TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

Live music was the backbone of this, probably the last great pop music TV show of the century. Not the return to The Tube that everyone was hoping for, but none the less another important step in the rehabilitation of rock music on British television.

Produced by Initial Television and featuring many backroom names from The Tube like director Geoff Wonfor and producers Malcolm Gerrie and Chris Cowey it set out like a fun version of The Old Grey Whistle Test and broadcast on Saturday night, the same night as Later on BBC2.

The first show was a one-off special, made to kick off a reggae night on Channel 4 in the summer of 1994, but it wouldn't be until the following Spring that the show proper got underway.

It would be one of the first shows to make a virtue of the fact that it was broadcast 'in digital stereo', a technology that broadcasters had been tinkering with since 1974. When Eurythmic Dave Stewart was commissioned to give the show a theme he asked Cowey what he wanted and replied "bring the instruments in in the order they were invented" which he did.

The studio set-out was similar to that used by The Word, basic white with coloured patterns shone on to it with room for the audience to dance, while the professional dancers were either on podiums or behind illuminated screens casting shadows.

The chosen host was Mark Radcliffe, Radio 1 DJ and host of the previous year s Channel Four Glastonbury weekend. The series attracted guests who were previously presumed banished from television, unless they had a hit single to plug on Top Of The Pops. The first show (of the series proper) featured a fabulous live set from Stevie Wonder, while the popular mix and match approach was exercised with Ray Davies and Damon Albarn in the next show, while Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher appeared together later in the series  first run. Prince, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and his transparent trousers, Shane MacGowan tripping over his bass player, all made live appearances as did many of the Britpoppers. Thankfully there were no interviews, boogie woogie or jamming, just big pop stars playing live, just as you'd want them to be, with one or two classic archive clips shown each week as well.

The first show bagged Stevie Wonder to play a live set. Producer Chris Cowey didn’t want Wonder to play the MOR songs he was recently famous for so had to sensitively persuade him to play some of the more 70's era protest songs. Agreeing, he started playing and the nearby electricity sub-station immediately shut down. Once they got going again he played a set of his harder 70's classics and also improvised a track on the spot We're Gonna Party On The White Room which was used in the show's trailer.

The first series of seven was well received and a New Year's Eve show was commissioned which saw Jo Whiley introduced as a co-host. A second series was commissioned half-way through the broadcast of the first, despite only having a 1.2 million viewing audience.

A successful second series began in January 1996, ending in March featuring Blur, Lush, Little Richard, Lou Reed, Ocean Colour Scene among others. After a significant increase in its arts and music budget The White Room was assured a future, with the show's senior producer Andy Hudson telling Music Week "It's a real endorsement of the music shows Channel Four has successfully commissioned so far. Music on TV has gone through a bad patch, but it is now enjoying a renaissance. We've proved to Channel Four that if you put enough creativity and music content into a show, you can expect good ratings."

The third series followed in July, but after a significant shake-up in the Channel Four arts programming department the series seemed to be on hold. An announcement was made that a new series of six had been commissioned, not the nine as intended, with only the five shown, finishing in August 1996. A series featuring no significant new album releases meant that ratings were similarly poor and the series was cancelled in September 1996.

A series of repeats were shown from November 1996 until February 1997.

The same month saw a spate of re-launch programme suggestions. A rescue plan was announced in which the new Channel Five would take the series while the back catalogue would be shown by LWT / Granada on the ITV network, while a compilation show was to be sold to ABC in America. None of this happened, and producer Chris Cowey was hired by the BBC to produce Top Of The Pops from Summer 1997.

THE WHITE ROOM

C4 / Initial

11th June 1994, 11th March 1995 - 23rd August 1996