Invitation
Sir: Alan Watkins has a clearer memory of his appearance on What the Papers Say than most of us, so we must take his word for it that he was a poor performer (Diary, 23/30 December). Of more serious concern is his curious suggestion, attributed to impressions carried over from those early days, that regional television is a 'sham'.
The 982 Granada Television employees (out of 1,108) who live as well as work in the north-west will not take kindly to being labelled as 'scoundrels' for allegedly put- ting on a false display of local patriotism. They will also wonder how he reconciles his views about sham television with the fact that 400 hours of specifically regional programmes are produced at Granada's studios in Manchester, Liverpool, Lancas- ter and Chester in an average year, and that of the total output of 1,300 hours for the region and the network all but some 5 per cent is made in the north west. The remainder consists of programmes like Disappearing World and World in Action, which involve a lot of overseas filming, and co-productions on the Continent and in the United States. Even in these cases almost all are edited and prepared for transmis- sion in Manchester.
If Mr Watkins is ready to venture forth from his London base again, we shall be happy to see him. He will find that the reason why so many Granada staff have settled for the north is either that they were already living here when they joined us or, having arrived, found it so much to their liking that they wanted to stay. The visit might also help to sweep away some of the cobwebs of 20 years ago and enable him to discover what regional television is all about.
David Plowright
Chairman, Granada Television, Manchester M60
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