Tempo

Tempo

ITV's seminal arts programme, Tempo ran for eight years through a decade which saw a creative explosion within all aspects of the performing arts. Its fluid style of presentation allowed an almost open-ended remit, enabling it to cover subjects as diverse as cinema, music, dance, photography, writing – and much more besides. At a time when television was being criticised for dumbing down, Tempo – more than any other series – showed that ITV could indeed go highbrow whilst still remaining populist – a philosophy and outlook that was to continue into the 1970s and beyond with its successors Aquarius and The South Bank Show.

Talk

Seasons

1. Episode 1

Air Date: 1961-10-15

2. The Art of Bullfighting/The Death of Fiction

Air Date: 1961-11-26

A specially commissioned film by Orson Welles examines bullfighting. Meanwhile, writer Truman Capote discusses the death of fiction.

1. The Artist in France

Air Date: 1962-02-04

2. Episode 2

Air Date: 1962-03-25

A look at modern architecture in Britain including interviews with the critic Iain Nairn and the architects Frederick Gibberd and Hubert Bennett.

3. The Artist at Work

Air Date: 1962-04-08

Tempo visits France for a film about the abstract artist Graham Sutherland who is seen at work in his studio.

4. The Negro Spiritual

Air Date: 1962-10-07

5. Analysis of the Hero

Air Date: 1962-10-14

The author of the James Bond books, Ian Fleming, talks to Dan Farson.

6. The New Glossy Magazines

Air Date: 1962-10-21

7. The Spoof Prima Donna

Air Date: 1962-10-28

8. The Man with the Moon

Air Date: 1962-11-11

9. A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose – But Is It Art?

Air Date: 1962-11-25

10. Choreography: The Art of Norman Morrice

Air Date: 1962-12-16

1. Annie Ross

Air Date: 1963-01-27

2. Art from Australia

Air Date: 1963-02-10

3. Lions Led by Donkeys

Air Date: 1963-04-21

4. Dark Descent

Air Date: 1963-09-29

An attempt to explore the television technique in relation to modern ballet.

5. The Mark of Feae

Air Date: 1963-10-20

How artists bring terror into their pictures.

6. The Life I Sing About

Air Date: 1963-10-27

7. The Saltire in the Wind

Air Date: 1963-12-01

8. Carols Mean Christmas

Air Date: 1963-12-22

1. Mods and Rockers

Air Date: 1964-03-08

Mods and Rockers is a dance created by Peter Darrell for the Western Theatre Ballet based on the music of the Beatles.

2. A Dialogue of Actors

Air Date: 1964-03-22

3. Postscript to the Ballet

Air Date: 1964-04-05

4. A Wind of Change: The Art of Franco Zeffirelli

Air Date: 1964-04-12

5. A Vision of England

Air Date: 1964-05-03

The Great Shakespeare Exhibition at Stratford-upon-Avon takes you back to 23 April 1564, the day of the poet's birth.

6. The Mime of Jacques Lecoq

Air Date: 1964-05-24

7. The Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery

Air Date: 1964-05-31

8. Crime to Remember

Air Date: 1946-06-14

Songs, recitations, and Victorian melodrama are used for a series of vignettes on aspects of crime. From the righteous to the romantic and ultimately, the repellent.

9. Ice Shows

Air Date: 1964-07-12

10. Odetta

Air Date: 1964-07-19

A profile of the American blues singer Odetta.

11. Some of These Days

Air Date: 1964-08-16

A profile on Russian-American singer Sophie Tucker.

12. Two-Handers

Air Date: 1964-08-23

13. A Star of India

Air Date: 1964-08-30

14. The Prince Maker

Air Date: 1964-09-13

15. More Minim

Air Date: 1964-09-20

The South African cast of the 'Wait a Minim' theatre show bring their sparkle and zest for life to the small screen.

16. The Making of a Musical

Air Date: 1964-10-10

A behind the scenes look at a production of the musical Maggie May.

17. The Music Ladder

Air Date: 1964-11-14

18. A Man of Runnymede

Air Date: 1963-11-22

Looking back on the past year since John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

19. The Blues Came Walkin': Part 1

Air Date: 1964-12-06

20. The Blues Came Walkin': Part 2

Air Date: 1964-12-13

1. Look Back at Tomorrow

Air Date: 1965-04-04

2. Lee Strasberg

Air Date: 1965-05-28

3. Boss Guitar

Air Date: 1965-06-06

4. The Knack

Air Date: 1965-06-11

5. Successful Failure

Air Date: 1965-07-18

6. The Title Makers

Air Date: 1965-07-25

Tempo visits the booming film title making industry, where some have said that the titles are now a lot more interesting than the films they introduce.

