0:00:00 > 0:00:07This is Salford Quays, the brand new home of BBC North. Much of the
0:00:07 > 0:00:17day, Blue Peter, 5 Live, they are all coming here. Coronation Street
0:00:17 > 0:00:17
0:00:17 > 0:00:27has moved in just around the corner. Some of the very best of British TV
0:00:27 > 0:00:34
0:00:34 > 0:00:38has been made up here, up north. I'll be looking back at some of the
0:00:38 > 0:00:41great TV shows which have been made in the North West and finding out
0:00:41 > 0:00:51what it is about this part of the world that's created some of the
0:00:51 > 0:01:14
0:01:14 > 0:01:21MUSIC. One of my favourite TV shows and I
0:01:21 > 0:01:26was a kid was top of the Pops. I loved the music, and the dancing.
0:01:26 > 0:01:36With the first three years, the show was broadcast from a converted
0:01:36 > 0:01:39
0:01:39 > 0:01:43You yes, it's number one, its top of the Pops! Top of the Pops was
0:01:43 > 0:01:53launched on New Year's Day, 1964, by none other than the King of Pop
0:01:53 > 0:02:02at the time, Jimmy Savile. It was live, black and white TV. The first
0:02:02 > 0:02:08group was the Rolling Stones. It was tremendous. The Beatles and the
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Rolling Stones a new year's Day! So when they have all been at Marianne
0:02:12 > 0:02:20Faithfull's penthouse flat doing God knows what the night before,
0:02:20 > 0:02:28they have to get chance to Manchester. They were the biggest
0:02:28 > 0:02:36pop groups in the world, you know. They decided to pit top of the Pops
0:02:36 > 0:02:41in Manchester because they couldn't bear it in London. London was very
0:02:41 > 0:02:45posh. Anything that they didn't want to do in London they brought
0:02:45 > 0:02:50up to the old church in Manchester. They didn't want anything to do
0:02:50 > 0:02:58with pop music, so that was our place.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03The Supremes even made their world television debut on the programme.
0:03:03 > 0:03:13There was no problem getting artists to come. Top Of the Pops
0:03:13 > 0:03:17
0:03:17 > 0:03:25was the number one pop show in the Jimmy Savile was so different. We
0:03:25 > 0:03:31had a different foyers. His total presentation was, well I was going
0:03:31 > 0:03:39to say not normal, but that sounds unkind. He was such a character.
0:03:39 > 0:03:49have got the blues in the morning, I have the greens at night! Nobody
0:03:49 > 0:03:53ever utter rot kick - - a rock gig has ever looked like Jimmy Savile!
0:03:53 > 0:03:56At least you realise that the kids wanted to do something else. By the
0:03:56 > 0:03:59end of 1967, the show was so successful it had outgrown the old
0:03:59 > 0:04:02church and was moved to London. Yes, 80 million viewers across
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Europe would tune in every week to watch the European version of the
0:04:06 > 0:04:15show. Everybody that comes up to the north is affected by the North
0:04:15 > 0:04:24and Northern people. It was a magic mix. The North and Top Of The Pops
0:04:24 > 0:04:34was a magic mix. This is what I have been looking
0:04:34 > 0:04:44for. It's a knockout, unforgettable Saturday night television. Stuart
0:04:44 > 0:04:46
0:04:46 > 0:04:56Hall, Eddie Waring, the ridiculous costumes. You could not be tipped.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01
0:05:01 > 0:05:11It was absolute genius. Everybody had to make a date with It's a
0:05:11 > 0:05:16knockout. It was just a seminal programme of our time. All these
0:05:16 > 0:05:26people dressed up, not just in a costume, but characters that would
0:05:26 > 0:05:38
0:05:38 > 0:05:45It is Stuart Hall's unbridled enthusiasm for everything that he
0:05:45 > 0:05:50dos. You very rarely here at grown man nearly wetting himself these
0:05:50 > 0:06:00days and the television. It still works. When you hear it, you can
0:06:00 > 0:06:06
0:06:06 > 0:06:16help yourself. He is really having We had 80 million viewers every
0:06:16 > 0:06:22
0:06:22 > 0:06:32Yes, 80 million viewers across Europe would tune in to watch the
0:06:32 > 0:06:38European version of the show. Penguin game, which is shown on the
0:06:38 > 0:06:43YouTube non-stop, featuring the eight penguins collecting water on
0:06:43 > 0:06:49a carousel. Simple. Why it works is that everyone is taking this
