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Your Friday Night In...

Your Friday Night In… October 1980


Friday, 24th October 1980

PICK OF THE DAY

7.55pm ANGELS, BBC1
Perhaps one of the greatest BBC drama title sequences of all time – heightened by the sound of a pair of black pumps being scuffed on a gymnasium floor and the inclusion of a heart monitor, which back then seemed like a reasonably novel way to depict the complexities of life and death distilled down to a simple x and y axis. The series featured Fiona Fullerton and Debs and Mags off of EastEnders, plus Floella Benjamin – which was massively confusing for younger viewers unable to understand that Play School presenters may actually just be working actors.

ALSO SHOWING:

9pm THE GENTLE TOUCH, ITV
We always held it against The Gentle Touch that it had a lady singing “ahh ahh ahh” in the title sequence, as if that somehow meant it couldn’t be as exciting as your average cop show.  In fact, it could be quite tough, and featured enough clever-clever dialogue to keep all the family happy.

9pm HINGE AND BRACKET, BBC2
These days, no one, but no one wants to see someone leaning on a piano singing – more’s the pity, but back then this was peak-time viewing on British television. This musical evening, presented by George Logan and Patrick Fyffe, featured songs from South Pacific and an earnest presentation of ‘Land of Hope and Glory’.  And we’ve only just twigged in the process of writing this that the duo’s name is a DIY-based joke.

 

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. THX 1139

    October 27, 2017 at 2:11 pm

    Even Starsky and Hutch didn’t have people being murdered in their opening credits. A tad overemphatic on the selling of the ironically-named grit. Maybe the theme tune should have been more “AAARGH! AAAAARGHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

  2. David Smith

    October 27, 2017 at 2:16 pm

    Re the sublime Hinge and Bracket, I’m sure I must have mentioned this elsewhere on the site but it fair warms my heart that George Logan (Evadne) is apparently still with us, running a B&B in France with his partner… (I say “apparently” only in the fervent hope that the said property’s website is up to date in its information!)

  3. Glenn A

    October 28, 2017 at 1:53 pm

    Angels was quite a tough show in its time and quite controversial. The Asian nurse in the photo developed an alcohol problem in the third series and also, cue to much sniggering when it was on at my friend’s house, in one episode a Chinese nurse announced she was a virgin and her family did not believe in sex before marriage. Quite controversial stuff for 7.00 on a Friday night, but Angels was Auntie’s first decent attempt at a soap.

  4. Richard16378

    October 30, 2017 at 6:58 pm

    The BBC did have The Grove Family in the 1950s but seemed to struggle throughout the 1960s with soaps until throwing in the towel for a few years in the 1970s.

    Angels managed to inspire both Eastenders & Casualty in a roundabout way.

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