A new family series

File:1963-09-13 Times.pdf

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• Publication: The Times
• Date: 1963-09-13

"T.W.T.W." RETURNS AS GADFLY FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT BLACKPOOL, Sept. 12

A cleaned-up version of the controversial B.B.C. late-night television programme "That was the week that was" will return to the screens on September 28 at 10.30 p.m.--earlier than last year. It will be restricted to 50 minutes.

This was announced here today by Mr. Stuart Hood, controller of B.B.C. television programmes, as part of a major rearrangement in programmes for the autumn and winter. The biggest new venture will be adult education, with programmes on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Mr. Hood said the "TWTWTW" programme was criticized towards the end of its last run for its "smut". "It is my hope that mistakes. which there were, will not be repeated, but this does not mean. that the programme will not continue to act as a gadfly", he said. There would be no strict supervision of the scripts, and he had complete confidence in the producer. It was an indiscriminate programme to make people think about institutions and persons, and the Mate of things in Britain.

On adult education programmes, which will start in October, he said the B.B.C. had been planning them for some time. They will teach such things as keeping fit, home dressmaking, Italian for beginners, the science of man, an introduction to relativity, and the painter and his world. The programmes will he mostly of half-hour duration, two on Saturday mornings and four on Sundays.

"We are giving people time to get up and have a bit of education before lunch". Mr Hood said.

In the big rearrangement of evening viewing, the 9 p.m. news becomes a half-way house in evening viewing, giving greater scope for two and sometimes three major programmes in the latter part of the evening. A new family series, "Dr. Who", which borders on science fiction, will be screened on Saturdays, and on Wednesday evenings "Festival", designed for people interested in the theatre, history, and the cultural evolution of mankind.