1980s Repeats of Thriller on ITV - the regions compared and other stats

While all the fifteen regional ITV stations repeated most of Thriller in the early 1980s, there were some noted variations in the numbers they repeated and when they started and ended them:

Region	First repeat	Last repeat	Total repeats
Anglia*	10/11/1982	13/02/1984	41
ATV / Central	11/09/1980	26/03/1983	43
Border*	15/06/1981	30/09/1983	42
Channel TV	19/12/1981	10/02/1984	43
Grampian	11/09/1980	19/03/1984	37
Granada	04/07/1981	14/04/1984	38
HTV Wales	27/09/1981	20/06/1983	33
HTV West	27/09/1981	20/06/1983	35
London (LWT / Thames)	26/04/1981	30/06/1984	38
Southern / TVS	12/10/1981	12/07/1983	43
STV (Scottish TV)	03/07/1981	21/06/1984	35
Tyne-Tees	31/07/1981	25/06/1984	37
UTV (Ulster TV)	17/09/1980	28/04/1984	30
Westward / TSW	19/12/1981	10/02/1984	43
Yorkshire	08/01/1982	31/05/1984	43
All regions	11/09/1980	30/06/1984	579

ATV logo - not just the channel that commissioned Thriller but along with its successor Central one of those to repeat all the episodes

The five regions in bold repeated all the Thriller episodes. There is a little doubt about Yorkshire as its broadcast of Sleepwalker is very probable but not certain. The two others marked with an asterix include an unknown, unnamed Thriller repeat in their total. In a few other instances a specific episode of Thriller was scheduled, postponed and then appeared at a later date. While it is possible - probable even - that a different episode of Thriller aired on those dates other programmes may have been shown so such instances aren't included in the total. 

In terms of years the repeats were as follows:

1980 - 31 repeats

1981 - 197 repeats

1982 - 220 repeats

1983 - 188 repeats

1984 - 57 repeats

The figures for 1980 and 1984 are in part lower because the repeats didn't start until September 1980 and had to be completed by 30th June 1984. Even so these years did not see the repeat rates of the years in-between with 1982 the peak year for them.

In terms of days of the week there were some striking variations:

Sunday - 11 repeats

Monday - 199 repeats

Tuesday - 12 repeats

Wednesday - 10 repeats

Thursday - 68 repeats

Friday - 212 repeats

Saturday - 70 repeats

Friday and Monday were by far the most popular nights for Thriller repeats with Saturday and Thursday distant in third and fourth. Tuesday and Wednesday were little used as they were often set aside for sports coverage. The low figure for Sunday night is maybe a little surprising and it wasn't used after October 1981 - maybe the prospect for many of returning to work on Monday morning was considered sufficiently frightening!