More TVARK

About Us

TVARK is non-commercial and a non-profit-making website. Our server costs are funded by our team members. TVARK launched on the 8th November 1998 – back in the dial-up era as one man’s hobby, called “Television Ark”. Over the years as the site has grown, our team remain passionate about TV as well as those who’ve brought clips from their own collections of off-air television recordings. With donations from other videotape collectors the site now has over 40,000 vintage recordings.

TVARK is an online TV museum. The site is intended as a tribute to the work of television presentation and graphics, and to preserve a slice of our social history. Through images and video clips, we present those modest little chunks of television that are never repeated: idents, programme promotions, opening title sequences, public information films, commercials, daily start-ups and closedowns, break bumpers and station clocks. Each item is accompanied by a short written analysis and review.

TVARK is above all an educational resource. It is popular at home and abroad, used by teachers and students in schools and colleges. It is also recognised by people within the TV industry. Our archives are frequently used by industry professionals, who find their own master copies of programmes have been wiped over the years. We have supplied information and clips for broadcast documentaries, presentation & news programmes, as well as broadcasting websites. Our archives are deemed so valuable that we have worked with several TV companies to assist them with archiving material. Recent examples include:

Donating SkyTV/BSB material to the The National Media Museum for an exhibition about the origins of satellite TV
Providing footage to ITV Channel for a documentary about the ITV strike of the 1970s
Archiving project with LWT in preserving continuity
Archiving project with BBC in preserving local news
Providing BSkyB with archive footage for the History of Sky Movies and 20 Years of Sky Sports
Helping Promax in 2010 with some early footage for a talk about the history of the TV trailer
Providing ITN and BBC with news footage for the Edinburgh TV Festival ’04
Providing BBC with footage of vintage Christmas BBC1 & BBC2 idents for a festive comedy series in 2007
Clips and information for BBC documentaries such as “Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe”
Assisting S4/C archives
Providing archive to BBC North West Tonight for their 50th Anniversary programme in 2018

We receive positive feedback from TV researchers, producers, presenters, designers, art colleges, teachers, media students as well as those who relish the obvious nostalgic values of the site. Visitors to the site often comment that browsing the pages brings alive happy memories from their childhood TV viewing. They enjoy reviewing old adverts and TV shows, with their once well-known catchphrases and theme tunes, which would otherwise be consigned to oblivion. We work very hard to create accurate descriptions of our content. TV personalities and presenters, production teams, film crews and even retired broadcasting employees have all made contact, to pass on their memories, insights, gossip and otherwise unknown information about the clips we feature. Many pages have been authorized by TV companies and permission has been given to use their material, these include:

Granada Archives
ITN Source
Scottish TV – for schools programmes
S4/C – for schools programmes
Moving Image Communications Ltd – for TV-am
The South West Film & TV Archive – for TSW and Westward material
British Film Institute – for Public Information Films
Warner Brothers – for WBTV

We hope TVARK gives as much pleasure to you, as it has to us.

Special Thanks

TVARK wouldn’t be possible without your recording donations, thank you to everyone who has contributed, especially those who have contributed their entire collections. An extra special thanks to the following people:

Hardi Bales-Stutes • Steve Barnes • Andrea Harper • Mike Jones • Stuart Allen • Kenny Ellaway • Andrew Emmerson • Ashley Sowerby • Colm O’Rourke • Robert Barrett • Jean-Claude Tackaert • Chris Howles • Andrew Wood • Francois Frappe • Maureen Carney • Mike McGonagle • Dave Baldwin • Oliver Ashmole • Alison Proudfoot • Remember VHS • Damien Tyson • Thomas Pitt • Steve Salter • Hans Olav Nyborg • Jason Robertson • Damien Tyson • Eva, Stuart and Fiona Grainger • Susan Collins • Lesley Blackett • Anne Thirkell • David Steven • Gwendoline Chopping • Lawrence Dormer • Mia Webb-Contreras • Ian Jacklin • Jayne Russell • Wesley Downs • Derek Howells • Jamie Murray • Sarah Burge

Our SPARK teletext service also benefits from donated contributions, especially the regular input of Alistair Cree, Christopher Tsangari, E Quondam and Gordon Donaldson. Also, Nikki and Bunty are hosting our Mastodon account and Nikki’s done some nice teletext portraits for Dan Alborough’s soap Rex Road (page 132).

Meet the TVARK Team

Chronologically, we’re Steve Hackett, Mark McMillan, Stuart Kenny, Hayden Walker, Martin Duhig, Pete Fagan and Dan Alborough.

Press

We have been recognised by the UK national press and many national and local radio stations. You’ll also find links to TVARK from many major websites including: