Adrian was born in Windsor. He was an actor/writer with the Cambridge Footlights and a former maths teacher. He was an in-vision Southern Television continuity announcer (1975 – 1980).
Adrian moved behind the camera at Southern TV, first as a floor manager on Runaround and Together and then as a director at TVS and Scottish TV (c. 1993), where he produced amongst other programmes How 2.
Correspondence
With the help of Nik Ayling, who attended a 60th anniversary reunion of Southern TV staff, Paul R. Jackson made contact with Adrian in September 2018. Adrian had come over from his home in Spain.
What on-screen talent attended the reunion?
“There were no other continuity announcers at the reunion, but plenty of on-screen faces, who were journalists working for Day by Day and other programmes. They included Veronica Charlwood, James Montgomery and Preston Witts, but sadly Fred Dinenage was not there.”
How did you get the job with Southern TV and what memories do you have from your announcing days there?
“When I left university in 1972, Equity, the actor’s union, operated a closed shop, which made it very difficult for anyone to start a career as a performer, and teaching was an easy (and highly enjoyable) option while I took stock.
“Eventually I landed a job as a continuity announcer at Southern TV, which gave me my Equity card and also offered a secure well-paid job that was difficult to abandon for the sake of ‘art’.
“I began around Christmas 1975 and was immediately thrown into a specially dressed studio complete with stocking hanging on the mantelpiece over a fake fire. It was pure Victoria Wood stuff.
“My colleagues included Brian Nissen (deceased) and Christopher Robbie, now 80 years old – still producing and acting drama. I was also a colleague of Lesley Judd, Jane Criddall, Keith Martin and a few more including Colin and Sue, whose names escape me (Editor: Colin Weston and Su Evans) and for a few tumultuous weeks, Simon Bates. He was already established as a radio personality, and I think he may have felt some TV exposure would be valuable.
“In those days, it was part of a continuity announcer’s brief to be essentially bland and reassuring, and Simon’s personality was irreverent and mischievous, so after a few memos had flown about, it was mutually agreed that he was not right for the part!”
Any announcing mishaps?
“My greatest ‘fluff’ was when announcing the death of Benjamin Britten. I was half way through describing him as ‘our greatest living composer’ when I realised what I was saying. I resisted the temptation to add ‘until he snuffed it this morning’.
“The continuity announcers worked alone in the booth alongside his/her two colleagues – the transmission controller and assistant – who often became good friends.
“Some of the TCs were legendary characters in their own right, making their presence felt despite not being on screen.
“There was a delightful man, an out-of-work actor who came in to help out a friend in 1957 and stayed 40 years. He used to creep into the continuity booth, open the microphone to be live on air, and add his own sound effects to programmes. Hooting owls in night scenes were popular and I think Brideshead Revisited may have had some additional peacocks.
“Another TC misread the schedule and skipped an entire episode of Crossroads. Nobody noticed!
“In those days of mechanical visual effects, all captions were images on pieces of cardboard with letraset letters. These were entrusted to our graphics department, amongst whom was a Maltese designer whose first language was not English. This led to the famous caption for Gidget Goes Hawaiian reading ‘Gidge Goes Haywain’. It was never used.
“When we had to promote a movie of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, the graphics dept provided an existing caption from a previous programme with the same title. Unfortunately it was a documentary about the booming Scottish oil industry and its American backers. The caption featured images of Dallas and Aberdeen. It was never used.
“When we had some airtime to fill and there was no trailer or graphic material available, we would sometimes have to resort to the ‘fish and chips’ board. This was as it sounds – a grooved black felt board, with movable white letters, still used in fish shops today. Over this sorry visual of the title (letters a little askew), I would have to enthuse about some spectacular blockbuster movie – without giggling.”
How did you go about making the move to directing?
“I knew I wanted to direct as well as act, so I set my sights on moving into TV production, now that I was within the system. Becoming a TV floor manager is an excellent route, and trains you in most technical aspects of production, and I landed this job in 1980.
“When Southern lost its franchise to TVS in 1981, all union staff transferred across to the incoming company. TVS opened it studios in Maidstone and I took the opportunity to move there where Anna Home and Nigel Pickard were creating the legendary Children’s Programmes department.
“In 1984, I got the job of programme director based in Southampton, which entailed some nine months of training under the tutelage of the marvelous Anthony Howard (producer of Country Ways). I began my directorial career in the usual way: current affairs and news programmes, with some limited opportunities in game shows and documentaries.
“When the opportunity arose, I returned to Maidstone to work in the highly enjoyable field of children’s television. Here I directed and produced programmes such as No 73, Panic Station, Do It and Motormouth.
“I took the redundancy deal in 1991, and went freelance. The next big opportunity for me came in 1993, when I was invited to produce How 2 (the revival of the old How format) in Glasgow. TVS had lost their franchise to Meridian by then, and they did not have any interest in children’s TV.
Scottish Television cleverly snapped up the rights to existing formats, and much of what began life in Southampton and Maidstone ended up coming from Glasgow. I produced and directed 12 series of How 2 between 1993 and 2005. Fred Dinenage and Gareth Jones appeared in all episodes, and the third member of the team was first Carol Vorderman, then Sian Lloyd, Gail Porter and Gail McKenna.
“I also became something of a specialist in puppet shows such as The Magic House and many regional productions for Scotland. I also produced and directed The Singing Kettle and Ooops! for the CITV.”
Personal information
Clips of Adrian on The TV Room
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Online presence
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Adrian Edwards (Southern TV, 1980).
Yes, what happened to Adrian Edwards? He was certainly an in-vision announcer/presenter during my early freelance periods when I first appeared on Southern. Later he became a Television Director at Southern. What happen to Adrian after that I do not know. Does anyone? Do tell.