WALES / WEST

Guide to ITV Regions in 1961 | ITV Regions in 1962-1964 | ITV Regions in 1965-1968
ITV Regions in 1968-1974 | ITV Regions in 1975-1982

Harlech Television (rebranded simply as HTV from 6th April 1970) operated across the former TWW and Teledu Cymru regions from Monday 20th May 1968. Its service to these areas was more integrated than previously and regional variations (to screen programmes in Welsh in North Wales) normally amounted to a couple of hours a day. Since these variations never affected the first run transmission of The Avengers across the Harlech area, we have decided, for the sake of simplicity, to present the one page of information, which is accurate for both parts of the broadcasting area.

 The Avengers — Series 5
No. Title Harlech Television (Wales / W. England) Transmissions (UK)
1 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station Sunday 26th May 1968, 7.25pm (1)
2 Something Nasty in the Nursery Sunday 2nd June 1968, 7.25pm
3 The Joker Sunday 9th June 1968, 7.25pm
4 Who's Who ??? Sunday 16th June 1968, 7.25pm
5 You Have Just Been Murdered Sunday 23rd June 1968, 7.25pm
6 The Positive Negative Man Sunday 30th June 1968, 7.25pm
7 Murdersville Sunday 7th July 1968, 7.25pm
8 Mission... Highly Improbable Sunday 14th July 1968, 7.25pm (2)

(1) The first run episodes from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station onwards were aired by Harlech Television more than a year after they had been seen in other ITV regions.
(2) This run was appended in the subsequent weeks with a small number of Series 4 Avengers repeats.

 The Avengers — Series 6
No. Title Harlech Television (Wales / W. England) Transmissions (UK)
9 The Forget-Me-Knot Thursday 26th September 1968, 7.00pm
10 Game Thursday 3rd October 1968, 7.00pm
11 Super Secret Cypher Snatch Thursday 10th October 1968, 7.00pm
12 You'll Catch Your Death Thursday 17th October 1968, 7.00pm
13 Split! Thursday 24th October 1968, 7.00pm
14 Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40? Thursday 31st October 1968, 7.00pm
15 False Witness Thursday 7th November 1968, 7.00pm
16 All Done With Mirrors Thursday 14th November 1968, 7.00pm
17 Legacy of Death Thursday 21st November 1968, 7.00pm
18 Noon Doomsday Thursday 28th November 1968, 7.00pm
19 Look — (Stop Me If You've Heard This One) But There Were These Two Fellers... Thursday 5th December 1968, 7.00pm
20 Have Guns — Will Haggle Thursday 12th December 1968, 7.00pm
21 They Keep Killing Steed Thursday 19th December 1968, 7.00pm
Break in transmission
No episode on Thursday 26th December 1968
22 The Interrogators Thursday 2nd January 1969, 7.00pm
23 The Morning After Friday 10th January 1969, 7.30pm (3)
24 Invasion of the Earthmen Friday 17th January 1969, 7.30pm
25 Get-A-Way! Friday 24th January 1969, 7.30pm (4)
26 The Curious Case of the Countless Clues Friday 31st January 1969, 7.30pm
27 Wish You Were Here Friday 7th February 1969, 7.30pm
28 Love All Friday 14th February 1969, 7.30pm
29 Stay Tuned Friday 21st February 1969, 7.30pm
30 Take Me To Your Leader Friday 28th February 1969, 7.30pm
31 Fog Friday 7th March 1969, 8.00pm
32 Who Was That Man I Saw You With? Friday 14th March 1969, 8.00pm
33 Homicide and Old Lace Friday 21st March 1969, 8.00pm
34 Thingumajig Friday 28th March 1969, 8.00pm
35 Pandora Friday 4th April 1969, 8.00pm
36 Requiem Friday 11th April 1969, 8.00pm
37 Take-Over Friday 18th April 1969, 8.00pm
The Rotters Friday 25th April 1969, 8.00pm (5)
38 Killer Friday 2nd May 1969, 8.00pm
39 My Wildest Dream Sunday 4th May 1969, 10.20pm
40 The Rotters Sunday 11th May 1969, 10.20pm
Bizarre Friday 30th May 1969, 9.00pm (6)
41 Bizarre Monday 2nd June 1969, 10.30pm (6)

(3) This episode was shown in place of The Rotters, which was billed in TV Times magazine. Newspaper listings confirm this substitution. The Rotters was rescheduled to be screened in the Harlech region on the evening of Friday 25th April 1969. However, there would be another twist in the tale...
(4) The episode Killer was scheduled for this date but was pre-empted, with Get-A-Way! shown in its place. Killer was finally broadcast in the Harlech region on 2nd May 1969.
(5) The Rotters - already pre-empted once on Harlech Television in 1969 - was rescheduled for Friday 25th April but again was not screened, this time due to industrial action. It finally aired on Sunday 11th May 1969. Definitely a case of third time lucky!
(6) Viewers tuning in to see Bizarre on Friday 30th May 1969 at 9.00pm (as advertised in TV Times) were informed that the episode would instead be transmitted on Monday 2nd June 1969 at 10.30pm, replacing an episode of Danger Man. The reason for this last minute change is unclear.

