TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
Singer Hopkin came to prominence through her Opportunity Knocks wins in 1968 and
after a tip-
In autumn 1970 she agreed to appear in a new venture. Originally announced as a BBC2 show it was a six part series in which she would journey through six lands of fantasy through film, legend, theatre, books, rhymes, and pantomime. The latter would probably bring back memories of her own panto experience in Dick Whittington at the London Palladium earlier in the year. She would also go on to play the lead role in Cinderella in Manchester at the end of the year.
Barry Clayman of MAM, Mary's management company told Melody Maker "It will be a kind of Mary Through The Looking Glass series. Mary in the land of theatre, films, the nursery etc. Guests will be chosen to fit the subject. A crowd of child actors and dancers will be featured." Each show would start off in the present day and then go into the fantasy world.
The series was devised and written by Eric Merriman, co-
Each week a different aspect of fantasy would be presented with Mary singing about
half a dozen songs, sometimes duetting with a guest. The show was squarely aimed
at children but bizarrely was broadcast at 8.30 pm. However, the series would be
repeated at tea-
The series no longer exists in the BBC archives, but a fan made audio recordings and passed them onto Mary.
MARY HOPKIN IN THE LAND OF
BBC1
6th November 1970 -