Television's Greatest Hits - 1966 - Game Shows
This was a 1992 nostalgia series presented by "Going Live's" Phillip Schofield which focused on a selection of different years and their worth of fondly remembered Television shows. The focus of this episode (not in it's entirety here) is Hughie Green's ITV quiz show "Double Your Money" featuring clips of the show, along with a then interview with the star of the show. The show, which began in 1955, is proudly boasted by Green as the first gameshow to feature in the old Soviet Union. A clip of the Soviet Union version follows with an English spelling challenge, and it's all in English. Hughie Green also explain where he got his catchphrase "I mean that most sincerely".
Schofield then gives us what was the five biggest hits of 1966. The programme ends with Hughie Green singing a trio rendition of "Let's Do It" on "A Royal Gala".
"Double Your Money" lasted from 1955 to 1968, axed after the TV company that produced it, Rediffusion London. A consistentley popular quizshow, where the amount of prize money doubled after each correct answer. Hughie Green would star alongside a stream of different female hostesses, from good friend Monica Rose to elderly cleaner Alice Earley, a former contestant recruited off the show herself.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Ooooh! That's All I Have to Say...
Jonathan Ross Frankie Howerd trailer 1991
This was too good to miss out. A trailer for "Tonight with Johnathan Ross", an early Ross chat show lasting 1990 to 1992. This followed his first chat show also on Channel 4 "The Last Resort with Johnathan Ross".
Frankie Howerd here, gives his trademark "oooh" expression. Simple but still funny.
This was too good to miss out. A trailer for "Tonight with Johnathan Ross", an early Ross chat show lasting 1990 to 1992. This followed his first chat show also on Channel 4 "The Last Resort with Johnathan Ross".
Frankie Howerd here, gives his trademark "oooh" expression. Simple but still funny.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Come Aboard the Toy Monorail Folks...
ITV Schools - Physics In Action
Been quite hard to find the year and even the decade for this, but I think it's from the 1980s. This short clips talks about the laws of motion, involving these gliding magnets along a railing, something like a minature monorail. Narrated by Charles Foster, "Physics In Action" as far as I know was still being made for ITV Schools in the late-80s.
The presentation of the show is eerily similar to the 2000s spoof 70s/80s schools series "Look Around You".
Been quite hard to find the year and even the decade for this, but I think it's from the 1980s. This short clips talks about the laws of motion, involving these gliding magnets along a railing, something like a minature monorail. Narrated by Charles Foster, "Physics In Action" as far as I know was still being made for ITV Schools in the late-80s.
The presentation of the show is eerily similar to the 2000s spoof 70s/80s schools series "Look Around You".
There Was A Time Everything Barrymore Touched, Turned to Gold...
Michael Barrymore - Funny Acceptance Speech
Michael Barrymore at his peak here perhaps. Here he wins the "Best ITV Entertainment Presenter" award. There was no overall award for the category, only split between the 3 stations, of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Barrymore by this point, was well-loved and his antics, especially at award shows, became more and more outrageous. Here he rips out the monitor giving the autocue for the now household furniture of the awards show every year, Johnathan Ross. Did he go too far? Maybe, but this is the British Comedy Awards, where many outlandish shenanigans have transpired...the proprietor being usually drunk. The audience loved it. Basically you could say Barrymore, trying to be funny was basically trying to be a twat. Some of it could be known as insensitive, which is maybe why we don't sadly see the likes of him today after all the drama and allegations he has had from his wife Cheryl leaving him, then coming out as gay, then the party pool incident, and you know the rest! You kind of feel sorry for him, but at the same time, you're never quite sure...Is every bloody post about Barrymore going to end on this note!?
The British Comedy Awards has run annually since 1990, the first presentation by the-rather-more-straight-man Michael Parkinson or "Parky". Johnathan Ross has presented the show ever since bar one year - 2008- after the BBC Radio 2 controversy with Russell Brand. Angus Deayton was the replacement that year, but Ross came back for 2009. Various award titles had changed and chopped about over the years, but there's always a lifetime award to a comedy great. which is usually one of the highlights.
There's a plethora of controversial moments from these awards. We'll be seeing more of this here, on the blog. Another thing, the stage backdrop from 1995 and around the time was brilliant, hosting an ancient Greek outdoor setting.
