid was deemed to impact on plans the application could be rejected.

TVS passed the quality threshold – indeed, as the incumbent broadcaster it could hardly have failed to do as failure would have called the ITC's own regulatory regime into question. The lucrative nature of the TVS contract area made it one of the most desirable franchises in the UK. Despite preparing vast amounts of audience research, programming proposals and an extremely comprehensive application document for the ITC, the TVS board – now minus its founder James Gatward – calculated that it needed to outbid all opposition in order to retain its licence. This resulted in the "bid high or die" strategy – in which the management calculated the highest possible bid that TVS could possibly afford. The result of these calculations was a massive £59 million per annum payable for the next ten years. It was the highest bid ever made by any UK television broadcaster.

The ITC announced the results of the franchise battle by releasing simultaneous faxes to the contending companies. Two companies had passed the so-called programme "quality threshold" – TVS and Meridian Broadcasting. Of these two TVS's bid was the higher – and therefore should automatically have been awarded the licence for the South and South East of England. However the ITC asserted that there was now a third criterion, a requirement that the ITC could confidently expect the winning company to sustain its annual payments throughout the entire period of the 10 year licence. The ITC used this to foot-fault TVS and claimed that the company would not be able to sustain the proposed £59 million a year licence payments. The ITC then awarded the licence to Meridian Broadcasting who had bid only £36 million per year.

The ITC refused every attempt to get it to explain its decision, but although TVS had said it would consider a judicial review the legal advice that it received was that the prospect of success would be slim and the costs would be enormous. Whilst it carried on broadcasting to the end of its franchise period it began partially liquidating the company. The studio facilities at Southampton were sold to the incoming franchise winners Meridian Broadcasting – even though Meridian had said they intended to operate as a "publisher broadcaster" and would not be making anything like the amount of regional programming made by TVS. The Maidstone Studios were to be retained with the news facility being leased to Meridian as TVS planned to continue trading as an independent producer.

The unions started to negotiate with Meridian to absorb some of the 800 TVS staff facing redundancy. Meridian only planned to employ 370 staff, as they intended to produce a far smaller amount of network programming and would use independent producers for the remainder of its programming.

In the event, the projections of advertising revenue on which TVS had based its massive bid turned out to be correct. However, only three years later, all the high-bidding licensees – including HTV which had virtually bankrupted itself to put forward a massive £25 million bid to win the Wales and West licence – were allowed to reduce their licence payments in some cases by more than half.

TVS ceased broadcasting to the south and south east of England at just before midnight on 31 December 1992. While most other ITV stations were broadcasting Thames' farewell programme The End of the Year Show, TVS chose to opt-out and air its own final programme entitled Goodbye to All That, a retrospective of TVS's programming presented by Fred Dinenage
Fred Dinenage
Frederick Edgar Dinenage, MBE is an English television host and newsreader, based in the south of England.Dinenage has appeared as presenter of many British television programmes , such as Gambit , Tell The Truth, How and its successor How...

 and Fern Britton
Fern Britton
Fern Britton is an English television presenter, known as the former main co-presenter on the ITV magazine programme This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield. She left the show on 17 July 2009, her 52nd birthday.- Early life :...

, pre-recorded in front of a studio audience at the Northam studios in Southampton earlier in the day.

The programme closed with an amended version of TVS' last main ident along with the message 'Thanks for watching', before crossing to Big Ben for the New Year chimes at midnight and the handover to Meridian Broadcasting.

After 1993

TVS Entertainment was sold on 1 February 1993 to the American Company International Family Entertainment Inc.
International Family Entertainment Inc.
ABC Family Worldwide Inc. is a producer and distributor of family entertainment and information programming worldwide. The company is owned by The Walt Disney Company and was founded in 1990 by Pat Robertson as International Family Entertainment Inc....

 (IFE). Later that year in September, IFE launched a UK version of The Family Channel based in The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre is a television studio complex with radio studio facilities based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent UK...

 and using some elements of the TVS programme archive. Flextech were a partner in the venture, taking a 39% stake in the business.

