0:00:02 > 0:00:10This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39In the world of light entertainment, everyone knows that television is king.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44But it wasn't always like that - radio used to be the home of entertainment.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Radio is the mother of television, and they're still looking for the father.
0:00:48 > 0:00:55Some of the biggest names in front of the camera started their careers behind the microphone.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02In fact, radio has created more entertainment formats,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06game shows and comedy stars than any other branch of show business.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08There's no finer place than this side of the camera.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13It's 4.35am. You're listening to Up With The Partridge.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16I wonder what's on television.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20You can't underestimate how important radio was in developing British comedy.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I am the only gay in the village.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26It's all done in the best possible taste.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31But the legacy of all these ideas is largely forgotten today.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36Somehow, the world of the wireless is seen as desperately old-fashioned.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40A dusty old place where has-been DJs go to die.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48But as you'll discover tonight, radio was one of the most ruthless areas in the entertainment industry.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I'm the boss. I'm in charge. I'm doing this. Bosh.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53It was a horrible time.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Goodnight and good riddance.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00A vicious world of overactive egos and monstrous personalities.
0:02:01 > 0:02:02Oh, yeah!
0:02:03 > 0:02:07I was me. I did my thing. People either bought it or they didn't.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Where's my BAFTA? Where's the BAFTA?
0:02:10 > 0:02:13If you've got anybody hailing Chris Evans as a genius,
0:02:13 > 0:02:15something's very wrong in the world.
0:02:15 > 0:02:16We're sorry, we're sorry.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20We'll reveal how radio and television have been involved
0:02:20 > 0:02:23in a 50-year non-stop battle for supremacy,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and we'll discover the truth behind some of the casualties.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29He should have been a big, big star.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And then it all fell apart.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33It's very easy to go nuts.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36It's a bugger of a business, this, when it goes wrong.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Now, are you sitting comfortably?
0:02:43 > 0:02:47# The folks are very wealthy Down upon the farm
0:02:47 > 0:02:50# But if the life is good and healthy, down upon the farm... #
0:02:50 > 0:02:57In the 1920s, unlike every other country in the world, the British Government effectively nationalised
0:02:57 > 0:03:00the fledging radio industry and brought all the existing private
0:03:00 > 0:03:05stations under the banner of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11The royal charter of the newly formed BBC was to educate, inform and entertain.
0:03:11 > 0:03:17The BBC felt that its place was more to educate than to entertain,
0:03:17 > 0:03:23because if you wanted entertainment you could go to the Variety Hall,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27and you could listen to low comedians doing their low comedy.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31But it wasn't long before a sanitised version of music hall
0:03:31 > 0:03:35variety found its way onto the airwaves in the early '30s.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38The BBC did its level best, although they didn't have any systems
0:03:38 > 0:03:42for finding out what people wanted, to give the people what they wanted.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46And every Saturday night there was an hour's variety show.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51The BBC Dance Orchestra is going to play to you Piccadilly Ride.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55The quality and quantity of BBC entertainment was strictly controlled.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01The first director-general, John Reith, was a staunchly conservative religious man
0:04:01 > 0:04:06who laid down a series of precise rules of taste and decency for whatever was heard on the BBC.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10And on a Sunday, entertainment was completely banned.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Lord Reith was a very strict Presbyterian,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and didn't believe that anything should be,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19any kind of entertainment should be allowed on a Sunday night.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23He thought Sunday was the day for God and worship
0:04:23 > 0:04:24and it should be used for that.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30Enlighten the minds which without thee are dark and blind...
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Although the BBC was the only radio station in Britain,
0:04:33 > 0:04:39it did have competition from commercial channels transmitting from continental Europe.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43These foreign rivals were quick to exploit the BBC's rigidly
0:04:43 > 0:04:49highbrow stance on entertainment, and broadcast popular music, quiz shows and comedy seven days a week.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55Launched in 1933, Radio Luxembourg broadcast English programmes at night.
