Series Histories - Detail
London Line
- Dates:
- 1964 - 1979
History
London Line was the Central Office of Information's first studio-based magazine programme produced at the Granville Studios in Fulham, London. It was jointly sponsored and made in four versions for weekly distribution: one version for the 'Old Commonwealth', Australia and Canada; one for the 'New Commonwealth', primarily the newly independent states of Africa and the Caribbean; as Aqui Londres for Latin America and an Arabic edition Adwa Wa Aswat. A general issue would contain primarily cultural stories, many featuring live music and scientific breakthroughs mixed in with interviews. Although there was some cross-over of content, many stories were specifically designed for the target audience of each edition. For example, one of the earliest issues of London Line (New Commonwealth version) featured an interview with the Reverend Ogundura a parish priest from Nigeria, working in Britain together with a music item from Mike Falana and the African Messengers. Above all the style of London Line was completely contemporary, reflected in the studio, the presenters and most evocatively in its title sequence, which was specifically foregrounded. These sequences were particularly important since they were repeated on a regular basis and effectively functioned in a similar way to an advertisement, distilling Britain into a single package lasting around 20 seconds. Designed by Eddie Newstead, the London Line titles utilised the latest techniques of graphic design to present a rapidly cut collage of black and white illustrations including a London streetmap, Nelson reflected in a woman's sunglasses, televisions, tower blocks and the Beatles culminating in the words 'London Line African Correspondents Reporting From London'. Indeed many of its 'correspondents', such as Lionel Ngakane and John Bankole-Jones became well-known personalities in countries such as Uganda and Kenya.
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. The 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.
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 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 as the format changed from general magazine programmes to single-themed series: Aqui Londres and Adwa Wa Aswat. However the 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] held at The National Archives, COI index cards and production files held on microfilm at Film Images and existing copies of London Line held at the BFI National Archive and Film Images. There is no record of the actual release date, in terms of day, month or year, for issues of London Line. Where the year has been given in the release date field it has been calculated from the scripts and programme breakdowns that still exist.
Where to see the film:
- BFI Archive Footage Sales
- BFI National Archive
