Tempo (1961)
A long-running ITV arts and culture series that aired from 1961 to 1968, Tempo was a landmark British television programme dedicated to the performing and visual arts. With a flexible magazine format and an open editorial remit, the series explored cinema, music, dance, photography, literature, theatre, and contemporary cultural life. Combining intellectual ambition with accessible presentation, Tempo established a model for serious arts broadcasting on commercial television and laid the groundwork for later landmark programmes such as Aquarius and The South Bank Show.
📺 Seasons & Episodes
Season 12 episodes
Season 210 episodes
1. The Artist in France
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
2. Episode 2
⏱ 30 minA 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
⏱ 30 minTempo visits France for a film about the abstract artist Graham Sutherland who is seen at work in his studio.
4. The Negro Spiritual
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
5. Analysis of the Hero
⏱ 30 minThe author of the James Bond books, Ian Fleming, talks to Dan Farson.
6. The New Glossy Magazines
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
7. The Spoof Prima Donna
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
8. The Man with the Moon
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
9. A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose – But Is It Art?
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
10. Choreography: The Art of Norman Morrice
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
Season 38 episodes
1. Annie Ross
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
2. Art from Australia
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
3. Lions Led by Donkeys
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
4. Dark Descent
⏱ 30 minAn attempt to explore the television technique in relation to modern ballet.
5. The Mark of Feae
⏱ 30 minHow artists bring terror into their pictures.
6. The Life I Sing About
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
7. The Saltire in the Wind
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
8. Carols Mean Christmas
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
Season 420 episodes
1. Mods and Rockers
⏱ 30 minMods 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
3. Postscript to the Ballet
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
4. A Wind of Change: The Art of Franco Zeffirelli
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
5. A Vision of England
⏱ 30 minThe 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
7. The Christopher Marlowe Murder Mystery
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
8. Crime to Remember
⏱ 30 minSongs, 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
10. Odetta
⏱ 30 minA profile of the American blues singer Odetta.
11. Some of These Days
⏱ 30 minA profile on Russian-American singer Sophie Tucker.
12. Two-Handers
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
13. A Star of India
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
14. The Prince Maker
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
15. More Minim
⏱ 30 minThe 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
⏱ 30 minA behind the scenes look at a production of the musical Maggie May.
17. The Music Ladder
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
18. A Man of Runnymede
⏱ 30 minLooking back on the past year since John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
19. The Blues Came Walkin': Part 1
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
20. The Blues Came Walkin': Part 2
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
Season 514 episodes
1. Look Back at Tomorrow
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
2. Lee Strasberg
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
3. Boss Guitar
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
4. The Knack
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
5. Successful Failure
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
6. The Title Makers
⏱ 30 minTempo 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
⏱ 30 minPlaywright 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
9. Profile No. 3: Michael Tippett
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
10. Profile No. 4: Charles Eames
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
11. Profile No. 5: Alain Robbe-Grillet
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
12. Profile No. 6: Orson Welles
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
13. A Tale of Two Talents
⏱ 30 minContrasting 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
Season 613 episodes
1. A Guided Tour of Zero Mostel
⏱ 30 minAn interview with actor/comedian Zero Mostel on the set of 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'.
2. Entertainers: Theatre
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
3. You've Got a Nerve
⏱ 30 minThe evolution of London's community of street musicians.
4. Entertainers: Comedians
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
5. Entertainers: Jazz
⏱ 30 minA profile of jazz musician Duke Ellington.
6. Tativille
⏱ 30 minAn interview with French comedian and director Jacques Tati on the set of his latest film 'Playtime'.
7. Blood, Sweat & Champagne
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
8. Jazz in Wonderland
⏱ 30 minAt 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
⏱ 30 minA look at satirical magazines 'Krokodil' (USSR), 'Le Canard Enchaine' (France) and 'Private Eye' (UK).
10. The Image Wizards
⏱ 30 minAwards presented by the Design and Art Directors Association.
11. Bauhaus
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
12. The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
13. Sound
⏱ 30 min"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.
Season 716 episodes
1. Information
⏱ 30 minThe 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
⏱ 30 minNostalgia 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
⏱ 30 minAn 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
5. Performer and Composer: George Malcolm on Scarlatti
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
6. Performer and Composer: Gervase de Peyer on Brahms
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
7. Performer and Composer: Vlado Perlemuter on Ravel
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
8. Performer and Composer: Janet Baker on Schumann
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
9. Contemporary Drama: Waiting for Godot
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
10. The Actor and the Role: Irene Worth
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
11. The Actor and the Role: Edith Evans
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
12. The Actor and the Role: Donald Pleasence
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
13. The Actor and the Role: Sybil Thorndike
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
14. The Actor and the Role: Michael Hordern
⏱ 30 minMichael 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
⏱ 30 minNo description available.
16. Expendability
⏱ 30 minA discussion on expendability.