In 1996 IFE sold its remaining 61% share to Flextech, giving them full ownership of the venture, and subsequently in March 1997 Flextech rebranded the channel to Challenge TV, focusing mainly on game shows. Meanwhile, also in 1997, IFE was sold to Fox Kids Worldwide, which in turn was acquired by Disney in 2001. As a result, most of the TVS archive is now in their hands, although much of it is understood to be largely inaccessible due to the paperwork detailing programme contributors, rights agreements, etc., having been lost in the intervening years.

In 2006 the name "Television South Ltd", "TVS" and the colour logo device were transferred and re-registered at the Trademarks Office to lighting cameraman Keith Jacobsen, and TVS now trades as an independent production company with no links to the previous company.

Northam, Southampton

The Southampton base was the company's corporate headquarters and their primary production and transmission centre. These studios were purchased by TVS from their predecessor Southern, but TVS were delayed in the purchase of the site by Southern and therefore had to initially operate prior to launch from portakabins in the Southern car park, leading to Southern contemptuously naming them Portakabin TV, as referenced in a satirical song performed by Richard Stilgoe
Richard Stilgoe
Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe OBE is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....

 on Southern's final programme. TVS finally completed the purchase of the Southampton site, equipment, news library and staff pension fund in August 1981. Also included in the sale was land purchased by Southern for planned new studios in Maidstone. Upon purchase TVS made significant investment, including building a new scenery block to the rear of the existing site. After losing their contract TVS sold the studios to their successor Meridian in mid-1992. The studios were closed by Meridian in 2004 and were demolished in 2010.

Vinters Park, Maidstone

The studios to serve the south-eastern section of Television South's transmission area were at Vinters Park
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre is a television studio complex with radio studio facilities based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent UK...

 near Maidstone in Kent. The site was originally acquired by Southern who had commissioned a conceptual design for new studio facilities on the site. Following the award of the franchise to TVS, Southern sold the site to the new company at a premium. Construction commenced in early 1982 and the first studios at the centre became operational in mid-1983.

The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre is a television studio complex with radio studio facilities based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent UK...

, though significant (and home to many networked shows) were ancillary to those in Southampton which were the company's corporate headquarters. Meridian, the new licensee, were not offered the studios as TVS initially intended to become an independent producer. However Meridian agreed to rent the newsroom and facilities for an initial 10 year period from 1993. Following the sale of TVS in 1993, the studios were acquired by TVS's new owners IFE and Meridian's agreement came to a premature end.

Dover

The studios, on Russell Street, were originally the south-eastern base of Southern Television from which Scene South East and Scene Midweek were broadcast, and were essentially a news gathering operation with transmission facilities for regional news opt-outs. TVS used Dover as a regional studio for a year until completion of Vinters Park
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre is a television studio complex with radio studio facilities based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent UK...

 when they disposed of the site. The buildings have since been demolished and the site is now used as a car park.

TVS Television Theatre

TVS acquired the former Plaza Cinema in Gillingham, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 as a stop gap measure between the commencement of broadcasting and the completion of Vinters Park
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre is a television studio complex with radio studio facilities based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent UK...

. The theatre was quickly converted for television use ready for the start of broadcasting. The decision to operate a television theatre was against the trend in television at that time as both the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 and Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

 were to dispose of similar facilities in the next two years.

Production at Gillingham was limited. It was used for several quiz shows and it was the base of the regional afternoon magazine show Not for Women Only and TVS filmed the UK inserts for Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock is a children's live action puppet television program series created by Jim Henson. The central characters were a set of "Muppet" creatures called Fraggles. The show ran from January 10, 1983, to March 30, 1987, on CBC Television in Canada, ITV in the UK, HBO in the United States,...

 there. TVS sold the theatre in 1988. For a period afterwards the site was used for other activities before being demolished to make way for redevelopment. A campaign to have it listed failed as the large-scale conversion for television production had made it unsuitable for listing.

