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Get to know us.
Set up in 1965 by the late Lord J. Arthur Rank, CTVC is first and foremost a charity with a remit to produce religious, ethical and moral content. As a devout Methodist, a wealthy industrialist and philanthropist, Lord Rank was passionate about the power of film as a way to educate, inspire and entertain.
Our Story.
Born in 1888, J. Arthur Rank was raised a devout Methodist and worked for his father, a Yorkshire miller with a vast flour empire. At weekends J. Arthur taught Sunday school but was frustrated by limited teaching materials, however he soon realised he could spread the gospel to a wider audience through the power of film.
In 1933 he set up The Religious Films Society, hiring out his short films to Methodist halls and Sunday schools throughout the country. But this was just the start. Forever the entrepreneur, he soon started making feature films, and within eight years he was a movie mogul with a film empire worth £50 million. On a mission to save the failing British film industry, he built Pinewood Studios in 1936, created his own film distribution arm and bought up two thirds of British cinemas, the Odeon chain and Gaumont British.
Throughout the forties, J. Arthur produced a host of classic films including Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and Great Expectations and won eight Oscars. It was an era that famously became known as The Golden Years. Always one to move with the times, J. Arthur added to his impressive film portfolio with some British favourites, including the much-loved Carry On comedies.
Given a life peerage in 1957, Lord Rank expanded the family flour business buying up Mother’s Pride and establishing Rank Hovis McDougall. He dipped into the leisure industry, with bingo halls and motorway service stations, but it was a deal for Rank Xerox photocopiers that meant when he died in 1972, Lord Rank was one of the wealthiest men in Britain.
But throughout his life, Lord Rank never lost his zeal for evangelical films. In 1959 he had established Churches Television Centre to teach clergy how to deliver the word of the scriptures for television. In 1965 it was renamed CTVC, which over the decades has evolved along with the rapidly changing media landscape.
Today CTVC operates as an independent media production company which echoes with Lord Rank’s legacy and our predominant vision is at the heart of everything we do: to inspire, educate and entertain.
We are passionate believers in the power and importance of media to educate, challenge and inspire.