8,000 homes across the UK still watch TV programmes in black and white, including 20 sets in Newport, according to new statistics.

This Saturday marks 50 years since the first colour transmission on the BBC, and the TV Licensing B&W Index shows large urban areas hold the majority of black and white TV Licences, with more than 1,500 homes in London watching in black and white, followed by 377 in Birmingham and 276 in Manchester.

Almost 70 postcodes dropped out of the Index in the past 18 months, Pontyclun and Usk, as entire suburbs convert to full-colour viewing.

A further 313 postcodes across the UK boast a sole black and white viewer in their community.

The National B&W Index to mark the 50th anniversary of colour broadcasts on BBC Two, which were first aired on 1 July 1967.

Richard Chapman, TV Licensing spokesperson in Wales, said: "It is striking that in an era of HD TV and spectacular true-to-life pictures, there are still more than 8,000 viewers, including 20 in Newport, content to watch spectacular programmes like The Night Manager and Planet Earth in monochrome.

“Whether you watch in black and white on a 50-year-old TV set or in colour on a tablet, you need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch or record programmes as they are broadcast. You also need to be covered by a TV Licence to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, on any device."

While the figures reveal there may be life in the oldest TV equipment yet, BBC statistics indicate emerging technologies are changing the way many of us watch TV. Fewer than 500 families had a colour TV set in 1967 when Australian John Newcombe took the Wimbledon Mens’ title in 1967.

Comparatively, more than 9 million people tuned in to watch Andy Murray contest the title last year, with BBC iPlayer recording the highest unique browser reach on record, with an average of 19.9 million unique browsers weekly across June 2016.