My parents rented a British Relay set for many years. As far as I can remember we had the same set from the early 1960s when I came onto the scene until the early 1970s when we got a colour set.
I was off school a fair bit as I suffered badly with asthma so I was often at home when the Relay man came to fix the set I was fascinated by the inside of the set all lit up it was probably what started my interest in Television.
I am fairly sure the set was a PYE it had two controls for on off volume and brightness another on the front that looked a bit like a gas cooker knob, that changed over between radio and TV. On the side in there was a row of cream pushbuttons that changed the stations . I am fairly sure the set was converted to 625 at some point I have a vague memory that there was a control on the back that switched over for BBC2.
The houses all had a cable running along the back with a junction box on the wall just like in the film.
One of the neighbours was a little snooty , he always went to work with an umbrella and bowler hat the house was quite posh, Brass letterbox, doorknob and all...
They wouldn't allow BRW to put the cable along their house so Relay had to run the cable all the way down their garden above the fence at gutter height to a telegraph pole in the garden on the house behind then to another pole the other side of the garden and then all the way back to the house next door.
My Dad said that it looked a right eyesore !
Later on a few of my friends worked for Relay, one of them was always singing that old Glenn Campbell song " I was a linesman for the Relay..."
All of the newly built council houses would not allow tenants to fit an outside aerial , loft aerials in Peterborough struggled a bit on UHF so many people had BRW. The later conversion boxes that plugged into the aerial socket were terrible, plagued with sound buzz, then ensued the argument between the retailer and the Relay....each blaming the other for the fault if it was reception based. "it's the set" "It's the box" .
Visionhire took over in the early 1980s, the system didn't last long after that.
The relay workshop and HQ was in an old Chapel in Cobden street near the City centre. The place still had all of it's original fixtures in place including the 'Gods' relay were not allowed to modify and alter this which posed problems when they wanted to install a workshop lift.
Times change though and what was protected then isn't now the Chapel was levelled to become a car park for the local Mosque sometime later on.
I am not 100% sure but I think this picture was taken at the rear of BRW sometime in the 70s
'Waiting for the scrap man'
Rich
P.S sorry I can't see a way to rotate the picture!