Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky channel 343, but later also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media. It is on air for 24 hours a day and features mainly older British films, both classics and B-films, but the schedule also includes some American films, straight-to-video programmes, cinema shorts, extended interviews with veteran actors, and period home movies of British locations.
In July 2018, Talking Pictures TV had an audience share of 0.50%. As of 2019, it had reached an audience share of 0.63%.
Foundation
TPTV is a family business, founded by producer/editor Noel Cronin, and run by his daughter Sarah Cronin-Stanley with her husband Neill Stanley. Films in many genres (horror, comedy, drama and thriller) are included in the schedule. In-house productions are also shown, as are items from the Cronins' own back catalogue, including Noel's Dandelion Distribution, as well as series from the archive of Southern Television, a former ITV contractor, and early American television shows. Movies are usually copied directly from film reels; damaged reels from the catalogue are often replaced by donations, either from online, viewers or available libraries.
One of the aims of the founders was to maintain the history of British cinema; it was said to have been in the making since 2007.