TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
Tea-
The big arrow points to tea-
For reasons best known to themselves cinema took a great interest in ITV. Their obvious purpose would have been to sabotage it as, if ITV had got its act together, it could have seen the end of cinema going in Britain. Rank had its fingers in Southern Television, ABC Television was essentially Associated British Picture Corp, while cinema chain owners the Bernstein Brothers looked at the contracts and decided that due to (among other things) Manchester's rainy climate, more people were more likely to spend time at home, so they decided to apply for the north of England franchise. Naming their channel after their Granada movie theatres it began broadcasting weekdays from the 3rd May 1956. Although Granada was known as Manchester's station for the first twelve years it also had to cover Yorkshire, so it also had a base in Leeds. For the first few years they also covered North Wales.
Although they had early success with music and variety shows like Spot The Tune,
and Chelsea at Nine it didn't necessarily target the younger audience. But they did
broadcast some early evening music shows like Here's Humph and Melody Ranch, but
they were the wrong side of 6pm. It wasn't until May 1959 that they tried a tea-
Nightly news show Scene at 6.30 which began broadcasting from 1963 had many pop stars,
as did other local news programmes, while future pop stars Davy Jones and Peter Noone
appeared in Coronation Street, but again this was still the wrong side of six o'clock.
In 1967 the Firstimers talent show was broadcast at tea-
With the franchise changes implemented in 1968 they seemed to have a change of heart
about tea-
The one single, wonderful thread that ran through Granada's tea-
A number of the shows below are also covered in the A-
Hats Off 31st July 1968 -
The new ITV contacts were now in place,
and although Granada had kept its franchise it was effectively cut in half geographically,
but on the plus side they could now broadcast all week. Hats Off would be the first
show after the revamp and their first proper tea-
The Discotheque 1st November 1968 -
Covered elsewhere in the A-
Lift Off / Lift Off With Ayshea 5th November 1969 -
Basically Discotheque
with a new name, but this time the hosting emphasis would be on Ayshea Brough. Her
co-
45 / Rock On With 45 4th April 1974 -
Hosted by Emperor Rosko this
was another one of Muriel Young's shows, but this one would rely on new talent. Ayshea
appeared on the second show, suggesting some kind of continuity. The first series
appeared to fill in the gap between the last two series of Lift Off. Like Supersonic
the first series would play host to the tail end of glam with appearances by Slade,
The Bay City Rollers, Geordie, Gary Glitter and the like, while the second series,
now hosted by Dave 'Kid' Jensen kicked off with Supertramp, Ace and The Pretty Things,
suggesting that the album chart was being targeted. This second series played on
a Tuesday while Lift Off was on Thursday. But despite the talent on offer the show
was not networked across ITV.
Shang-
Muriel Young, in something a coup,
caught the Rollers at the summer of their success, but it only lasted the one series.
It not only captured the deranged scream of Rollermaina, but also during the embarrassing
between songs patter revealed them to be shy and uncomfortable, or the ego driven
personalities some actually were.
Look Alive 14th October 1975 -
Hosted by Stephanie De Sykes and another
show that lasted only the one series. This long-
Arrows / The Arrows 2nd March 1976 -
Muriel Young had been looking
for a proper replacement for the Bay City Rollers' Shang-
Get It Together 6th April 1977 -
This one looked like something
of a step backwards, as the show seemed to target a much younger audience. The cheerful
hosts sang the very jolly theme tune (at one time it would have been released ether
by EMI or Granada's own label), and smiled throughout the whole show, like a pop
version of Play School. Like Stephanie De Sykes and Ayshea before them the hosts
also sang songs in the show. But it worked, and was on the air for over four and
a half years, nearly outpacing Lift Off. But this was not the one you talked about
the day after at school. Lift Off's Fred Barker was replaced by Ollie Beak, also
played by Wally Whyton, so that was worth watching.
Marc 24th August 1977 -
Maybe it was the intention to have two
shows for two audiences. Get It Together was aimed at the under teens, while Marc
took care of the snotty, punk wannabee teenage crowd. Bolan was back in the UK after
his tax exile and American adventures and wanted to place himself firmly where he
thought he belonged, with the new wave. After all, many of the punk bands grew up
listening to Bowie and Bolan only five years before, although they were too cool
to admit it. He ingratiated himself a little by inviting them onto his show, and
tried to out-
Blue Jean Set Autumn 1977
Described by Music Week in March 1977 as a "straight pop
show", it never materialised.
Paul 9th May 1978 -
There would be no second series for Marc, so another
pop star had to be chosen to host the next show. To be fair to Paul Nicholas he had
been approached in early 1977 to host a show, but had already agreed to appear in
the movie version of the stage musical Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which
meant he would be unavailable. His pop hits in the mid seventies, together with his
stage and movie experience made him an obvious choice to host a show, but maybe he
would have been better suited to an early evening series like Leo Sayer's. Another
show, like Look Alive, that seems to have been forgotten about, and like many others
it only lasted one series.
Breakers 27th June 1978 -
The week after Paul exited the schedules,
this showcase for new talent arrived. It wasn't a judged talent show, it gave thirty
minutes to show us what they could do. Both Child and The Pleasers already had recording
contracts, so they weren't all amateurs, but the public took no notice and the show
was cancelled.
Pop Gospel 13th February 1979 -
An odd one here, produced by Muriel Young
as usual, but directed by Michael Dolenz during his time in the UK when he directed
many children's shows as well as a few straight dramas for both the BBC and ITV.
Featuring Cliff on a few shows, but mostly dependable, but unsuccessful, white gospel
poppers, rather than black gospel.
The Solid Gold Top Twenty Show 28th December 1979
A one-
Moondogs Matinee 14th April 1981 -
A bit of a gap until Granada's next
tea-
Hold Tight 13th September 1982 -
Shows like this would now come
under the Children's ITV strand, but the ITV companies were still autonomous at this
time, so Granada was still able to contribute. Filmed at Alton Towers theme park,
it featured many big name chart acts, rather than just newcomers or some of the cheaper
cuts from pops casting central. And when I mean big names, how about Public Image
Limited and Iggy Pop? As you can see from the previous entries, Granada displayed
a bizarre pattern of either allowing shows to run for five years or for just one
series. Hold Tight deserved its long run.
Teach Yourself Gibberish 24th September 1982 -
Normally shows like
this would be scheduled daytime during schools broadcasts, but luckily we all got
to see it. Manchester based rock anarchists Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias performed
sketches and songs based on a letter of the alphabet each week. Once again, a one
series wonder.
Pop Goes Christmas 26th December 1982
Granada produced several one-
Pop Goes New Year 31st December 1983
The second of the tea-
Stop That Laughing At The Back 30th September 1987 -
A justly forgotten
comedy show, which sounds a little like 1968's Do Not Adjust Your Set, starring Paul
Bradley later of EastEnders and Casualty, but instead of a band like The Bonzos joining
in with the gags, this show for some reason chose finger-
By this time Muriel Young was gone and the likes of David Liddiment had taken over. It had to end.