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The End Of Thames
December 31st, 1992. The last broadcast day of Thames Television. The CEO Richard Dunn has a farewell message, to sum up all the years. And instead of a goodbye, there is:
Having saluted our talented artists, I would like, if I may on your behalf, to thank all of those thousands of men and women who have worked so creatively behind the cameras to bring you the best television we could and we would like to thank you, our viewers. It has been a privilege to serve you. And, for now, from all of us at Thames, past and present, we wish all of you, a Happy New Year.
A cover of “I Only Wanna Be With You” by The Tourists is followed. If you watch the last weather forecast, you can almost feel the woman bursting into tears but bottling it up professionally when she says “…from all of us here at the ITV national weather team, a very happy new year to you!” What we gained on that last night of the year was a dead TV channel.
The senior continuity announcer for Thames Television was Philip Elsmore. He had the very first announcement of the channel in 1968 and he had the very last announcement in 1992. Pretty peculiar presence! And some fourteen years after that demise, Elsmore is the protagonist in a loose-concept album at the peak of the hauntology…
