TV Whirl - The End Of The Road

I started TV Whirl 24 years ago in 2001 when I was still in school at the fresh age of 15 myself. I'd never have believed you if you'd told me then that more than half a lifetime later I'd still be working on it. So it is with the absolute heaviest of hearts I am forced to announce the site will come to the end of its road and close in 2025.

Regrettably this is a decision taken out of necessity rather than choice, and be warned things do turn very bleak from here on out. Only a very small number of people within the pres community know, but back in October 2022 I was diagnosed with renal cancer at the still young age of 37 - a diagnosis which included the dreaded word 'terminal'. From that point on, a lot of my time and energy has gone into battling the disease. With waning energy, I was forced to dial back the volume of updates made to the site which was why the daily updates stopped, however with TV Whirl being such a big part of my life I've been determined to keep it going with some updates as long as physically possible.

Which brings us to today. Despite my own resolve and all the best efforts from one of the top oncology teams here, sometime in 2025 it is almost certain I am going to lose this fight. And so the website will come to an end too. However, while this should never be the primary focus in such circumstances, some preservation steps have been put in place. The plan is to keep the site and everything added to it over the years online as long as the hosting keeps working just now in an archived state so that future generations of people can continue to enjoy it. All my recovered VHS/Betamax Teletext data, way more than has ever made the site, was also handed over to ZXGuesser back in September so that he can work his magic on it, and that will not be lost either.

I will continue updating the current site with new items for as long as I can, but this will be increasingly sporadic. Due to a combination of very poor health in December (something which has brought forward this statement, as I had wanted to spare everyone this grim news until after Christmas) and a failing satellite tuner limiting the capture ability, the TV Whirl Christmas 2024 coverage will be severely curtailed. However this is covered in depth on The Ident Gallery. It also means I simply won't have the energy or enough working resources to do the Happy New Year 2025 roundup, so last year's edition will regrettably be the last to feature.

Let me close by saying it's been a fantastic journey running this website over the years, and I thank everyone who's stuck with it for so long. I've had so many kind words from people in that time, many even inside the industry. Knowing it's brought joy to so many people being able to relive just small parts of our rich broadcasting heritage has made every moment worthwhile.

All the best,
Terence, TV Whirl Curator