1974
Christmas Eve menu1974 Recovered from early N1500 footage, here's the rundown of programmes we had to look forward to on Christmas Eve 1974. It was not a good year for most - with the three-day week, the Switch Off Something campaign and two general elections, but BBC1's festive graphics flew in the face of the austerity all around using day-specific animations.
(Thanks to Chris Howles for this clip and many other vinatge clips on this page)
BBC1 Boxing Day Menu1974
Staying in 1974, The Magnificent Seven and Steptoe are on offer in this incomplete menu. A check on festive TV listings confirms this clip is from 1974 and not the following year as originally stated; we are fallable humans who occasionally forget things after all so apologies for not making the correction sooner.1976
BBC1 Tomorrow Promo12.09.1976 A promo for tomorrow on BBC1. Full details, along with BBC2's alternatives' are in Radio Times.
1977
BBC1 Continuity & Tuesday Evening Promo19.09.1977 2 1/2 minutes of regional North West continuity including a tuesday evening on BBC1 promo, leading into the Nine O'Clock News.
BBC1 Tuesday Menu29.11.1977
A complete promo for prime time on BBC1, including It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Tonight. Featuring the voice of Ray Moore.
Christmas Day on BBC1 (Children's Party)1977 The first in a series of clips looking back at BBC Television's most successful Christmas ever - that of 1977, and to start with here's the Christmas Day menu for BBC1, with that now-classic Morecambe and Wise Christmas show and Barbra Streisand's "Funny Girl" as the big film. Spookily, "Rain On My Parade", which she sings here, featured in the BBC1 Christmas promos for 2007. Ray Moore is your voiceover.
Boxing Day on BBC1 (Snowball Fight)1977 Moving on now to Boxing Day, note that Top Of The Pops' Christmas show had to wait until the 26th for its festive party while Jimmy Savile has a few late Christmas presents for a lucky few. Ray Moore again narrates.
Christmas on BBC1 (Music Box)1977 An alternative look at the Christmas night line-up on BBC1, using different clips from the big comedy shows.
Two Ronnies trail (Paintbrush)1977 Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without more great witticisms from this pair, who post-Morecambe and Wise would find themselves the BBC's biggest comedy big guns. The episode being promoted here wasn't a stand-alone special but part of the series already showing.
Holiday Tuesday on BBC1 (Weather Vane)1977 And to extend the Christmas party further, we got a Bank Holiday Tuesday in 1977 which means more great entertainment from BBC1. Well, depending on your personal taste that is - Disney Time was very much the Cash In The Attic of its day and The Waltons' Christmas Special was very much the antithesis of the miserable EastEnders specials we have now come to expect. Happy days eh!
1978
BBC1 Holiday Weekend26.05.1978 Simon Bates narrates this promo which previews some of the programming being shown over the 1976 spring bank holiday weekend.
BBC1 Monday Promo06.08.1978 A full link from August 1978 which includes a promo for most of next Monday night's BBC1 programmes.
BBC1 Wednesday Promo1978
This promotion was broadcast on Tuesday 24th January 1978.
Tomorrow’s weather and Wednesday programmes before a BBC1 North West globe introducing Play For Today.
BBC1 New Season Promo27.08.1978 The BBC TV new season begin at the start of September and this clip promotes a new series "Most Wanted."
BBC1 New Year's Eve menu31.12.1978
Not going out this year? Never mind, as BBC1 has everything you need to welcome in 1979. No major "end of the year" show; just Larry Grayson and The Good Old Days.
Christmas Day on BBC11978
It was almost the Christmas that never was on BBC1 due to industrial action across the BBC. However, the BBC were determined at least that BBC's Christmas Day schedule went out no matter what, even if that meant management operating the controls. Highlights included the first seasonal edition of Larry Grayson's Generation Game as well as returning favourites The Spinners and Top Of The Pops. The accompanying graphics may well have been used in previous years, and I must say that teddy bear is behaving rather lewdly!
BBC1 Continuity1978
Continuity from 29th December 1978. This clip is indeed from 1978 as the only time new year’s day fell on a Monday during this globe was in 1979.1979
Mechanical slides23.01.1979
A manually-operated guide to what's coming next on both channels. At the flick of a card, BBC2 becomes BBC1!
BBC1 Continuity & Wednesday Evening Promo03.04.1979 Nearly 2minutes of 1979 continuity, includes a Wednesday evening promo, and symbol into Miss England 1979!
Easter Monday menu16.04.1979
When bank holidays were special as far as the TV schedules were concerned - typical Easter Monday fayre including the obligatory Disney Time (as opposed to today's obligatory Cash In The Attic).
BBC1 Promo & Continuity17.09.1979 We present a full two-minute link from 1979 which includes holding slides and a promo for a new Sunday evening series.
