The British Film Institute describes Thames as having "served the capital and the network with a long-running, broad-based and extensive series of programmes, several of which either continue or are well-remembered today.

By the time of the 1967 negotiations, Rediffusion believed that its contract renewal for London weekday service was a formality, and its application reflected this complacency: the company had treated the ITA high-handedly in interviews.

[4] It was reported that Rediffusion's chairman Sir John Spencer Wills felt the ITA owed his company a 'debt of gratitude' for this, a comment which particularly annoyed the authority.

[3] Questioning the ITA's decision, Rediffusion attempted to slow down the merger: only the threat of giving the licence solely to ABC made it relent.

The Teddington studios were highly desirable, as they had participated in colour experiments and were already partially converted by the time of the franchise change, and as such had been sought after by both Thames and LWT.

Rediffusion's main studio complex at Wembley[7] was leased to London Weekend Television by order of the ITA[11] before being sold to Lee International in 1977.

These included the variety show Opportunity Knocks, Armchair Theatre, the last series of The Avengers, and the detective thrillers Callan and Public Eye, all inherited from ABC.

The company also produced the children's show Magpie (1968–80), intended as a rival for Blue Peter on BBC1, and The Tomorrow People (1973–79), a science fiction series commissioned as an answer to the BBC's Doctor Who.

Euston made the police series The Sweeney (1975–78), Danger UXB (1979), and Minder (1979–94), plus the last appearance of Nigel Kneale's best known creation in Quatermass (1979).

On 1 December 1976, the punk band the Sex Pistols were interviewed live on Thames's regional news magazine programme, Today.

The comedy duo's leading scriptwriter, Eddie Braben, did not initially move to ITV with them, and with Eric Morecambe's failing health, the new shows never gained the audiences or matched the esteem they had previously enjoyed.

The Mr. Bean pilot episode, starring Rowan Atkinson as the titular character, was first broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, and the eventual run lasted beyond Thames holding of its franchise.

Unusually for a commercial broadcaster, Thames also produced lavish versions of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Ultimately, pressure from several ITV companies (especially Yorkshire Television) to the IBA, forced Thames to sell the series back to the BBC at a loss.

Bryan Cowgill, the managing director of Thames left the company, as he believed his position was untenable since the board was unwilling to support his plans to buy the series.

It was believed that the comedian was dismissed because his shows were considered offensive and politically incorrect,[20] but John Howard Davies said the decision was taken because of falling ratings, very high production costs and Hill was looking tired.

Through the early 1980s, Thames experienced a series of local disputes while management deliberately confronted contractual ‘rackets’, and pursued the introduction of new technologies based on operational requirements rather than precedent.

In the summer of 1984 a major strike was called, this time, over Thames's management unilaterally issuing new rostering schedules (overtime payments for transmission staff), and the use of new cameras and editing equipment.

There were no internal discussions of the potential savings that could be derived from new shift patterns, but there was a strong sense that union controls had to be removed before the company embarked on increasing its operations.

The union warned against a management-run service, as it would be a recipe for total network disturbance and a massive loss of programmes, but Thames claimed that it would be justified due to the strike being unofficial.

[28][29] During the period of the management operated emergency schedule, viewers in the Thames Television region would see the ITV breakfast service TV-am from 6.25am until 9.25am.

The deal was blocked by both Richard Dunn, chief executive of Thames, and by the IBA, which concluded 'the proposal would lead to a major change in the nature and characteristic of a viable ITV programme company'.

[38] It has been said that Carlton chief executive Michael Green talked to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the matter, which in turn may have helped to shape the Broadcasting Act 1990, which replaced the IBA with the Independent Television Commission and the change in franchise allocation procedures.

Thames was bullish after losing, since the company had made confidential contingency plans, which involved 1,000 redundancies and the closure of the Euston Road facility.

In June 1992 Carlton and the ITV network centre had backed down over its demands for Thames to relinquish its right to broadcast repeats of its own programmes on rival channels for 10 years.

Consequently, the franchise loss became a subject of political debate, with changes brought about by the 1990 act being cited as 'The primary reason for an operation such as Thames being able to lose its licence to broadcast'.

That the then Conservative government had passed such an act caused accusations of direct responsibility to be levelled at former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in particular, who had presided over its creation.

Opinions varied on the matter of political motivations; some cite the documentary "Death On The Rock", which may have caused displeasure to the then government,[51] whilst others link it to a more general ideological dislike of the way ITV had been run at the time, with over-manning, and the fact that programme production was generally limited to franchise holders (sometimes critically referred to as barriers to entry), being seen as examples of why more commercial freedom and competition was needed within the network.

[56] All of these animations featured the same design, which consisted of the skyline slowly rolling up from the River Thames along with the logo, which was reflected briefly on the water and then quickly faded to its static position at the centre of the ident.

Thames is often quoted as a prime example of a commercial public-service broadcaster with shows covering all aspects of the spectrum and the largest producer in the network.