ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company ( ITC ) distributed and co - produced " The Muppet Show " , " The Muppet Movie " , " The Great Muppet Caper " and " The Dark Crystal " , as well as the specials " The Muppets Go Hollywood " , " The Muppets Go to the Movies " , " " , and " The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show " . Originally formed in 1955 by British impresario Lew Grade , it became his main production wing for Associated TeleVision ( ATV ) , as part of the commercial Independent Television Network ( ITV ) . After initially finding success creating the TV series " The Adventures of Robin Hood " , ITC became more notable for two types of shows in the 1960s : secret agents and spy series such as " The Saint " ( starring future James Bond / " Muppet Show " guest star Roger Moore ) and the two classic series of Patrick McGoohan : " Danger Man " ( known in the US as " Secret Agent " ) and " The Prisoner " , as well as the various " Supermarionation " and science fiction series of Gerry Anderson , such as " Fireball XL5 " , " Thunderbirds " , and the live action series " UFO " and " Space : 1999 " . The company also was notable for its variety - shows , two of which included " Sunday Night at the London Palladium " ( featuring Bruce Forsyth ) and " The Julie Andrews Hour " ( starring Julie Andrews ) . By the 1970s , ITC began to branch out into other kinds of productions , undertaking feature films like " The Return of the Pink Panther " ( featuring Peter Sellers ) and the 1977 TV - miniseries " Jesus of Nazareth " by film director Franco Zefferelli . With the success of " The Muppet Show " and " Jesus " in particular in the mid - late 1970s , the company had entered its biggest , most notable period . Unfortunately , the studio approached hard times in 1980 with the failure of several other films , particularly the big - budget action drama " Raise the Titanic " , combined with Henson ' s voluntary end to " The Muppet Show " and the banishment of Grade ' s involvement in ATV with the ITV contract bidding war , forcing the former network to transform into Central Television in 1982 . Amazingly , some of ITC ' s most famous works were released in this period of turmoil , including " The Dark Crystal " and the Oscar winning films " On Golden Pond " ( with Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda ) and " Sophie ' s Choice " ( starring Meryl Streep ) . The company barely existed and did minor productions until eventually being bought out by Carlton Television in 1999 . After Lew Grade left and was replaced with Robert Holmes a Court in 1982 , Jim Henson ended his association with the company , buying the rights to " The Dark Crystal " in 1982 and all remaining Henson properties two years later . Additionally , before Henson purchased the rights to all Muppet properties from the company , ITC also received 10 percent of the net income generated from Muppet - related merchandise . In 2004 Carlton merged with the other major commercial TV company in the UK , Granada , to form ITV plc . ITV is now the single largest commercial broadcaster in the UK holding many TV and Film rights ( including the Rank Film Distributors library and popular ' Carry On ' films ) . As a side note , Peter Harris was an ATV / ITC staff TV producer and worked on many other programs including ' ATV Today ' , ' Tiswas ' and " Spitting Image " ( many episodes of which were filmed in ATV ' s Elstree Studios - home to " The Muppet Show " ) .