TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

Granada, in something of a coup, signed the Rollers to host a tea-time pop show in the hope of catching the band before they faded into obscurity.

Produced by Muriel Young the series showed the band at their best, performing (actually miming) in front of an audience of screaming girls, and at their worst, pretending to be interested in the other acts on the show.

Regular features included interviews with celebrities from television and pop, an archive spot ‘let’s roll back’, and ironically, guitar lessons from a real legend, Big Jim Sullivan (the Rollers were renown for not playing on their own records). The show would be repeated the following Saturday morning for kids who couldn't get home in time to see it the first time around.

Unfortunately a policeman suffered a fatal heart attack while trying to keep fans from rushing a police van outside the Granada studios in Manchester. Fans had assumed the group were inside, but it was actually guest star Cliff Richard.

As TV Times suggested "So switch on... keep rollin."

A video compilation of surviving shows was released in 1993.

SHANG-A-LANG

Granada

1st April 1975 - 26th August 1975