The BBC have now formally announced details for the return of Doctor Who to television on BBC One on 30th March 2013 (time still be confirmed), along with interviews with the stars Matt Smith and Jenna-Louse Coleman, and lead writer/executive producer Steven Moffat.

Story Synopses:

The synopses and some publicity images have been released for the first four stories, including movie-style posters continuing the theme of the 2012 episodes:

Al Jazeera has bought Series 5 to 7 of Doctor Who, it was announced today.

The episodes were snapped up at the BBC Worldwide Showcase 2013 event and will be shown on the satellite TV broadcaster's pan-Arabic children's channel JCC, which launched in 2005 and is based in Qatar.

The showcase is a four-day international TV market being held at ACC Liverpool. It started yesterday and is welcoming some 700 TV buyers from around the globe.

Paola Tonella, BBC Worldwide's sales and distribution territory manager for the Middle East and Africa, said: Among the star names at yesterday's gala opening were Eve Myles and Mark Williams.

The showcase will also be hosting special events to both celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and to spotlight the natural-history documentary series Africa.

Steve Macallister, the president and managing director of sales and distribution at BBC Worldwide, said:

Doctor Who is to be shown in 3D, it was announced this evening.

A press statement said that the programme would be broadcast in 3D, using some of the BBC's high-definition capacity, as part of the blockbuster celebrations to mark the show turning 50. Showrunner Steven Moffat said:
The use of the advance in broadcasting technology for the programme was revealed during an event for writers, actors, industry, and press at which BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson set out his vision for BBC Drama, announcing new commissions, recommissions, and looking forward to new horizons:

This isn't the first time the show has entered the 3D waters. Back in 1993 Doctor Who's 30th anniversary was marked with Dimensions In Time, broadcast in 3D for that year's Children in Need. And in 2010 the Eleventh Doctor's era was heralded by a 3D trailer shown in cinemas, as can be seen below (NB: 3D anaglyph red/cyan glasses are needed for the full benefit):


Also in 2010 a poll was undertaken by entertainment manufacturer Panasonic that revealed Doctor Who was the show that viewers would most like to see in 3D, with other favourites being Wallace and Gromit and Top Gear.

The seventh instalment in our series looking at events leading to the creation of a true TV legend.

As stated in our previous feature, having joined the BBC in December 1962 as its new Head of Television Drama, Sydney Newman, pictured below, had been somewhat dismayed from the off, feeling that most of the directors, although perfectly nice people, were stuck in old-fashioned ways. He needed to implement long-overdue changes to re-energise the department - and a newly-published report helped the "new broom" do just that.

The Pilkington Committee, chaired by glass magnate Sir Harry Pilkington, had been appointed in July 1960 to look into the organisation of the entire broadcasting industry and programmes. It eventually reported in June 1962, and among its recommendations it said that the BBC should be awarded a second national TV channel as an alternative to what was perceived as a populist approach by the BBC (whose Television Service had begun regularly-scheduled electronically-scanned programmes on 2nd November 1936 and was renamed and restyled BBC tv in 1960) and its commercial rival ITV (which began broadcasting on 22nd September 1955, initially in the London area). As a result, BBC2 (as it was originally styled) would be launched on 20th April 1964, with BBC tv becoming BBC1.

Then, in January 1963 - 50 years ago this month - Newman received some very welcome news. He would later recall being summoned to the office of Kenneth Adam, the BBC's Director of Television, to be told that as a result of BBC2 being given the go-ahead the Drama Department would now have a 40 per cent budget increase. Newman said: One of the far-reaching decisions Newman made during January 1963 was to disband the Children's Department at the BBC, meaning that every children's drama programme would now be made by the Drama Department.

Further fundamental changes to working practices followed. Newman had found the Drama Department an unwieldy beast and impossible to control by himself. He therefore took the decision to break it down into three separate departments: Series, Serials, and Plays - each of which had its own head with direct control but doing his bidding.

