TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
A report in the June 27th 1960 edition of the Daily Mirror announced that both the
BBC and ITV were no longer going to offer any more broadcasting time to dedicated
pop and rock and roll shows declaring "Both channels have decided that, as far as
they are concerned, the teenage vogue for beat music and rock 'n' roll' is OVER."
This came as ABC was about to pull the life support on Jack Good's third and final
show for the channel, Wham, and the BBC were dropping Dig This. A further comment
from ABC regarding Wham suggested "ABC thinks there is no longer a public demand
for teenage rock 'n' roll type programmes." Talking to TV Times in July 1960 in a
response from a pop music fan complaining that there were now no pop shows on TV,
an ABC spokesman said "As the rock stars have developed -
But despite the short life span of the Jack Good TV shows ABC decided to try yet again with a new Saturday evening pop show, this time concentrating on new releases, rather than singers conforming to the traditional variety show format of safe cover versions or novelty numbers. Familiar BBC and Radio Luxembourg DJs were hired as the hosts, rather than more traditional television personalities. Pete Murray would be the first, with Keith Fordyce deputising on holiday breaks, later replaced by Brian Matthew, who in turn was replaced by Jim Dale. Philip Jones would direct the show, who was by that time already an ABC veteran.
The show arrived in one of pop's occasional creative troughs. Elvis was out of the
Army, but instead of going on tour he went straight into a regrettable Hollywood
career, with each movie taking another piece of his soul away. That didn't matter
so much for Cliff as he made fewer movies, and were usually much higher quality,
and besides, he never relied on just a movie career to be seen, with concert and
TV appearances taking him world-
Initially scheduled for a thirteen week run, the format would have three established
pop acts (the 'stars') perform their new release, then introduce an act new to TV,
even if they haven't released a record yet. As TV Times put it at the time "The top
stars of the record world perform their latest hits and present their tips for tomorrow's
hit parade." There would be another star to conclude each show. Among the new talent
introduced in the first series were future hit-
Replacing Home and Garden in ABC's early evening schedules it had probably been trailed the previous weekend after ABC's other new show Big Night Out, which was actually a edited highlights package of the NME Poll Winners' Show from Wembley. ABC were probably not aware that ITV had actually used the show's name before for a short lived astrological show back in 1957.
The first editions were not shown nationally, certainly not by ATV, but Anglia, Scottish and Tyne Tees gave it a shot, even though Anglia only showed a ten minute excerpt of the debut show. Teenage aimed pop music wasn't the only thing on offer as ABC debuted the country and western flavoured Buckaroo the following weekend.
The talent on offer in the first few shows made it clear that they weren't messing
about, but the inclusion of singers like Petula Clark, Alma Cogan and Dickie Valentine
made it look a little like a refuge camp for ex-
The show made a big enough impact locally to warrant not only a second series, but
a one-
The show proper returned in September 1961 with a regular show within a show slot
for Spin-
Some acts were also accompanied by a six strong, three boy, three girl dance troupe.
However, the acts were there to plug their new release and to that end they lip-
Despite the show being networked from the second series onwards, some ITV stations only found time in their schedules to broadcast the first half of the show. ATV London then started playing the show from the beginning of the second series in September 1961, but the ongoing programme dispute between ABC, the show's producer, and ATV London led to the decision by ATV to drop the show in January 1962 and replace it with shows from its own catalogue dating back several years. ABC would later drop ATV's highly successful Sunday Night at the London Palladium from its own schedules. ATV's move was more puzzling since Lucky Stars made its debut in the network TAM ratings for the final week of 1961. By Spring 1962 ABC's decision to persevere with the show is validated as it wins Melody Maker's Top TV Show award.
When the show returned for its third series in September 1962 the debut acts had
been dropped in favour of an 'all-
It was the intention of the show to present songs on TV the day after their release, but this would cause quite a problem to the production team. Jones explained to Disc "We're sometimes faced with just a title and the artist's identity with no record ready to listen to. In cases like this, the set designers have to get cracking with perhaps no more idea of the tune than a few bars hummed over the phone by an A&R man or a song plugger." Talking about the set designs Jones explained "The sets are worth a lot of attention. They help the visual impact of the artists and their discs, and I think they help the artists to come over well if they've got a good showcase. I'm longing for colour TV, I can tell you!" Robert Feust was the shows' first set designer, who, post Lucky Stars, would work on The Avengers and become a successful film director.
