Writing about the History

Where do you start in telling the story of one of the most iconic places in British television history? Reading other peoples works, looking in the history pages of the books in the library, talking to people who know different bits of things, and then compiling it into some sort of order, I suppose that's how to start.... There has been a lot written over the years about the history of ITV in the midlands, and about ATV, one thing we don't want to do is simply copy what other people have already written.

To that end we will use the available works and documents to supplement what we already know about the move from black and white beginnings at Aston, to the new purpose built studios on Bridge Street. The plan is to complement the words that we create with some interesting visuals which won't be the 'standard' clips that have been used in similar programmes. We aim to bring to the screen a story which will, for the first time, be told by those involved in it, using exclusive footage from various sources, and supplement that with archive material if we can.

Back to the story then, and it has been an interesting voyage of discovery for me, looking into the history of not only ATV in the midlands, but of the site in Birmingham used to build the ATV Centre. It continues to throw up more surprises, the further you look into it.... The books I have looked at contain a wealth of interesting pictures, but we are looking for more original pictures where possible, which will show the site before, during and after construction, and if possible moving film footage too... We are constantly trying to add to the story of how the place which brought us some of the finest programmes in the 70's and 80's came into being, so if you can help get in touch....