0:04:55 > 0:05:01It was an instant success in the UK, and attracted around 80% of the listening audience on a Sunday.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04# We are the Ovaltinies Little girls and boys
0:05:04 > 0:05:06# Make your request we'll not refuse you
0:05:06 > 0:05:09# We are there just to amuse you... #
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Radio Luxembourg, of course, was a prime source of opposition
0:05:13 > 0:05:16to the the BBC for a number of years.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19It had a great appeal to the...
0:05:20 > 0:05:23shall we say - the lowest educated people, I would say.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26If you went to the north of England, among the coalminers
0:05:26 > 0:05:30and millworkers, they'd all listen to Luxembourg.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32Of course the BBC were doing the opposite.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36They were taking sound radio up, very brilliantly.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Whereas commercial radio was aimed at
0:05:40 > 0:05:41the lowest common denominator.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48The snobbish attitude of the BBC was only broken in World War II, when radio ceased to be a novelty
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and became the only form of entertainment available.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57ANNOUNCEMENT: 'All cinemas, theatres and other places of entertainment,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01'are to be closed immediately until further notice...'
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Millions more radios came into use during the War, and it was to
0:06:05 > 0:06:11the BBC that all these new listeners turned at the nation's darkest hour.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17The war brought a kind of crashing down of class barriers and it was part of the BBC's remit to keep up
0:06:17 > 0:06:21morale, and that meant keeping up morale of the whole country.
0:06:21 > 0:06:27The BBC lowered its standard, as you might say, in order to attract many more people to listen.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Because many important announcements were given over the radio -
0:06:31 > 0:06:36government announcements, and announcements about call-up and things like that.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39so as many people as possible were expected to listen
0:06:39 > 0:06:43and the way to get them to listen is to give them what they wanted.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48They wanted jokes and... pop songs of their era.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52And the man with the jokes was music hall star, Arthur Askey.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Ladies and gentlemen, Band Waggon!
0:06:56 > 0:07:00MUSIC: Theme from Band Waggon
0:07:00 > 0:07:06Band Waggon was the first weekly comedy and the first to be specifically designed for radio.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Band Waggon was one of my favourites, Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13"Stinker" Murdoch, as he was known!
0:07:13 > 0:07:20'Arthur Askey borrowing protection from the rain, and helping him, his playmate, "Stinker" Murdoch.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25'Step inside, Stinker and big-hearted Arthur are entertaining the boys.'
0:07:25 > 0:07:28LAUGHTER
0:07:28 > 0:07:30ASKEY: I thank you, I thank you.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32MORE LAUGHTER
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Am I standing in a hole, or are you on horseback?!
0:07:41 > 0:07:44Band Waggon had a sort of sitcom element to it.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48They always, supposedly, had this flat above Broadcasting House.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52And I think they kept a goat on the roof.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55The other characters came, for whatever reason, to visit them there.
0:07:55 > 0:08:02And the idea of living in a flat on the roof of Broadcasting House with a goat just really made me laugh.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06This is the last straw! Take all this rubbish and clear out!
0:08:08 > 0:08:12By the 1950s, radio was entering its golden age, and produced so much
0:08:12 > 0:08:18entertainment that it quickly became the natural showcase for the cream of comedy writers and performers.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20There was very little television,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23and there was very little comedy on television.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28So, it was to the radio that you turned to have a good laugh - Hancock's Half Hour, Raise A Laugh,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30they were part and parcel of our lives.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33I can remember cycling home from church on a Sunday morning,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37and you cycle like mad to get back to, not to miss anything like that.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Because church first, and radio second.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41What's that?
0:08:41 > 0:08:45WHOOPING
0:08:45 > 0:08:48- What's that?- It's the wha-whoops of the Nakataka Indians.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51- Are they the ones that commit atrocities?- Yes.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53I'll go upstairs and get ready.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:08:56 > 0:08:58The Goons sort of divides opinion now.
0:08:58 > 0:09:04In fact, it divided opinion then. I mean, some people always hated it, some people always loved it.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07But in a way, it was the ultimate radio show.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11- Oh, hello!- And you've picked a funeral for three o'clock?