In addition, Newman gradually abandoned the all-in-one producer/director role, replacing it with the production-team style used greatly by ITV and, hitherto, to a far lesser degree by the BBC. Directors would be appointed - either from staff or on a freelance basis - to make individual episodes or programmes, whereas producers would now act in a more executive capacity, with total financial and artistic control over a specific project. A story editor would also form a permanent part of the team, and their job would be to find writers and work with them to produce scripts. A move that would take some three months to fully put into place, this brave new world of drama production would ultimately see the Script Department become mostly redundant, leading to its eventual closure.

During March 1963, Newman would also hold talks with Donald Baverstock, pictured left, newly promoted from being BBC tv's Assistant Controller of Programmes to the role of Chief of Programmes for BBC1 (in anticipation of the launch of BBC2), and Joanna Spicer, pictured far left, the Assistant Controller (Planning) Television, on the need for a new drama serial to plug an important gap in the Saturday-evening schedule.
Here's what Newman would later say about it: Among the possibilities was a series centring on two lads in a boys' school, but Newman later settled on a science-fiction show. He gave a general outline of his idea to Baverstock and Spicer, who were extremely positive about it, and Newman subsequently asked Donald Wilson, head of the still-remaining Script Department, to think of format ideas for a 52-week science-fiction series made up of shorter serials. A meeting in Wilson's office was then scheduled for 26th March to talk about suggestions for the new series, using as the basis for discussion the April 1962 and July 1962 Survey Group reports concerning science-fiction.

Doctor Who and its stars have been shortlisted in three categories in this year's National Television Awards.

In the Drama section, the show itself is up against Sherlock (co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss), Merlin (starring Colin Morgan), and Downton Abbey (starring Hugh Bonneville).

Matt Smith is nominated for Drama Performance: Male, for which he is competing against Benedict Cumberbatch (the title role in Sherlock), Colin Morgan (the title role in Merlin), and Daniel Mays (Ronnie Biggs in Mrs Biggs).

Meanwhile, Karen Gillan faces Sheridan Smith (Charmian Biggs in Mrs Biggs), Suranne Jones (Det Con Rachel Bailey in Scott & Bailey), and Miranda Hart (Chummy Browne in Call The Midwife) for the Drama Performance: Female gong.

In other categories, Would I Lie To You?, featuring David Mitchell, is among the nominees for Comedy Panel Show, The Apprentice (with Lord Alan Sugar) and Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs are included in Factual Entertainment, Absolutely Fabulous (with June Whitfield) and Benidorm (co-written by and co-starring Steve Pemberton) are up for Situation Comedy, Coronation Street (produced by Phil Collinson) is nominated for Serial Drama, and The Chase, hosted by Bradley Walsh, is nominated in the Daytime category.

Both Smith and Gillan won in their respective categories in last year's NTAs, but the show lost out to Downton Abbey as Most Popular Drama.

Votes can be cast via this link and must be confirmed by midday on Wednesday 23rd January, when voting closes. The ceremony - the 18th NTAs - takes place at the O2 Arena in London and will be broadcast live on ITV1 from 7.30pm the same day.

Today's Adventure Calendar release by the BBC features a behind-the-scenes video entitled The Matt Smith Christmas Show, in which the actor chats to new co-star Jenna-Louise Coleman, plus Kat from Costumes!

The BBC have announced that it is to launch its BBC Entertainment channel in Burma from next year. The pay-TV channel will launch from 1st January 2013 alongside BBC World News and CBeebies, which will join the BBC World Service broadcast through the region's Forever Group.

BBC Entertainment showcases the best comedy, drama and light entertainment from the BBC and other UK production houses; this of course includes Doctor Who - so will mark the first time the series has been broadcast in the country!

Mark Whitehead, Senior Vice President and General Manager of BBC Worldwide Channels Asia, said:

The BBC have also announced another first for Doctor Who, as BBC Entertainment is also introduced to Indonesia, to be broadcast via max3 from Biznet Networks. Mark Whitehead commented:

Doctor Who on BBC Entertainment:

At the time of writing the channel is currently showing Series 6 in Asia, and tonight will show last year's festive adventure The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe.

The Entertainment Memorabilia auction held at Bonhams in London yesterday saw items from Doctor Who and its spin-off series fetch thousands of pounds, with the star item being the Nissan Figaro driven by Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures going for £6,000 - the top end of its estimate.