Michael Barrymore at his peak here perhaps. Here he wins the "Best ITV Entertainment Presenter" award. There was no overall award for the category, only split between the 3 stations, of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. Barrymore by this point, was well-loved and his antics, especially at award shows, became more and more outrageous. Here he rips out the monitor giving the autocue for the now household furniture of the awards show every year, Johnathan Ross. Did he go too far? Maybe, but this is the British Comedy Awards, where many outlandish shenanigans have transpired...the proprietor being usually drunk. The audience loved it. Basically you could say Barrymore, trying to be funny was basically trying to be a twat. Some of it could be known as insensitive, which is maybe why we don't sadly see the likes of him today after all the drama and allegations he has had from his wife Cheryl leaving him, then coming out as gay, then the party pool incident, and you know the rest! You kind of feel sorry for him, but at the same time, you're never quite sure...Is every bloody post about Barrymore going to end on this note!?
The British Comedy Awards has run annually since 1990, the first presentation by the-rather-more-straight-man Michael Parkinson or "Parky". Johnathan Ross has presented the show ever since bar one year - 2008- after the BBC Radio 2 controversy with Russell Brand. Angus Deayton was the replacement that year, but Ross came back for 2009. Various award titles had changed and chopped about over the years, but there's always a lifetime award to a comedy great. which is usually one of the highlights.
There's a plethora of controversial moments from these awards. We'll be seeing more of this here, on the blog. Another thing, the stage backdrop from 1995 and around the time was brilliant, hosting an ancient Greek outdoor setting.
Monday, 15 March 2010
Hughie Green's Farewell from "Opportunity Knocks" + The Musical Muscleman. Ouch!
Tony Holland The Musical Muscleman (Also Titles And End Credits) - Opportunity Knocks
This is from the last edition of the first and last run of "Opportunity Knocks" on ITV. Hughie Green would soon disappear from the limelight and moved on to other variety show work, presenting on the likes of Australian and Irish TV. This final edition featured the best and most famous performers throughout the run, and none more are unforgettable as "The Musical Muscleman" Tony Holland, who first appeared on the show in 1964.
The tune of "Wheel Cha Cha" (composed by Joe Loss in 1961) is synonymous with the bodybuilder's almost muscle hemorrhaging movements to the beat of the music. Those shoulder blades look like they're getting dislocated to move like that, my giddy aunt. Unbelievably, some people couldn't get enough of him, and he won the show six times. Since then, apart from the odd appearance on reminiscing TV shows, he has done work for the local community, running a children's home, becoming a social worker, and a gym worker throughout his lifetime.
Not to mention, Hughie Green's farewell speech, not THAT infamous speech, that probably put him in this situation of saying farewell(Stand Up and Be Counted Speech). Although cut at the beginning, at his over-dramatic best, with instrumental strings playing in the background, thanking all the stars and auditionees over the years as well as the behind-the-scenes staff, and officially declares his retirement from TV. It was thopught
This is from the last edition of the first and last run of "Opportunity Knocks" on ITV. Hughie Green would soon disappear from the limelight and moved on to other variety show work, presenting on the likes of Australian and Irish TV. This final edition featured the best and most famous performers throughout the run, and none more are unforgettable as "The Musical Muscleman" Tony Holland, who first appeared on the show in 1964.
The tune of "Wheel Cha Cha" (composed by Joe Loss in 1961) is synonymous with the bodybuilder's almost muscle hemorrhaging movements to the beat of the music. Those shoulder blades look like they're getting dislocated to move like that, my giddy aunt. Unbelievably, some people couldn't get enough of him, and he won the show six times. Since then, apart from the odd appearance on reminiscing TV shows, he has done work for the local community, running a children's home, becoming a social worker, and a gym worker throughout his lifetime.
Not to mention, Hughie Green's farewell speech, not THAT infamous speech, that probably put him in this situation of saying farewell(Stand Up and Be Counted Speech). Although cut at the beginning, at his over-dramatic best, with instrumental strings playing in the background, thanking all the stars and auditionees over the years as well as the behind-the-scenes staff, and officially declares his retirement from TV. It was thopught
Get Your Facts Right Harty!
