and nowadays the announcers are relegated to their voice booths never to be seen.....and some of them are even okay looking!

A similar thing is regional TV shows who always use the same presenters to the quirky items near the end of the show. Some of these people spend year doing just that.

In desperation Producers sometimes send them out on real stories, but it's hard to take them seriously....

of course Mike Neville (TTTV)

Arfon Haines Davies was the main continuity anouncer during the eighties on HTV Wales. He does everything from presenting to directing.

Dilwyn Thomas (or is it davies?) presents the weather on does continuity.

>Arfon Haines Davies was the main continuity anouncer during the eighties on HTV Wales. He does everything from presenting to directing.
>
>Dilwyn Thomas (or is it davies?) presents the weather on does continuity.

That's Dilwyn Young Jones - good God is he still going? (Used to always preface The Benny Hill Show with the words, "And now, time for comedy that's naughty but definitely nice...."). And whatever happened to Margaret Pritchard? (Said really irrelevant things prior to a given programme.)

And whatever happened to Margaret Pritchard? (Said really irrelevant things prior to a given programme.)

She retired in 1992 before HTV's new franchise started.

>And whatever happened to Margaret Pritchard?

She now heads the Wales Heart Foundation charity surprisingly based in ... Wales?!?!?

Also whilst on Htv Annos has anyone noticed that a few years ago they have dropped the distinction between wales and west and now just say things like "your watching htv" and "next on htv...." whatever happened the the "your watching htv wales"

>Also whilst on Htv Annos has anyone noticed that a few years ago they have dropped the distinction between wales and west and now just say things like "your watching htv" and "next on htv...." whatever happened the the "your watching htv wales"
>
I hope they'd say "you're watching HTV Wales", not "your watching HTV Wales".

In fact, they dropped the Wales bit when they introduced the new logo in 1993.

Fred Dineage - everything ever made by Southern TV, TVS, Meridian - he doesn't just do news, but "How?" "How? 2" and one-off specials, like the last ever TVS show with Fern Britton. Gosh, that lick-over hair!

Debbie Thrower - does quite a lot in southern region, BBC & Meridian - she introduced Meridian's first ever broadcast from Winchester Cathedral, despite all the New Year's Eve piss-heads trying to moon behind her...

Rob Curling.... and whatever happened to Guy Michelmore. Seemed to have such a promising career ahead of him at Newsroom South East. Maybe that coffee spillage blooper was the end of him.

Guy's too busy writing music now. He is known for sure to have composed themes for South Today and Look East as well as Newsroom South East. He may also have had a hand in one of the old Spotlight themes.

Who could forget Derek Batey who presented virtually every programme Border made during the eighties...

BTW Why was the recent version of Mr & Mrs credited to Derek Batey Enterprises when he wasn't actually the original host?

But do all these nobodies appreciate their devoted fanbase?

>Also whilst on Htv Annos has anyone noticed that a few years ago they have dropped the distinction between wales and west and now just say things like "your watching htv" and "next on htv...." whatever happened the the "your watching htv wales"

They have just started saying the regions names again recently. I've also noticed that the continuity announcers used now have stronger welsh accents than before.

>Why was the recent version of Mr & Mrs credited to Derek Batey Enterprises when he wasn't actually the original host?

The format of the TWW/HTV show was different to the BORDER show. The recent version used the BORDER version.

Mr & Mrs as produced by Border was a format bought from Tyne Tees, who bought it from HTV in about 1972 I think, but TT I am sure used the same host as HTV in the early days, and DB in the last one I believe (they made the show for 3 years before selling it on). I know it's a bit of a sad subject but the fact that it was produced by five different companies over the course of it's life makes it one of those little curiousities, don't you think?

>The format of the TWW/HTV show was different to the BORDER show. The recent version used the BORDER version.

And of course HTV Cymru had a Welsh language version...Sion a Sian!

>Fred Dineage - everything ever made by Southern TV, TVS, Meridian - he doesn't just do news, but "How?" "How? 2" and one-off specials, like the last ever TVS show with Fern Britton. Gosh, that lick-over hair!
>
Andy Craig is muscling in...he reads the news from Newbury and does a lot of stuff shown across all 3 sub-regions.

Patrick Anthony - Anglia 70s-90s. Lots of continuity & news reading. Then he turns up on Ready, Steady, Cook twenty years after I first saw him shelling peas & frying polenta without a fluffy birthday card ripping puppet in sight.

Malcom Brown - cool and smooth continuity announcer at TVS. He did a stint at Melody fm in London, then back to Northam to announce for Meridian - and the other week he popped up on Feedback (R4) reading out the letters.

Malcolm still does freelances for Meridian/Anglia/HTV West when needed. He's probably better now than in his 80s heyday. Top bloke.

BTW The HTV Wales announcers used to say "You're watching HTV Cymru Wales" during the days of the Generic IT\* logo.
And yes Dan F I too notice that Andy Craig is becoming more prominent on Meridian - Unfortunately....he's not a patch on Fred and the Newbury edition of Meridian Tonight is Shite.... they should feed the So'ton prog to Hannington and save themselves some money....they'd probably get more viewers as well....sorry....rant over!

Anyone remember Kenneth Mcleod from Westward/TSW?

>And yes Dan F I too notice that Andy Craig is becoming more prominent on Meridian - Unfortunately....he's not a patch on Fred and the Newbury edition of Meridian Tonight is Shite.... they should feed the So'ton prog to Hannington and save themselves some money....they'd probably get more viewers as well....sorry....rant over!

In the days of TVS, Hannington had an opt-out during part of Coast to Coast. I suppose because a half-hour for news from the Thames Valley is dragging it out a bit.

>>Fred Dineage - everything ever made by Southern TV, TVS, Meridian - he doesn't just do news, but "How?" "How? 2" and one-off specials, like the last ever TVS show with Fern Britton. Gosh, that lick-over hair!
>>
>Andy Craig is muscling in...he reads the news from Newbury and does a lot of stuff shown across all 3 sub-regions.
>
I've just seen some very amusing outtakes from 80's Central News when Andy Craig was trying to interview a doctor, who is in a different studio unable to hear any of Craig's questions, with hilarious consequences. They resort to speaking over a phone in the end or something, and Craig can barely contain his mirth.
He presented "This Morning" for a week two years ago too - he was very friendly, but I agree not a patch on Fred. Fred has much in common with Samson I think. It's all in the hair - if he finally lost it, he'd be shite too.