Various costumes and props from Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood went under the hammer but not everything was sold. A TARDIS exterior panel, listed as having been supplied by the BBC to the firm that made the title sequence for Sylvester McCoy's inaugural series as the Doctor, was withdrawn from the auction, having had an estimate of £400-500, and autographed scripts from Revelation of the Daleks, which had an estimate of £500-600, failed to sell.

The auction was held at Bonhams' Knightsbridge saleroom.

Full results of related auction items - sale price includes premium (estimate in brackets):

Lot	Description	Sold for (£)
118	Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. poster	625 (500-700)
143	Planet of the Spiders original scripts	875 (1,200-1,500)
144	SV7 costume from The Robots of Death	2,500 (2,000-3,000)
145	Revelation of the Daleks autographed scripts for episodes 1 and 2	Failed to sell (500-600)
146	Remembrance of the Daleks autographed OB schedule	187 (250-300)
148	Foam shark model from A Christmas Carol	875 (1,000-1,500)
150	TW: Scale corpse model from Countrycide	250 (200-300)
151	TW: Captain Jack Harkness's coat	2,125 (700-900)
152	TW: Jack's safe door	312 (500-700)
153	TW: Jack's bedroom hatch door	250 (300-400)
154	TW: Martha Jones' costume from Reset	625 (300-500)
155	TW: Gwen Cooper's costume from Meat	312 (500-700)
156	SJA: Sarah's costume from Invasion of the Bane	1,250 (500-600)
157	SJA: Two "Slab" costumes from Warriors of Kudlak	350 (250-300)
158	SJA: Eve's costume from The Mad Woman in the Attic	250 (200-250)
159	SJA: Androvax costume from Prisoner of the Judoon and The Vault of Secrets	450 (300-400)
160	SJA: Clyde Langer costumes (15)	500 (350-400)
161	SJA: Shansheeth part costume from Death of the Doctor	687 (250-300)
162	SJA: Two Mister Dread costumes from The Vault of Secrets	200 (250-300)
163	SJA: Sarah's car (1991 Nissan Figaro two-door Targa Coupe)	6,000 (4,000-6,000)

The sixth in our occasional series marking the 50th anniversary of events leading to the creation of a true television legend.

The story so far . . .

In the summer of 1962, the BBC commissioned a report into identifying specific science-fiction stories suitable for adapting for television.

The report started events that would lead to the transmission of the first episode of Doctor Who. Today, we examine the career of the man who was to reinvigorate BBC television drama and sow the seeds for an icon of the genre.

If there is one man who can claim to be the true father of Doctor Who, one man without whose inspiration, guidance, and care the series would never have been made, then that man is Sydney Newman, who joined the BBC on Wednesday 12th December 1962, exactly 50 years ago today. A brash, outspoken Canadian, his arrival at the BBC was a shock for an establishment more used to employing products of the country's public schools and university system. He arrived with a distinguished track record of success in production on both sides of the Atlantic, and with a brief to shake up the Corporation's drama department and bring it into the 1960s.

The Early Years:

Sydney Cecil Newman was born in Toronto on 1st April 1917 to a Russian Jewish immigrant father. His interest in art and the movies led him to attempt a career designing film posters, before switching to working in the film industry itself. A trip to Hollywood in 1938 led to an offer from the Walt Disney Company, a role he was unable to take up because of work permit issues. He returned to his native country, and during the Second World War he joined the National Film Board of Canada, first as an editor and later as a producer. He produced many documentaries and propaganda films during the war, and continued to work for the NFB in the post-war era. By 1952 he had produced some 300 short films, many of which were for Canada's government.

His excellence in the field led to him being appointed Supervising Director of Features, Documentaries, and Outside Broadcasts for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1952, where he was involved in producing some of the earliest outside broadcasts on Canadian television, including early episodes of the iconic Hockey Night in Canada and the first Canadian Football League game to be shown on television. Despite having limited experience in drama, he was made Supervisor of Drama Production in 1954, and he used the role to encourage young writers and directors, including William Kotcheff and Arthur Hailey.

