YP Letters: Channel 4 move to Leeds can't compare to YTV heyday

From: Alan Marsden, Gamblesby, Penrith.

Two hundred jobs courtesy of Channel 4’s move north is scant fare for the city of Leeds which used to be home to Yorkshire Television.

In 1980, 1,100 staff worked at Yorkshire Television, a centre of excellence for the production of single plays, situation comedies, drama serials and ground-breaking documentaries until Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson decided to destroy ITV out of ideological malice.

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Northern ITV is, in the prescient words of the late Ray Fitzwalter (creator of World in Action), “The Dream That Died”. Thousands of jobs at Granada, (once dubbed the best TV station in the world) Yorkshire, Tyne Tees and Border TV were snuffed out in an act of pure vandalism.

Channel 4 is to establish a headquarters in Leeds.Channel 4 is to establish a headquarters in Leeds.
Channel 4 is to establish a headquarters in Leeds.

From: Jenny Eaves, Balby, Doncaster.

The news that Channel 4 is establishing a base in Leeds is wonderful. While it may not be entirely accurate to describe it as the station’s new headquarters, given most of its staff are staying in London, the move has real symbolic power that will put Yorkshire’s creative industries on the map.

It will also hopefully help bring the case for a Yorkshire devolution deal to greater national attention.