In '55, ITV started, a leap in technology although they still used valves, we worked many a late night fitting band 3 converters to receive ITV just before it started.
I had been in the trade 15 years when colour started and most of the early sets still used some valves although transistors were slowly taking over. I was on a steep learning curve comprehending colour circuits but got there eventually. They weren't 'plug and play' like they are now, you could spend an hour or more setting them up in customers homes to get them right.
Don't read to much into what the presenter said about secondhand TV values, the only ones really valuable are pre war sets because there are so few left. We scrapped lots of them in the '50s because people wanted the smaller more modern sets and of course they weren't all that old then, now you could pay up to 10,000 pounds for a pre war set. Most 1950s sets are not worth much more than 30-40 pounds as there are still thousands of them left.
Very nostalgic all this.
Peter
We did not get ITV until 1961 so I was always out of the playground chats about TV. We did not have a telephone in the house until I started work for the GPO and my first two weeks wages of £4 8s 6d each went to paying for a telephone installation. We did not catch up with colour until 1972 and I got married in 1973 and had a new 17" Ferguson TV as a wedding present. It went downhill from there!! 
How could you refuse?