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Sometimes radio is simply more visual than TV.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18The Goon Show, for example, was a radio phenomenon
0:09:18 > 0:09:21because you could see the pictures in your mind.
0:09:21 > 0:09:27Nine times out of ten, the script was written about three hours before they hit the air.
0:09:27 > 0:09:33It was Spike, very often, came up with paper and handed - I've known it - on transmission.
0:09:33 > 0:09:421953 finally saw television as a viable competitor to radio, when the BBC covered the coronation,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46and a more affluent Britain could afford the highly sought after box in the corner.
0:09:46 > 0:09:52But TV was still looked on by radio veterans as an inferior medium to be made fun of.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Hello, Playmates, well I..
0:09:55 > 0:09:58I think we'll commence the meeting by bowing our heads
0:09:58 > 0:10:02in memory of all those listeners who have passed over to television.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Tell me, what do you do?
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Well, perhaps you haven't seen me on TV?
0:10:06 > 0:10:11TV? Oh, TV! Terrible Value. No, I haven't.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15I never see it, the only time there's anything worth watching, I'm too busy doing it.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18When television came in, there was a great
0:10:18 > 0:10:23snobbery amongst the radio people, because they were all established.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27A lot of them had been in radio for 40-odd years and things like that.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29The baby, the new baby, was television.
0:10:29 > 0:10:35While TV was finding its feet, on radio there was once again a totally new kind of comedy.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41We present Tony Hancock, Sidney James, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams in...
0:10:42 > 0:10:45.. H-H-Hancock's Half Hour.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49HATTIE: Oh, look, it's started raining!
0:10:49 > 0:10:52TONY: That's all we wanted.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55- What's the time? - SIDNEY: Two o'clock.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Is that all?
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Oh, dear, oh, dear.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Ah, dear me.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Tony was so good at... "Ah, dear, oh, lord.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11"Oh, dear, oh, lord.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13"Hah, oh, dear."
0:11:13 > 0:11:17His timing in between, all these little, "Oh God, what's the time?"
0:11:17 > 0:11:21and "Oh, dear, doesn't time drag?" His timing was absolutely superb.
0:11:21 > 0:11:27The TV version of Hancock's Half Hour appeared in 1956 under the same
0:11:27 > 0:11:32name and with the same writers, and with the same sense of simplicity.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Whole episodes were set in one room or in a lift, famously.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Or in, you know, one room of his flat.
0:11:40 > 0:11:46And this was not only astonishing writing, which it would be today, but it also perfectly suited
0:11:46 > 0:11:51television of the time because it was quite limited, technically, in what it could do.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55Time is the most precious commodity at our disposal.
0:11:55 > 0:12:01I must not waste it. To waste one second of one's life is a betrayal of one's self.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10I wonder what's on television?
0:12:10 > 0:12:13# All my love, all my kissing
0:12:13 > 0:12:15# You don't know what you've been missing... #
0:12:15 > 0:12:22Surprisingly, in the late '50s and early '60s, radio was behind TV when it came to popular music.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27While the explosion of rock'n'roll was all but ignored by the BBC radio monopoly,
0:12:27 > 0:12:33television welcomed it with open arms, and DJs took their first tentative steps into television.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36BBC television didn't really feel at home
0:12:36 > 0:12:40or au fait with music and kind of went, "Oh, who does?"
0:12:40 > 0:12:45David Jacobs and Pete Murray and people like that.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49It's time to jive on the old Six-Five.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58Of all the programmes that have ever been done on television, Six-Five Special was way ahead.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02# Where the deep And pearly waters... #
0:13:02 > 0:13:05It was the first programme to incorporate the audience
0:13:05 > 0:13:09into the show, and that's what really made it quite exciting.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Not only did it create the hits, it was sort of a much more
0:13:13 > 0:13:16varied style of music, you had every kind of music on there.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18The Deep River Boys!