7. Profile No. 1: Harold Pinter

Air Date: 1965-10-03

Playwright Harold Pinter talks about his background and influences in a documentary that also includes extracts from The Homecoming with the original Aldwych Theatre cast.

8. Profile No. 2: Jean-Luc Godard

Air Date: 1965-10-10

9. Profile No. 3: Michael Tippett

Air Date: 1965-10-17

10. Profile No. 4: Charles Eames

Air Date: 1965-10-24

11. Profile No. 5: Alain Robbe-Grillet

Air Date: 1965-10-31

12. Profile No. 6: Orson Welles

Air Date: 1965-11-07

13. A Tale of Two Talents

Air Date: 1965-11-14

Contrasting the professional life of Welsh pop singer Tom Jones who shot to fame last year with Canadian-born modern ballet dancer Lynne Seymour who performs with the Royal Ballet Company.

14. Profile No. 7: André Courrèges

Air Date: 1965-11-21

1. A Guided Tour of Zero Mostel

Air Date: 1966-01-23

An interview with actor/comedian Zero Mostel on the set of 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'.

2. Entertainers: Theatre

Air Date: 1966-01-31

3. You've Got a Nerve

Air Date: 1966-02-13

The evolution of London's community of street musicians.

4. Entertainers: Comedians

Air Date: 1966-02-21

5. Entertainers: Jazz

Air Date: 1966-03-06

A profile of jazz musician Duke Ellington.

6. Tativille

Air Date: 1966-05-08

An interview with French comedian and director Jacques Tati on the set of his latest film 'Playtime'.

7. Blood, Sweat & Champagne

Air Date: 1966-05-22

8. Jazz in Wonderland

Air Date: 1966-05-30

At EMI Studios in London, Tempo films the pianist Stan Tracey as he works on a new jazz suite interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

9. The Offenders

Air Date: 1966-06-05

A look at satirical magazines 'Krokodil' (USSR), 'Le Canard Enchaine' (France) and 'Private Eye' (UK).

10. The Image Wizards

Air Date: 1966-06-19

Awards presented by the Design and Art Directors Association.

11. Bauhaus

Air Date: 1966-07-03

12. The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Air Date: 1966-10-23

13. Sound

Air Date: 1966-10-30

"Is music just a sound? Is a truck passing by music? Are sounds just sounds or are they Beethoven? Is there such a thing as silence?" John Cage, composer.

1. Information

Air Date: 1967-01-01

The old idea of a fixed, unchanging world has been thrown out. In today's world of information, can the artist provide a crucial early warning system of coming changes?

2. Nostalgia

Air Date: 1967-01-08

Nostalgia is.. Good..? Bad..? Is life today too hectic and rushed? Does nostalgia close one's eye to the present?

3. Take a Simple Action and Look at It

Air Date: 1967-02-12

An attempt to explain and visualise the experience of a person undergoing an LSD trip. The film uses repetition and changes to audio and visual perception via avant garde techniques.

4. Performer and Composer: Daniel Barenboim on Beethoven

Air Date: 1967-08-06

5. Performer and Composer: George Malcolm on Scarlatti

Air Date: 1967-08-13

6. Performer and Composer: Gervase de Peyer on Brahms

Air Date: 1967-08-20

7. Performer and Composer: Vlado Perlemuter on Ravel

Air Date: 1967-09-24

8. Performer and Composer: Janet Baker on Schumann

Air Date: 1967-10-08

9. Contemporary Drama: Waiting for Godot

Air Date: 1967-12-17

10. The Actor and the Role: Irene Worth

Air Date: 1968-03-03

11. The Actor and the Role: Edith Evans

Air Date: 1968-03-17

12. The Actor and the Role: Donald Pleasence

Air Date: 1968-03-31

13. The Actor and the Role: Sybil Thorndike

Air Date: 1968-04-07

14. The Actor and the Role: Michael Hordern

Air Date: 1968-04-14

Michael Hordern stars as the exiled Prospero, who lives on a desolate island with his daughter Miranda. When his usurping brother Antonio sails by, Prospero uses magic to conjure a storm that wrecks the ship and torments the survivors, including the King of Naples and Antonio, thus changing all of their lives.

15. The Actor and the Role: Diane Cilento – Miss Julie

Air Date: 1968-06-03

16. Expendability

Air Date: 1968-06-24

A discussion on expendability.

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Rating

0.0/10

Release Date

1961-10-15

Episodes

83 (7 seasons)

Status

Ended

Cast

Production Companies

ABC Weekend Television

ABC Weekend Television