Picture-on-the-wall television has long been a dream of display engineers throughout the world. This vision, combined with the enormous growth in applications for electronic displays over recent years, has resulted in major efforts aimed at achieving a cathode-ray tube design which is both flat and thin. Moreover, there is evidence of increasing activity in this field, in spite of the many advances being made with other flat-panel display technologies. This review paper provides an introduction to the wide range of flat-panel CRT designs, and describes some of the leading approaches to the achievement of colour in these displays. Some photographic results are also included