After a power cut ruined BBC Two's launch night in 1964, which programme became its first official broadcast?
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Play School
With power restored by 11:00 on 21 April 1964, Play School became the first programme officially shown on BBC Two.
The comedy show The Alberts was meant to open the channel at 19:20 the evening before, but it never made it to air that night.
BBC Two exists because of the 1962 Pilkington Report, after which Britain's third television station was awarded to the BBC. Originally styled BBC2, it broadcast only on the 625-line UHF system, so sets that could receive only the older 405-line VHF system could not pick it up. Launch was set for 19:20 on 20 April 1964, with an evening of light entertainment: The Alberts, a performance by Soviet comedian Arkady Raikin, and a production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate. At around 18:45, a huge power failure caused by a fire at Battersea Power Station left Television Centre, and much of west London, without electricity. The newsreader Gerald Priestland managed brief bulletins from about 19:25, but at 22:00 programming was officially postponed until the next morning. Promotional adverts for the new channel starred two kangaroo mascots, Hullabaloo and her joey, Custard. In 1967, BBC2 became the first channel in Europe to begin regular colour broadcasts, using the PAL system, and it kept the BBC2 styling until 4 October 1997.
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