The Evolution of the Television
AD
Thinking back on the evolution of televisions across my lifetime, even then in the past 37 years they have come a long way. However, let’s take a trip right back to the first TV and see just how far they really have come.
The First TV
It was back in 1925 the first mechanical TV was revealed at Selfridges in London, having been invented by John Logie Baird. This type of TV was used by the BBC to experiment with TV broadcasting and was until 1937 when they changed to an electronic system, due to its development over the years in the US.
In fact, it was back in 1927 the first electric TV was unveiled in San Francisco, giving them many years to work on the electric system before the BBC switched to it here in the UK.
When Did TV Take Off in the UK?
It was 1932 when the BBC did their first broadcast on a channel that would later become known as BBC1, although it wasn’t until 1936 these broadcasts could be seen regularly. A year later saw the first outdoor broadcast during the coronation of King George VI.
In 1939 broadcasting was suspended until 1946 due to World War II, and yet again in 1947 due to a national fuel crisis. 1949 saw the first transmitter outside of London introduced in Sutton Coldfield, allowing people outside of London in this area to receive TV.
It was the 50s that saw television really take off here in the UK, mainly due to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which saw sales soar. By the 60s 75% of UK homes had a television.
TV Through My Life.
My parents weren’t big TV watchers when I was young and I remember in the 90s going out to get our first colour TV and video player, with me choosing to rent The Little Mermaid from the Blockbuster across the road.
While in the mid-2000s when I moved out of home, I had a bulky early flat screen, which I remember ended up being a nightmare buying as the company never took payment and I had to try and follow it up a lot!
It has now been a number of years since I last bought my latest curved TV, yet even in that short space of time TVs have changed a lot, showing more colours and sharper pictures.
TV Today.
In 2021 around 27.2 million households had a TV in their home, with most people owning colour, flatscreen full HD TVs. However, the TV market is ever-evolving and more people are switching to the latest technology which includes OLED and QLED, while 8K displays are coming to the market.
TVs that can offer seamless motion are part and parcel of everyday life, with many people having a favourite show they have to watch. It is incredible how quickly technology is advancing these days, especially when it comes to televisions.
What are your earliest memories of TV and how do you view it now?
Pin It!
It’s a fascinating story isn’t it? I remember the first time I saw a colour television. The colours weren’t that great, a bit blurry I seem to recall, but it was still very impressive. Can you believe that once upon a time, people actually had to get up and go their TV sets if they wanted to switch channel!!
It is incredible how things have changed isn’t it over the years? Even looking back on movies from not to long ago they can look so bad compared to those we see today.
I remember hating that little girl coming on the screen . Was she playing oxo ? It meant no more programs until the next day and only having 3 channels ☹
It’s amazing how much these have changed. I remember getting our first colour TV, then we evolved to a TV with a remote control and then they just started getting thinner and thinner and now we have a thin TV that we can control with our voice lol. How amazing.
It is incredible looking back over the time line just how quickly things have changed and evolved with TVs.
Such an interesting read! Makes me wonder where the future is heading for TV
Definitely things have changed so quickly, will they continue like that or slow down?
It’s amazing the advances that have been made in a relatively short time.
It is crazy isn’t it – I can’t quite get my head around it – mobile phones are another one.
This is very informative – I particularly like the visual timeline!
I am glad you found it informative – I was amazed at the differences that happened so quickly.
We thought that it was so exciting when the buttons on our black and white TV didn’t actually need to be pressed, but lightly touched with a finger! How times have changed!
It’s incredible isn’t it – we really have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time.
I remember watching a black and white TV at my nan and grandad’s house in the 80’s. The good old days but god the picture was awful haha.
When I had my first job in the early 2000s there was this tiny 5inch black and white TV on sale and I bought it, it got used for quite a while in my bedroom, it was tiny and so bad quality but I was so pleased with it haha.
My first memory of tv is a big chunky box, no remote and we had to put a £1 coin in to get it to work! I only found out when I was older that my mum had rented the tv, I thought this was completely normal!
The days of having to get up and change the channels! I think our first couple of TVs were the same with no remote, the one I remember buying with them was the first with the one I believe and I’m sure that TV lasted until just before I moved out of home.
My earliest TV memory is of watching ‘watch with mother’ in black and white. It makes me feel very old!
It is so strange looking back, isn’t it? Seems strange I started with a black and white TV.
Seems like the screens always get bigger, then smaller, then bigger again! I remember my Mum having a huge TV in the 90s, and do you remember when we all went crazy for curve!? Or 3D?! My daughter prefers to now watch on her phone!
Ours is a curve I have to say we got it when we moved to the bungalow and it’s still going strong! When I was doing some research for this post I was amazed how big TVs were so early I have to say.
we used to rent our tv from radio rentals, a black and white on that had to warm up for five minutes, and you turned a dial to tune it into stations. we got modern and then had a remote control one with a wore that ran across the living room carpet and were the first ones in the street to rent a colour tv in the late 70’s and all the neighbours came round to watch the eurovision song contest. mum then rented a vhs video player but we had to get a bus into town to radio rentals to hire a tape for a week, then return it on the bus the following saturday.
I think renting them at one point was something a lot of people did. I was lucky and grew up in a village which had a video rental store so we could just pop in and get them.
My first memory of TV is watching the Queen’s Coronation on a neighbour’s tiny screen with a room full of people. I also used to go to the same neighbour to watch Andy Pandy!
This is so interesting.
My girls don’t believe that years ago we only had 4 tv channels and had to get up to change the channel. lol I remember TV’s being huge, now they weigh nothing and are light enough to hang on a wall. When I was a child I could never imagine that happening. x
I know I remember being so excited there was a 5th channel coming and then it was rather rubbish 😂
We got our first television in 1962 and boy has it changed a lot both in structure and content
It is amazing how much things have changed and how quickly considering it wasn’t really that long ago TVs become mainstream.
I had forgotten just how chunky the TV’s were when I was a child! They needed 2 people to move them as they were so heavy!
Yes! My first one when I moved out was huge so much at that back – where has it all gone?
When I was a little girl in the 60s our TV was a chunk in the corner with a tiny black and white screen. Programmes only came on for so long I remember and in between there was a non moving picture. A girl with a blackboard I think.
The old off-screens! I remember those when I woke up too early for kids’ TV to have started!
My earliest memory of TV was using it to sing karaoke. My grandma had eleven children so it was very normal for the weekends for all my aunts and uncle to gather round my house, pop in a karaoke VHS tape and we’ll sing together. Children programmes were only available at certain times of the day back then, not like it is now where you watch kids entertainment all times of the day. So most of my time in front of the TV, I was watching entertainment shows like Fifteen to one, Family Fortunes, Countdown, Wheel of Fortune etc.
Nowadays I don’t even watch the main channels- it’s mainly Netflix and Amazon Prime. If I was to watch documentaries on BBC, I would watch it via iplayer so I can watch it any time I want to
Oh, I love that what a fantastic memory to have – there is something about being around family and having those memories when you are younger isn’t there?
We watch online more than anything else these days, we do still watch some TV but it’s considerably less than say Netflix / Disney and even YouTube.