Fred Dibnah - Russell Harty show 1979
This is taken from Russell Harty's ITV chat show, after looking at the year this took place, "Russell Harty Plus" (1973-1981), before moving to the BBC, the stint he was more well known for, Grace Jones et all. He is interviewing the colourful character which was Fred Dibnah, not an entertainer, but had the erstwhile job of being a "steeplejack". This was a traditional job repairing and most famously, demolishing steeples and chimneys such as factory and church steeples. He would be required to climb these tall structures with rope or ladders before going onto the next stage of scaffolding.
Fred Dibnah's work was captured on film in 1978 in a documentary called "Fred Dibnah, Steeplejack", and much like reality TV, the very likeable and passionate Lancastrian became a celebrity on TV appearing on various shows, as well as his own TV series in his later years. 1998's "Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age". In this Youtube clip, one of his most famous scenes from the original programme, the felling of a factory/mill chimny in Rochdale, showing Dibnah dashing away from his handiwork, in this spectacular felling, and you're wondering "has he run in the right direction away from the chimney?".
This is taken from Russell Harty's ITV chat show, after looking at the year this took place, "Russell Harty Plus" (1973-1981), before moving to the BBC, the stint he was more well known for, Grace Jones et all. He is interviewing the colourful character which was Fred Dibnah, not an entertainer, but had the erstwhile job of being a "steeplejack". This was a traditional job repairing and most famously, demolishing steeples and chimneys such as factory and church steeples. He would be required to climb these tall structures with rope or ladders before going onto the next stage of scaffolding.
Fred Dibnah's work was captured on film in 1978 in a documentary called "Fred Dibnah, Steeplejack", and much like reality TV, the very likeable and passionate Lancastrian became a celebrity on TV appearing on various shows, as well as his own TV series in his later years. 1998's "Fred Dibnah's Industrial Age". In this Youtube clip, one of his most famous scenes from the original programme, the felling of a factory/mill chimny in Rochdale, showing Dibnah dashing away from his handiwork, in this spectacular felling, and you're wondering "has he run in the right direction away from the chimney?".
Away for a Few Days but Videos are Still-a-coming...
They'll be scheduled posts at 8pm, and due to that, there will not be much readable content until I'm back. What to expect over the week? We'll be seeing quite a bit from Comedy, as well as Chat Shows, Gameshows, Music, Schools TV, Light Entertainment, Adverts, Continuity and Idents and Drama.
Hopefully I can drag all new posts to that time permanently. EDIT: Looks like I won't have any descriptions for now.
Hopefully I can drag all new posts to that time permanently. EDIT: Looks like I won't have any descriptions for now.
Welcome, to the Magical World of SAW Land, Still Stuck in the 80s as of This Post
The Hitman and Her at Sheffield, 1989 (intro)
This seems a good time to wheel out "Hitman and Her", a now obscure joy, after Pete Waterman's recent step back into the limelight as the "make-a-hit-song-in-15-mins" powerhouse steps to back to claim why he comandeered the biggest wealth of UK Single No.1's in the 80s! Yep with another 80s song for the Eurovision this year, 2010.
We'll talk about Waterman in a later edit, but let's focus on this long clip from this show in Sheffield. Waterman and children's presenter Michaela Strachan host the show, which tours around different nightclubs each Saturday night. As Waterman was behind a producing trio of record producers and song writers Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW). So no surprise, many of the hits played were played came from SAW, artists as famous as Kylie Minogue to one-hit wonders like "The Reynold Girls". They all appeared, questionably live. We hear a remix of Minogue's "Never Too Late" hit. The feautured dancers are on the stage, who play a role as cheerleaders for the clubbers to follow, and visual entertainment, for the half-stewed audience back home. Denim is everywhere, bleeding denim jackets (with thick perms) and all the women are wearing denim shorts, a la, Daisy Duke, and not forgetting that one vital 80s ingredient...lycra! They are lead by "Wiggy", a black dancer wearing a white wig, all the time, every time. Wonder if he goes to bed in that?
