London Line (Colour series 2)

Dates

1967 - 1969

Category

Cinemagazine - Government

History

This experiment in colour was deemed a success and a second series was commissioned for distribution in the United States, replacing Calendar, and Canada. The first issue of London Line (Colour series 2) was filmed in September 1967 and was broadcast in the United States the same month. Although the opening titles and studio design changed, the format was similar to London Line (Colour series 1) with Mike Smee now anchored behind a London Line desk regularly supported by presenters Ian Morrison, Marion Foster and Howard Williams. The content for this series was more orientated towards science and technology although there was still a good proportion of fashion, live music and the arts. Although this programme was distributed primarily to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, there was a subsidiary distribution in monochrome for the West Indies, Gibraltar, Malta and Hong Kong. However, within five months British Information Services (BIS) in New York had decided that the programme did not satisfy its information goals and wanted to end it. This precipitated an internal enquiry, the Samples review into the role and nature of television production within the Information Services, which eventually agreed with the wishes of BIS New York and the series stopped transmission in the United States in September 1968. It continued production for around another six months while its impact was assessed in Canada and Australia but without the financial contribution from BIS New York the series proved too expensive. In 1969 the colour series of London Line was replaced by two series, Living Tomorrow and The Pacemakers. The Samples review also signalled the end for two other versions of London Line, Aqui Londres and Adwa Wa Aswat, as the format changed from general magazine programmes to single-themed series. However the continuing popularity of the African version ensured that it remained in production for another decade.

Provenance

The data for this series has been compiled from existing production files (INF 6) and correspondence (INF 12) held at The National Archives, COI index cards and existing copies of London Line held at the BFI National Archive and productions files held at BUFVC. The synopsis for each story has been taken from the press release produced by the COI. There is no record of the actual release date, in terms of day, month or year, for issues of London Line (Colour series 2). 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 1).

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)