1981: Even the Community Programming Unit has to let its hair down occasionally. Grapevine, “The Self-Help Show”, is still very low-key in...
1979: 21 minutes of the pre-Christmas Swap Shop are illuminated by Debbie Harry and a Super 8 camera wielding Chris Stein taking...
1981: Westward Television celebrated its 20th anniversary, eight months after the actual date and ten days before the franchise closed. Hey, better...
1971: Opportunity Knocks’ big discoveries in 1971 were Little & Large, but despite making the All Winners Show they weren’t in contention...
For we know we should be gay Hullo again! And we’re back with the second half of your double Christmas Creamguide with...
Hullo there! And welcome to the maybe-legendary-but-it’s-not-for-us-to-say Christmas Creamguide, back for a nineteenth festive season. As in previous years, it’s so big...
1977: You’re quite right it’s Monday, Play School, and as the start of Christmas week Chloe Ashcroft and Johnny Ball are getting...
Wednesday, 17th December 2003 PICK OF THE DAY 9.00pm THE MILLION POUND PROPERTY EXPERIMENT, BBC2 The twilight of the TV-shows-about-housing boom sees...
1980: Top Of The Pops (full playlist), the last one before Christmas. Both Simon Bates and the production team are in “that”...
For this Yuletide episode, Chris and Ian aren’t exchanging gifts, but fruity opinions of two festive TV specials of yore. Because...
1977: “He’s got a funny surname but I can’t remember it!” Our Show was what LWT, with the backing of Anglia and...
For all its attempts at breaking new ground, Bobby Davro On The Box appealed to a relatively conservative audience. Journalist Stewart Knowles attended a...
1980: Um, is it alright if we all agree to skip past the imagery of the first show trailed here? Thanks. BBC1’s...
1987: We haven’t included a lot of adverts in this Advent Calendar so far because there’s great vats of them on YouTube...
1976: Post-Grundy, the Sex Pistols found promoters and local councils weren’t as amenable to putting on their UK tour as they had...
1970: “The work to rule is over!” And unfortunately so is the online presence of the full Bob-fronted Golden Shot that was...
1981: Some of the bits between the programmes on BBC2. “It’s really sodding cold” is the news lead, including a rare namecheck...
Wednesday, 15th December 1982 PICK OF THE DAY 7.00pm TOP SECRET, BBC1 Our enduring affection for this teatime parlour show lies –...
1980: Tributes to John Lennon were still having to be made, Top Of The Pops finding a dark corner of the studio...
1981: One of the great pop years, where the rise of the synths, punk’s fallout, the soul revival, rock’n’roll revivalism, weird European...
On Saturday 4 January 1986, ITV’s evening schedule included an oddity – 60 minutes of extreme alternative comedy in the shape of...
1980: John Lennon was declared dead at 3.50am UK time, which means it’s very likely this Midday News report would have been...
1979: The first Star Trek film was released the previous day in the US and on the 15th here. The BBC children’s...
1984: “Lumberjack? Steeplejack? Oh, Uncle Jack?” The Chas & Dave theme and presence of Stu Francis can only mean Crackerjack was on...
1973: Everyone was into oil fields in the mid-70s, and a discovery near the Shetlands led John Craven’s Newsround. Craven himself had...
1982: As trailed by the natural face of experimental broadcasting, Arthur Mullard, although The Saturday Show found an ideal front”person” for the...
Wednesday, 7th December 1988 PICK OF THE DAY 7.35pm DOCTOR WHO, BBC1 “We have none of this jazz whereof you speak, Doctor,...
1974: The Irish border problem used to mean something entirely different. Nationwide traversed the divide in the company of Bernard Falk, who...
1980: Peter Davison had been named as the Fifth Doctor a month earlier and was three and a half months away from...
With the arrival of Casualty, Saturday evenings had taken on a surprisingly grim aspect, yet the real world could also violate the...
1981: Southern was on the way out at the end of the year which would inevitably mean an end to Houseparty, the...
Hello there! Why Don’t YouTube? here, popping in from next door where all year we’ve been collating and contextualising clips over at...
VERY FIRST comedy sketch show to appear on the new network
Wednesday, 29th November 1967 PICK OF THE DAY 8pm MAN IN A SUITCASE, ITV Evans-nabbed reverb-drenched piano and Ipcress File-riffing graphics of...
It would be up to other dramas to make their mark on Saturday nights. Jeremy Brock – then script editing Juliet Bravo was...
Wednesday, 18th November 1998 PICK OF THE DAY 10pm WAR AND PISTE, BBC1 As the docu-soap reaches its apex year (Lakesiders debuted...
Come 1986 and, as per usual, ITV (now operating with the strap-line “It’s worth coming home to … ”) was playing...
Wednesday, 14th November 1979 PICK OF THE DAY 9pm QUATERMASS, ITV It’s near sacrilege to say so, but those black and white...
While LWT was busy furnishing British entertainment with new, alternative comedians, the station’s dedication towards mainstream acts remained undimmed, and as if...
Wednesday, 4th November 1981 PICK OF THE DAY 6.35pm CROSSROADS, ITV “OK loves, everybody outdoors for the fire scene!” Look, we know...
Although a commendably sophisticated and slick production, not everything ran smoothly on Saturday Live. Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson’s “The Dangerous Brothers”...
Wednesday, 26th October 1983 PICK OF THE DAY 6.35pm CROSSROADS, ITV Be sure not to drop your French bread pizza in shock,...
It’s Halloween and to prove it, here’s an amazing illustration of the Creamguide (Films) Three drawn by the inestimable Daniel Cunningham. The...
TV YEARS – the excellent magazine about old telly – is back soon, with a Christmas Special that goes on sale from...
LWT poured all of its resources into the production of the pilot edition of Saturday Live, using their largest studio and determinedly...
Wednesday, 24th October 1979 PICK OF THE DAY 6.05pm THE MUPPET SHOW, ITV Dudley Moore is the Very Special Guest Star, but...
Are you afraid to face Chris, Craig and Jack, David? Never invite Creamguide (Films) into your home, or else you will get...
Saturday night television in the 1970s and 1980s belonged jointly to BBC1 and ITV. These two goliaths slugged it out, ensuring...
Wednesday, 17th October 1989 PICK OF THE DAY 9.30pm AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, BBC1 “Hello? BBC, yes. You want me...
After a seven month gap, during which John Tovey died, but little else of significance occurred, Chris, Craig and Jack are back...
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