Rachel Holdsworth

Watch 80s News Clips From Thames TV

Thames Television — of possibly the most famous ident in UK telly history — has a great YouTube archive. Now Thames News has joined in the act, uploading clips of news broadcasts primarily from the 1980s, judging by the stories and fashions.

It's a fascinating mix of news reports and raw footage and worth a trawl if you're interested in the historical record. We've picked out a handful of clips to whet your appetite...

Overcrowding on the tube is clearly a perennial problem:

Still on a plus ça change theme, here are independent traders on King's Road talking about being priced out because of rent hikes, before the street became the soulless, posho enclave it is today. A warning from the past about gentrification? We're seeing similar complaints from places like Shepherd's Bush and Tottenham today...

This piece from the aftermath of the Clapham Junction train crash has some appalling footage of the state of the carriages, as well as John Prescott attempting, we think, to put on a bit of a posh voice for the cameras:

Firefighter Colin Townsley died while attempting to rescue passengers during the King's Cross fire. Firefighters lined Euston Road for his funeral; this segment also contains some astonishing footage of smoke billowing from the Underground during the disaster.

And finally, here's Alexei Sayle who trod the boards at the Old Vic in 1988, playing Trinculo in Jonathan Miller's production of The Tempest.