Batman 1966 Scotland

General goings on in the 1966 Batman World

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

Post Reply
Les NZ
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:56 pm

Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Les NZ »

Hi there,

I watched Batman as a wee boy in the Glasgow area of Scotland.

Now, Batman premiered in the UK on ITV on Saturday May 21, 1966.

Does anyone know when Batman was first shown on STV / Scottish TV in central Scotland 1966? Normally shows aired some weeks after they were first shown in England.

Otherwise, can anyone advise which daily newspaper from the time would have TV listings for Scottish TV that I could try to find online?

I would really appreciate your help. Many thanks.

Cheers,
Les NZ
User avatar
Ben Bentley
Moderator
Posts: 1271
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Ben Bentley »

Welcome to our message board, Les! Glad to have you with us! Although they're not Scottish, my parents actually live in the Highlands, north of Inverness these days.

Scottish TV listings seem a lot harder to find than the English ones (without a premium subscription to the British Newspaper Archive). When i've done research about Batman's initial broadcast run in England, The Daily Mirror had a pretty concise TV listings page each weekday, which was handy. This was prior to them eventually having a weekly TV listing supplement included with either the Saturday or Sunday editions.

It appears that in 1962 the Scottish TV guide magazine was renamed "The Viewer". I'll have to do a little more digging when I have some time later today, but I did come across a low-res cover of that mag that mentions "Batman" and is dated Dec 18-31, 1966.

Image

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -310506472
Lounge lizard
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 5:46 am

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Lounge lizard »

If you ask here someone will be able to help you.
https://missingepisodes.proboards.com/b ... general-tv
Les NZ
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:56 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Les NZ »

Well, I have managed to answer my own question.

According to The Glasgow Herald, Batman was first broadcast on STV on Saturday 2 July 1966 at 7.25 p.m. with part 2 shown on the Sunday.

They had this to say:

"At 7:35 p.m. STV viewers will have their first opportunity to decide whether the adventures of Batman and Robin the boy wonder which have captivated American television audiences, children and adults alike, are puerile or pure escapism."

Of course, there were other ITV broadcasters in Scotland at the time but I was interested in STV because that was the one I watched.

Hope this is of interest to other Scottish Batman viewers of the day.

Here is the link to The Glasgow Herald archive 1966:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... de=2&hl=en

Cheers,
Les NZ
User avatar
Larry A.
Posts: 0
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 12:08 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Larry A. »

Welcome to the Board, Les NZ! I think that You will REALLY like it. GREAT members, LOTS of great information to be found here!

Cheers!
Larry
BiffPow
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by BiffPow »

Larry A. wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:04 am Welcome to the Board, Les NZ! I think that You will REALLY like it. GREAT members, LOTS of great information to be found here!

Cheers!
True on both accounts.
User avatar
Ben Bentley
Moderator
Posts: 1271
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Ben Bentley »

Les NZ wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2023 3:46 pm Well, I have managed to answer my own question.

According to The Glasgow Herald, Batman was first broadcast on STV on Saturday 2 July 1966 at 7.25 p.m. with part 2 shown on the Sunday.

They had this to say:

"At 7:35 p.m. STV viewers will have their first opportunity to decide whether the adventures of Batman and Robin the boy wonder which have captivated American television audiences, children and adults alike, are puerile or pure escapism."

Of course, there were other ITV broadcasters in Scotland at the time but I was interested in STV because that was the one I watched.

Hope this is of interest to other Scottish Batman viewers of the day.

Here is the link to The Glasgow Herald archive 1966:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... de=2&hl=en

Cheers,
Les NZ
Great work finding that info and welcome back to our Message Board!

In one of those weird timing situations, I've actually been doing some deep dive research this week into Batman's initial run in the UK for an upcoming podcast episode that i'm guesting on and I discovered that ITV in Scotland didn't start broadcasting in colour until 1969, a full two years after England did.
User avatar
Therin of Andor
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:46 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Therin of Andor »

IMDb.com is often a good source for international premiere dates of TV shows and movies, but updates are always welcome. I researched the Australian premiere and added it myself a few years ago. Currently, IMDb says:

United States
January 12, 1966

Poland
January 12, 1966

United Kingdom
May 21, 1966

Finland
August 31, 1966

Netherlands
October 22, 1966

France
April 29, 1967

Australia
June 25, 1967

Sweden
October 13, 1988

West Germany
October 6, 1989.
"Holy nostalgia, Batman!"
Therin of Andor

(aka Ian McLean, from Sydney, Australia)
User avatar
Ben Bentley
Moderator
Posts: 1271
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:31 pm

Re: Batman 1966 Scotland

Post by Ben Bentley »

Therin of Andor wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2023 3:53 am IMDb.com is often a good source for international premiere dates of TV shows and movies, but updates are always welcome. I researched the Australian premiere and added it myself a few years ago. Currently, IMDb says:

United Kingdom
May 21, 1966
IMDB is undoubtedly a great resource principle and is now almost unfathomably big, but the major downside is that a lot of the user-contributed material in the various sections lacks any authentication, sourcing (like Wikipedia has at the bottom of each entry) or even the most basic fact checking. In this case, the date they have listed for the "UK" premiere is actually the date that the show premiered in England. Scotland (as noted in this thread by Les) had a later premiere, as did Northern Ireland.

Nowadays, a UK premiere date would usually be applicable across all four countries it is composed of, but back in the days of three channels across two networks, (only one of which being a commercial/independent) regional variations in programming schedules were prolific.
Post Reply