0:13:21 > 0:13:23# Bless my soul What's wrong with me... #
0:13:23 > 0:13:26While Pete Murray jived on the Six-Five,
0:13:26 > 0:13:32the gentlemanly tones of David Jacobs could be found on Juke Box Jury.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Good evening and welcome to another session of Juke Box Jury.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Everybody working on radio wanted to work on television
0:13:40 > 0:13:41and I was one of them.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44I was lucky enough that I had a transportable talent
0:13:44 > 0:13:46that seemed to work on both media.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49# Poetry in motion
0:13:49 > 0:13:51# Walkin' by my side... #
0:13:53 > 0:13:58- Nina, what do you think about it? - Well, I must say, I rather liked the beginning of it.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00The, what I call the dirty saxophone!
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Clearly, "dirty saxophones"
0:14:03 > 0:14:05were never to be heard on BBC radio.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10Even by the early '60s, pop was as stringently rationed as before the war.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14'Good morning, ladies. Our first request this morning is from Mrs
0:14:14 > 0:14:18'Ada Spillington, Oak Lodge, Crawley, Sussex - for her daughter, Eleanor.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23'She says you'd like some jolly music to help you start the day, so what about this?'
0:14:27 > 0:14:29They really were very starchy in those days.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33And as a teenager, and as a youngster, they didn't really talk
0:14:33 > 0:14:37to me, they were talking to, always entertaining older people, I thought.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42But the stuffy old BBC was still at the cutting edge of radio comedy.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Mrs Olga Cremorne requests the pleasure
0:14:45 > 0:14:49of Mr Kenneth Horne's company at a meeting...
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne, that followed, were laced with
0:14:53 > 0:14:56an incredible amount of double entendre
0:14:56 > 0:14:57and innuendo for their time.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01# Dear Ken Jim Pubes With his splod so bright
0:15:01 > 0:15:05# As he traddles his nadger in the bright moonlight
0:15:05 > 0:15:10# He wurdles his pawcet all through the night
0:15:10 > 0:15:14# But he can't turn it off in the morning... #
0:15:14 > 0:15:20I don't think one could ever say, "Well, Round The Horne was grubby."
0:15:20 > 0:15:23But it was cheeky, if you like.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27One chap there who'd been arrested for kissing a strange girl in the middle of Piccadilly Circus.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30A foolish thing to do and as the magistrate said...
0:15:30 > 0:15:33In future, you'll want to use a bit of common.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Round The Horne at its peak got an audience of around 20 million,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41and was the last radio comedy to get figures anywhere near this size.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44# She loves you Yeah, yeah, yeah... #
0:15:44 > 0:15:48But even as Beatlemania shook the world of entertainment,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50the BBC was having none of it,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54and continued blithely to ignore popular music.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57This is the British Broadcasting Corporation...
0:15:57 > 0:16:00And once again, Radio Luxembourg reaped the benefit,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04by re-branding itself Fab 208, and playing non-stop pop.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10# The ring-a-ding swinging station of the stars! #
0:16:10 > 0:16:13I think Radio Luxembourg was probably a favourite with everybody
0:16:13 > 0:16:17because there hadn't been another station like it before.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22Just the fact that it was playing lots of pop music was stunning, as far as kids were concerned.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25# Well, it's Saturday night and I just got paid... #
0:16:25 > 0:16:29With the government's continuing resistance to commercial radio,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Luxembourg was the place to go for aspiring British DJs.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37One of its recruits in the late '50s was the dapper young Jimmy Savile.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39I was working my dance hall in Leeds,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and a guy came up to me afterwards
0:16:41 > 0:16:45and said, "I've never seen records played like that before."
0:16:45 > 0:16:49"Would you like a job on the radio?" And I said,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53"Yeah, why not?" He said, "I'm from Radio Luxembourg,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56"and if you come for an audition next week..." I said, "No."
0:16:56 > 0:16:59He said, "Why?" I said, "You've seen all there is to see.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01"You either want it or you don't." And he said,
0:17:01 > 0:17:05"You're a character, aren't you?" I said, "It's the way it is."
