This was actually transmitted five years originally although I didn't see it then for some reason or other. I'm not sure exactly why. You could tell it was pretty old though as Phill Jupitus still had a beard, and quite a few of the contributors being interviewed are now no longer with us, such as Ronnie Barker and Bill Cotton.
Amongst the shows they looked at included Morecambe and Wise who throughout the 70s really pulled out all the stops for their Christmas Day shows on BBC 1. They showed the classic sketches included the brilliant send up of "Singing In The Rain" which apparently took two days to film, and that magical moment when Angela Rippon pushed the newsdesk aside and took to the floor.
It wasn't to last however as in 1978 the popular duo left Auntie to join Thames Television and that's where many thought their career went into decline.
They even showed the Thames ident in the programme although it would have been more appropriate to have shown the version specially done for the pair which had the words "Here they are now, Mooore-cambe and Wiiiiise" sung to the tune of Johnny Hawkesworth's well known fanfare.
It can be seen here in the titles to their first series for the network since the late 60s.
One programme that was touched on by former BBC Head Of Entertainment, and Radio 2 refresher James Moir was "Christmas Night With The Stars" and variety show involving the stars of the BBC's light entertainment department shown on the evening of Christmas Day.
They brought it back in 2003 and it was definitely the highlight of that years seasonal viewing apart from the last episodes of the Office.
Presented by Michael Parkinson this featured comedy sketches from John Cleese, the Dead Ringers team as the Osbournes with the genuine article taking part, Ronnie Corbett doing an armchair monolouge and music from Emma Bunton who performed a version of Marcos Valle's "Crickets Sing For Anna-Maria" which was later released as a single in 2004.
There was also an appearance from Michael Buble who was a new name to me performing a delightful rendition of "The Christmas Song" and a lot better than Nat King Cole as well.
Very comforting and enjoyable viewing which was an early sign of the BBC returning to form in terms of family viewing.
The other standout point of the nostalgic programme was a section on
"Christmas Morning With Noel" which was presented live from Telecom Tower on Christmas Day in the mid 80s with Noel Edmonds holding the fort, linking into several outside broadcasts and instigating many "television firsts" such as satellite link ups with foreign countries which back then were a very big deal.
It wasn't without it's flaws however such as a stunt one year that involved a party on a plane where members of the public were unlucky enough to be flying on a plane covered in decorations with The Krankies, Gary Davies, and a man who at the time looked like a poor man's Bono, Feargal Sharkey.
The ex Undertone was the subject of an embarassing performance in 1985 where his band could hear the music track being played but for some reason Feargal couldn't hear a thing and didn't bother to mime to his record.
I also like how they showed the 1986 BBC 1 Christmas ident leading into the show the following year which I imagine was Noel's first TV appearance since Michael Lush's death just over a month earlier. Co-presenter from The Late Late Breakfast Show, Mike Smith was missing and the two have never spoken since.
The 90s weren't kind to Mike as apart from presenting "That's Showbusiness" a breeding ground for comedians such as Tony Hawks, Lily Savage, John Thomson and Greg Proops, TV appearances seemed to dry up.
With the possible exception of an appearance on the Big Breakfast when Keith Chegwin woke up both him and his wife Sarah Greene and they weren't exactly welcoming.
They reported Cheggers to the Broadcasting Complaints Commision and as a result the show was banned from waking up celebrities in their own homes, with the exception of boy bands in hotels who were ever eager to be on camera.
Back to Noel, and on the subject of O/Bs the BBC regions would send out an unlucky reporter to present an outside broadcast in their respective town centre where to start with it looked like no bugger would show up, but by the end it was overall chaos.
I'd definitley reccomend having a look at Off The Telly's "Christmas Logs" charting the offerings on Christmas Day over the last 35 years and beyond.
Best to do so now in case they turn that section of the site into a book as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment