Cross-channel pilfering had been undertaken by ITV before, (in 1978 with LWT’s infamous “Snatch of the day”). At the time, the BBC...
The BBC recognised the media hype that was whipping up around Dallas on the other side of the Atlantic and sought to...
While the BBC wasn’t keen to ape American dramas, it wasn’t entirely dismissive of them either. On 5 September 1976, the long-running...
The relative success of American imports influenced programme makers’ attitude to Saturday primetime drama. ITV, in particular, would experiment with its own...
The construction of a successful Saturday night television schedule is a costly business. The inverse relationship between high ratings and low expenditure...
Tammy Cline’s career after Success continued to rise as gradually as before. She formed a new band, made a number of appearances...
Although the BBC and ITV spent much of 1982 attempting to revitalise light entertainment through experimentation with new formats and new kinds...
The BBC’s head of variety, light entertainment group, Jim Moir took Noel Edmonds out for several lunches during 1982, to help the presenter shape...
A balmy early summer’s evening in 1982 saw the stars gathering at Thames Television’s Teddington studios. As the celebrities arrived and dutifully filed...
While OTT and Sin On Saturday had little in common, there were some similarities between the two programmes beyond sharing the same day...
While OTT was attracting terrible column inches, the BBC had its own Saturday night disaster to contend with. Sin on Saturday was...
Central Television’s OTT was on the search for new, cutting-edge talent to augment the team of Tarrant, Gorman, Henry and Carolgees. Chris Tarrant came...
The success of Game For A Laugh and the corresponding demise of The Generation Game meant that, by the start of 1982, the BBC...
With the exception of Game For A Laugh, television producers struggled to come up with any major Saturday night hits during 1981....
It’ll Be Alright on the Night producer Paul Smith took the decision to introduce the format to American television, and while in the United...
The massive popularity of LWT’s It’ll Be Alright on the Night can’t have provided much encouragement to old school directors like Richard...
“I’m sick and tired of those same old prizes,” bemoans Peter Holmans. “We’ve got to think of something new”. Self-criticism and angst...
“The nation talked about it,” says Boyd of Game For A Laugh. “’Did you see that daft story?’” “We did three series, then...
“Nothing on television so exercises the critics as the game shows,” wrote Laurie Taylor and Bob Mullan in their book Uninvited Guests: Intimate Secrets...
“Those of us who watched (Game For A Laugh) for the first time, did so in slightly gob-smacked admiration,” says David Docherty,...
In the history of Saturday night television few programmes have dominated quite like The Generation Game during the 1970s. Even the departure of...
While the acts breaking through to British television in 1980 were, in the main, well established live performers, their ascension to the...
Yorkshire Television did its own bit for new comic talent on Saturday nights with the creation, in June 1980 of Rock With Laughter....
Hughie Green is a troubling figure in British television history. Born on 2 February, 1920 in London, but raised in Canada, Green became...
The failure of Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night was a major blip for ITV, but not an outright disaster. On the plus side, Michael...
Although a disaster for Forsyth, Bruce Forsyth’s Big Night eventually came up trumps for Cannon and Ball who, on the strength of their...
A weekend television audience differs from a weekday one in both composition and expectation, so that the principles and practice of programming...
On the evening of Monday 5 September 1969, the available LWT unit heads – Doreen Stephens, Terry Hughes, Humphrey Burton, Derek Granger and...
LWT’s output in those early days was as varied as any other ITV station, however the combination of, as David Docherty in...
In 1968, Frank Muir sat down at his desk to write a letter. Concentrating on work was not always easy in this office....
By the late 1960s, Bruce Forsyth had been a big star for a long time. Since coming to prominence in 1958 as compere...
In the late 1960s, the BBC’s Saturday line-up fell under the auspices of head of light entertainment, Bill Cotton – and it was...
It’s Saturday Night was originally published, in a different form, on the website www.offthetelly.co.uk in monthly instalments under the name The Glory...
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