Talking Pictures TV owner awarded BEM counted Queen as a fan

Noel Cronin described receiving a British Empire Medal as a "great honour"

A film archivist who received a British Empire Medal (BEM) on the New Year Honours list said Queen Elizabeth II was a fan of the TV channel he founded.

Noel Cronin from Chipperfield near Watford, Hertfordshire, runs Talking Pictures TV with his daughter Sarah Cronin.

The channel shows predominantly British TV series and films made before 1970.

"We played a lot of Laurel and Hardy, the Queen watched, maybe it marked my cards you see," the 75-year-old joked.

Mr Cronin was delighted when he learnt from a newspaper article in 2017 that the late monarch was a fan.

He said discovering news of his BEM was "a surprise to put it mildly".

"It was quite an honour, I got a letter a few weeks ago and was sworn to secrecy," he added.

Mr Cronin has heard many politicians and celebrities were fans of his channel, including Queen Elizabeth II and comedian Vic Reeves

The father and daughter duo started the channel in 2015 and said it attracted a weekly audience of about six million people.

Mr Cronin said his audience was "not all film buffs, they just enjoy remembering a series from a different time in their life, perhaps when they were happier... it jogs all sorts of pleasant memories".

The pair negotiate contracts with distributors to show old films and series on the channel.

"Not only have we got to find them, we have to agree a licence fee and people, especially Americans, want as much as they can get," he said.

Mr Cronin is planning to air the surviving episodes of Dixon of Dock Green later this year

Mr Cronin began working in the television industry in 1962 and over the years acquired the rights to libraries of black and white films.

"They were going cheap and nobody wanted old black and white British films," he recalled.

He offered the films to several TV channels but none were interested in scheduling them.

"People are obsessed with what they think is the most commercial and colour is deemed more commercial than black and white."

He described his viewers as "a very loyal and dedicated audience" that preferred to see television how it was in the past.

"I think we create a lot of happiness and contentment with a certain generation," he said.