Recalling the wonders of Westward television

HAPPY New Year one and all!

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Very few people have said that to me without adding "I hope to goodness 2026 is a better one.Well, whatever a previous year throws at us, I suspect we always hope for a better one? And, whilst I'm determined to look forward, I'd like to look back for a moment because 2025 was the 70th anniversary of ITV, and on Boom Radio we marked those years with a two-hour show.

I've got to say I found it hard to believe I remembered, quite clearly, all the shows mentioned. The Adventures of Robin Hood was one of the first dramas which aired, starring Richard Greene, and frighteningly I can still sing the theme.

Themes were big affairs back then. That wonderful waltz that heralded Upstairs Downstairs, without a doubt the forerunner to Downton Abbey, but the one that brought a tear to my eye was part of the end of the First Movement of Vaughan Williams' Sixth Symphony, better known to viewers as the landmark drama Family at War.