London Line (Colour series 1)

Dates

1966 - 1967

Category

Cinemagazine - Government

History

In 1966 production started on a weekly series of thirteen colour magazine programmes, London Line (Colour series 1). This was designed as an experiment in colour production and distribution to meet existing demand from the United States and potentially from Canada, which was experimenting with colour transmissions in September 1966. Although there is no record of release or broadcast dates for this series, some of the existing production documents indicate when the programmes were made. he first issue was filmed in November 1966 so it is likely that it was broadcast the following month. The series was essentially a colour successor to the ‘Old Commonwealth’ version of London Line. The format virtually remained unchanged with presenter Mike Smee joined by Howard Williams, Carol Binstead and occasionally Molly Parkin, founder and fashion editor of the magazine Nova. The content was mainly cultural with regular stories on fashion and ‘live’ studio performances by bands such as Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Provenance

The data for this series has been compiled from existing production files [INF 6] held at The National Archives, COI index cards and production files held on microfilm at the BFI and existing copies of London Line (Colour series 1) held at the BFI National Archive. There is no record of the actual release date, in terms of day, month or year, for issues of London Line (Colour series 1). Where the year has been given in the release date field it has been calculated from the scripts and programme breakdowns that still exist.

Other Information

See separate entries on London Line and London Line (Colour series 2).

Films in this series can be obtained from:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries: nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk For commercial/footage reuse enquiries: footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

View all series held by British Film Institute (BFI)