TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
The break out of violence by Teddy Boys across the country in the mid-
In early 1958 ABC Television were in talks with social worker and religious adviser
Penry Jones to devise a programme that looked at youth problems from a Christian
perspective. Two pilot shows were produced and shown to clergymen, who were enthusiastic.
An early version of the show, Facing Tomorrow, was to be broadcast by ABC on Sunday
16th February, featuring an interview with Frankie Vaughan, while the set design
was meant to recreate a youth club. But the show was awaiting approval from the Central
Religious Advisory Committee, who had approval on religious programming from both
the BBC and ITV. It was not shown, but a re-
A youth club setting was constructed within a television studio and Sunday Break was launched on the evening of 16th March 1958. The same evening ATV showed an edition of About Religion, which had a Christ figure (played by an anonymous actor), dressed in jeans and a sweat shirt being crucified.
The purpose of the show was to engage young people in discussion about the problems
that they face and why they feel that some take to violence and destruction as a
way out and if Christian teaching could help. Everything from youth church attendance
to pre-
ITV must have had high hopes for the show, giving it the much coveted TV Times cover for the first show, calling it "A Sunday club for teenagers.” Penry Jones claiming "Young people are no less religious than their grandparents. They are not religious in a churchgoing way, but they have faith and are interested in asking vital questions about life and its meaning.” Thirty youth club "members" were present on each show, brought in from around the country. By late 1959 the show attracted a viewing audience of about three and a half million per week.
From the TV Times "The club's music by The Alex Welsh Band and young people from England, Scotland and Wales: a window on their world, and their approach to religion and living.”
Alex Welsh was replaced by The Dill Jones Trio in 1959 and the show moved out of
the studio in July 1960 following a another re-
On 26th March 1961 they broadcast A Man Dies, a folk music interpretation of the crucifixion featuring young people from a Bristol Presbyterian church youth club.
During the show’s history the stars popping their heads around the door included Paul Anka, Brenda Lee, Marty Wilde and Mark Wynter, but the soundtrack was mostly trad jazz.
SUNDAY BREAK
ABC
16th March 1958 -