Today (15/11/2024) marks 55 years since BBC One launched its first full colour service.
Two years earlier, on 1 July 1967, BBC Two became Europe’s first colour television network when it broadcast “4 ½ hours of championship tennis from the Centre Court at Wimbledon”.[1] Pioneering this significant change to television was none other than Sir David Attenborough. At the time, Attenborough worked as a Controller for BBC Two, where he was tasked with the ambitious project of introducing colour broadcasting. The aim was to do so before West Germany, who were simultaneously working on a similar project.
British Online Archives, BBC Handbooks, Annual Reports and Accounts, 1927–2002, “Handbook, 1969”, image 17.
It wasn’t until two years later, however, that the BBC rolled out colour television to BBC One. ITV also introduced its colour service on the same day. The first colour broadcast on BBC One was An Evening with Petula, a broadcast of Petula Clark performing at the Royal Albert Hall, which started at midnight. After this, the channel closed until 10am. Other shows broadcast in colour on 15 November 1969 included Star Trek, Dixon of Dock Green, The Harry Secombe Show, Match of the Day, and the film The Prisoner of Zenda. As shown in the extract below, taken from the BBC’s annual report and accounts for the year 1969–1970, the company was now broadcasting over 80 hours of colour television per week across BBC One and Two. To support this endeavour, the BBC increased its number of colour television studios to ten, including two new studios at the Television Centre in London. Due to outdated transmitters, only 50% of households could initially watch BBC One’s new colour service. However, by 1978, 11 million homes in the UK had a colour licence.
British Online Archives, BBC Handbooks, Annual Reports and Accounts, 1927–2002, “Annual report and accounts, 1969–70”, image 94.
[1] British Online Archives, BBC Handbooks, Annual Reports and Accounts, 1927–2002, “Handbook, 1969”, available at https://britishonlinearchives.com/documents/498/handbook-1969#?#%23h=colour&cv=16&xywh=1765%2C125%2C2814%2C1522, image 17.