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Ladies and gentlemen, here we are, Percy and Jimmy Savile,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11the Savile Twins, so let's go inside and...
0:17:11 > 0:17:15HE HUMS
0:17:15 > 0:17:19All the English-speaking DJs worked out of the studios in London.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24I did the show, they flew the tapes over and that was it. Never been to Luxembourg in my life.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28When I started the Luxembourg thing, it was for Warner Brothers Records.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33When they sent the tape to Warner Brothers in Hollywood and they heard this Yorkshire voice saying,
0:17:33 > 0:17:38"Welcome to the Warner Brothers Show," they said, "..the hell's that?
0:17:38 > 0:17:41"Who the...?" and they sent a letter back and they said,
0:17:41 > 0:17:46"Look, try and find another voice, will you, and send us a tape of the voices and we'll decide what..."
0:17:46 > 0:17:53by which time I'd turned a 600,000 listening figure to 2.3 million in three weeks.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56No way you're gonna shift that, baby. No way.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59# Come on, honey, shake that thing All right!
0:18:00 > 0:18:01# Hey hey... #
0:18:01 > 0:18:06By 1964, music programmes on TV were getting more adventurous.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11BBC Two's short series, The Beat Room, had been so popular
0:18:11 > 0:18:16that it was decided that a new show on BBC One would be the flagship for pop on TV.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22By this time the BBC had acknowledged that pop music was gonna be here to stay, so they wanted something on TV.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Despite working for a foreign broadcaster,
0:18:26 > 0:18:32Jimmy Savile was the country's most popular DJ at the time, so BBC TV looked to him for inspiration.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35My Luxembourg show was called The Teen and Twenty Disc Club.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40The Beeb says, "That's a bit long. Can you shorten it down a bit?" I said, "Yeah.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43"Call it Top Of The Pops." And that was it.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Wednesday, January 1st 1964, 6.30 in the evening live.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48The first band, Rolling Stones.
0:18:48 > 0:18:49And here they come right now.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56# Ba-ba la-la ba ba ba-da da... #
0:18:56 > 0:19:02It was decided that Top Of The Pops should be presented by four different presenters -
0:19:02 > 0:19:06Jimmy Savile, Pete Murray, Alan Freeman and myself.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Top groups, top records, top everything.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17There was one group that was in and out of the British Top 20 for something like 25 weeks this year.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Now we move onto our next record. It didn't make number one in the charts
0:19:21 > 0:19:24but it's a beautiful record and one of my favourites.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27We were the top disc jockeys of the day.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31I used to come top in the poll every year
0:19:31 > 0:19:34until Jimmy Savile came along and he took over.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36And I did it once a month,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38all the way along.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40We have got a young lady.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45The BBC hoped it was a short series cos they didn't trust pop people,
0:19:45 > 0:19:51and in those days, the average pop person, even if they were properly dressed almost,
0:19:51 > 0:19:56were the equivalent to punks were later on and not to be trusted and all this, that and the other.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00And good morning, everyone. Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04And now that BBC radio had its own pure pop station,
0:20:04 > 0:20:10BBC television had fresh faces to plunder for Top Of The Pops.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14Radio 1 and, and BBC Light Entertainment having close ties,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18it made perfect sense that Radio 1 DJs would do the show.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22'Yes, it's number one, it's Top Of The Pops.'
