Channel 4 is the only television channel I'd ever celebrate a birthday with. The BBC is such an omnipresent institution it seems immortal and beyond aging, and nobody really likes ITV as a brand, do they?Many people can remember 2 November 1982 when Richard Whitely heralded the birth of Channel 4 with the first episode of Countdown.
I was only a toddler at the time, so for me CH4 has been just as constant as the BBC in my mind, but it still has a special place in my heart.
For me, Channel 4 was where...
... I first saw female nudity -- on Eurotrash, in the bygone age before those "10-minute freeviews" on Television X...
... I gawped at the bonkers behaviour of "grown ups" on The Word...
... The Big Breakfast made school mornings worth getting up for....
... Countdown was required viewing if I was skiving a day off college...
... I first saw Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer on their Big Night Out...
... Chris Evans' TFI Friday became perfect pre-pub entertainment...
... Whose Line Is It Anyway? was the funniest TV show of the 90s...
... I'd get genuine glee from watching Richard O'Brien prancing about on The Crystal Maze with his harmonica...
... Big Brother was riveting summer's viewing, when Nasty Nick's lies were exposed by the housemates...
... Father Ted saved the British sitcom's reputation in the 90s...
... I'd find classic foreign films on after 11 pm, or premieres of all the best British fare like Four Weddings And A Funeral and Trainspotting...
... I first saw Paul O'Grady, Chris Evans, Frank Sidebottom(!), Jack Dee, Johnny Vaughan, Pob(!), Lee Evans, Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen...
... I'd recoil at the sight of John McCrirrick and his odd hand gestures during the horse racing every Saturday afternoon...
... kids watched Movie Watch, not Film with Barry Norman on BBC1...
... Gamesmaster was perfect after-school entertainment at 6 pm...
... I'd go to see US hit shows -- Roseanne, The Wonder Years, Frasier, Lost, ER, The West Wing, The Sopranos, Desperate Housewives, etc.
... I saw real autopsies of dead bodies... so, umm... thanks?
Ahhh, memories...
So happy birthday Channel 4! You're 25 years old (a man now) but I hope you never "grow up" to become an old grump. Don't eat too much cake.. but if you're making a wish as you blow out your candles... can I suggest bringing Big Breakfast and Whose Line back, please?