 The New Avengers — Series 1

No. Title

HTV Transmissions (Wales / West of England) (UK) (7)

42 The Eagle's Nest Sunday 17th October 1976, 7.50pm (except West Wales) (8)
43 The Midas Touch Sunday 24th October 1976, 7.50pm
44 Cat Amongst the Pigeons Sunday 31st October 1976, 7.50pm
45 Target! Sunday 7th November 1976, 7.50pm
46 To Catch A Rat Sunday 14th November 1976, 7.50pm
47 House of Cards Sunday 21st November 1976, 7.50pm
48 The Last of the Cybernauts...?? Sunday 28th November 1976, 7.50pm
49 Three Handed Game Sunday 5th December 1976, 7.50pm
50 Sleeper Sunday 12th December 1976, 7.50pm
51 Dirtier by the Dozen Sunday 19th December 1976, 7.50pm
Break in transmission
The New Avengers dropped by HTV until March 1977
52 Faces Sunday 6th March 1977, 7.25pm
53 Gnaws Sunday 13th March 1977, 7.25pm
Break in transmission
No episode on Sunday 20th March 1977
54 The Tale of the Big Why Sunday 27th March 1977, 7.25pm

(7) At the time of the transmission of The New Avengers, HTV was broadcasting three separate services within its ITV region:

  • HTV West (625-line Colour, English language to West of England);

  • HTV Wales/Cymru (625-line Colour, English language and Welsh language to all of Wales);

  • HTV General Service (405-line Black/White, English language to West of England and South Wales.

Although there were many commonalities in these services, particularly during peak-time, each had its own scheduling peculiarities, which could often be wide-ranging during off-peak. As a result of this fact, the following listings cannot be taken as a 100% accurate picture of the transmission of The New Avengers across all three services.
(8) The first transmission of The Eagle's Nest was affected by a violent thunder storm which caused a failure of the Moel-y-Parc transmitter on Sunday 17th October 1977. This meant that viewers in West Wales were unable to see the episode on that evening, although the remainder of the HTV area was not affected by this outage. Viewers in West Wales finally had a chance to see The Eagle's Nest on Sunday 5th April 1981.

 The New Avengers — Series 2

No. Title HTV Transmissions (Wales / West of England) (UK)
55 Dead Men Are Dangerous Friday 9th September 1977, 8.00pm
56 Angels of Death Friday 16th September 1977, 8.00pm
57 Medium Rare Friday 23rd September 1977, 8.00pm
58 The Lion and the Unicorn Friday 30th September 1977, 8.00pm
59 Obsession Friday 7th October 1977, 8.00pm
60 Trap Friday 14th October 1977, 8.00pm
61 Hostage Friday 21st October 1977, 8.00pm
62 K is for Kill — Part One:
The Tiger Awakes
Friday 28th October 1977, 8.00pm
63 K is for Kill — Part Two:
Tiger by the Tail
Friday 4th November 1977, 8.00pm
64 Complex Friday 11th November 1977, 8.00pm
65 The Gladiators

Friday 18th November 1977, 8.00pm (9)

66 Forward Base Friday 25th November 1977, 8.00pm
Break in transmission
No further new episodes until Saturday 17th December 1977
67 Emily Saturday 17th December 1977, 9.30pm
Break in transmission
No further new episodes until Wednesday 6th September 1978
68 The Gladiators Wednesday 6th September 1978, 11.25pm (10)

(9) The Gladiators is confirmed as having been transmitted on HTV West on Friday 18th November 1977. It is unclear whether the other HTV services carried the episode — see 3.
(10) The Gladiators was scheduled for a late-night broadcast on 6th September 1978, giving rise to the possibility that it may have been pre-empted for violent content in its original scheduled timeslot on 18th November 1977 on either or both of the HTV Wales/Cymru and HTV General Service channels.

Researched and compiled by Simon Coward, Alan Hayes, Andrew Pixley and John Tomlinson
with thanks to Neil Alsop, Robin Carmody and Denis Kirsanov

Back to What the Viewers SawNext: Rediffusion London

Back to Top