0:20:22 > 0:20:26When I started presenting Top Of The Pops, it changed my life.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30I had Radio 1 doing the Breakfast Show, and then Top Of The Pops, then visually people knew me.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Right, now here's a lovely record and it's number 21 this week.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37It's called Venus and it comes from Shocking Blue.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Radio 1 DJs were recognised not because they were on the radio,
0:20:42 > 0:20:44it's because they did Top Of The Pops,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and that was a fantastic marketing exercise for Radio 1.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49It was almost accepted and expected.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53They created names overnight, and of course you've got to remember
0:20:53 > 0:20:57in those days Top Of The Pops was getting 18, 19 million people.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59So everywhere we went, we got mobbed.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02# MUSIC: "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" by the Chemical Brothers
0:21:02 > 0:21:08The side effect of all this new-found fame, to some of the DJs, was egomania gone wild.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13When you have the whole country hanging on your every word, it can go to your head.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Rosko, flash, brash, easy riding to the top.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18# Hey, girls
0:21:18 > 0:21:20# Hey, boys
0:21:20 > 0:21:22# Superstar DJs
0:21:22 > 0:21:23# Here we go... #
0:21:25 > 0:21:28A glass of water for the Emperor!
0:21:28 > 0:21:31The Rosko Show on Saturday was a complete party.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Hey! Wey!
0:21:33 > 0:21:35I just want to rock and roll.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37# Superstar DJs
0:21:37 > 0:21:38# Here we go! #
0:21:39 > 0:21:45To be a DJ then on Radio 1 was, you know, almost like having a number one in the pop charts.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49We were as big as the acts were. Maybe not as big as the Stones or the Beatles,
0:21:49 > 0:21:55but we had our own following and they cheered for us just as much as they would for the act.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57GIRLS SCREAM
0:21:57 > 0:22:01They were all now big names by the time I got to Radio 1,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03and they were all fighting each other's egos.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13Former pirate and Radio 1 DJ Simon Dee was THE king of egos.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17But his belief that he was a star would prove to be his undoing
0:22:17 > 0:22:21and he was tipped over the edge by the attention from television.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25He was the first DJ to really hit big outside of the pop world
0:22:25 > 0:22:30with his 1968 chat show Dee Time on the BBC.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Simon Dee!
0:22:33 > 0:22:35APPLAUSE
0:22:35 > 0:22:38- You wanna ask me anything? - Um...
0:22:38 > 0:22:41- How did you start? - Funny you should ask me that.
0:22:41 > 0:22:42Um...bribe.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45- Bribe?- Yeah, I bribed the head of BBC Television.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51Simon Dee was, um...a forceful young man, you know.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53He wanted to do things his way.
0:22:53 > 0:22:59I wasn't hard to handle. I respected my producer and director and my team,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02and anything they said I went along with, except sometimes when...
0:23:02 > 0:23:05You know, it is my show, or my name on a show, and sometimes I needed
0:23:05 > 0:23:08an edge just to let them know it was me out in the cold there.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Simon was a bit of a fruit cake.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Nice guy. A bit bananas.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Simon was like the James Bond of DJs, by that time.
0:23:18 > 0:23:23He had a TV show and the intro had girls draped all over a Jag,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25so he was very much that image and he played up to it.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28He was a man of his time.
0:23:28 > 0:23:34There were the Beatles and all that, and he was very well dressed, very smart.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36I've always wanted to meet you for...
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Well, I wanted to meet you too. You're very good looking.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Oh, don't you start! Oh, God!
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Zsa Zsa Gabor Show!
0:23:44 > 0:23:47And then it all fell apart.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Simon Dee was, of course, retailed to us because we knew he had a massive ego.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55I remember doing his television programme once as a singer
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and he went on there and the warm-up man was saying,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02"Please give a nice round of applause for our host of our show, Simon Dee,"
0:24:02 > 0:24:04and Simon Dee came on and said, "Give me a camera.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07"When I say something funny, laugh, cos the tickets are difficult to get."
0:24:07 > 0:24:09I thought, "That isn't the way to last."
0:24:09 > 0:24:15And afterwards I said to him, "Simon, why do you do that?" and he said, "I'm Simon Dee."
0:24:15 > 0:24:18I think at one point he did say to Radio 1,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21"I've got my own TV show so I want more money than the other DJs,"
0:24:21 > 0:24:22and they went, "Oh, shut up, Simon."
0:24:22 > 0:24:25And he was offered...
