As Britain’s newest TV channel goes on air, Gazette columnist Alan Hayman recalls the perils and pitfalls of getting these new television ventures on air and then turning a profit

ANYONE remember Roland Rat?

Or Timmy Mallett’s Wide Awake Club?

Or a teen comedy series called Happy Days?

They were some of the weekend offerings from the first ITV breakfast channel, TV-am.

In the 1980s, Britain’s mums and dads enjoyed quality time in bed on Saturdays (if they wanted) while their offspring were glued to TV-am’s bright and bouncy children’s shows.

Gazette: Guest Nigel Farage in the green room, during the launch event for new TV channel GB News at The Point in Paddington, London. Picture date: Sunday June 13, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story MEDIA GBNews. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Guest - Nigel Farage in the green room, during the launch event for new TV channel GB News at The Point in Paddington

TV-am’s Camden studio was nicknamed Eggcup House, from the giant plastic eggcups on the rooftop corners.

My job there was to do the news - the nearest thing to serious stuff provided by that generally wacky station.

The man in charge at Eggcup House in my time was an eccentric Australian called Bruce Gyngell.

He belonged to a bizarre religious cult, made his male presenters wear pink shirts and had a passionate hatred of trade unions.

Normal, he wasn’t.

Gazette: Presenter Andrew Neil prepares to broadcast from a studio during the launch event for new TV channel GB News at The Point in Paddington, London. Picture date: Sunday June 13, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story MEDIA GBNews. Photo credit should read: Yui Mok/PA

Going live - presenter Andrew Neil prepares to broadcast from a studio during the launch event for new TV channel GB News

But boy, did he know how to make TV shows that people wanted to watch.

The Gyngell touch saved the station from a financial crisis left behind by TV-am’s five founding partners.

They were well-paid famous faces and aces at doing political interviews.

But they had little or no idea what Mr and Mrs Average and their children wanted to see on TV over breakfast.

Anyway, what’s led me to this sudden trip down TV Memory Lane, you may ask?

Gazette: File photo dated 8/6/2021 of construction of offices and studios at offices in Paddington, west London, for the new British television news channel GB News. The new channel is expected to shake up the TV news landscape this weekend with its launch. Issue

New home - the GB News studios are in Paddington, London. The new channel is expected to shake up the TV news landscape

It was sparked off by last weekend’s launch of GB News – the biggest venture of its kind since Rupert Murdoch put Sky News on the air in 1989.

In their founding chairman, the formidable Andrew Neil, GB News has a famous face to rival the five who started TV-am.

But do Mr Neil and his team have the common touch needed to lure the viewers their way?

Or alternatively, do they have a billionaire mogul like Murdoch to pay the bills if the viewers don’t show up?

Sky News and its editorial chief, John Ryley, are well regarded.

Gazette:

Columnist Alan Hayman

But their channel has only a small audience and has never made money.

So it’s hard to see how GB News can avoid needing subsidies from a rich Fairy Godfather, sooner or later.

In launching his new venture, Mr Neil seems to have the BBC and not Sky in his sights at the moment.

He seemingly dislikes the alleged political correctness he found at the Beeb, his former employer.

That may be enough for him just now.

But if it’s the only axe Mr Neil wants to grind, will it keep him going during years of toil in a hot studio in front of tiny audiences, as his company’s losses mount up?

My guess is that the best chance of success for GB News will be finding another boss like Bruce Gyngell who may be currently working well away from the UK media bubble.

One such success story from TV-am springs at once to mind - anyone know if Roland Rat is still looking for work?

After all, his was the only known case of a rat saving a sinking ship...

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