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Cue the Music

SILVER-HAIRED Supersonic supremo MIKE MANSFIELD came out of retirement to host this live music showcase, in time-honoured fashion, from a TV gallery control desk (“…aaand cue the music!”). Usually featured cutting-room sweepings of Beverley Craven at the Albert Hall, the ever-popular Camel, etc etc. Featured two idiots gooning about behind yer Mansfield as he made his deadpan intros – comments from various insomniacs that one of them looked like Tony Slattery led to The Slatt actually appearing on several episodes, to almost devastating comic effect (pretending to be a sumo wrestler one week and then being a nun or something the next).

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Lee James Turnock

    April 30, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    Queen, Level 42…bag o’ wank!

  2. Lizzie Birdsworth

    October 6, 2010 at 1:20 am

    As a former stoner, ITV’s night-time line-up in the mid-1990s really was quite magnificent. Mansfield and his old lady hair introducing Go West from the Cleethropes Abattoir still pisses on the interminable interactive quizzes they show these days. And knowing there was still Prisoner Cell Block H to come!!!!!

  3. Matty

    April 26, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    If I recall, the “two idiots gooning about” evolved from what I presume were members of the production crew sitting behind ver Mansfield in his “control booth” and pretending to set volume levels etc until they realised that nobody gave a shit about such po-faced fakery and the ITV bosses were hardly likely to step-in and make them act all professional in a show going out at 1am so they started dicking around instead. I think it started subtly (the “controllers” pushing each other or making faces at the camera) then got sillier (fighting etc) before eventually ending up with the Slattery appearances.

  4. MJ Simpson

    April 21, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    What I recall is that on at least one occasion the whole show was presented by Slattery wearing a silver wig, pretending to be Mansfield. I don’t think there was any spoofery or acknowledgement of this, which made it all the weirder and funnier.

  5. Dan

    June 24, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    I remember ‘Cue the Music’ very well and, until quite recently, had a few audio cassettes of shows, including a great set from Curtis Mayfield.

    The two background characters were very po-faced at the start, but started to get quietly silly after a few episodes. Then Tony Slattery and (I think) Richard Vranch took over the job a bit later and started hooning about behind the impeturbable Mike.

    IMDB have a page with a list of artists who were featured, but it is incomplete: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226689/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

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