Was it the JFK assassination; Ken and Deirdre having a bust-up on Coronation Street; the first Moonwalk; Edina falling drunk into the flowerbed on Absolutely Fabulous; the fall of the Berlin Wall or wondering who shot JR? These were the questions facing a panel of top television executives at the Edinburgh International Television Festival last week as they convened to decide upon the best moments in television history - the ones that define the medium and show TV at its best.
The committee, which included Peter Salmon, the controller of BBC1; Nick Elliot, the controller of drama on ITV; Channel 4's director of programmes, Stuart Cosgrove; Jane Root, the controller of BBC2 - as well as representatives from Sky and the independent sector, provided their top 10 TV moments in the categories of news, drama and comedy. Their choices have been severely criticised by academics and broadcasting commentators as being "too dumbed down".
Perhaps what most galled the critics was the way in which soap operas dominated the drama section - although a leather-clad Diana Rigg does make it in at number two, and Ken Loach's Cathy Come Home is at number eight. Topping the list is the Ken 'n' Deirdre spat - which pulled in record viewers when it was broadcast in 1983 and it is followed closely by Brookside's Sinbad unearthing a body below the patio in 1993.
In the news/factual category there was surprise that Diana's Panorama interview with Martin Bashir came in ahead of Nixon's resignation, Nelson Mandela's release from prison and the fall of the Berlin Wall. More surprising perhaps was the non-inclusion of JFK's assassination, but this is explained away by the fact that the famous Zapruder footage emerged only years after the assassination and the news coverage at the time wasn't "particularly good", according to the panel.
Prof Richard Hoggart, a noted broadcasting and literacy commentator, condemned the panel's choices, saying "it's like saying the best newspaper today is the Sun. Also, I would have thought one of the most memorable moments on television was Dennis Potter's final interview with Melvyn Bragg, which wasn't included".
There was also surprise at how some of the biggest critical and popular hits of TV drama such as Jewel In The Crown, Brideshead Revisited and Pride and Prejudice didn't make the drama shortlist. There was, though, a semblance of consensus about the comedy list, with Basil Fawlty's "Don't mention the war" coming in at number one, followed (bizarrely) by Angela Rippon dancing with Morecambe and Wise. No accounting for taste.