0:24:25 > 0:24:32a sum of money by London Weekend Television that I was not able or prepared to match.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37And then he left the BBC, said, "I don't need you guys any more,"
0:24:37 > 0:24:44burning bridges as he went - not a good idea - and went to ITV.
0:24:45 > 0:24:51But the huge increase in salary went to Simon's head and his demands and ego went out of control.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53Good evening. APPLAUSE
0:24:53 > 0:24:56There's nobody here. That's all taped applause.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Nobody here. See, it's all taped.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00I pull a little button there, see?
0:25:00 > 0:25:02I can cue little, small laughs. Listen.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04TITTERS
0:25:04 > 0:25:06See?
0:25:06 > 0:25:10And having fallen out with the BBC, there was nowhere else to go,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13so Simon's broadcasting career was over.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17It's very easy to go nuts when you get that kind of prominence.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20It's remarkably easy to lose the plot.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24I might have had a couple of self-destruct buttons myself,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26but not to the degree he had.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29He should have been a big, big star, he really should have been.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32He had it all there, and he lost it.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36You've got to have an internal governing system which keeps telling you
0:25:36 > 0:25:42that all this adulation is irrelevant and you mustn't be driven haywire by it.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45As they say, that's show business,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48and it's very unfortunate.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52After two years of being one of the most famous and well-paid men
0:25:52 > 0:25:55in the country, Simon Dee was forced to sign on.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00And I had to go to this grill, and the girl said, "Yes?"
0:26:01 > 0:26:04I gave my name. She said, "What do you do?"
0:26:04 > 0:26:06I said, "I'm a disc jockey."
0:26:06 > 0:26:09"Oh, you're Simon Dee.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12"Look how the mighty have fallen."
0:26:12 > 0:26:16I thought, "Yes, what a line, and how true." But she loved saying it.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20"Look how the mighty have fallen." I thought, "Yeah, you're quite right."
0:26:20 > 0:26:25I, actually funnily enough, learnt a lot from Simon Dee, and Simon,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29please forgive me for saying this, but I learnt how not to do it.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32# I like to play on the record machine
0:26:32 > 0:26:35# All the popular records that there might have been... #
0:26:35 > 0:26:39There was one DJ, though, who didn't fit the typical profile.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41# Kenny Everett! #
0:26:41 > 0:26:46By common consent of everyone in the profession, the best of us.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48A lot of people take the easy route.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51They come in without a thought in their heads and cruise through it,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54say the first thing that comes into their heads, which often isn't worth hearing.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59Kenny Everett meticulously planned and structured all his programmes.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03He'd come up with all these extraordinary characters
0:27:03 > 0:27:05from his imagination.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07He was in a league of his own.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Excuse me, sir. Basement Bill here.
0:27:12 > 0:27:18I just want to know if you want any revived 45s cos I'm going down
0:27:18 > 0:27:23to the basement in amongst the filth and the muck to dig you some out.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28He did really use radio in that theatre of the mind way
0:27:28 > 0:27:31that very few people can.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35He would take the listener to another place just by his inventiveness.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39- Hey, I went to see the Director General the other day.- You did, sir?
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Oh, yes, very good friend of mine, the old Dir Gen, you know.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46We have tea together and you should see the pad he's in.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Oh, my God, I entered trembling footsteps.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52DISTORTED CREAKING AND STEPS
0:27:56 > 0:28:01What a place! Cor, talk about marble 'alls! Oo-er!
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Kenny Everett couldn't seem to resist pushing boundaries
0:28:05 > 0:28:08and was sacked by most of his previous employers at one time or another.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10The BBC proved to be no different.
0:28:10 > 0:28:18Isn't it strange that I'm being filmed by one end of the BBC about being sacked by the other?
0:28:19 > 0:28:23By the 1970s, Radio 1 DJs were a familiar sight on our screens
0:28:23 > 0:28:27and the BBC discovered a whole new area where their talent for talk
0:28:27 > 0:28:31could be put to good use - presenting children's shows.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33It's Friday.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34Yes, and it's five to five!
0:28:34 > 0:28:35And it's...
