All posts tagged "Frontpage!"

96. If there is an air of spontaneity about it, it’ll be genuine

While the BBC was pulling up the drawbridge on traditional sketch show talent, the crop of comedians at ITV weren’t...

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95. A Double Order of Talent

1991 remains a pivotal year in the history of Saturday night television. It was the last time various genres of...

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94. Oh Man, There Go All My Women Fans

In the early to mid 1980s, the US drama Knight Rider tapped into a period in which adventure series featuring high...

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93. The characters and situations are real

Given the growing success of Casualty (which by 1990 was entering its fourth year and pulling in audiences in excess...

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92. That’s the last thing I was expecting, Jim

In 1990, the BBC managed to trade in one master game show host for another. Bob Monkhouse had been presiding over...

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91. Look Straight Into My Eyes And Everything Will Be Alright, That’s A Promise

Game shows, having been slightly overshadowed in the middle and later years of the 1980s by the endless stream of...

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90. It were a right smack in the face

In 1990 Cannon and Ball found their professional career in bad shape. During their final years at LWT they had struggled...

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A bit of business

TV Years: Classic Children’s Programmes

Do you remember Bagpuss? The next issue of our favourite magazine, TV YEARS, goes on sale on Tuesday June 4, and it’s celebrating classic children’s TV!...

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89. 1990 Who would employ an ex-alky with lowered self-esteem

And so into the 1990s. Almost none of the programmes that inhabited the Saturday night schedules at the beginning of the...

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88. The feel of Saturday night

Elsewhere, LWT was taking steps in the right direction, nurturing talents such as Brian Conley and Hale and Pace. While Conley’s 1989 Brian...

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87. The Sexism, The Dolly Birds, The Catchphrases

One of the significant barriers LWT had to overcome in attracting the ABC1 audience that it so craved was the belief commonly...

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86. He’s not a goody- goody hero

By 1989, Greg Dyke was getting into his stride as director of programmes at LWT, and was keen for the company to...

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85. Can you come up with a good solution for the Murder Weekend mystery?

The concepts of strip-scheduling, and reality television, not to mention the idea of having members of the public becoming immersed into...

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84. The interviewer always has to know when it’s best to keep his or her mouth shut

Over at the BBC, attempts were being made to commission a new Saturday late-evening chat show. Ever since the departure of...

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83. Beadle’s A Prick

Come 1989 and Beadle’s About was at its absolute peak, pulling in up to 15.2 million viewers (for an edition screened on...

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82. We just weren’t allowed into UK terrestrial television

“A dazzling array of top flight entertainment is coming to you,” proclaims the double page advert. ” … There’s family fun with...

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81. I sat for a moment in silence, then turned in my chair and left the stage

Cissie Charlton made the trip to London all the way from her home in Ashington. The pensioner thought she was going...

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A bit of business

TV Years: The Nineties

Here it is, another issue of TV YEARS. This time it’s covering the 1990s and it’s on sale from Tuesday April 2....

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80. The Charge-And-Shout Brigade

Aside from streamlining the rank and file of LWT, Greg Dyke was also intent on maximising the company’s advertising revenues. To do...

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79. The yarns worked their tried and tested magic

Another welcome return to Saturday nights occurred in 1988, and although All Creatures Great And Small hadn’t been away for quite as...

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78. You wanna bet on it?

Another familiar, some would say iconic, figure also found his way back to his rightful place in 1988. Unbelievably it had...

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77. Taking on Blind Date would be a real challenge

1988 brought with it the prospect of fresh new challenges. For the BBC, there was the continuing and ever accelerating reform...

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76. There’s good news for perplexed fans of 3-2-1!

1987 would herald the departure of one of ITV’s longest running and most successful game shows. Produced by Yorkshire Television, and based...

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75. This is your show, folks, and I do mean you

In 1986, Central Television saw fit to resurrect New Faces. Hosted by previous winner Marti Caine and featuring the then fearsomely ubiquitous...

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74. I Heard A Seat In The Stalls Go ‘Gerdonk!’

