TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
ATV was dabbling. It had never dabbled before, but now the time was right. With Tiswas
making people look at ATV in a different light it began to look at dedicated pop
shows for the first time. It began Thursday 30th March 1978 with a rock and roll
special Let The Good Times Roll broadcast prime time between 7.00 -
In the late seventies Jack Good's transatlantic travels brought him back to the UK to revive his most famous creation. Twenty years' on from the final original Oh Boy it was back, this time in colour and for ATV, ABC's rival during the original run.
A successful run of stage shows, Catch My Soul, Good Rockin' Tonight and Elvis kept his name and legend alive and it was just a matter of time before someone enticed him back to TV.
Taking the place of Lingalongamax in the Monday evening schedules from 7.00 -
There would be regular appearances from Joe Brown, Les Gray, Alvin Stardust, Freddie
‘Fingers’ Lee, Johnny Storm and Shakin’ Stevens, with Lulu, Fumble and 6.5 Special
legend Don Lang making occasional appearances. The host was Billy 'GBH' Hartman,
who would sometimes introduce the acts on camera, while the resident back-
Although it was his show, he even had his name above the title, Good did not actually produce the show, instead getting a "created by" credit in the first series only. Production would be down to ATV's Richard Leyland who produced and directed the first editions with Ken O'Dell joining after a few shows. There was a surprise credit at the end of each episode for actor, and later charity campaigner, Brian Rix who had worked with Good at the Astoria Theatre in London, but that too was removed for the second series.
Asked by the TV Times whether he had felt nostalgic about returning Good exclaimed
"It's no more nostalgic than Verdi's Requiem. It's classic material -
Good had previously made stars of Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Joe Brown and P J Proby, and was hoping to make a star of Johnny Storm, a then seventeen year old, sitting his GCSE's at school, and Tim Whitnall who had played the young Elvis in Good's West End production, but it was Shakin' Stevens who would have the star on his dressing room door, notching up dozens of hits throughout the eighties, even getting to plug the first of them, Hot Dog, in the second series.
The show had invited modern day Teddy Boys and rockers to be in the audience, who would grease back their hair on cue.
Like the original show, an album featuring songs from the first series was released,
this time by Pye Records. Pye would also issue tie-
Since the last show of the first series was early August 1979 it didn't fall victim to ACTT industrial action which saw ITV off the air for three months, however a repeat of one show played on the day after transmissions resumed in October 1979.
ATV rewarded the show's success with a Christmas day special featuring new signing,
Stiff Records' starlet Rachel Sweet. The show got a second series, unlike the original,
but this time it was given a Saturday tea-
By the final few shows it was obvious that the "new to TV" faces and voices weren't
attracting the expected audience and, despite a promise from host Hartman that they
would be back, in true Jack Good fashion they weren't. But what Good did do is what
he usually did and merely re-
JACK GOOD'S OH BOY!
ATV
2nd July 1979 -