Lew also owned Associated Television (ATV), the Midlands franchise holders (transformed into Central TV as part of the 1981 franchise process). ATV had studios in Birmingham and at Borehamwood.
Some productions are credited to ATV but it's a very minor distinction which I'll ignore throughout this.
Later Michael Jackson bought it. Apple Corps has apparently tried to buy it but as of 1997 is seems Sony has the majority interest and MJ a minority interest.
Edwin Astley was the person most often credited as musical director on ITC productions and he wrote or commissioned many memorable tunes - ones included in any serious compilation of Sixties TV music. A bit of trivia: he's Pete Townshend's father-in-law.
He didn't write all the themes: for instance The Champions was by Tony Hatch (Downtown, Crossroads).
What makes this particularly interesting is the similarity to what NBC & Paramount did to Star Trek in its third season.
NBC had given it the useless 22:00 Friday time slot, giving its 20:00 Monday slot to the new and higher-rating Laugh In. Gene Roddenberry, possibly as a bluff, refused to produce it personally for this slot and he ended up hiring Fred as Producer. Paramount reacted by slashing the budget, assuming the show would fail without Gene. The combination of all this led to many awful plots filmed on miniscule budgets.
Laugh In also caused problems for the US run of Season 6 of The Avengers - see A History of the Avengers
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