Readers of our article about the UK’s Local TV franchises may never have seen any of their programming. So why should we care about these channels?
We face a media landscape where the BBC and Channel 4 are cutting thousands of jobs. ITV has accepted a takeover bid from Sky. Programme-makers battle shrinking budgets and fragmenting audiences. Nevertheless, Local TV still offers a place for new talent to gain on-the-job training; somewhere for overlooked voices and entire communities to see themselves represented. Television still matters, even as the average viewer age for traditional linear channels skews older. Though YouTube surpasses the BBC in terms of reach for example, half of that consumption now occurs via a TV set. Despite this, the government’s recent Watch This Space paper raises the possibility of digital terrestrial television being switched off in 2034 – which is also when the current Local TV franchises expire.
While we still have these channels – while the Local TV experiment is still alive – we should utilise them to showcase progressive voices and share knowledge. Let’s check out some programmes which show Local TV at its best. These do far more than simply fill a schedule. Perhaps they’ll encourage you to get involved with your local station!
Albania: Why Do We Go From Here (KMTV, 2022)
The University of Kent’s channel was commissioned by the Baltic Investigation Bureau to make this film, shot in Albania and the UK, exploring why so many Albanians were among those crossing the Channel in small boats to Dover. It was shortlisted for a Royal Television Society Award, displaying regional relevance and wider significance.
The Election Next Door (KMTV, 2024)
The Election Next Door was broadcast shortly after the creation of the creation of KMTV’s 12-hour live general election programme. It follows students learning their craft while producing serious local news coverage throughout the campaign. A rare behind-the-scenes look at how a small broadcaster covers a national event through a local lens.
Carousel TV (Latest TV, 2020-present)
Carousel TV emerged during the pandemic from Brighton arts organisation Carousel, with media trainees with learning disabilities involved both behind and in front of the camera. Local TV funding enabled training and support, but also wider distribution; season 2 was shown on franchises across the country. Our featured episode features a tribute to soulful reggae songwriter Lizzie Emeh, a key artist from London-based inclusive arts organisation Heart n Soul, plus live comedy, puppetry and animation.
Homeless By The Sea (Latest TV, 2017)
This documentary about rough sleepers in Brighton blew up unexpectedly online, accumulating over 160,000 YouTube views. Its simple format is its strength. Homeless people describe their own experience of life on the city’s streets, rather than being discussed at a distance through officials, charities or statistics. Here, the local broadcaster made the film possible; online distribution then brought it to a much larger audience – showing that local franchises and streaming platforms can be complementary.
A Century Later (NVTV, 2013)
Belfast’s Northern Visions had a strong participatory documentary tradition long before the Local TV experiment began, and its archive rewards exploration. A Century Later is a good starting point. Episodes including Ethnic Minorities in Northern Ireland: Identities and Shared Histories and LGBT: A Hidden History weave together multiple interviewees and archive material to produce thoughtful social history rooted in local experience, preserving narratives in danger of being lost.
All About The McKenzies (London Live, 2014)
For comedy fans, All About The McKenzies shows how Local TV could take a chance on a creator who conventional commissioners had overlooked. Frustrated series creator Samuell Benta had already made a web version – ‘too black’, said one commissioner – before London Live acquired Season 2. The exposure eventually helped lead to an ITV2 pilot. Local TV’s role was to provide somewhere the idea could develop and find an audience.
Elemental Ideas – String Theory (Cambridge TV, 2016)
With the world’s densest concentration of research institutions on its doorstep, Cambridge TV had an obvious opportunity to put local expertise on screen. Elemental Ideas covered subjects including microscopy, neurodegenerative disease, and this episode on string theory. The important point is that locality means more than just news bulletins and vox pops. Here, it means drawing on a city’s expertise to explain ideas that matter to viewers watching from anywhere.
Memory Dance: Local History Society / After Hours (Sheffield Live!, 2020-21)
Archivist Alex Wilson curated obscure Sheffield and South Yorkshire film – 8mm, VHS, music footage, material rarely or never previously shown – into TV shows designed partly to trigger and reinforce local memory across generations.
After a run of Local History Society in evening slots, Wilson was given free rein to broadcast through the night, producing the experimental After Hours. He has connected the project to questions of dementia, fragile media and digital preservation. Memory Dance now continues as a Sheffield record shop, gallery space and basement cinema.
Also worth watching
KMTV’s Generation Genome (2022) brought cutting-edge science into state schools via case studies, animations and debate, and was later picked up by ITVX. Latest TV’s Holocaust Memorial Day programming has included interviews with survivors and work by artists, dancers and theatre-makers. For a couple of years, Digital Nation pooled stories from the various Local TV stations into a weekly digest for BBC audiences, suggesting how a more connected network could have operated. And Latest TV’s Our Town turned a local history quiz into a springboard for participation, with older viewers contributing questions and memories, and the programme eventually prompting local travelling exhibitions in older people’s homes.
At its best, Local TV can open broadcasting to people, subjects and experimental formats that the mainstream television machine often overlooks or suppresses. Whatever happens to the franchises after 2034, that is an idea worth preserving.