0:06:49 > 0:06:58incredibly seriously. You know those men in those penguin suits
0:06:58 > 0:07:07and their assistants, national pride is at work here. So, that is
0:07:07 > 0:07:12what makes it so touching and so funny. Now, ducky and dustbin man
0:07:12 > 0:07:16from Skegness was our Penguin. He gave me some of the best fun. He
0:07:16 > 0:07:26completely destroyed it. Wendy speeded up the carousel, he went
0:07:26 > 0:07:46
0:07:46 > 0:07:51quicker. He took out the German, At the same time as doing it so
0:07:51 > 0:07:53But at the same time as doing It's A Knockout, Stuart Hall was also
0:07:53 > 0:07:56presenting the regional evening news programme, Look North, and
0:07:56 > 0:08:01doing so in his own unique style. The world was then full of
0:08:01 > 0:08:06journalists. We used to pray things would go wrong. Please, let it all
0:08:06 > 0:08:10breakdown. I am a breakdown merchant. It was the same with
0:08:10 > 0:08:17everything I have done. I pray for things to breakdown so you can
0:08:18 > 0:08:20escape the stranglehold of the regimen of television.
0:08:21 > 0:08:27In 1972 the BBC decided to build new studios on Oxford Road,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Manchester. The move to New Broadcasting House was seen at the
0:08:31 > 0:08:34time as a commitment by the BBC to making top quality programmes from
0:08:34 > 0:08:40the North West. Over the following years a host of shows were
0:08:40 > 0:08:44broadcast from the new studios, including Look North. And now it's
0:08:44 > 0:08:50North West Tonight, which is still serving up a mix of news, sport and
0:08:50 > 0:08:56entertainment for viewers in the region. We have had lots of showbiz
0:08:56 > 0:09:01and celebrities, so many people, all the comedians. My favourite
0:09:01 > 0:09:07comedian a volleys Peter Kay, he just makes the tears rolled down my
0:09:07 > 0:09:17cheeks. On one particular occasion he decided to leave the sofa when
0:09:17 > 0:09:21
0:09:21 > 0:09:30Diane was presenting the weather. The top temperature of B27. There
0:09:30 > 0:09:35will be no arctic roll left them as they!
0:09:35 > 0:09:45The one person who could handle that would be damned. She kept him
0:09:45 > 0:09:48
0:09:48 > 0:09:58under control. My name is Paul caff, support man
0:09:58 > 0:09:58
0:09:58 > 0:10:06City, like drinking. I could fight, punch up.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10I think you should wear a mask. I don't like looking at your face.
0:10:10 > 0:10:18There has been no shortage of laughter from appeared. Some of the
0:10:18 > 0:10:21best-loved comedians are from this part of the world. Did you know
0:10:21 > 0:10:25Caroline and her and just to be a secretary in the offices of BBC
0:10:25 > 0:10:30Manchester? Luckily enough, she discovered she had a few hidden
0:10:30 > 0:10:38talents. Mrs Merton's sharp wit and special
0:10:38 > 0:10:43blend of northern humour were a smash hit with audiences.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48genius of it is making a rather pleasant old lady. It disarms
0:10:48 > 0:10:52everyone straight away. Every woman's dream is to marry Paul
0:10:52 > 0:10:59Daniels. This dream came true for Debbie McGee. She will be popping
0:10:59 > 0:11:04up litter. Debbie McGee was on the very first show. All I knew was
0:11:04 > 0:11:14that it was some sort of comedy chat show. Her first question was...
0:11:14 > 0:11:26
0:11:26 > 0:11:33what first attracted you to the Malik... what attracted you to the
0:11:33 > 0:11:38millionaire Paul Daniels? That Cuba, because you much can be used as a
0:11:38 > 0:11:44weapon, you feel that in Manchester and Liverpool. Anyone who is
0:11:44 > 0:11:49getting a little bits above themselves. Debbie McGee is
0:11:49 > 0:11:53disarmed by it, so she can do object. That is a stroke of genius.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59Caroline Aherne is brilliant that it because she plays the old lady
0:11:59 > 0:12:03with real sweetness and naughtiness as well. Say you wake up at night
0:12:03 > 0:12:10and you're in your bed and you just pick your hand out to stroke Paul's
0:12:10 > 0:12:14head and he is not there, do you look up and he is at the end of the
0:12:14 > 0:12:19bed pulling doves out that is the jammers. Do you find that happens?
