{{about|the UK TV programme|other uses|network seven (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}} {{Use British English|date=February 2014}} {{Infobox television | image = Network7.jpg | caption = Network 7 logo from Series 2 | runtime = 2 hours | creator = Jane Hewland, Janet Street-Porter | presenter = Magenta Devine, Sankha Guha, Tracey MacLeod | executive_producer = Keith MacMillan, Jane Hewland | producer = Janet Street-Porter | editor = Charles Parsons | director = Matt Forrest, Andrew Gillman | country = United Kingdom | language = English | network = Channel 4 | first_aired = {{start date|1987|5|3|df=y}} | last_aired = {{end date|1988|10|23|df=y}} | num_series = 2 | num_episodes = 44 }} '''''Network 7''''' is a short-lived but influential youth music and current affairs programme screened on Channel 4 over two series in 1987 and 1988. The series was created by Jane Hewland and Janet Street-Porter, who was also editor of the first series.<ref name=screenonline>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1331427/|title=BFI Screenonline: Network 7|publisher=BFI}}</ref><ref name=guardian>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/may/14/history-of-80s-yoof-tv-janet-street-porter-magenta-devine-tracey-macloed|title='We wanted to hack your television!' – how yoof TV changed the world|author=Mark Hooper|work=The Guardian|date=14 May 2019}}</ref><ref name=dangminds>{{cite web|url=https://dangerousminds.net/comments/how_network_7_televised_a_revolution|title=How 'Network 7' televised a revolution|website=Dangerousminds.net|date=1 June 2011}}</ref>
==Overview== ''Network 7'' broadcast live on Sundays from noon until two o'clock and was conceived of as a 'channel within a channel', something young people could roll out of bed and watch the morning after the night before. Its mission statement was "News is Entertainment. Entertainment is News." It was known for its heavily self-branded, frenetic visual style with wild camera work, rapid cuts, very short items and "blipverts" — a dense combination of innovative graphics, and pop video style visuals explaining everything from Third World debt to bulimia.
Much of ''Network 7's'' innovative style can be seen as being inspired by a combination of elements such as the aesthetic of the ''Max Headroom'' drama ''20 Minutes into the Future'' and the studio-based anarchy of ''Tiswas''. The show's logo and distinctive brand and graphics (that predicted a desktop computer style) were designed by Malcolm Garrett and Kasper de Graaf's design studio Assorted iMaGes.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}
The show took place in a specially built 'caravan city' in Limehouse Studios, a deserted banana warehouse on the site of what is now One Canada Square. Presenters included Jaswinder Bancil, Magenta Devine, Sankha Guha, Eric Harwood, Murray Boland, Tracey MacLeod, Sebastian Scott, John Holdsworth, Caroline Roberts, Caroline Hanson, Lisa Clark, Ali Jack, Lindsey MacRae, and Trevor Ward.<ref name=screenonline/><ref name=guardian/> Most presenters had previously worked in either television or journalism in a smaller capacity, but they all got their first major TV exposure on the show. Charlie Parsons was a presenter and also part of the production staff.<ref name=screenonline/> He later set up the production company Planet 24, which produced ''The Word'' and ''The Big Breakfast'' with his partner Waheed Alli.
One feature produced by Parsons titled "The Castaways" featured four people marooned on an island in Sri Lanka for two weeks. This feature would become the basis of the long-running reality franchise ''Survivor''. The first version of ''Survivor'' debuted in Sweeden in September 1997 as ''Expedition Robinson'', while the American version of ''Survivor'' debauted in 2000 and became the flagship version of franchise, airing 50 seasons as of 2026. The series was less successful in its British adaptation, with its 2001 iteration for ITV lasting only two seasons and its 2023 iterations for the BBC lasting one season.
''Network 7'' challenged the idea that youth programming could only be a niche concern in the television business. The series won a British Academy Television Award for Originality for Hewland and Street-Porter in 1987.<ref name=screenonline/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1987/television/originality |title=1987 Television Originality |publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts |accessdate=13 August 2020 }}</ref> The series has been credited with changing the language of factual television.<ref name="offthetelly">{{cite web |url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/oldott/www.offthetelly.co.uk/indexd083.html?page_id=588 |title=Part One: "I Want To Subvert Mainstream TV" |website=Off the Telly |author=Ian Jones |date=1 October 2001 }}</ref>
==Regular programme segments==
''Flesh + Blood'' was a mini-series running each week for 14 minutes within ''Network 7'', written by Joanna Hogg and featuring Vladek Sheybal and Diana Quick in the main roles.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
''Dick Spanner, P.I.'' was a 6-minute Gerry Anderson claymation detective serial shown weekly during Series 1.<ref name=screenonline/>
''Room 113'' was a pre-recorded one-to one psychological celebrity interview conducted by Oliver James.<ref name=screenonline/>
''True or False'' showed a pre-recorded bizarre real-life story, and the following week revealed whether the story was true or false. In Series 2 viewers could voice their guesses via a phone poll.
''Film On 7'' showed a short one-minute film made by students at London International Film School.
==Memorable moments== The series premiered with a feature on cloning cashcards, where presenter Sankha Guha cloned a card and used it on live television to take money out of an ATM outside the Bank of England, going in depth on how it was done using a video recorder and strips of tape.<ref name=offthetelly/>
It broadcast a secular gay wedding ceremony, organised by Gay Humanist Group (now part of Humanists UK) which provoked reaction at the time from the British press.<ref name=guardian/><ref name=pinktrian>{{cite web|url=http://www.pinktriangle.org.uk/glh/71/affirmation.html|title=The Gay Humanist - Gay Love Affirmed On TV|website=Pinktriangle.org.uk}}</ref>
One episode aired a live satellite link-up to Ed Byrne, an American man on death row, due to him being convicted of murdering his girlfriend. Viewers voted whether they thought he deserved to live or die, and a presenter revealed the results to him at the end of the show.<ref name=dangminds/>
==See also== *''DEF II'' *''Reportage''
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Screenonline TV title|id=1331427|name=Network 7}}
Category:Channel 4 original programming Category:1987 British television series debuts Category:1988 British television series endings Category:Television series about television Category:1980s British music television series