Over the years, Blind Date changed very little. Filmed inserts superseded the photographic montages originally used to represent Blinders’ dates. Meanwhile,...
Wednesday, 8th October 1986 PICK OF THE DAY 7.35pm THE LIVES AND LOVES OF A SHE-DEVIL, BBC2 Dennis Waterman trades the leather...
Over the years, Blind Date gave early television exposure to Amanda Holden (who appeared in 1990), children’s TV presenter Ortis Deley (1995) and...
Wednesday, 5th October 1988 PICK OF THE DAY 7.35m DOCTOR WHO, BBC1 Sorry, Mum, you’re just going to have to miss the...
Unsurprisingly the press seized upon the failed Blind Date pilot and David Glencross and the IBA felt compelled to act. Birt, comfortable that...
Wednesday, 23rd September 1998 PICK OF THE DAY 9pm LIVING WITH THE ENEMY – OLD LABOUR VS NEW LABOUR, BBC2 Truly a...
Wednesday, 18th September 1991 PICK OF THE DAY 5.30pm JOHN TOVEY’S ENTERTAINING ON A PLATE, BBC2 Still yet to feature on any...
Wednesday, 8th September 1982 PICK OF THE DAY 8.10pm FAME, BBC1 Television series spun off from films are inherently troubling affairs. Somehow...
Today’s the day TV YEARS magazine goes on sale. Packed with interviews, facts and fancies about Eighties television – and nothing but...
“It’s wallpaper TV,” claimed Daily Mail entertainment columnist, Baz Bamigboye in 2000. “But watching Cilla is like using an illegal substance. You know you...
Wednesday, 2nd September 1970 PICK OF THE DAY 5.20pm ACE OF WANDS, ITV Purloining its title from an old Doctor Who story...
A brand-new magazine about old telly goes on sale Tuesday, 11 September. Called TV YEARS, its first issue is all about the...
LWT’s head of comedy, Humphrey Barclay was growing increasingly concerned. Much effort had been made in the late 1970s to sort out...
Wednesday, 29th August 1990 PICK OF THE DAY 11.35am THE O ZONE, BBC1 Your Wednesday night, there. We know this is a...
Bob Monkhouse found his niche at the BBC in 1984, but he was not the only one to attain a sense of...
Wednesday, 26th August 1981 PICK OF THE DAY 6.20pm NOW GET OUT OF THAT!, BBC1 This show was always destined for greatness...
Another comedian hosting a primetime quiz show for the BBC in 1984 was Bob Monkhouse. From the 1980s onwards, Monkhouse would routinely...
Wednesday, 17th August 1977 PICK OF THE DAY 10.15pm ALL MY LOVING, BBC2 Especially in the 1970s, August was pretty much always...
1984 was a year of change in front of the camera. Simon Cadell was replaced in BBC1’s Saturday evening nostalgic sitcom Hi-de-Hi! by...
Wednesday, 7th August 1985 PICK OF THE DAY 6pm THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, BBC1 What’s this? Well, it’s one of the darkest...
ITV’s own Saturday night dalliance into the realm of telefantasy was more successful, although it too would suffer from an early...
This is it – the pig one! We have reached the end of TV Cream’s reshaping of the first half of Now...
Wednesday, 4th August 1993 PICK OF THE DAY 7pm FANTASTIC FACTS! ITV Gasp! Jonathan Ross on ITV! This was pretty big news...
The Tripods first aired on 15 September 1984 accompanied by a level of hype that marked the series out for intense scrutiny...
Wednesday, 24th July 1991 PICK OF THE DAY 7.00pm WOGAN, BBC1 The unthinkable has happened and Old Tel has been prevailed upon...
As the new age of ITV co-operation started to bear fruit in 1984, further promises were made. Granada, still resistant to Birt’s...
In Now That’s What I Call Music! terms – the Nowverse, if you will – this week is the big one as...
Wednesday, 16th July 1969 PICK OF THE DAY 6.40pm THE BEST OF TOMORROW’S WORLD, ITV A collection of highlights from the award-winning...
The steady trickle of new weekend ITV programmes made by the traditionally weekend-averse Granada and Central Television was taken as a personal triumph...
Week eight of Pig Hits!, where us and then you help determine the outstanding tracks from the first 50 Now! albums, and...
THE GREAT ASP appeared in front of a giant balsa and Fuzzy Felt (TM) speech bubble.
Wednesday, 14th July 1976 PICK OF THE DAY 8.00pm SUMMER NIGHT OUT, ITV There may have been a drought in full swing,...
COMMERCIAL CHIP off the CHEGGERS block.
It’s the last episode of this six-part run, and here’s Ian and Graham nattering about two shows. This episode includes: An incredibly annoying...
“I think the third programme in the series was number one in the ratings,” says Stewart. “Coronation Street was gone, everything else...
Twenty massive hits, five eventually turning out to be more massive than the others! It’s Pig Hits!, our trawl through the first...
Wednesday, 5th July 1989 PICK OF THE DAY 8.00pm PEOPLE, BBC1 It’s Frank Bruno and the wallpaper-bland Simon May theme song about...
Graham and Chris meet, each bringing an undisclosed show for the other to watch, and then talk about. And that, in a...
Leslie Crowther was born in Nottingham in 1933. In 1946 he found his way into the BBC Schools Repertory Service and in...
TV Cream was sad to hear of the death of Peter Firmin, co-founder of Smallfilms (with Oliver Postgate). Between them, Firmin and Postgate created The...
Welcome back, pop pickers and pop pirates alike. We’re into the second half of our commemorative Now That’s What I Call Music!...
Wednesday, 20th June 1984 PICK OF THE DAY 8.10pm SURVIVORS, BBC1 Oh, could you just pass me that flask, please? Eighth episode...
This time around, Chris and Ian are getting together to surprise each other with a couple of old TV shows and then...
Even before the arrival of Surprise, Surprise, Birt’s public confidence in LWT’s output appeared well founded. By the end of 1983...
Week five of Pig Hits! and our public vote compilation of the best of the first half of Now That’s What I...
Wednesday, 20th June 1984 PICK OF THE DAY 8pm MIKE REID’S MATES AND MUSIC, ITV And there’s your elevator pitch right there!...
This week, it’s Ian and Graham in the home-office, watching and then chatting about a couple of TV shows. This episode includes:...
At the beginning of 1984, the BBC was forced to fight political battles (both internal and external) on almost all fronts....
ROGER MOORE tours famous back projection blue screens of the world.
Welcome to part four of Pig Hits!, not computer compiled by Gallup, in which we mark the upcoming 100th Now That’s What...
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