Hey You! Nicholas Parsons' Dancing at 2:47

No. 73: Series 5: Programme 4: TXN 23.2.85

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVv2ZAX9smQ

Here is a small clip of an episode of ITV's "No.73" from 23rd February 1985. Although alot less hyper and anarchaic from it's predecessor "Tiswas", this was still a ground-breaking Saturday morning live kids show. Featuring Danish-born English comedienne, author and presenter Sandi Toksvig starring as Ethel Davis, who is jolly well excitied about going skiing, delivers much japes and puns in a show that was mostly improvised. We first come across the 2nd theme for the show with "Hey You" as the stand-out feature, featuring stock footage of wacky stunts such as jousting knights, cycling monkey's and black and white clips of ridiculous inventions.

After Toksvig's witticisms, we come to the end of the show (edited highlights?). Wondering who the reggae/ska band is? Well, it is Jamaican reggae and dancehall music artist Barrington Levy with the song "Under Mi Sensi". He achieved his best performing singles in Britain at this time in 1985. The rest of the No.73 cast join in coming down the stairs, to dance to the musing sounds. By this point, the other chracters were Andrea Arnold as roller-skating Dawn Lodge, Nick Wilton as Tony Deal, a local call man and Nick Staverson as the amazing mullet-haired Harry Stern. Look at Nicholas Parsons dancing with that wild look of open-mouthed joygasm on his face.

Also, there a brief of clip of Nick Wilton as the con-man sitting on top of Rani the Elephant. Anyway, the show by this point was increasing in it's popularity. The show was set in the home abode of No.73, an ordinary setting in a coastal town by the sea, however the main character Ethel Davis (Sandi Toksvig) had started off as an old woman in the first series but gets younger in each series. Harry Stern was the nephew. Dawn Lodge, believe it or not, was a lodger. We also had inventor Percy Simmonds (Patrick Doyle) playing as Ethel's love interest. Local con man Tony Deal was a new character from the 1984 series. I this 1985 series, there was also a mini series within entitled "Roman Around" set in Ancient Rome. This was also played for laughs, presented by Ethel's fictional theatre company "Front Door Productions". It also starred a young Neil Buchanan, who would later present in Saturday morning's "Motormouth" and more famously in CITV's "Art Attack" in the 90s.

The show lasted from 1982-1988. In the last series (1987-88), the name of the show was changed to "7T3". The show was now set in a mock western setting with the saloon doors conveying "7T3". Maybe the show had lost the plot by now. "Motormouth" replaced it in September '88.