TV Comes North to Whitley Bay (27th November 2022, 5pm & 7:30pm)

15th November 2022

Charting the history of television in the North, from first broadcasts to award-winning documentaries and regional news output, the North East Film Archive are delighted to be back on the film show trail with a specially curated ‘television’ screening at the Jam Jar Cinema in Whitley Bay on Sunday 27th November.  

From the small screen to the big screen, the Archive delves into their vaults, with a little bit of help from friends at the BBC and ITV Archives, to take a look back at television programming in the North of England.  

The presented film show is part of a new project: ‘TV Time Machine’, a collaboration between three Northern film archives, the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives and the North West Film Archive, supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network. 

Yorkshire and North East Film Archives Manager, Graham Relton said:  

“From pioneering programming and famous faces, to kids saying the funniest things, I am delighted to be heading back to Whitley Bay to take audiences on a journey through television in the North. The TV Comes North programme focusses on local and regional news collections, documentaries, series produced and made in, or about our regions. The event reflects on such a huge time of change in terms of the development of television, but also how the TV cameras have documented and recorded the events, social, cultural and political changes, and the landscapes and communities in the North of England over the last seventy years … TV really did become part of all our lives!” 

Complete with local content, the TV Comes North event at the much-loved Jam Jar Cinema zooms in on Whitley Bay with roving reporters in the town covering the day’s news, and we share footage from programmes such as the 1976 BBC production ‘A Fair Fortnight’, which documents the thousands of Glaswegians who flocked to the town to spend their annual holiday, and 1980s Tyne Tees TV documentary ‘Laughing at Life’ which follows Geordie queen of comedy, Scarlet O’Hara, who topped the bill at her own nightclub in the town.  There really is something for everyone to tune into! 

Dan Ellis, Managing Director, Jam Jar Cinema said:  

"We're delighted to welcome the North East Film Archive to Whitley Bay for what will be a really special event. We haven't really programmed much archival material before so this is a really exciting opportunity for us as a cinema. This is an enjoyable and light hearted look at the history of TV in our region and this specially curated programme with a Whitley Bay twist will no doubt be popular and thought provoking."

 Screenings take place on Sunday 27th November 5pm & 7.30pm at the Jam Jar Cinema, 16-24 Park Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1DG. 

Tickets £7.50 - £10.50, pay as you please – whatever is right for you from 3 prices. 

Tickets can be purchased from the Jam Jar Cinema:  

https://www.jamjarcinema.com/movie/nefa-tv-time-machine