There's some unintentional humour in this clip. Surely the 2 male clubbers interviews are parodies? The first guy, as said in a Youtube comment on the video, talks like and has the sleaziness to be Keith Lemon, a 2000s comedy characters invented by comedian Leigh Francis. The second guy, swirling his hips throughout his on-screen appearance, the Chuckle Brother, really thinks he's a hit with the ladies, or will be. The first woman interviewed, Jeanie a part-time glamour model, who looks like American "The Fly" actress Geena Davis. Very classy looking for a glamour model compared to today, that's shocking that. Today it would be a bucketload of eye liner, and the Grand Canyon screaming at you're face!
"The Hitman and Her" ran continuously on Sunday early,early mornings for 4 years from 1988-1992, on the ITV's "Night Time" schedule.
This seems a good time to wheel out "Hitman and Her", a now obscure joy, after Pete Waterman's recent step back into the limelight as the "make-a-hit-song-in-15-mins" powerhouse steps to back to claim why he comandeered the biggest wealth of UK Single No.1's in the 80s! Yep with another 80s song for the Eurovision this year, 2010.
We'll talk about Waterman in a later edit, but let's focus on this long clip from this show in Sheffield. Waterman and children's presenter Michaela Strachan host the show, which tours around different nightclubs each Saturday night. As Waterman was behind a producing trio of record producers and song writers Stock, Aitken and Waterman (SAW). So no surprise, many of the hits played were played came from SAW, artists as famous as Kylie Minogue to one-hit wonders like "The Reynold Girls". They all appeared, questionably live. We hear a remix of Minogue's "Never Too Late" hit. The feautured dancers are on the stage, who play a role as cheerleaders for the clubbers to follow, and visual entertainment, for the half-stewed audience back home. Denim is everywhere, bleeding denim jackets (with thick perms) and all the women are wearing denim shorts, a la, Daisy Duke, and not forgetting that one vital 80s ingredient...lycra! They are lead by "Wiggy", a black dancer wearing a white wig, all the time, every time. Wonder if he goes to bed in that?
There's some unintentional humour in this clip. Surely the 2 male clubbers interviews are parodies? The first guy, as said in a Youtube comment on the video, talks like and has the sleaziness to be Keith Lemon, a 2000s comedy characters invented by comedian Leigh Francis. The second guy, swirling his hips throughout his on-screen appearance, the Chuckle Brother, really thinks he's a hit with the ladies, or will be. The first woman interviewed, Jeanie a part-time glamour model, who looks like American "The Fly" actress Geena Davis. Very classy looking for a glamour model compared to today, that's shocking that. Today it would be a bucketload of eye liner, and the Grand Canyon screaming at you're face!
"The Hitman and Her" ran continuously on Sunday early,early mornings for 4 years from 1988-1992, on the ITV's "Night Time" schedule.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Rabies is a Threat? That Character from "Maid Marian and Her Merry Men"? I Knew It!
Rabies Outbreak (1976) - Public Information Film
Although Rabies never really gets talked about much these days, it's still a serious infection, it's just that us, western spoiled-types are all vaccinated, as well as domestic warm-blooded animals and livestock. Old news, maybe but, if you live in a poor country in Africa or Asia, you can still be killed from it. It's fatal from the word go. That doesn't mean this overly-charged PIF isn't immune from some of the classic scaremongering that was going on in PIF's in those days. You can get rabies from basically any mammal, but why is so much to blame on the dogs? This PIF warns of all domestic animals being a danger, but 1 poor dog is the centre of the piece, revered like a killer. Dogs get most of the stick because, out of the 2 domestic mammals that are allowed to roam freely, not from a farm, cats are more controlled in their behaviour, although not perfect. Dogs like to put just about anything into their mouths out of curiosity or whatnot.
The situation of the film, poses like it's a nuclear fall-out zone. Rabies areas are cordoned off, all foxes are to be killed, no free moving of mutts and felines and worst of all, no cat shows and dog shows! Better off without them actually. The dog featured, faces execution as non-verbally told by the PIF.
