First TV programme memory

Oh yes Sunday afternoon films! I can remember all the children in the street going in from play at a certain time as there was going to be a George Formby film on!

We didn't have a TV until I was 13 but our grandparents had one. You had to ask to be able to watch it and if Nan approved I'd be allowed to watch Muffin the Mule. I was really too old for it so was thrilled to bits when she agreed that Champion the Wonder Horse was more my thing.

It didn't take her long to realise that David Copperfield, Vanity Fair and The Secret Garden were good for my education

Quatermass scared the s**t out of me though.

I can remember watching the Coronation when I was 3 and all the other childrens mentioned above.
On Saturdays we had to go to nanas but we had to be very quiet whilst she watched the wrestling we weren't allowed to speak one word.

I used to go to my Gran's on a Saturday, and at precisely ten to five the TV would be turned on to warm up for Wagon Train which started at five.
I hadn't a clue about Cowboys and Indians but the flickering images fascinated me.

This might make me sound like Methusalah, but does anyone remember The Appleyards, Compact or The Newcomers?

My mother used to watch Compact. The. Appleyards rings a bell, but I didn’t watch it.

Watching The Coronation is my first real memory, as others, with all the neighbours crammed into our front room. Muffin the Mule was always put on, as Mum loved him as much as we did. Oh, Merlot, Quatermass, watched between fingers. I still remember the horror if some sort of plant overtaking him. ? Wagon Train ( Mr Dillon) and Bonanza. Happy days.

Yes Wagon Train (the lovely Robert Horton), Bonanza, Rawhide, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot. I loved all of them!

Definitely the Coronation. We didn't have a tv but our neighbours did and they invited all of us to watch it.
It was wonderful, I can remember the excitement of it as we all crowded round the small screen in a big box.

Watch With Mother

Another vote for muffin the mule, I had one and remember being very cross because I couldn't work the strings to get it to do the things it could do on the tv

Pinky and Perky on my grandparents tv. We didn’t have one until a few years later. How we loved to visit our neighbours who did!

From Watch with Mother I liked the Woodentops best but the programme I absolutely loved and lived for was Sara and Hoppity. I still know all the words of the theme tune and I desperately wanted to live in a toy hospital at the time. Last year I found an episode on YouTube and it was unbelievably 'un-pc' - which made it very funny now as well - I still like it.

Yes, I remember Compact, too. Also The Grove Family, with a granny who was always “faint from lack of nourishment”.

I used to like Busy Lizzy. She had a flower on her dress which was magic. I always loved magic.

The Coronation. My auntie had a tiny 10" screen TV, the only one for miles around, her little prefab was packed!

I got home from school and watched Bill and Ben Flowerpot Men on our new tv.

I’ve just remembered watching Old Mother Riley at my grandma’s house while waiting for my Sunday dinner. I’d no idea s/he was a man. I was a Twizzle fan too, ninathenana.

The Coronation. My father took photographs of the screen and of us, looking bored to tears.

The Coronation and Watch with Mother. I absolutely loved The Woodentops and yearned for a twin sister so we could speak in unison!
Other early TV memories are Sooty and Sweep, Lenny the Lion, Billy Bunter, Mr Pastry. And, for some reason, professional swimming coverage - I would be totally transfixed by this

I remember Prudence (and Primrose) Kitten eazybee
And

Picture Book
The Wooden Tops
Andy Pandy
Bill and Ben
Rag Tag and Bobtail
Muffin the Mule
Sooty and Sweep
Mr Pastry

When I was a little older I enjoyed (but was a bit scared by)

The Cabin in the Clearing
The Silver Sword (first time I ever cried at a tv programme!)

I also loved

What's my Line
This is Your Life
Michael Bentine's Potty Time
I dream of Jeannie
I love Lucy

Sorry, not all first tv memories, got a bit carried away with nostalgia there

I watched Muffin the Mule and had one. I got into trouble when I took it to school on play afternoon because it jangled too much and annoyed the teacher!
Anyone remember The Grove Family, probably the first ever soap?

Torchy the battery boy and watch with mother.

goldengirl yes, I'm another one who really loved the Woodentops. I was actually a bit old for the programme but my little brother watched it so that was my excuse to see it in the school holidays!
Bella Loved the Grove Family with the very grumpy granny... Hope I'm not turning into her!

Like others, I loved the radio before we ever had a tv; but Andy Pandy, Muffin the Mule and Bill and Ben were the first things I remember watching. Broadcasting, in the fifities, started at four o’clock and then there was a period of shut down between six and seven in the evening if I remember in the early days. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Later, I liked programmes like Stranger than Fiction, Adrian Hill’s art programmes, Hans and Lotte Hass ‘Dive to Adventure’, and Armand and Michaela Dennis in Africa. And does anyone remember The Groves, and The
Appleyards?