''The Epilogue'' was a feature of radio and later television, and was the last programme broadcast each Sunday evening lasting five to ten minutes. It was a non-denominational talk on a reflective theme usually delivered by a Christian minister or priest in a straight to-camera format. In British television terminology, an "epilogue" is an equivalent of the American

sermonette Sermonette (i.e., a small sermon) is a generic term for short, locally produced religious messages that were aired by many U.S. television stations during their sign-on and sign-off periods. Sermonettes were generally about three to five minutes ...

. Later the format was adopted by the independent television broadcaster

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

and its franchises including

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

and

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

. ''The Epilogue'' was first broadcast on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

on Sunday 26 September 1926. Originally the programme consisted of themed Bible readings but later hymns were added for listeners at home to join in with. At this time the BBC's Sunday radio broadcasts were restricted to programmes that were regarded as inoffensive and appropriate to the Sabbath, and in this area ''The Epilogue'' stood out and was greatly appreciated by its listeners. Two years later in 1928 the BBC could report that the Sunday Epilogue was "the most popular single item in all the programmes". During the 1930s ''The Epilogue'' was transmitted from Studio 3E in

Broadcasting House London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...

in London. However, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the BBC moved much of its operations out of London to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

where the BBC Epilogue was transmitted live on the Home Service and Forces Programme at the end of each day's radio programmes at about 10.30pm. At first it was broadcast from St Paul's Church in Bedford but because of the problems caused by blacking-out the church windows the programme was later relocated to the Bunyan Chapel studio. In 1955

launched and many ITV regions aired their own versions of the programme. These included both London contractors,

and its successor TVS,

(whose programme was called '' Late Call''),

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stu ...

and TWW. The launch of 24-hour television on ITV in the late 1980s saw these programmes removed from the schedule although some did carry on for a short while after through-the-night broadcasting was launched, but all had ended by the early 1990s.Religion on the 'ITV 1963' website
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References

1926 radio programme debuts Religious mass media in the United Kingdom British religious television series 1956 British television series debuts 1920s British radio programmes 1930s British radio programmes 1940s British radio programmes {{BBC-tv-prog-stub