Like many of the larger ITV stations ABC also had a base in London and ABC s new
studios at Teddington Lock in Middlesex were opened a week earlier than intended
on December 11th 1962 in order to record three appearances by Cliff Richard and The
Shadows, to be seen in three consecutive shows the same month. However, it had been
the intention to move the show to Teddington anyway, hoping possibly to attract more
London-
Early 1963 sees three regular Spin-
By summer 1963 it was felt successful enough to run the show throughout the whole year, so a new summer version, Lucky Stars (Summer Spin) was created, hosted by Pete Murray. During the summer break Brian Matthew resumed his acting career playing the lead in a production of MacBeth in Kent.
Lucky Stars featured virtually all the major acts of the era, but strangely it never
receives the kind of nostalgic accolade that Ready, Steady, Go! or Top Of The Pops
have. However, the one show everyone who saw it remembers is the first Mersey Beat
special in June 1963, watched by just under twenty million viewers, although by late
1963 the regular audience was around six and a half million per show. As the weekend
franchise holder for the north and midlands ABC Television was well-
Talking to TV Times about hosting the show Brian Matthew said "When I first did it the programme included interviews with the stars. They are now out and the result is a quicker show."
Like Ready, Steady, Go! Lucky Stars was a 'Special Fee' show, which meant that artists accepted a lower than normal fee in order to come on and plug their new record. Lower than, for example, the London Palladium show where they would be expected to perform a couple of songs live.
It was announced that the format of the show would change from 11th April 1964, but
producer Mark Stuart claimed it would be just an experiment. It was the intention
to bring in anything up to ten acts per show instead of six or seven, with Brian
Matthew now mostly heard in voice-
About the same time Jancie Nicholls' empire stretched out into writing a weekly singles review column for the Sunday Mercury "Givin 'Em Foive", she would also provide a weekly piece for weekly pop paper Disc.
Spin-
The show got a new look starting with the 27th March 1965 show, a week before Ready
Steady Go! got it s own cosmetic surgery. The theatre style stage with artists facing
audience has now gone, replaced by a floor stage with the audience sitting in rows
around it, arena style, increasing the seating capacity to 700. This also meant goodbye
to the wonderful stage sets, but they would be back before the end. The series now
has its own resident fashion expert boutique owner Jackie Crier, beginning 3rd July
1965. The fashion section will also include four female dancers. An ABC spokesman
claimed "Young girls spend more money on clothes than ever before. If the musical
fashion parade is successful the show may in future include fashions for men." According
to an NME report "The programme takes on a new look tomorrow (Saturday) with a magazine-
In 1965 host Brian Matthew, fed up with the wall of screaming that ruined the show's sound, reprimanded the predominantly female audience, telling them to keep quiet, and as a result he was asked to leave the show. Jim Dale had joined the show with the introduction of the Lucky Stars (Summer Spin) and was now invited to host the regular show as well until the end. The summer version of the show would occasionally go on location, as Ready Steady Go and Top of The Pops would do, with the ambition to record two numbers outdoors for each show.
While some acts played and sang live on Ready Steady Go there would be no demand to do so on Lucky Stars. Talking to the Daily Mirror at the time of the 200th show in July 1965 Philip Jones said "There have been changes in format over the years. But the idea is still basically the same. All the artistes mime to their records. That's the way we like it. There is no suggestion at all of us asking artists to sing and play 'live.' The idea is to present the stars with their original record sounds. This can't be done in a TV studio, even with a big band."
