The first purpose-built colour television studios in Europe had opened in Kirkstall Road, Leeds the previous summer, but its birth was far from easy.

While the station boasted a number of early coups, not least tempting Alan Whicker, already a favourite with viewers, from the BBC, executives spent numerous hours crossing their fingers and holding their breath.

As the first edition of the nightly news show Calendar went out, its presenter Jonathan Aitken, who would achieve far greater notoriety as a Conservative MP imprisoned for perjury, had an unfinished script, a desk built at the wrong height and a suit which didn't fit.

Six months later, Aitken had left, but in his absence Yorkshire Television began to make a name for itself, turning the likes of Richard Whiteley, Austin Mitchell and Les Dawson into household names and producing the kind of dramas and documentaries which would today be described as watercooler TV.

With broadcasters facing tough times ahead as they attempt to restore public confidence shaken by the various phone-in scandals and boredom with reality formats, the chance to look back at the highs and lows of the last 40 years was enough to lure former Yorkshire Television producer Irene Cockcroft out of retirement for a series of programmes to mark the anniversary.

"At one point I was paralysed by what to put in and what to leave out," says Irene, who spent 30 years of her career in the Kirkstall Road studios, working on everything from the hospital docusoap Jimmy's to documentaries on Filey's Haven Holiday Park. "I knew which programmes I thought were fantastic, but would anyone else think the same?

"There's a danger with these kind of programmes that they become more for the people who worked there rather than the viewers. There are so many great stories from the last four decades and I hope the final selection represents the shows which had something genuinely interesting to say and the stories which have perhaps been forgotten in the midst of time."

Among the highlights are the stories behind the ill-fated documentary which tried and spectacularly failed to recreate the flight of a pterodactyl, the footage of Barry Cryer chain-smoking his way through the game show Joker's Wild and – perhaps most controversially of all – the departure of Jess Yates in 1974.

As presenter of the religious programme Stars on Sunday, Yates had earned the nickname The Bishop, but when his affair with a dancer some 30-odd years his junior was splashed across the papers, he ended his career being smuggled out of the studios in the boot of the car.

"I thought everyone knew that story," says Irene. "But when I was talking to a lot of the younger producers they had no idea who Jess Yates was.

"In some ways that's no bad thing. I made my decision to leave Yorkshire Television when I was sat in the studio bar reminiscing about how great it was in the good old days. For me, the '70s and '80s were the golden age and making this anniversary tribute has been a chance to indulge in a little nostalgia, but those starting out in television now will have their own golden age and it's not entirely helpful having someone like me tell them how great things were in the past."

The arrival of satellite and digital television inevitably changed the way programmes were made. However, while some have been quick to accuse broadcasters, desperate to persuade an increasingly fickle viewing public to switch on, of catering to the lowest common denominator, Irene remains to be convinced that change has come at quite so high a price.

"Certainly it was much easier to get programmes commissioned," she says. "Programme controllers had immense bargaining power and if you could convince them you had a good idea, nine times out of 10 you were given the go ahead. Yorkshire Television had an amazing track record of producing incredibly hard-hitting documentaries on everything from Windscale to child homelessness. There was real pride in the output, so much so they used to refer to Jimmy's as sandpit productions because there was the feeling that we were just having too much fun.

"It was true, but that programme which allowed viewers to see what daily life was like in a busy hospital also made a lot of money for Yorkshire Television. It may have been based in two Portacabins, but for me it was very much the engine of the whole operation.

"Of course times have changed, but I don't buy the idea that television has gone down the pan. Yes, we have had a deluge of channels, but if you want to watch wall-to-wall history you can, if you want to watch
nature programmes 24/7 you can; it's not all about reality television."

While a staunch defender of the current schedules, Irene does admit that purse strings have been tightened and are unlikely to be loosened any time soon.

"Coronation Street now gets into the top 10 most watched programmes with just nine million viewers. Fifteen or 20 years ago it would have been 25 million and companies have to have one eye on the bottom line," she says. "It would now take a very brave person to commission a two-hour investigative programme on a nuclear power plant when they know they could get much more for their money elsewhere.

"People say that the programmes being made today aren't of the same quality they once were and to an extent that's true. Once upon a time you would have a half-a-dozen or more people, from cameramen to sound crew on a shoot,now there are often just two. If those people aren't properly trained there's a problem, but if they are, there's an argument that the final programme benefits from a greater degree of intimacy. I look at some programmes and get a little annoyed, but I'm not sure whether the viewer notices.

"Ultimately that's the important thing and as long as there are producers and writers, I'm sure we will continue to produce moments of genuine TV heaven."


Happy Birthday YTV will be broadcast at 7.30pm on Thursdays from July 10.


HOW YTV WAS TUNED IN TO THE TIMES


Some of the shows that earned Yorkshire Television a place in broadcasting history

Junior Showtime 1969
A forerunner to today's TV talent shows, it saw precocious children take to the stage in hope of grasping their 15 minutes of fame. The all-singing, all-dancing affair also gave Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry and Kathryn Apanowicz their first taste of the limelight.

Too Long A Winter 1973
Following an article in the Yorkshire Post, a camera crew decamped to a remote North Yorkshire farm to chronicle the life of Hannah Hauxwell. With no electricity or running water and surviving on just £280 a year, the spinster's battle against the elements and an ever-changing world won the programme popular and critical acclaim.

Rising Damp 1974
Starring Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour and Richard Beckinsale, the sitcom focusing on a miserly, seedy landlord of a run-down town house was an instant hit and six years later was turned into a feature film.

The Sandbaggers 1978
Starring Roy Marsden as Neil Burnside, the series showed the men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Tapping into the climate of political uncertainty, the show examined the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and American spies.

Jimmy's 1987
Following the staff and patients at St James's Hospital in Leeds, the show now widely recognised as the first docusoap made stars of ordinary people and gave other broadcasters a ratings winning format.

The Darling Buds of May 1991
Set in an idyllic rural 1950s' Kent, the series based on the novels by HE Bates was the ultimate feelgood Sunday night viewing. Starring David Jason, already a firm favourite with viewers following A Bit Of A Do, the show also famously starred a young Catherine Zeta Jones.