Pam (Pamela) Matthews (Production Assistant, Network Liaison Executive)

Pamela Matthews was born in 1931 in Berkshire. After taking a secretarial course she applied to various communication companies for a position and the BBC were the first to respond to her letter. Pam’s 46 year career in broadcasting commenced in 1948 as a secretary in BBC radio service, before becoming a Production Assistant in the BBC’s television service in 1952. In 1955 Pam along with the director/producer Billy Lyon-Shaw, with whom she had worked closely at the BBC, moved to one of the new ITV companies, Associated Television (ATV). After leaving broadcasting during the period 1964 to 1973 to raise a family, Pam re-joined ATV as the Assistant to the Director of Programmes. Between 1977 until her retirement in 1994 Pam worked as Network Liaison Executive for ATV/Central Television.

In this interview Pam discuses how a secretarial course was an ‘open sesame for women’ in the post-war period and a way in to working in the communication industries. She discusses her experience of working as a secretary in the BBC Radio Service to Sir Ian Jacob, Director of Overseas Service (now World Service) as well as the Agricultural Unit before becoming a Programme Secretary in 1952-53. She discusses her excitement at moving in to the BBC’s developing television service in 1952 and its informal working environment. She recalls with great affection working as a Production Assistant to the director-producer Bill Lyon-Shaw on programmes such as Farewell, Ally Pally (BBC 1954) and Variety Parade (BBC 1953-1958) and accepting the invitation to move to ATV with Bill Lyon-Shaw in 1955. She recollects the thrill of moving to work in independent television, the mayhem of establishing a new production company and the frenzy prior to opening night.

She outlines the differences between working for the BBC and commercial television, the doubling in wages and seeing advertising commercials for the first time. She describes the pressurised first 18-months of working at ATV. She discusses her experience of work on the London Palladium and other ‘Saturday spectaculars’ as well turning down the opportunity to work as a producer-director for Tyne Tees Television. She discusses ATV’s takeover of Elstree studios in 1959, the switch to pre-recording and a visit to Russia in 1961 to record a British trade exhibition in Sokolniki Park. She discusses returning to ATV as a single mother in 1973 and the support she received from Bill Ward and other colleagues. She recalls liaising with the Independent Television Commission and the impact of the 10-week technicians strike 1979 that brought television to a halt. She recalls the impact of shifts to ATV’s regional contract and the renaming of the company as Central Television in 1983. She discusses the subsequent impact of the Broadcasting Act of 1990 and the changing production culture of the early 1990s. She remembers with great fondness her retirement party that was held at BAFTA in 1994.