No one could have predicted the influence, or the newspaper column inches that Ready,
Steady Go! would have amounted, but a vague announcement about a new show had been
made in British weekly pop music magazine Disc in late March 1963, "big new AR-TV
show planned for pop fans." Ready Steady Go! had been devised by London-based ITV
franchise Associated-Rediffusion to capitalise on the emerging British beat boom
and would go on to present and represent everything that was great about British
pop in the sixties.
In 1962 Associated-Rediffusion presenter Daniel Farson had bought himself a pub and
suggested to the channel the idea of showcasing London pub talent, principally singers
and comics. The one-off show, Time Gentleman Please, would be developed into Stars
And Garters which began broadcasting in March 1963, lasting until the beginning of
1966. The setting and design were perfect, but what if they could do the same for
the patron's teenage kids? Maybe some kind of youth club where they could dance and
see singers and groups from the chart, or even better, new talent from America.
Rediffusion's regrettable Needle Match had come to an end in September 1962. The
show was commissioned by Associated-Rediffusion's new Head of Light Entertainment
Elkan Allan and hosted by Keith Fordyce. Allen had kept Fordyce in mind should he
ever dare to cross into teen territory again.
Both television and radio would provide inspiration for the show. A-R had devised
a new dance show in 1963, a sort of follow-up to the long-running Cool For Cats called
Step Lively, which despite the previous success of Cool For Cats wasn't commissioned,
while Elkan Allan had been impressed by the Keith Fordyce hosted BBC radio show Pop
Inn, in which pop stars would come in for an informal chat and maybe play an unrehearsed
song.
Allan had also been touring London clubs to see how kids danced and dressed, realising
that they would probably be just as much an attraction to a home audience as any
of the singers and groups. He rightly reckoned that the home audience wanted to see
how they danced differently to each song, and that audience would be between 13-17.
Elkan Allan had commissioned the show, even suggested its now-famous catchphrase
'the weekend starts here', however, it would be the pool of young talent, with not
much, if any, experience in television that assembled the show, and one of those,
future show editor Vicki Wickham, fresh from her placement with BBC radio was now
working as a secretary at A-R.
In early July 1963 journalist John Gough reported in his weekly TV Times column that
a new youth-aimed show was being prepared and invited any teenagers to turn up to
participate in the pilot edition. "NEWS for teenagers: Associated-Rediffusion are
planning a big new show for you. Its title: Ready, Steady, Go! Its stars: disc jockeys
Keith Fordyce and David Gell--plus top recording and film personalities. The programme
is to be tried out -- without actually being transmitted--on Friday, July 26. It
will go on the screen "live" each Friday from August 9. Any teenagers who would like
to he in the studios during the first or other of these swinging sessions should
write to Ready, Steady, Go! (tickets), Associated - Rediffusion Ltd., Television
House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2." This trial show (it's not known if this was a taped/filmed
pilot) was held at The Royal in Tottenham and featured The Springfields. It would
give the production team an idea of what to expect when the show debuted. However,
the audience had no idea what to expect as the first broadcast show in August not
only featured Billy Fury and Brian Poole and The Tremeloes, but also featured Joyce
Blair, Joe Loss, Burl Ives and Pat Boone, not exactly the way to start any weekend.
It was also the idea to catch stars just before they go to their theatrical engagements
in London's west end to pop in for a chat, like BBC's In Town Tonight show from the
fifties. Again, hardly the teenagers' catchment area.
The story continues - click on the relevant years
1963 1964 1965 1966
