How Southern Television DIED

From 1958 until 1981, SOUTHERN TELEVISION was the main ITV name in broadcasting in the South of England. But after more than 20 years on the air, their position wasn't secure. This is how Southern met an untimely end...

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With Thanks To Our Patrons & Staff Members: (as of 01/01/25)
Assistant Floor Managers
- Phil Atkin
- Evonne Okafor
- Martin Spellacey
- Mevans2001
- Alek Zapara
- Hannah_ecs
- NintenXP
- Da Boy David
- Iain Shepherd
- Catherine Joyce
- The Mela Experience

Directors
- Rob Jefferson
- Kieren Dight
- Tristan Ayling

Producers
- Joseph 'Gerkuman' Adams
- KNIGH7
- Jenny Tea
- James Brindley
- Macra99
- Callum Crayston
- Matt Pekarek
- Ryan Boundy
- Alex Chapman

AMTV Staff Members
- Macra
- Shaun Knock
- Daud Khan
- Ajmac 200017
- Dec!
- jen
- evan hart 41
- Traffi
- Tim Ripley
- Mr Eurovision 1986
- Marnanel Thurman
- John Wakefield
- Kieran Boulton
- 40somethingmanchild
- Jerry Ralph
- John MacLeod
- Saint Rocket IX
- James Wallis
- Ben
- Cat Hegarty
- Steven Oliver

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#southern #television #documentary

[Tbot]

I live in the States and I am watching this in 2025 and I absolutely adore these videos. I have never experienced British television unless it was aired on PBS, which is why it's so refreshing to see how the British experienced television. This video was done brilliantly.

Though I've never experienced Southern myself, this channel helped me see what it was like and I can understand why the channel would be missed.


Well done on this video!

[DJAUDIO]

This randomly came up on my algorithm and that ending for Southern was truly heartbreaking. You can tell some of the staff members were angry, but most were heartbroken. Truly sad.

[craiggilchrist]

2 Months after this I was diagnosed with Leukaemia age 6, changed my life forever. I'm 50 this year.

[timecapsule.]

I never expected to get sad from watching a closedown of a channel that ended long before I existed but here we are.

[j-tentv]

This really is the best of your presentations to date. I definitely found myself re-living the drama of that New Year's Eve 1981 all over again.

Thank you and well done.

[FrenchFriesrGood]

As Bob The Fish would say in his Southern/TVS episode of ITV In The Face when southern went off the air for the last time “all that would remain was the most haunting closedown in British television history”

[SprinterPlayz]

that transition from the southern cross to the clock at the start was really smooth, especially considering the time it was made

[sapinballwizard]

You can really feel how passionate the staff was about their channel. I feel so bad for them.

[BMBobNick]

I love the final goodbye pan of the staff because you can tell by the faces who will unemployed in a minute and the people who got jobs at TVS

[TheDaveWoods]

I can remember watching the final day of Southern even then as 13 year old I knew the importance it had on the media landscape and stayed up to watch the final programme.

[cliffordmace]

In a way they were lucky to be able to say goodbye. All the others like Granada, Anglia, Yorkshire etc... just faded away into nothingness.

[johnm]

Funnily enough, I'm currently about halfway through the DVD set of Together, a daytime soap opera from 1980/81 and one of Southern TV's final live-to-air programmes. Considering its broadcast time, it was remarkably ground-breaking, with stories involving homosexuality, mental health and unemployment. I must say AMTV, the work and attention to detail in your videos is fantastic - always an entertaining and educational watch. Thank you 👍😀

[energybrown]

Interesting video. Felt sad watching the transition form Southern to TVS 😥

[TheRamblyChannel]

I’m old enough to remember when this happened. As a kid I was excited that a new brand would take over but the shock that was clearly displayed by the presenters once the news broke was palpable. I can remember the continuity announcers being on screen in person between programmes with the Southern logo and “1958-1981” decal in the corner of the screen. I was too young to be up that late on New Year’s Eve so had no idea they’d run that special show until I watched your video so it was interesting to see parts of it all these years later. I remember some of those presenters in the closing segment. I enjoyed watching this and recalling things I’d long since forgotten about.

[theoldfunker]

It was a shame when we lost Southern with our own local programmes local to the south, but time moves on and TVS didn't fill the gap. Now days with Talking Pictures and Rewind tv us southerners can reflect back to what was tv for us in the green and pleasant South of England.

[ahoythespoonsareawake]

Another brilliant one Adam - thank you. And thank you Southern for the inadvertent comedy classic that was ‘Houseparty’

[UnauthorisedService]

blimmin brilliant archive and review. Thanks for the extended featurettes. Pure class. Growing up in Portsmouth and latterly Poole in the 70s and 80s . Aaah, and the folk guitar theme too !👌

[davidlavelle]

Great video, thank you. Brought back a lot of memories. I miss the old franchise days - I don’t know if they were better, but whenever we went on holiday to other parts of the UK it really felt like we’d travelled a long way when we turned on the local telly.

[stumagoo]

Southern produced memorable kids tv shows in the late 70s early 80s like The Famous Five, Worzel Gummidge, The Saturday Banana, Runaround & How.

[redmozzy]

Should also be noted that Southern went off air at 00:45… 45 minutes after their licence had expired.