“A pale, pretty girl dressed in black is singing a sad love song,” observes writer Nicki Household. “Her voice cracks a...

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73. There’s such a passion for nostalgia right now

While comic impersonators enjoyed pretty much a monopoly on Saturday evening comedy programmes, series like Summertime Special provided a platform for a...

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72. I don’t care if he doesn’t like me

Programmes come and programmes go, but in 1987, mainstream comedy continued to rule Saturday night television. In fact, on one fateful...

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71. I was in obscurity until this series

Of course, Casualty and The Houseman’s Tale were unrepresentative of the BBC’s previous homegrown Saturday night dramatic fare. The lineage of The...

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70. Stretchers never go up stairs

“Death is part of our business whether we like it or not, and somewhere along the line we have to compromise.” So...

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69. The powers that be listened to Denis

ITV in 1986 was not just about straight comedy series. Another force for light entertainment was burgeoning too. With Game For A...

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Creamguide Review of the Year: 2018

And so another year has gone, and we’re all thrilled we’ve come out of it in one piece. As ever loads of...

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RIP

2018 in memoriam

Doreen Keogh (5/2/16-31/12/17), first Rovers Return barmaid Concepta Riley and Mrs Doyle’s mainland friend Mrs Dineen Denise LaSalle (16/7/39-8/1/18), soul singer and...

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68. We Are The Funnymen

Between them it might have seemed that TVS and LWT had the monopoly on mainstream Saturday evening comedy series, yet this was not entirely...

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The 2010s Christmas Logs

2018

“Changing their lives for ever” In 2018, Christmas telly is in something of a state of flux. With the streaming services continuing...

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Your Wednesday Night In...

Your Wednesday Night In… December 1980

Wednesday, 24th December 1980 PICK OF THE DAY 4.45pm THE ALL STAR RECORD BREAKERS, BBC1 In the great 2000+ years history of...

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Advent Calendar: December 24th

1977: It’s gone down in folklore that Eric Morecambe’s appearance on World Of Sport was dreamt up by him and Dickie Davies...

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67. Well bottom’s not funny

Recognising that their best tactic was to live up to their promises, TVS invested a lot of time and money into quality drama...

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Advent Calendar: December 23rd

1981: Even the Community Programming Unit has to let its hair down occasionally. Grapevine, “The Self-Help Show”, is still very low-key in...

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Advent Calendar: December 22nd

1979: 21 minutes of the pre-Christmas Swap Shop are illuminated by Debbie Harry and a Super 8 camera wielding Chris Stein taking...

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Advent Calendar: December 21st

1981: Westward Television celebrated its 20th anniversary, eight months after the actual date and ten days before the franchise closed. Hey, better...

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Advent Calendar: December 20th

1971: Opportunity Knocks’ big discoveries in 1971 were Little & Large, but despite making the All Winners Show they weren’t in contention...

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Christmas Creamguide 2018: Week Two

For we know we should be gay Hullo again! And we’re back with the second half of your double Christmas Creamguide with...

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Christmas Creamguide 2018: Week One

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...

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Advent Calendar: December 19th

1977: You’re quite right it’s Monday, Play School, and as the start of Christmas week Chloe Ashcroft and Johnny Ball are getting...

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Your Wednesday Night In...

Your Wednesday Night In… December 2003

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...

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Advent Calendar: December 18th

1980: Top Of The Pops (full playlist), the last one before Christmas. Both Simon Bates and the production team are in “that”...

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What We Just Watched

What We Just Watched: Christmas Special 2018

For this Yuletide episode, Chris and Ian aren’t exchanging gifts, but fruity opinions of two festive TV specials of yore. Because...

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Advent Calendar: December 17th

1977: “He’s got a funny surname but I can’t remember it!” Our Show was what LWT, with the backing of Anglia and...

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66. That’s just not funny Bobby, it’s corny – just don’t do that

For all its attempts at breaking new ground, Bobby Davro On The Box appealed to a relatively conservative audience. Journalist Stewart Knowles attended a...

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