Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Apr 19, 2021 19:56:16 GMT
Chris Kelly didn't present the series when it first started in 1972 - I think he took over sometime in the mid 70s - pretty much made it his own show. He's credited with writing two episodes of Minder in the 90s according to IMDB, unless it's a different Chris Kelly they have mistakenly cross referenced. It is very likely to be that same Chris Kelly - as he did a lot of writing too. He's won quite a few BAFTAs too. I think he was producer on "Soldier Soldier" and a couple of Central projects.
He certainly knew his onions - and (as you say) never talked down to kids.
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Post by Sparky on Apr 20, 2021 19:21:06 GMT
Does anyone remember this?
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on Apr 21, 2021 7:59:48 GMT
Does anyone remember this?
I do remember these, but hadn't realised they were from as far back as 1972/3. Ellis Jones, the shop assistant, seemed to be a familiar face in supporting roles in the 70s. Just had a look for more episodes on Youtube and it seems that writer Bob Block recycled quite a few storylines/scenes when he went on to create "Rentaghost" for the Beeb.
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Post by Sparky on Apr 21, 2021 8:27:53 GMT
I do remember these, but hadn't realised they were from as far back as 1972/3. Ellis Jones, the shop assistant, seemed to be a familiar face in supporting roles in the 70s.
Just had a look for more episodes on Youtube and it seems that writer Bob Block recycled quite a few storylines/scenes when he went on to create "Rentaghost" for the Beeb. I never really saw Pardon My Genie. Though I did watch Rentaghost.
Rentaghost seems to get a lot of hammer because of it's corny jokes and in some cases, acting. I always enjoyed it - it had that slapstick pantomime feel about it.
Su Nicholls (of Coronation St and Crossroads) was in it, along with scottish actress Molly Wier - she later appeared along with Stratford Johns in the Bluebells "Young at Heart" video. Always loved the theme tune.
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Post by Nightfly on Apr 21, 2021 8:31:38 GMT
This was a strange one for Saturday mornings in 1979 - "The Mersey Pirate".
Live from a ferry in Liverpool docks and presented by Duggie Brown. Frank Carson used to appear occasionally too, as did Bernard Wrigley as a madcap French chef. There aren't many clips online, apart from the one below and a clip of an interview with Russ Mael from Sparks talking to the now disgraced DJ Ray Teret.
Lots of games, interviews, pop groups of the day and had a couple of characters from Alan Bleasdale's "Scully" (a Play For Today from the previous year) as stowaways. It was a bit disorganised. Lots of sound problems too.
I think the series only lasted a month or so and was cut short by the ITV industrial dispute. It never returned.
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Post by Nightfly on Apr 21, 2021 8:53:01 GMT
Rentaghost seems to get a lot of hammer because of it's corny jokes and in some cases, acting. I always enjoyed it - it had that slapstick pantomime feel about it. Su Nicholls (of Coronation St and Crossroads) was in it, along with scottish actress Molly Wier - she later appeared along with Stratford Johns in the Bluebells "Young at Heart" video. Always loved the theme tune.
I always enjoyed the pantomime style of the show too. There was also Anthony Jackson, Sid James' neighbour in "Bless This House" playing a ghost too. I'm willing to bet most people in my age group can sing the Rentaghost theme word perfect.
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Apr 21, 2021 9:56:21 GMT
This was a strange one for Saturday mornings in 1979 - "The Mersey Pirate". Live from a ferry in Liverpool docks and presented by Duggie Brown. Frank Carson used to appear occasionally too, as did Bernard Wrigley as a madcap French chef. There aren't many clips online, apart from the one below and a clip of an interview with Russ Mael from Sparks talking to the now disgraced DJ Ray Teret. Lots of games, interviews, pop groups of the day and had a couple of characters from Alan Bleasdale's "Scully" (a Play For Today from the previous year) as stowaways. It was a bit disorganised. Lots of sound problems too. I think the series only lasted a month or so and was cut short by the ITV industrial dispute. It never returned. Saturday Mornings on ITV in the 70s were very fragmented. Depending on where you were watching. Not all regions came on air at 9.30am - many started a little later and either showed a few cartoons, a film or a Childrens Film Foundation film, taking you up until World of Sport at Lunctime.
