Channel TV provides the ITV service for the Channel Islands. Its broadcasts of Thriller (and programming in general aside from local content) were provided by and identical with Westward (which covered the South West of England) and its successor from the start of 1982 TSW. TV services were only in black-and-white until July 1976 so these repeats were the first time viewers in the Channel Islands had seen Thriller in colour. It was one of only four regions (including Westward / TSW) known to have repeated all the episodes.
 |
| Debut Thriller repeat in the Channel Islands (and Westward) region |
|
Episode |
Date |
Day |
Time |
|
Death
in Deep Water |
19.12.81 |
Saturday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Death
in Small Doses |
5.4.82 |
Monday |
11.10pm-12.20am |
|
The
Fear Is Spreading |
19.4.82 |
Monday |
11.10pm-12.30am |
|
File It
under Fear |
26.4.82 |
Monday |
11.25pm-12.45am |
|
I'm the
Girl He Wants To Kill |
10.5.82 |
Monday |
11.25pm-12.45am |
|
A
Killer in Every Corner |
7.6.82 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.00am |
|
Come
Out, Come Out Wherever You Are |
2.16.82 |
Monday |
11.20pm-12.45am |
|
Look
Back in Darkness |
28.6.82 |
Monday |
11.20pm-12.45am |
|
The
Eyes Have It |
5.7.82 |
Monday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Anatomy
of Terror |
19.7.82 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.05am |
|
Melody
of Hate |
26.7.82 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.00am |
|
Cry
Terror! |
2.8.82 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.00am |
|
Carnation
Killer |
9.8.82 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.00 |
|
Murder
in Mind |
16.8.82 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.00 |
|
Mirror
of Deception |
8.9.82 |
Wednesday |
11.00pm-12.30am |
|
The
Next Victim |
30.11.82 |
Tuesday |
10.35-11.55pm |
|
Murder
on the Midnight Express |
7.12.82 |
Tuesday |
10.35-11.55pm |
|
One
Deadly Owner |
14.12.82 |
Tuesday |
10.35-11.35pm |
|
Murder
Is a One Act Play |
3.1.83 |
Monday |
11.05pm-12.30am |
|
The
Death Policy |
20.1.83 |
Thursday |
11.00pm-12.25am |
|
Killer
with Two Faces |
18.4.83 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.05am |
|
The
Devil's Web |
25.4.83 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.05am |
|
Not
Guilty |
9.5.83 |
Monday |
10.40pm-12.05am |
|
Once
the Killing Starts |
22.7.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Only a
Scream Away |
29.7.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
A Place
to Die |
5.8.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Sleepwalker
(wrongly listed as "Sleepwalkers") |
12.8.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.25am |
|
Someone
at the Top of the Stairs |
19.8.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Kiss,
Kiss, Kill, Kill |
26.8.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Terror
from Within |
2.9.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Appointment
with a Killer |
9.9.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Dial a
Deadly Number |
16.9.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
The
Savage Curse |
30.9.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
If It's
a Man - Hang Up! |
14.10.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Spell
of Evil |
28.10.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Possession |
4.11.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Murder
Motel |
18.11.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Sign It
Death |
25.11.83 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Color
Him Dead |
6.1.84 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
In the
Steps of a Dead Man |
20.1.84 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
The
Killing Game |
27.1.84 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
The
Double Kill |
3.2.84 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
|
Screamer |
10.2.84 |
Friday |
11.00pm-12.20am |
Thanks to Martin Marshall for some of these details including transmission times.
'Murder on the Midnight Express' aired 10.35pm-11.55pm on Channel (and TSW) on Tue 7.12.82 (a week before 'One Deadly Owner'), confirmed in its listing in the TSW edition of 'TV Times' that week. So all 43 for Channel (and Westward/TSW) confirmed, hooray!
ReplyDeleteThis is the beauty of cross-checking and it's always great to find a "missing" repeat, especially one that completes a set - list now amended. Once again we find that a region that ended its repeats quite early achieved a full set. Those areas that fell short were often still broadcasting Thriller in Spring / Summer 1984.
ReplyDeleteA very good point re the regions airing the episodes in 1984 as the licencing deadline approached - which seemed to be the end of June. I know Ros believes LWT, having woken up to the situation, were scrambling to screen as many as they could of their 'split allocation' with Thames in the last few weeks - but still coming up short despite broadcasting 'The Savage Curse' on the final day before the rights expired - the last 'movie' repeat on ITV of all! I think the missing handful in London were down to LWT's earlier (in)action and Thames had fulfilled their quota.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting point about the sharing of repeats between Thames and LWT. Unless only one of these channels took the repeats (would that have been possible?) there would have to be some coordination. Where a station finished short this may have been due to "missing the deadline" but I had wondered whether some may not have felt the need to show them all and perhaps preferred to air other programmes. Clearly for late-night repeat programming, ratings in the usual sense are not an issue but they might still notice that certain programmes are doing well compared to others in that slot or be influenced by viewer feedback. Possibly those areas which achieved a full set where ones where the repeats got a particularly good reception? Of course it's possible - maybe most likely - the differences were just down to chance or practical issues with schedulers just using the programming they had.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm aware, the London region (although split between two stations) was only licenced for one screening of each episode like the remaining 13 areas of the country. It's likely that the 43 stories would be divided with Thames getting roughly 4/7th and LWT 3/7th of the allocation given the days they broadcast. Thames would probably get first 'divs' on which episodes they wished to select, given that the programme was originally only on LWT on Saturday nights. In its timeslot, late at night I doubt that ratings would have been much of a consideration given that the 'rights' were there to air the programme - if they didn't not only would they have paid for it with no return but the company would have to substitute other programming. Given its slots, and the fact that the broadcasts are well remembered by many all years on, I suspect it did well in any case.
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