Christmas Family Entertainment on BBC1 Promo13.12.1979 A look ahead to some of BBC1's forthcoming festive fare. This promo focuses on the family films that BBC1 will be showing. The clip concludes with BBC1 north west continuity introducing this week's Play for Today over the BBC1 north west clock.
Christmas on BBC1 (Cambridge Buskers)1979 A first look at the festive fare on offer for 1979, and in a break from the animation of previous years BBC1 opts for a live action/studio based shooting for its "Cambridge Buskers" theme that year. The result looks rather dubious...but all the old favourites look set to be wheeled out again such as Emu's Broadcasting Company and It's A Christmas Knockout. On the right, a shorter sting promotes To The Manor Born.
right clip - Action and adventure in tomorrow night's movie Where Eagles Dare.
Christmas Eve Promo24.12.1979 Lots of different Christmas music is the soundtrack to a rundown of Christmas Eve on BBC1.
Thursday Menu - Christmas27.12.1979
Keeping the party spirit going a few days after Christmas with this panto-themed bumper.
BBC1 New Years Day Promo31.12.1979
The first day’s TV in 1980 is previewed on the last day of 1979.1980
New Season BBC1 Promo1980 A great promo here for the new season on BBC1, "A wealth of comedy from a world of entertainment for the new season on BBC1"
This promo was probably broadcast one Thursday in August.
BBC1 Thursday Menu14.02.1980
Programme-wise a very typical Thursday with Tomorrow's World taking centre stage, and still going strong is the Play For Today.
Thanks to Robin Carmody for confirming the TX date of this clip.
Funny Lady Tonight30.3.1980
A promo for tonight's Sunday film, the musical "Funny Lady Tonight." The clip also features the rest of the link with holding slide for the next programme after which the BBC1 globe introduces "The High Chaparral."
BBC1 Continuity24.03.1980
A minute of continuity here - including a promo for Nationwide's Budget Special.
Sunday BBC1 Promo30.03.1980
The end of the lunchtime news and the weather followed by a rundown of the afternoon's programmes and the first of those programmes, the Sunday Matinee.
Tuesday BBC1 Promo & Continuity29.09.1980 A run-down of BBC1 Tuesday night entertainment, plus the symbol into Film'80. TX: Monday 29th September 1980.
BBC1 Christmas Eve Promo1980 Val Doonican plays the role of continuity announcer to invite viewers to tune into BBC1's Christmas Eve programmes. Apologies that the promo is incomplete.
BBC1 "A Hint of Christmas" Promos1980
Christmas on BBC1 in 1980 was excellently promoted with an array of stings, promos and on-screen devices. In the lead-up to the holidays BBC1 was keen to let us know there's a "hint of Christmas" in the air with these promos.
Ray Moore voices the first clip, with John Braben doing the second. Note the different picture frame, despite the similarity of these sequences.
BBC1 Christmas Stings1980
Further examples of pre-Christmas publicity. The first is similar to our previous clips but on the right a different approach, showcasing BBC1's festive entertainment as a gift to everyone.
BBC1 Christmas Sting1980 BBC1 Christmas Sting
1980 BBC1 Christmas Sting
1980 BBC1 Christmas Sting
1980
The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show Promo25.12.1980
Impressions galore in the Mike Yarwood Christmas Show, which had pride of place in the heart of BBC1's 1980 Christmas night schedule.
Aiport 75 Promo25.12.1980
The big film Christmas night film, Airport 75, gets the full promo treatment in this link, which starts with two holding captions.
Boxing Day Promo25.12.1980 BBC1 chose another classic disaster movie, The Towering Inferno, for Boxing night and, alongside the traditional Two Ronnies Boxing night outing, these two programmes are among those featured in this trail for all of BBC1's Boxing Day evening programmes.
1981
Eurovision - Tonight04.04.1981
For some, 1981 was the last time we genuinely won the Eurovision Song Contest (OK so we did it in 1997, but not without the help of an American!) And the BBC1 pulled out all the stops to ensure Bucks Fizz swept the board that night.
BBC1 Euro Championships - TomorrowTX: 26.05.1981
We're quite used to seeing these "soundbyte"-type promos nowadays but 20 years ago they were quite new. This fairly succinct trail uses "Chariots of Fire" and no commentary to sell the European Champions Cup Final in 1981.
BBC1 Saturday Menu11.07.1981
A typical Saturday in 1981, when the BBC knew how to entertain viewers. Hi-de-Hi, Pop Quiz, Athletics and the late film are there for our pleasure.
BBC1 Holding Slides 1975-1983
BBC1 continued to use 1969-style slides after the change of globe in late 1974. Eventually the slides caught up and the result was the classic "twin-stripe" stills used from around 1976 until late 1983. Distinctive in that they carried the alternative BBC1 logo, with Eurostile lettering for the programme title.
More examples of these holding slides can be found in the next 1981 continuity page.