Another comedian hosting a primetime quiz show for the BBC in 1984 was Bob Monkhouse. From the 1980s onwards, Monkhouse would routinely...
For Cilla, the breakthrough was immediate. Not only would Surprise Surprise deliver her substantial new audiences (up to 16 million viewers would tune...
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 massive popularity of LWT’s It’ll Be Alright on the Night can’t have provided much encouragement to old school directors like Richard...
“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,...
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...
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...
A tribute to the former BBC director-general, who has died aged 82. When the BBC board of governors were looking for...
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