Regional Offices

TVS maintained small news studios in Brighton, Reading and Poole. Each studio had a single camera and a cut down version of the interview set to enable down the line interviews. These centres were each manned by a news team consisting of two reporters, a cameraman, sound man and electrician with a helicopter links equipped vehicle. The studios were based in the Brighton Conference Centre, Reading Civic Centre and Poole Arts Centre.

Westminster Studio

For Parliamentary coverage, TVS had a 2 camera studio in the basement of the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in Broad Sanctuary as well as a news crew. This facility was available for hire to other broadcasting organisations when not needed by TVS. One feature was a remote operated camera mounted on the roof of the centre giving a clear shot of the Houses of Parliament for use as a live backdrop.

In addition TVS maintained sales offices in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

.

Sub Regions

TVS operated a dual region, where the company both offered different services for the South and South East of England. This was primarily a different edition of the flagship Coast to Coast news programme from a different base and with a different presenting team. However, some other local programming was produced solely for the South or South East and as a result programming would differ either between sub regions or pan regional programmes.

At the beginning of TVS's time as contractor, the company used separate presentation for each sub region, with a caption declaring the sub region below the clock so viewers could differentiate between programmes for the whole region, or for their sub region. This practice was dropped after a year or so.

Identity

TVS's identity featured a six coloured symbol that formed up in three stages from the outside in before panning out and sitting alongside the TVS lettering, accompanied by a shortened version of the station theme New Forest Rondo. There were different variations for weekday and weekend, which only differed in the pan out to the lettering. The ident was shot initially in film of a mechanical model, but was later shot using video effects and from 1985, a computer generated version of the ident was used. Accompanying this ident was a clock on a black background with the six TVS colours either side, and an ident sequence following the theme 'For the best view of the South' which was used prior to the news.

In 1987, following Greg Dyke's arrival at TVS, the stations presentation was completely overhauled, with the new idents designed by John Hayman and a new jingle by Ed Welch. The new idents featured metallic TVS lettering which would spin out, turning into a metallic logo before spinning back to the lettering. The rainbow colour effects are still included, which are included when the logo spins. Three versions were produced, a normal ident, a short ident where the TVS logo rotated into the lettering, and a minute extended ident featuring video from the regions that was used upon startup and in some of the longer junctions. No clock was included in the look. The idents were all against a grey gradient background and featured the caption 'Television South' below the end lettering.

This ident was altered slightly in 1989 following the restructuring so that the ident was against a gradient blue background and cut in to the rotation of the logo into the lettering. The caption was changed to 'Television' to reflect the stations technical name of TVS Television, and the music was altered slightly to be bolder. Against the blue background, the metallic lettering now has the appearance of glass or perspex. This ident was used by TVS until they went off air on 31 December 1992, when a special ident with the caption 'Thanks for Watching' was used to close the final TVS programme.

Programming

Regional programming was a key part of TVS's commitments to the IBA
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...

. TVS's News Service covered the entire dual region – a vast swathe of the South and South East of England. Two entirely separate editions of the TVS nightly regional news programme Coast to Coast
Coast to Coast (UK TV series)
Coast to Coast was the flagship regional news programme produced by Television South, covering the south and southeast of England with separate news services for both parts of the dual-region between January 1982 and December 1992.-Beginnings:...

were developed to produce daily news coverage across the area. Both the South and South East editions won the Royal Television Society's awards for the Best News Programme of the Year, in 1983 (South East edition), and in 1989 and 1991 (South edition).

Apart from news, TVS produced a vast array of programming in-house including regional gardening (That's Gardening), business (Enterprise South), farming (Farm Focus), investigative current affairs (Facing South) and light entertainment (Off the Record). An award winning title was the Country Ways series, which examined the people and places of the region and continued in production for ITV Meridian until 2008.

TVS also innovated with the experimental Afternoon Club, a dedicated programme encompassing a number of afternoon soap operas, quiz shows etc. linked by general chat and guests etc. They also produced their own afternoon magazine show Not for Women Only. The station was also instrumental in providing separate non-news programmes for the South, South East and Thames Valley areas including the chat show Coast to Coast People and the listings guide This Way Out.

