As befits a company of its size, Border has generally been more interested in producing local programmes, rather than for the network. Admittedly rather a lot of them seemed to feature the former ventriloquist Derek Batey, who advanced from staff reporter on 'Time out of Doors' in the early 1960s to become Assistant Programme Controller in the mid 1980s. His masterpieces were the aforementioned `Mr and Mrs' which started in the mid 1960s region locally, and `Look Who's Talking', a daytime chat show with both him and his guest of the day initially concealed by the high back of a winged leatherette winged chair.
The 1980s saw Border attack the frequent target of regional companies: children's programmes. The spearhead was Stu Francis and the revival of the Crackerjack-style format as `Crush a Grape'. Rather more up to date were their contribution to the `Network 7' strand on Channel 4, although Janet Street Porter has said unkind things about Border in the recent past.
In the end the local programmes must count the highest, and Border has maintained a very high audience for these, with the local news programme achieving a regular local top 20 appearance.
As usual, if there is a particular Border programme you want mentioning let me know.