The producer would clash with two big acts in the summer of 1965. The Yardbirds turned
up late for a rehearsal due to transport problems and were told to go home. Talking
to the NME later Chris Dreja apologised "We were sorry to be behind time but we thought
they'd be understanding. No fear. The producer had some very snooty attitude about
it all. He didn't want to know -
When the regular show returned in early October 1965 slight changes had been made in order to attract an older audience, but the screaming girls were still there. The show was now 45 minutes long and broadcast 30 minutes later in the schedule than before. Groups would be limited to two per show, while later in the month The Jo Cook Dancers were hired as the regular dance troupe. An ABC spokesman told Record Mirror "Out goes the parade of long haired groups and in come entertainers with family appeal." In the same report ABC's Light Entertainment Supervisor Philip Jones stated: "The pop music scene has been going through a big change in the last few months and we hope to reflect this trend by booking the best singers, the finest of the comedy recording artistes and the greatest of the hit paraders." It looked to all concerned that that the show was returning to its 1961 roots.
In March 1966 a ban on singers and players miming on TV shows, implemented by the Musicians Union, was announced, but a date for the ban to be put in practice by television stations had not been officially given. However, an ABC spokesman told Melody Maker "We have been approached by the Union to stop miming after April 1 and talks will presumably take place between now and then. We are going on as usual for the present." A spokesman for ABC told the Birmingham Evening Mail and Dispatch in April 1966 that "We have our own ABC Show Band which could be used in the programme to accompany the singers. But it would no longer be a record show. It would be a straight forward musical variety show. And, of course, it would mean a much more rigorous rehearsal schedule. This would all take time and more time means more money."
On 16th April 1966 the show celebrated its fifth anniversary, only to be cancelled the following week. Before the end came many ITV stations had begun to move the show to Sunday, only to move it back to Saturday just before the final edition, but it was dropped by most of the ITV stations by 16th April 1966 including ATV London who replaced it with Anglia s country drama Weavers Green.
The announcement of the show's demise came just after the Musician's Union request for a ban on miming came into effect, and ABC would admit that this was a contributing factor. Talking to Disc magazine an ABC spokesman claimed "There has been no direct edict from the MU, but their views have partly contributed to our decision to end 'Lucky Stars'. We have made several changes over the past five years, and rather than change it again, we decided to scrap it. We are now considering two pilot shows to take up the Saturday slot in the autumn or winter. They will definitely cater for pop fans, but miming will be out." However, when the news about the show's scrapping was reported in the NME ABC claimed that the MU miming band had nothing to do with their decision.
Talking to The Stage's Television Today section an ABC source claimed "Before every
summer season we have discussed whether to rest Lucky Stars but in the past we have
decided to continue the show -
A new series of ABC's Opportunity Knocks filled the gap in July. However, there would
a surprise at the end of 1966, a one-
The Ken Dodd hosted Doddy's Music Box debuted the beginning of 1967. Lasting for fourteen months it was the only obvious contender to fill the gap left by Lucky Stars.
Due to ABC s strong international sales drive the show was shown as far away as Australia (on channel ATN 7), albeit with a local host, John Bailey and a few musical replacements, including The Bee Gees. It s also likely that producers of NBC s Hullabaloo had seen the Lucky Stars format when producing their own show.
Despite ABC's support of the show it's sad to report that only three known complete editions are known to exist, along with several isolated clips.
Lucky Stars was the show that most people have now largely forgotten, and that a shame, and also wrong. It was the TV show that made The Beatles and other Mersey stars, which would have been enough, but longtime host Brian Matthew understood pop music, unlike others who merely added pop show hosting to their CV. The look of the show, albeit from scant video evidence and press photos, was unique and influential, certainly abroad. Those who saw Oh Boy and other attempts at rock and roll on prime time TV vulgar, probably viewed Lucky Stars as some relief, but the screaming would return when The Beatles appeared. The sheer number of acts that appeared on the show would cause all who care about British pop music to weep at the show's wiping, but that was common at the time and can't be undone.
Considering ABC's chop and change attitude when it came to pop on TV during the Jack Good years it's amazing that Lucky Stars lasted as long as it did, and although the show itself chopped and changed, it was still that same show.
Kevin Mulrennan's book looks at the show’s history in detail. Available now from Amazon.
THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS / LUCKY STARS (SUMMER SPIN)
ABC
1st April 1961 -