In common with their predecessor, TVS had a strong performance in children's programming. Early successes included Saturday morning show No. 73
No. 73
No 73, later re-titled 7T3, was a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988...

which was later networked, On Safari (TVS's first pre-transmission production), The Witches and the Grinnygog
The Witches and the Grinnygog
The Witches and the Grinnygog is a children's novel by the writer Dorothy Edwards, published in 1981 and shortlisted for that year's Whitbread Prize for a children's book....

, Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock is a children's live action puppet television program series created by Jim Henson. The central characters were a set of "Muppet" creatures called Fraggles. The show ran from January 10, 1983, to March 30, 1987, on CBC Television in Canada, ITV in the UK, HBO in the United States,...

, The Boy Who Won the Pools, Get Fresh
Get Fresh
Get Fresh was a children's television programme that ran from 1986 to 1988 in the United Kingdom.-Premise:Broadcast on the Children's ITV network, the show starred Gareth Jones , Charlotte Hindle, and a puppet named Gilbert the Alien...

, and Knights of God
Knights of God
Knights of God was a British science fiction children's television serial, produced by TVS and first broadcast on ITV in 1987. It was written by Richard Cooper, a writer who had previously worked in both children's and adult television drama...

. Later successes included Motormouth
Motormouth
Motormouth was a Saturday morning children's television series that was produced by Television South and aired across the ITV network for four series, running between 3 September 1988 and 4 April 1992...

, The Storyteller
The Storyteller
The StoryTeller is a live-action/puppet television series. It was an American/British co-production which originally aired in 1988 and was created and produced by Jim Henson....

, TUGS
TUGS
TUGS is a British children's television series, first broadcast in 1988. It was created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, Robert D. Cardona and David Mitton. The series dealt with the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets, the Star Fleet and the Z-Stacks, who...

, How 2
How 2
How 2 was an informative children's programme produced by TVS between 1990 and 1992, and STV Productions from 1993 to 2006....

, Finders Keepers and Art Attack
Art Attack
Art Attack is a British children's television series revolving around art. The original series was one of ITV's longest running programmes, running from 1990 to 2007, and was presented throughout by Neil Buchanan. The brand new series launched on Disney Junior on June 6 2011 and is presented by...

.

As they became established TVS made significant contributions to network drama (through their tie-up with LWT) with shows such as the detective series C.A.T.S. Eyes
C.A.T.S. Eyes
C.A.T.S. Eyes is a British television series made by TVS for ITV between 1985 and 1987.-Premise:The series was a spin-off from The Gentle Touch and saw Jill Gascoine reprise her role as Det. Insp. Maggie Forbes, having left the police force to join a private detective agency called "Eyes" that is...

. The production of the Inspector Wexford Mysteries (1987-1992, and 1993-1997 for Meridian), television adaptations of Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, , who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an English crime writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries....

's novels, proved to be a success with over fifteen programmes being made over a ten-year period.

TVS also provided a number of networked factual and science-based programs including In The Mouth of the Dragon and The Real World which was twice broadcast in 3D (a groundbreaking TV first in the UK) with special glasses given away with TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...

magazine.

Light Entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...

 programming included a number of series starring Bobby Davro
Bobby Davro
Bobby Davro is a British actor and comedian. He is mainly known for his work as an impressionist...

, Ultra Quiz
Ultra Quiz
Ultra Quiz was an elimination game show series that was produced by TVS and aired for three series and a total of 24 episodes on the ITV network from 9 July 1983 until 17 August 1985. The British version was devised by Jeremy Beadle...

, Catchphrase, Concentration
Concentration (game show)
Concentration was an American TV game show based on the children's memory game of the same name. Matching cards represented prizes that contestants could win...

, Summertime Special and the sitcoms Perfect Scoundrels and That's Love
That's Love
That's Love is a British television sitcom about the domestic problems of a young married couple, lawyer Donald and designer Patsy .-Plot:...

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