0:12:20 > 0:12:27I did not feel uncomfortable for a minute. I laughed from beginning to
0:12:27 > 0:12:37end. I laughs Attar other shows afterwards. And I thought she was
0:12:37 > 0:12:38
0:12:38 > 0:12:41hysterical. My experience of it was In 1998 Caroline Aherne returned to
0:12:41 > 0:12:50our screens in The Royle Family, this time along side co-writer
0:12:50 > 0:12:55Craig Cash. That programme is genius, I think.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Very funny but very moving. Particularly this sequence where
0:12:59 > 0:13:04Barbara is doing her mother's hair and they are singing to each other.
0:13:04 > 0:13:14That is not just comedy, as some of the greatest drama you will ever
0:13:14 > 0:13:16
0:13:16 > 0:13:26see. Barbara? Yes. Could you get on what my toenails next. Yeah.
0:13:26 > 0:13:32
0:13:32 > 0:13:38Barbara? Yet. Barbara, thank you. Thank you, Barbara. What for?
0:13:38 > 0:13:45Everything. What it is is a celebration of the ties that bind
0:13:45 > 0:13:55in North West families. It is a family under the microscope.
0:13:55 > 0:14:26
0:14:26 > 0:14:31Some of the most original and artistic he shows of the last
0:14:31 > 0:14:37couple of decades have come out of this place. And some of them have
0:14:37 > 0:14:42revolutionised the way television is made. In 1987, Janet Street-
0:14:42 > 0:14:47Porter became head of youth and entertainment at the BBC in
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Manchester. When I arrived at the BBC I could see that using the
0:14:51 > 0:14:55offices in Manchester as a base, instead of being in a studio with
0:14:55 > 0:15:02reporters popping up and sitting behind desks, the people that made
0:15:02 > 0:15:07the programme would be part of the programme. We want to know what you
0:15:07 > 0:15:11think about rescue out reach. could see the office. It was all
0:15:11 > 0:15:16part of the same thing and they would tell you how the story was
0:15:16 > 0:15:20going and how they have put it together. Local authorities or
0:15:20 > 0:15:24private companies want to keep an eye on us. And it can be used as
0:15:24 > 0:15:30evidence against you. We tackled subject that had not been done
0:15:30 > 0:15:40before, like the rising number of CCTV cameras that seem to be
0:15:40 > 0:15:46
0:15:46 > 0:15:51The programme I am most proud of that I made in Manchester was rough
0:15:51 > 0:15:56guide. Before that, travel shows had been so drab. Judith Chalmers
0:15:56 > 0:16:04standing on the beach. It was always about beaches and hotel
0:16:04 > 0:16:08rooms and it was never about what the locals were up to. This is a
0:16:08 > 0:16:17tiny fashion fashion up affairs it off the water off the peg, and what
0:16:17 > 0:16:20better way to do that, than D I Y? Down the corridor The Travel Show
0:16:20 > 0:16:23was also doing things differently, but for a more mainstream audience.
0:16:23 > 0:16:29I think what set the travel sure apart from other programmes around
0:16:29 > 0:16:33that that time was, we were given the brief to tell it as it is. So
0:16:33 > 0:16:40we would be sent to a particular location and we have to tell the
0:16:40 > 0:16:46viewers what it was that we found. Anyone of any shape or size is
0:16:46 > 0:16:55supposed to be able to get through this hole. It is an interesting
0:16:55 > 0:17:05front door. We went to a shrine, and I had to squeeze through this
0:17:05 > 0:17:07
0:17:07 > 0:17:13tiny little whole. Hurrah! Once you get through this hole, you are
0:17:13 > 0:17:21supposed to be cleansed of your sins, but if you are very bad, you
0:17:21 > 0:17:26will come in clean but go out dirty. We had all the problems of going
0:17:26 > 0:17:33into this chamber and trying to get out again. I am not sure if my sins
0:17:33 > 0:17:35were claims. I would leave that to everyone else to decide.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40Manchester is home to some of the most popular long-running
0:17:40 > 0:17:44entertainment programmes on tv. three of us see that when we come
0:17:44 > 0:17:48to work to do A Question Of Sport, it feels like a hobby, not a job,
0:17:48 > 0:17:55it is something we thoroughly enjoyed. For me it is the best
0:17:55 > 0:17:59thing that I do on TV. For me, growing up it was something we
0:17:59 > 0:18:03always watched on the telly and when I was asked to come on it as a
0:18:03 > 0:18:09player, it was a rubber stamp that you have done quite well in your
0:18:09 > 0:18:14sport. I was very proud the first time I appeared as a guest. I wrote
0:18:14 > 0:18:18to Jim'll Fix It when I was eight years old to say, please could I go
0:18:18 > 0:18:24on Question of Sport. I would lie on the carpet in front of my dad,
0:18:24 > 0:18:29and try to thrash him at a A Question Of Sport. You had Princess
0:18:29 > 0:18:37and sitting next to you as a team captain. I cannot imagine having
0:18:37 > 0:18:44Princess and sitting next to me. It just would not happen now. I can
0:18:44 > 0:18:50see that you are the right captain! The appeal of Question of Sport is
0:18:50 > 0:18:57the interplay. You have been practising all week with your arms
0:18:57 > 0:19:03folded... It was very English, a A Question Of Sport, quite self-
0:19:03 > 0:19:08deprecating and not taking itself too seriously. Mastermind has been
0:19:08 > 0:19:13put in its contenders to the test since 1962. The thing about
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Mastermind is, it is intelligent. It does not make any concessions.
0:19:17 > 0:19:23It does not assume that the general public are as thick as two short
0:19:23 > 0:19:26planks because they are not. would sit down with my mother and
0:19:26 > 0:19:31watch Mastermind. We think she wanted to find out if I was
0:19:31 > 0:19:39learning anything at school. That dramatic music... In the spotlight
0:19:39 > 0:19:42after night is the strictly dancer, Darren Bennett, whose subject is
0:19:42 > 0:19:50science fiction films that became a force to be reckoned with. Stuart
0:19:50 > 0:20:00Maconie takes on a century of works by Britain's greatest pause.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02
0:20:02 > 0:20:07poets. It is exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13poem contains the line they shall not grow old as we that are left
0:20:13 > 0:20:20grow old. The fallen. I would watch them coming out with their eyes
0:20:20 > 0:20:25fixed on the black cheers and however experienced at quizzes they
0:20:25 > 0:20:33are, how clever they are, everyone is scared by the time they accept
0:20:33 > 0:20:36down in that chair. Why would anybody want this? But when it
0:20:36 > 0:20:39comes to fear factor there's nothing more terrifying than facing
0:20:39 > 0:20:43the Dragons in their famous Den. When you see individuals coming up
0:20:43 > 0:20:48those stairs, you can sometimes physically see them shake, almost
0:20:48 > 0:20:53see their nervousness, then you get in a conversation and when you see
0:20:53 > 0:20:56that the individual has got it, you know that they have got that spirit
0:20:56 > 0:21:05and bribe of one entrepreneur, coupled with a great product and
0:21:05 > 0:21:11you think, now, I am starting to shake, I am getting excited.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16some ready source in your life. Levi groups excited the Dragons
0:21:16 > 0:21:22when he pitched. It does not get better than that. �25,000 from me
0:21:22 > 0:21:32and from another dragon and years later, he is a multi-millionaire.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38Every now and then the show throws up some disastrous pictures, like
0:21:38 > 0:21:47the chair there is a multi-gym. What made it more hilarious was
0:21:47 > 0:21:53that Duncan, being an expert up on gyms, he went up and try to use
0:21:53 > 0:22:01these things and I cried my eyes out. It was hilarious. You are like
0:22:01 > 0:22:11two old codgers! Trying to get fit! Duncan was out of breath, giggling
0:22:11 > 0:22:17
0:22:17 > 0:22:22This year, songs of Praise is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
0:22:22 > 0:22:28Aled Jones was already famous for his angelic voice when he first
0:22:28 > 0:22:32appeared on it as a choirboy. But his singing was not always
0:22:32 > 0:22:36appreciated when he joined in when watching the show at home.
0:22:36 > 0:22:42Sometimes I was told off for singing too loudly and spoiling it
0:22:42 > 0:22:47for my grandmother. And then he presented songs of praise from his
0:22:47 > 0:22:57home city in Wales. Welcome to Banda, the oldest diocese in
0:22:57 > 0:22:57
0:22:57 > 0:23:04Britain. -- Bangor. I was petrified going back because I knew all the
0:23:05 > 0:23:09people in the Commons -- congregation. The kids there would
0:23:09 > 0:23:15have been doing this, and I would have to say, the next 10 is, and we
0:23:15 > 0:23:25would have to do it about 13 times. We're doing a hen that celebrates
0:23:25 > 0:23:25
0:23:25 > 0:23:32all the scenes of Wales, sung to this familiar Welsh tune. -- hymn.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36I would say that half of the people watching it do not go to church,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39but when they might start launching into pens, it starts them going
0:23:39 > 0:23:47back to school assemblies and a happy, comfortable time in their
0:23:47 > 0:23:51lives. He was happy when the show was featured on the the vicar of
0:23:51 > 0:23:57the Glee. I have had a letter from the BBC who want to film songs of
0:23:57 > 0:24:07Praise. Heavens preserve us. I like the thought that they thought it
0:24:07 > 0:24:20
0:24:20 > 0:24:23was going to be Tom Jones, when it was Aled Jones. This is not the
0:24:23 > 0:24:29first drama to be filmed in these studios. Life On Mars was filmed
0:24:29 > 0:24:39here, too. There has been a stabbing. Queenie the road. Uniform
0:24:39 > 0:24:40
0:24:40 > 0:24:43is already on the scene. -- Queen Mary Road. Life On Mars re created
0:24:43 > 0:24:531970s Manchester with scenes from all over the city and in the Oxford
0:24:53 > 0:25:10
0:25:10 > 0:25:16Life On Mars, women should have given your role in it. It is 1973,
0:25:16 > 0:25:22almost banal time. Fantastic performances. Great drama. Every
0:25:22 > 0:25:26corner has to be whiter than white or the entire thing falls apart. --
0:25:26 > 0:25:34every corporate. And the north-west is home to some of the best drama
0:25:34 > 0:25:40writers in the UK. Paul Abbott, Alan Bleasdale and Jimmy McGovern,
0:25:40 > 0:25:47to name but a few. Glaswegian, about 45 years old. Billy Rafferty.
0:25:47 > 0:25:55He is dead. There is a great love of language in and around
0:25:55 > 0:26:01Manchester and Liverpool pubs. A great jury in language and in story
0:26:02 > 0:26:07telling. In conversation, in the sense of a community, and I think
0:26:07 > 0:26:13writers have packed into that, and brought it to a national audience.
0:26:13 > 0:26:23What is your name? And it is this love of language and story telling
0:26:23 > 0:26:25
0:26:25 > 0:26:30that Jimmy McGovern has used to such dramatic effect in The Street.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36I cannot even look after myself, never mind someone like you. What
0:26:36 > 0:26:40is great about the Street, you feel that the writer listens to how
0:26:40 > 0:26:44people actually speak and we know that in Manchester and Liverpool
0:26:44 > 0:26:48there is a joy in language that is very idiosyncratic. And Jimmy
0:26:48 > 0:26:58McGovern has a very acute ear for the way that people in the north-
0:26:58 > 0:27:05
0:27:05 > 0:27:10west talk and thing. -- think. Gissa Job! Oh over the years the
0:27:10 > 0:27:20north-west has produced some of the very best television drama. Am I
0:27:20 > 0:27:21
0:27:21 > 0:27:31right? I am I right! You should never change... Nice, what are you
0:27:31 > 0:27:35
0:27:35 > 0:27:42doing up here? Business or pleasure? Come on, Jack, let's be
0:27:42 > 0:27:45naughty. I know that you wanted. The BBC has come along way from the
0:27:45 > 0:27:52days of studios in converted churches. It is starting a new
0:27:52 > 0:27:58chapter at Media City are, on a bigger scale than ever before, and
0:27:58 > 0:28:02here is a taste of what is to come. I don't know what you drink up in
0:28:02 > 0:28:07Manchester but there seems to be something in the water, that little
0:28:07 > 0:28:12spark of creativity, so I am not surprised that BBC Manchester has
0:28:12 > 0:28:18been so successful. This move is enormously important, for the
0:28:18 > 0:28:24message that it sends out which is that Britain does not begin and end