Among his productions for CBC was the highly successful Canadian Television Theatre presentations, and his work was being increasingly admired at home and abroad, including in Britain where several of his CBC productions were screened by the BBC. In an interview he explained that it was during a visit to the UK that he realised the kind of drama he wanted to produce when seeing John Osborne's play Look Back In Anger with then Head of BBC TV Drama Michael Barry. However, it was to be Howard Thomas - managing director of one of the new ITV network franchise holders, Associated British Corporation (ABC) - who decided Newman could provide him with the type of contemporary drama he wanted to broadcast, and recruited him to ABC in 1958.

Becoming Head of Drama at ABC, Newman took over the production of the popular Armchair Theatre anthology play series, networked nationally on Sunday evenings to huge audiences and which he insisted should use only original material that had been penned for television. He commissioned plays for the series by writers such as Alun Owen, Harold Pinter, and Clive Exton. Newman also devised a thriller series called Police Surgeon, starring Ian Hendry. Although not a success, Newman used elements from the series, including its star, to create The Avengers, a programme that would go on to achieve international success.

While at ABC, he also produced the children's science-fiction serial Target Luna and its three spin-offs - Pathfinders In Space, then Pathfinders To Mars, and finally Pathfinders To Venus. The four series, comprising 27 episodes, were written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice and centred on the space exploits of the Wedgwood family. Actors who appeared in the different series included Michael Craze, Bernard Horsfall, Gerald Flood, and George Coulouris. The shows aired between April 1960 and April 1961, with the last series being the most ambitious and whose complexity and need to keep videotape editing to a minimum saw the decision made to have live action performed in the electronic studio and visual effects done on film. During the summer of 1961, a sci-fi version of Armchair Theatre was proposed by story editor Irene Shubik, and between June and September 1962 the resulting anthology series Out Of This World was shown, consisting of 13 one-hour dramas, with an extra introductory one - entitled Dumb Martian, produced by Newman - shown in the Armchair Theatre slot six days before Out Of This World started.

Arrival at the BBC:

Newman's success at ITV led to him being head-hunted by the BBC, and in 1961 he was offered the role of Head of Drama by the Corporation's Director of Television, Kenneth Adam. Although he accepted the position, he was forced by ABC to fulfil his contract, finally leaving the commercial network to take up his new appointment in December 1962. In a later interview he stated:


He would spend five years with the BBC, but the influence of his tenure would ripple throughout the decades. While at the Corporation, he would oversee the arrival of new anthology series The Wednesday Play - a BBC equivalent of Armchair Theatre. He employed the likes of Dennis Potter, Jeremy Sandford, and Ken Loach, and under his watch seminal plays such as Cathy Come Home and Up the Junction were produced, tackling serious social issues of the day. Series produced under his aegis included the fantastical, Verity Lambert-produced Adam Adamant Lives!, the first two series of sci-fi anthology drama Out Of The Unknown (both produced by Shubik - now also working at the BBC), and legendary costume drama The Forsyte Saga - which became one of the most acclaimed and popular productions of his era, watched by 100 million people in 26 countries.

But it is for Doctor Who, now approaching its fiftieth anniversary, for which he remains best-known.

Future Head of Drama Shaun Sutton would comment in his book The Largest Theatre In The World:

Post-BBC:

Rather than having his contract renewed, Newman instead left the BBC to pursue a career as a film producer with Associated Film Producers, but no projects were to reach fruition and after being paid off when EMI took over in 1970 he decided to return to Canada.

Back home, he became Acting Director of the Broadcast Programmes Branch at the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, and later that year was appointed Government Film Commissioner and Chairman of the National Film Board of Canada. He continued to have a strong influence in the media, though more in an advisory rather than hands-on role. In 1981 he was awarded the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour.

After the death of his wife, Newman returned to the UK and worked for a time at Channel 4 - and was also asked by BBC1 Controller Michael Grade in 1986 about how to revamp Doctor Who, though this was never taken further. He formally retired back to Canada, where he died of a heart attack in Toronto on 30th October 1997.

The fifth in our occasional series marking the 50th anniversary of events leading to the creation of a true TV legend.

The story so far. In the summer of 1962, the BBC commissioned a report into identifying specific science-fiction stories suitable for adapting for television.

The report started events that would lead to the transmission of the first episode of Doctor Who on Saturday 23rd November 1963, exactly 49 years ago today. Today we examine the TV schedule of 50 years ago.

Exactly one year before Doctor Who started, the BBC was showing Captain Pugwash, the John Ryan cartoon series following the adventures of Captain Horatio Pugwash as he sailed the high seas in The Black Pig, assisted by trusty cabin boy Tom, and pirates Willy, Barnabas and Master Mate. The character had first been seen in the comic The Eagle in 1950, before appearing as a strip in Radio Times. He came to television in 1957, with the voices provided by Peter Hawkins.

Other highlights of the day included a Sid James comedy, the latest in the American series Dr Kildare, starring Richard Chamberlain, and a look at the work of the French actress, singer, screenwriter and director Jeanne Moreau, who had recently been seen in the film Jules and Jim.

Saturday evening saw The Lone Ranger being transmitted in what would become the Doctor Who slot. The episode shown was the final one in the fourth series of the American show. Starring Clayton Moore, it first aired in the States in 1957.

Home-grown entertainment came in the form of Mr Pastry's Pet Shop. Mr Pastry was a bumbling old man with a walrus moustache, who had adventures, partly slapstick, partly comic-dance, with two young friends. He was played by Richard Hearne, who would later be considered for the role of the Fourth Doctor.

Later in the evening, viewers could see the police drama Dixon of Dock Green and highlights from Bertram Mills Circus. Another American series, the Western Laramie, provided the main drama of the evening, with the 1946 psychological thriller The Spiral Staircase taking viewers up to the late news.

The late evening saw the debut of a new satirical series, That Was The Week That Was. Devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost, the programme - whose theme music was composed by Ron Grainer - would go on to be one of the most influential BBC series of the early Sixties, redefining the relationship between television and the political world. It was also a show that had a particular date with television history ahead of it a year later, when possibly its most famous edition - a shortened, non-satirical tribute to the assassinated US President John F Kennedy - was broadcast on the night of Saturday 23rd November 1963.

On consecutive Thursdays between 8th November and 29th November 1962, the sci-fi serial The Monsters was broadcast by the BBC. Based on a Panorama documentary concerning the Loch Ness Monster, the drama - written by Evelyn Frazer and Vincent Tilsley - centred on a zoologist on honeymoon searching for a similar creature and stumbling upon a bigger mystery to do with humanity's survival. The four 45-to-50-minute episodes were directed by Mervyn Pinfield and the cast included Philip Madoc, Clifford Cox, George Pravda, Clive Morton, Clifford Earl, and Norman Mitchell. The music was by Humphrey Searle, and Bernard Wilkie was one half of the team behind the special effects.

BBC TV's schedule for 23rd and 24th November 1962:

BBC: FRIDAY 23rd November 1962 9.40am - 11.55am: Schools Programming 1pm (Welsh transmitters): Newyddion (Welsh-language news programme) 1.05pm - Heddiw 1.25pm - News 1.30pm - Let's Imagine: Living Under the Sea 2.05pm - Pioneers of Social Change: Number 9 - Lloyd George 2.25pm - Interval 2.30pm - Watch With Mother Closedown... 5pm - Tales of the Riverbank 5.10pm - Captain Pugwash 5.25pm - What's New? 5.50pm - News 6pm - View 6.50pm - Tonight Trevor Philpott reports from Belgium on the problem of language. Part of the country speaks Flemish, the other French, leading to deep divisions, culminating in riots. The Government's solution is a language frontier. Plus, if you're looking for a change of menu this weekend, then maybe Louise Davies has an idea for you. Paella. 7.29pm - Headline News 7.30pm - Adventure: First Look at Africa Series of films taken by world travellers & explorers. The story of an expedition into the regions of Uganda, virtually unknown to man, by a party of English & African students. Narrated by David Parry. 8pm - Dr Kildare 8.50pm - Citizen James: The Jury Comedy series starring Sid James, featuring Sydney Tafler, Walter Hudd and Derek Nimmo. 9.15pm - News Including reports on four British engineers killed in the Hungarian airliner crash in Paris and the murder of George Brinham, a member of the Labour National Executive who was killed in his flat by a 16-year-old boy. 9.25pm - Wednesday's Child, play 10.30pm - Film Profile: Jeanne Moreau Derek Prouse talks to French actress Jeanne Moreau about her career. 11pm - News 11.10pm - Weather: Road Works Report

BBC: SATURDAY 24th November 1962 12.10pm (Welsh transmitters) - Telewele 12.35pm - Newyddion 12.40pm - Public Service announcements 12.45pm - Grandstand including racing from Newbury, Ice skating, Championship Snooker from Birmingham, Rugby League: Hull v Wigan and Sports Results and News Service 5pm - The Lone Ranger: One Nation Indivisible Two brothers working their way west after they lose their farm because of the war encounter the Lone Ranger and learn about what a future can be if they can let go of the past 5.25pm - Mr Pastry's Pet Shop: 2, A Very Dark Horse 5.50pm - News 5.53pm - Today's Sport 6pm - Juke Box Jury 6.30pm Dixon of Dock Green: A Home of One's Own. Police drama starring Jack Warner 7.15pm - Bertram Mills Circus 8pm - Laramie 8.45pm - Film: The Spiral Staircase A serial killer is targeting women with 'afflictions'; one night during a thunderstorm, mute Helen feels menaced. Starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore. 10.05pm - News, Weather In America, enquiries have begun into the crash of the United Airlines Viscount in Maryland and seven-year-old Carl Connor, who was partially blind and deaf, was reunited with his grandmother after spending a night on Dartmoor. In Perth, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games were opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. 10.15pm - Saturday Sport In the FA Cup there were no shocks, with Hinckley scoring two goals against Queen's Park Rangers' seven. 10.50pm - That Was The Week That Was New topical satire programme presented by David Frost - with Kenneth Cope, David Kernan, Roy Kinnear, Millicent Martin, Lance Percival, and Willie Rushton.

The BBC faced competition for viewers from its commercial rival, ITV, which had been launched under the auspices of the now-defunct Independent Television Authority (created by The Television Act of 1954) to break the corporation's TV monopoly.

The first ITV station to launch was Associated-Rediffusion on 22nd September 1955, serving the London area. By 14th September 1962, with the start of WWN (the transmission name of Teledu Cymru for Wales West and North), the UK and Channel Islands were covered by the regional ITV network, with separate franchises for weekdays and weekends.

Each service sought to reflect its regional identity by having its own programmes in opt-out slots, as well as what it thought viewers would like to see from programmes made outside the region (eg, on Friday 23rd November between 5.25pm and 5.55pm, viewers in the Southern and Associated-Rediffusion areas were watching the antics of Yogi Bear while their counterparts in the Midlands were enjoying the exploits of Supercar on ATV, those in south Wales and the west of England were being entertained on TWW by The Adventures of Robin Hood (co-starring John Arnatt), people in the Anglia region had Mr Ed, Granada was showing The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten, while Westward was airing National Velvet, etc), so to give a full picture of what was being aired when on ITV across the network on each day would result in a list far too long and - at times - irrelevant for the purposes of this feature.

Instead, here, as far as research allows, is what would have been seen by viewers tuning into their ITV channel on both days:

ITV: FRIDAY 23rd November 1962 12.45pm - 2.35pm: Very few ITV stations broadcasting, but ATV had Thought For The Day at 12.45pm, followed by Lunch Box between 12.47pm and 1.25pm, while Anglia began at 1.35pm by covering the Central Norfolk by-election, and both Granada and TWW started schools broadcasting at 1pm 2.35pm - 3.41pm: For Schools 4.45pm - Small Time (Willum's Tea Party) Some ITV stations only 5pm - Street of Adventure, presented by Hugh Moran 5.25pm - Opt-outs (see above) 5.55pm - News 6.05pm - Regional News 6.10pm - 7pm: Opt-outs (including, at different times, Day By Day, Out Of Town, Close-Up, Top O' The Shop, Midland Profile, Arena, People And Places, The Jim Backus Show, and Westward Diary) 7pm - Take Your Pick, presented by Michael Miles 7.30pm - Emergency Ward 10 8pm - 9pm: Opt-outs (including, at different times, I'm Dickens . . . He's Fenster, starring Marty Ingles and John Astin, Bonanza, The Dave King Show, Comedy Hour, and Police Five) 9pm - News 9.15pm - Television Playhouse: The Road To Anywhere, with Sam Kydd and Betty Baskcomb 10.15pm - midnight: Opt-outs (including, at different times, The Verdict Is Yours: Regina vs Hoskins, The Sword In The Web - The Munition Factory, Adventures In Paradise, Now You're Talking, White Hunter, Tightrope, and The Unsleeping Sword) Some stations had closed before midnight after the weather forecast or the epilogue, but shortly after midnight, following the weather forecast on Southern, the ITV network had closed down for the day.

ITV: SATURDAY 24th November 1962 1.15pm - News 1.20pm - 5pm: Sport and results 5pm - 5.15pm: Opt-outs (including It's A Model World, introduced by Charles Oates, Bugs Bunny, The Wizard of Oz, and Meet Foo Foo) 5.15pm - City Beneath The Sea (Episode 2 - Escape To Aegiria) 5.45pm - News 5.50pm - Thank Your Lucky Stars, introduced by Brian Matthew (except Anglia, which had the weather followed by The Flintstones and Popeye) 6.30pm - 8.25pm: Opt-outs (including Cheyenne, Bonanza, Man of the World, and Surfside) 8.25pm - Bruce's Show, hosted by Bruce Forsyth, starring Frank Ifield and Bill Howes 9pm - News 9.10pm - 10.05pm: Opt-outs (including 87th Precinct, Ben Casey, and Hawaiian Eye) 10.05pm - The Avengers, starring Patrick Macnee in The Sell-Out, with Frank Gatliff and Arthur Hewlett. (The series had been created by Sydney Newman.) 11pm - 11.50pm: Opt-outs (including, at different times, On The Braden Beat, ABC At Large, Broadway Goes Latin, Hennesey, and The Sword In The Web) 11.50pm: News and, on most stations, weather (all but TWW, which showed The Sword In The Web at 11.05pm, followed by the weather) 11.55pm - Epilogue (only some stations; weather forecast on Southern; Faith For Life on Westward)

On Saturday 24th November 1962, The Times ran a feature in its Notes On Broadcasting section, headlined Viewers Begin To Make Themselves Felt, in which its "Special Correspondent" said that "by general consent" the current season's television had "been one of the most disastrous in terms of quality since the Independent Television Authority came into operation."

Reference was made to The Pilkington Committee report on broadcasting, published in June 1962 at a cost of £45,450. Among a number of things, the inquiry had criticised ITV's "triviality" and backed T S Eliot's evidence statement to the committee that "Those who aim to give the public what the public wants begin by underestimating the public taste; they end by debauching it".

The author of the feature bemoaned the fact that "after the summer doldrums, the unveiling of the autumn schedule with a blare of publicity trumpets brought only weaker and worse." They noted that the best of the American shows had been replaced by "feeble American derivatives or even feebler British substitutes", citing 87th Precinct, which took over from Naked City on ITV, as an example. Withering criticism was also levelled at The Saint and Ghost Squad, both of which were labelled "ineffectual".

On the positive side, it was noted that viewers' response had been so bad that the ITV companies were being forced to rethink things, an example being Associated-Rediffusion's sitcom It's A Living, starring Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss, being deemed so bad it was unceremoniously dumped after four episodes when it should have enjoyed a 13-week run. There was also reportedly such a negative reaction to ATV's Ghost Squad "that it suddenly disappeared for a week or two and re-emerged with some bland recasting . . . and a much livelier approach to scripting and direction."

Similarly, the Granada sitcom Bulldog Breed (starring Peter Butterworth and Geoffrey Palmer) disappeared from the schedules after six weeks, one week before it was supposed to end, while another Granada series, The Verdict Is Yours, which dramatised real trials, had started with a Monday evening peak-time slot but got ignominiously bumped by Rawhide to post-10pm on Fridays.

However, the BBC wasn't "in any position to congratulate itself", said the writer, noting that the corporation was relying on "tried and true favourites" for major audience pulling power but that these were starting to become "increasingly faded and routine", with Z-Cars and Maigret both being singled out as guilty parties.

What this all meant, believed the writer, was not necessarily that bad TV was driving out good but that TV companies were beginning to adopt "a far less cavalier attitude to viewers' wishes" than had previously been the case, since in the past unpopular programmes had been allowed to "limp along" and stay the course but now "programmes which have gone are precisely those which the higher-browed critics would agree were not worth preserving."

Epilogue: the television of today

The two-channel television viewers of 1962 would be overwhelmed at the multitude of ways to watch a multitude of programmes across a multitude of channels that exist half a century later; but, perhaps, they would be less surprised at the mix of shows that are still broadcast on the main two channels from their time: 1962 had Doctor Kildare, 2012 has Casualty, likewise Dixon of Dock Green/Midsomer Murders, That Was The Week That Was/Have I Got News For You, and - well into his fifth decade on television - all-round performer Bruce Forsyth still occupies a prime-time Saturday evening slot! (Two other long-lived shows of note are Coronation Street which commenced in 1960, and The Sky At Night which launched in 1957 and is still presented by Sir Patrick Moore.)

BBC1: FRIDAY 23rd November 2012 6.00am - Breakfast 9.15am - Neighbourhood Blues 10.00am - Homes Under The Hammer 11.00am - Watchdog Daily 11.45am - Cash in the Attic 12.15pm - Bargain Hunt 1.00pm - BBC News 1.30pm - Regional News programmes 1.45pm - Doctors 2.15pm - Escape to the Country 3.00pm - BBC News 3.05-5:15pm CBBC 5.15pm - Pointless 6.00pm - BBC News 6.30pm - Regional News programmes 7.00pm - The One Show 7.30pm - Nigel Slater's Dish of the Day 8.00pm - EastEnders 8.30pm - Outnumbered 9.00pm - Have I Got News For You 9.30pm - Me and Mrs Jones 10.00pm - BBC News 10.35pm - The Graham Norton Show 11.20pm - The National Lottery Draws 11.30pm - Live at the Apollo Midnight - EastEnders (omnibus)

ITV1: FRIDAY 23rd November 2012 6.00am - Daybreak 8.30am - Lorraine 9.25am - The Jeremy Kyle Show 10.30am - This Morning 12.30pm - Loose Women 1.30pm - ITV News 2.00pm - Crime Stories 3.00pm - Dickinson's Real Deal 4.00pm - Midsomer Murders 5.00pm - The Chase 6.00pm - Regional news programmes 6.30pm - ITV News 7.00pm - Emmerdale 7.30pm - Coronation Street 8.00pm - Island Hospital 8.30pm - Coronation Street 9.00pm - I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here 10.30pm - ITV News 11.10pm - Accepted

BBC1: SATURDAY 24th November 2012 6.00am - Breakfast 10.00am - Saturday Kitchen Live 11.30am - Baking Made Easy Midday - BBC News 12.15pm - Football Focus 1.00pm - Bargain Hunt 2.00pm - Escape to the Country 3.00pm - Formula One Live: Brazilian Grand Prix - Qualifying 5.30pm - BBC News 5.50pm - Pointless Celebrities 6.40pm - Strictly Come Dancing 8.00pm - Merlin 8.45pm - National Lottery Draws 8.55pm - Casualty 9.45pm - Live at the Apollo 10.15pm - BBC News 10.30pm - Match of the Day 11.50pm - The Football League Show

ITV1: SATURDAY 24th November 2012 6.00am-9.25am - CITV 9.25am - News 9.30am - The Jeremy Kyle Show USA 11.15am - Murder, She Wrote 12.20pm - All Star Family Fortunes 1.05pm - ITV News 1.10pm - Holiday Home Sweet Home 3.10pm - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 5.20pm - Regional News programmes 5.30pm - ITV News 5.45pm - The Golden Rules of TV 6.15pm - New You've Been Framed 6.45pm - Take Me Out 8.00pm - The X Factor 9.45pm - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here 10.45pm - ITV News 11.00pm - Paul McCartney - Live Kisses Midnight - The Cube