Although Rabies never really gets talked about much these days, it's still a serious infection, it's just that us, western spoiled-types are all vaccinated, as well as domestic warm-blooded animals and livestock. Old news, maybe but, if you live in a poor country in Africa or Asia, you can still be killed from it. It's fatal from the word go. That doesn't mean this overly-charged PIF isn't immune from some of the classic scaremongering that was going on in PIF's in those days. You can get rabies from basically any mammal, but why is so much to blame on the dogs? This PIF warns of all domestic animals being a danger, but 1 poor dog is the centre of the piece, revered like a killer. Dogs get most of the stick because, out of the 2 domestic mammals that are allowed to roam freely, not from a farm, cats are more controlled in their behaviour, although not perfect. Dogs like to put just about anything into their mouths out of curiosity or whatnot.
The situation of the film, poses like it's a nuclear fall-out zone. Rabies areas are cordoned off, all foxes are to be killed, no free moving of mutts and felines and worst of all, no cat shows and dog shows! Better off without them actually. The dog featured, faces execution as non-verbally told by the PIF.
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Guitar Meows for a Girl from the Future Trapped in Present Day Earth...
the girl from tomorrow
This was an Australian part Sci-fi, part family drama for CBBC in the early nineties. On Youtube, all 2 series of the show were in it's entirety, but are no longer around. However, if it's any consolation, here's the under-rated instrumental theme tune and intro. I can feel the pain in that guitar.
Basically, it's about a teen girl from the year 3000 -where the world is at peace with one another, like heaven on Earth - called Alana (played by Katherine Cullen), who hails from a time where they use a telepathic power of healing through a hair band looking item they strap around their foreheads named a "transducer". It can also destroy too. A scientist named Bruno invents the Time Capsule, looking like the "Crystal Maze" dome but smaller. In a blunder, on one escapade to the year 2500, in an Earth gone bad and polluted, Alana's mentor Tulista, comes back with a deadly surprise. Silverthorn (John Howard) escapes from his time and is the main villain of the show, a rough and ready big guy who doesn't take no for an answer. He wants to take over the weaponry and technology of the future, but his weapons are inferior to the transducer. He kidnaps Alana and travel to Earth in 1990, to Sydney Australia. Alana escapes Silverthorn, but is shattered by the "belief" that the Time Capsule has been destroyed. She meets a similarly-aged friend, Jenny Kelly. Alana soon lives with the Kelly family, as they help her foil Silverthorn's plans, and get back to the year 3000!
There were 2 series of the show, this series is mostly set in 1990. The second series is subtitled as Tomorrow's End. This follows Silverthorn upsetting time and history, and Alana and Jenny having to travel to the still murky, polluted Earth in the year 2500, and put a stop to Silverthorn and his accomplices, a unitlateral law and order control known as "Globecorp".
This was an Australian part Sci-fi, part family drama for CBBC in the early nineties. On Youtube, all 2 series of the show were in it's entirety, but are no longer around. However, if it's any consolation, here's the under-rated instrumental theme tune and intro. I can feel the pain in that guitar.
Basically, it's about a teen girl from the year 3000 -where the world is at peace with one another, like heaven on Earth - called Alana (played by Katherine Cullen), who hails from a time where they use a telepathic power of healing through a hair band looking item they strap around their foreheads named a "transducer". It can also destroy too. A scientist named Bruno invents the Time Capsule, looking like the "Crystal Maze" dome but smaller. In a blunder, on one escapade to the year 2500, in an Earth gone bad and polluted, Alana's mentor Tulista, comes back with a deadly surprise. Silverthorn (John Howard) escapes from his time and is the main villain of the show, a rough and ready big guy who doesn't take no for an answer. He wants to take over the weaponry and technology of the future, but his weapons are inferior to the transducer. He kidnaps Alana and travel to Earth in 1990, to Sydney Australia. Alana escapes Silverthorn, but is shattered by the "belief" that the Time Capsule has been destroyed. She meets a similarly-aged friend, Jenny Kelly. Alana soon lives with the Kelly family, as they help her foil Silverthorn's plans, and get back to the year 3000!
There were 2 series of the show, this series is mostly set in 1990. The second series is subtitled as Tomorrow's End. This follows Silverthorn upsetting time and history, and Alana and Jenny having to travel to the still murky, polluted Earth in the year 2500, and put a stop to Silverthorn and his accomplices, a unitlateral law and order control known as "Globecorp".
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