Anglo-American band Arrows had signed to RAK Records in 1974, but never had the success
that label-mates Mud, Hot Chocolate or Suzi Quatro had, so it was pure chance that
led them to their own television series. Muriel Young, producer at Granada had been
looking for a replacement for the Bay City Rollers' Shang-A-Lang series and had seen
the band perform their single Hard Hearted on Granada's Look Alive in November 1975
and gave them to chance to audition, leading to the series.
It's probable that the support that Granada gave the band surpassed that from their
record company. Due to a legal wrangle between the record company and management
the band had no new records released during the show's broadcast. Label owner Mickie
Most had been known for acts of self-sabotage in the past (not allowing Lulu's To
Sir With Love to be an A side in Britain, for example), so this was no surprise.
Despite having Mickie Most as their boss and producer, having their album handled
by hit-makers Martin & Coulter and having an American record deal they still couldn’t
muster much interest, so it was as much as a surprise to the industry as it was to
the audience that Granada had awarded them so much faith with not just one, but two
headlining series.
Phil Coulter got an end credit "Arrows produced by Phil Coulter" in early shows,
so possibly had a hand in mixing the re-recordings required for the show by the Musicians
Union.
The first sixteen-part series debuted Tuesday 2nd March 1976 from 4.25 to 4.50 pm
with singer Peter Noone as guest. Guests invited over the next few weeks included
Slade, Paul Nicholas, Hello, The Drifters and Randy Edelman among others, most of
whom would have much more success than the hosts. Teri Scoble's dance troupe Him
and Us Plus One appeared every week, becoming Him and Us Plus Three in the second
series.
The opening credits placed emphasis on the band members' names, probably trying to
invoke a John, Paul, George, Ringo allegiance for Alan, Jake and Paul, and while
the audience duly shouted and waved their scarves aloft it really wasn't to be.
The second series of the year began on the 28th September with guests including The
Bay City Rollers (the band that Arrows had effectively replaced), Pilot, The Drifters,
Gilbert O'Sullivan, T Rex and others. By the end of the second series the band had
exhausted the few songs they had already recorded and had nothing more to give. They
had effectively been dropped by their label prior to the shows' debut.
Producer Muriel Young speaking to TV Times ahead of the second series predicted the
demise of tea-time pop shows like this one "Ten years ago a pop programme often rode
to success on the backs of talented groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Nowadays original talent is thinner on the ground and television can't rely on finding
future Arrows or Rollers." The show echoed Supersonic in as much as it featured a
lot of former hit acts now experiencing their first flops.
Despite being placed with hit-making songwriting and production teams the band only
managed a few small hits and one album between 1974 and 1976, but luckily band members
Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker had written a B side, I Love Rock N Roll. One of the
several performances of the song on the show was seen by The Runaways' Joan Jett,
in Britain at the time to play live shows. Paying tribute to Alan Merrill after his
death in March 2020 Jett said "I can still remember watching The Arrows on TV in
London and being blown away by the song that screamed hit to me." Her version sold
millions. It was then covered by Britney Spears in 2001 and sold millions more, while
a parody version was the British Christmas number one in 2019. Who could have guessed
that one of the many small tea-time shows would end up giving pop music a certified
classic.
For some reason the second series credited the band as "The Arrows" at the beginning,
despite only being referred to as "Arrows" on their records.