Only a few regions had their own dedicated kids shows. LWT had "Saturday Scene" with Sally James, strictly for London viewers, Southern had "Saturday Banana" with Bill Oddie and in the Midlands ATV had some little show called Tiswas
At that point it was presented by Chris Tarrant during his days off as a News Reporter, Trevor East (Ex Derby County and ATV sports editor), and Peter Tomlinson (ATV continuity Announcer). That was broadcast from the continuity studio in Birmingham - which was about the size of an average front room.
By about 1978, Sally James had jumped on a train to Birmingham and Tiswas, and that was slowly becoming networked. I don't think it became fully networked until around 1980.
Was the "Mersey Pirate" a Granada only programme?
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on Apr 21, 2021 10:17:08 GMT
Was the "Mersey Pirate" a Granada only programme? We definitely got the Mersey Pirate in the Yorkshire TV region. We also had Southern's "The Saturday Banana" in 1978 in Yorkshire too which was almost as disorganised as the Mersey Pirate. Stewart Copeland once appeared in the guise of his solo project Klark Kent in a crude skin tight plastic mask. Bill Oddie spent most of the interview repeating "Please kids, don't ever put plastic over your face. It is really dangerous". It was also the show which brought us Grange Hill's Melissa Wilkes with the famous Grand Prix blooper. The clip wrongly attributes it to "Our Show". It was definitely "Saturday Banana" - I watched this go out live. A Yorkshire only programme in 1978 for Saturday morning was "Calendar Kids" with Mark Curry and Richard Whiteley's other half Kathryn Apanowicz. As well as items usually revolving around the skateboarding craze at the time, there were also serious bits. Tom Robinson debating politics with a certain 16 year old Young Tory who had just made his first speech at a conference - a William Hague. Not sure what became of him.
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Apr 21, 2021 10:31:06 GMT
Was the "Mersey Pirate" a Granada only programme? We definitely got the Mersey Pirate in the Yorkshire TV region. We also had Southern's "The Saturday Banana" in 1978 in Yorkshire too which was almost as disorganised as the Mersey Pirate. Stewart Copeland once appeared in the guise of his solo project Klark Kent in a crude skin tight plastic mask. Bill Oddie spent most of the interview repeating "Please kids, don't ever put plastic over your face. It is really dangerous". It was also the show which brought us Grange Hill's Melissa Wilkes with the famous Grand Prix blooper. The clip wrongly attributes it to "Our Show". It was definitely "Saturday Banana" - I watched this go out live. A Yorkshire only programme in 1978 for Saturday morning was "Calendar Kids" with Mark Curry and Richard Whiteley's other half Kathryn Apanowicz. As well as items usually revolving around the skateboarding craze at the time, there were also serious bits. Tom Robinson debating politics with a certain 16 year old Young Tory who had just made his first speech at a conference - a William Hague. Not sure what became of him. We got YTV in Black & White after my Grandather re-rigged the aerial when he brought a new Colour TV. We had ATV in colour - but I struggled to tune the old B&W in (it had a knob you turned like on an old radio and you had to find the channels)
I only really remember Tiswas on a Saturday.
So by the late 70s, it must have been the case that some regions took one programme, and other areas had their own. While others shared another programme. I didn't know they did Calendar Kids - surprised Richard Whitely wasn't on it! The original version of Countdown was called Calendar Countdown.
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on Apr 21, 2021 10:50:08 GMT
We got YTV in Black & White after my Grandather re-rigged the aerial when he brought a new Colour TV. We had ATV in colour - but I struggled to tune the old B&W in (it had a knob you turned like on an old radio and you had to find the channels)
I only really remember Tiswas on a Saturday.
So by the late 70s, it must have been the case that some regions took one programme, and other areas had their own. While others shared another programme. I didn't know they did Calendar Kids - surprised Richard Whitely wasn't on it! The original version of Countdown was called Calendar Countdown. I can just about remember those old sets with the dial to tune the stations. I think it was a VHF/425 line set we had. This must have been up to the very early 70s. It was before we got a relay TX in our area and we had a "H" shaped aerial pointing to Emley Moor on the roof which was hit and miss. Our village was also served by a kind of crude cable TV service run by a TV dealer called "Ramsbottom's" in the nearby town of Keighley. It literally consisted of coax cable strung between houses coming from their own relay on a nearby hill. I think this was the only way you could get BBC 2 in our village. Kathryn Apanowicz and Mark Curry were probably about 16/17 when they did "Calendar Kids" but were already YTV veterans having been child stars in "Junior Showtime" some 5 years or so previously.
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