Why did 405 look so good?

[Richard_FM]

I've heard the Forsythe Saga caused a spike in the amount to people either getting their sets converts or getting a dual standard one.

I always thought it was Match of the Day!

Thanks to the dual standard sets being compromised when in UHF 625 line mode it seems that it took until single standard sets were common before BBC2 viewing figures took off.

The BBC announcing that the new BBC2 would carry programmes catering for minority interests killed it at birth. I know, because the the day after, I couldn't get through our shop to the service department in the morning because it was filled by a large crowd of customers queuing up to cancel their dual standard conversions!

Consequently, even if they later bought a new fully dual standard set, unless they were football mad, they didn't bother having a UHF aerial fitted.

Once they bought a single standard set, they had to have a UHF aerial, so BBC2 was there, whether they wanted it or not. So, if they weren't interested in the offerings of BBC1 or ITV, they'd probably look at BBC2 out of desperation and, sometimes, they'd find something they liked!

That's interesting to know, BBC2 had a lot of highbrow programming on in it's early days but seemed to expand it's scope over time.

LWT also struggled early on by making too many niche programmes for the average ITV viewer, but soon learnt their lesson.