UK TV Temporary Faults 1978-2020 - Part One 1978-2006

From the following channels:
BBC1
BBC2
itv/ITA/IBA
Channel 4

[ArtyIF]

i like how the first temporary fault fades out at "among us", the internet completely corrupted this phrase

[sullivangate]

As someone who lives in the US where they just put up a bumper that says "Technical Difficulties. Please stand by" I always find the way British TV handled things like this to be much more classy and formal. Cool stuff.

[pyroshilov]

It's admirable how each announcer isn't even taken aback just "ah ffs we've a prob here. sorry lads it'll be a sec" casual af

the Star Trek one is gold.

[priceright]

We apologise for the temporary fault. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

[PAJAMALAND]

The 1982 one on BBC 2 was especially interesting because they informed the viewers what they were doing to fix it, nowadays when stuff goes wrong its just "sorry, here's some music I guess"

[ActuallyYes]

4:37 “Well Im sorry about the. Star Trek has seem to disappear in to the space for a bit there.”
Got me dead laughing.

[wweppvcustomthemes]

On a stormy day in January:
"Well we're sorry but we seem to have lost No Time To Die, our transmitter did have time to die. However we'll be back with Mr. Bond as soon as we possibly can."

[cataclysmiceas]

The star trek one is an interesting story:
Shipping from the US to the UK was a little risky, and the film actually snapped in two! They had to put it back together very quickly so the show could get back on the road.

[SanFran]

Fun fact. According to the announcer of 1996's "Heaven Can Wait" They just had the new tape machine installed. Unfortunately the new machine was munching said tape and made it impossible to fix because it was automated.

[victorleoncio]

Came here for the technical faults, stayed for the fast-forwarded music. Instant hit!

[PaulJaYmes]

I distinctly remember the "star trek has disappeared into space" watching live as a child, wonderful to see it again here 38 years later!

[BuckFudweiser]

I was always really intrigued by these videos and always wanted to see behind the scenes of faults and see why they happen.

[Life-inmyhead]

This randomly popped up as a recommended video. I am not disappointed. Thank you for this.

[guksack]

Bet it was annoying at the time, in a world where you watched things live or not at all, but I used to quite enjoy the chaos of things falling apart. Such a rare sight to see these days

[mpayt_official]

4:26 i love how it shows the sheet of frame at the corner of the screen

[altebander]

First fault included a head clog and perhaps some further servo trouble.
Second one seems like some playback (either VT or telecine) not starting.
The ITV "faults" because of the strike were widely publicized even in Germany.
The Baboushka was probably some amplifier deciding to oscillate instead of amplify, that can happen, and it's a common joke among electronics engineers that "all your amplifiers oscillate and all your oscillators amplify".
The 1982 fault might have been a problem with one of the telecine machines or the switch between them. Rolls of film typically just hold part of a film, and when showing them you need to switch between the rolls)
In the 1985 StarTrek fault, there probably was a similar problem. There should have been a switch to the next roll of film on the other telecine machine, but that didn't work.
1985 warning shot seems to be the same issue.

One should note that until the 2000s broadcast technology was fairly unreliable. This was because it was essentially pushing the limits of what was possible. Professional VTRs were the most advanced ways to store data, so much so that in 1989 you could buy VCR tape changers (or spot players as they were also called) that could record 3 Terabytes of data on it's set of tapes.

[RhombusMan]

4:42 The funny thing about this one was when they were transporting Star Trek from the US to the UK, they were playing it and it snapped in half! They put it back together with tape

[almostfm]

I'm so glad they let everybody know that it's a _temporary_ fault. Wouldn't want people to think it's a permanent probem, right?

[jasonwood]

The ITV industrial dispute was more than a bit temporary. In the Yorkshire tv region they had the same blue screen but carried contact details for West Yorkshire police for anyone who may have had information to help with the Yorkshire Ripper case. To this nine year old latchkey kid who would’ve been on my own (cue violin) it certainly helped loosen my bowels.

[Infindox]

Gotta love the one during 2000 that's like "well, can't show you the news but to be polite I'll tell you the important stuff like the weather"