0:28:35 > 0:28:39ALL: Crackerjack time!
0:28:39 > 0:28:44I was the obvious choice because I was doing Junior Choice with its huge audiences.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47We've got three marvellous couples and if you look down at their feet
0:28:47 > 0:28:52you can see also that we're gonna play a sort of three-legged race!
0:28:52 > 0:28:53That's it. Whoops!
0:28:53 > 0:28:56It's not as easy as it looks, you see.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58You walk down the street or go to parties now
0:28:58 > 0:29:02and 30 to 40-year-old men and women will shout "Crackerjack" at you,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06because that's the impact it used to make. Crackerjack!
0:29:06 > 0:29:08ALL: Crackerjack!
0:29:08 > 0:29:11So I've been very fortunate in that way.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13But there was never a conscious decision.
0:29:13 > 0:29:19I like to be on television, but I don't like the shape of my nose for a start, so I never liked being on it.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22I thought, "Oh, God, why have they got that shot again?"
0:29:22 > 0:29:25One radio star who was never reluctant to appear on TV
0:29:25 > 0:29:28was to create another classic children's show,
0:29:28 > 0:29:30but on his own terms, of course.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34As I was walking down the corridor at Television Centre,
0:29:34 > 0:29:40and one of the executives was coming in the opposite direction and he said, "Hey, you!"
0:29:40 > 0:29:42That's the way they talked to me down there.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45He said, "You've been fixing things for people all your life.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47"Why don't we put pictures to it and make a show?"
0:29:47 > 0:29:50And I said, "Yeah, OK, we'll call it Jim'll Fix It."
0:29:50 > 0:29:52and he said, "Jimmy Will Fix..."
0:29:52 > 0:29:55I said, "No, Jim apostrophe double L, Jim'll Fix It" And he said, "OK."
0:29:55 > 0:29:57And we didn't actually stop.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00He kept going and I kept going,
0:30:00 > 0:30:05and all of a sudden a guy turned up and said, "I'm the producer of your show."
0:30:05 > 0:30:07I said, "Are ya?" He said, "Yeah, what do we do?"
0:30:07 > 0:30:10# Jim'll Fix It, Jim'll Fit It... #
0:30:10 > 0:30:13What they did was produce one of the nation's favourites
0:30:13 > 0:30:18that made dreams come true for hundreds of kids, but it wasn't an original idea.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Wilfred Pickles had been doing a similar show on the radio for years
0:30:22 > 0:30:28in the '40s before bringing it to TV in 1954 with Ask Pickles.
0:30:28 > 0:30:34But good ideas don't die, and Jimmy Savile's version of the format ran for nearly 20 years.
0:30:34 > 0:30:41One of the reasons it lasted that long is because I kept a 100% high moral standard.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46There was absolutely no chance of getting any nudge, nudge, wink, wink or anything like that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Not that I'm a prude - anything but - but it was the wrong place for it.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55One, two, three!
0:30:55 > 0:30:57He's done it!
0:30:57 > 0:31:03'I never would dream of imposing my personality on the show cos it was nothing to do with me.'
0:31:03 > 0:31:06It was to do with letters that we got in.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10All we did was make sure that the letters were televisually good.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12I wanted to appear with Morecambe and Wise.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14You did?
0:31:14 > 0:31:16- Here we go.- Yaah!
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Cor!
0:31:19 > 0:31:21Have you got short, fat, hairy legs?
0:31:24 > 0:31:27What can you say? I mean this is a children's...
0:31:27 > 0:31:29- Just a quick flash?- You gonna do it? - You wanna see 'em?
0:31:29 > 0:31:31Here we are, look at that!
0:31:32 > 0:31:38In the 20 years that we operated, we got over 5.5 million letters.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43I get maybe now still 30, 40 letters a week,
0:31:43 > 0:31:47and people write to me as if it were still on!
0:31:47 > 0:31:50# Ch-ch-ch changes
0:31:50 > 0:31:51# Turn and face the strain... #
0:31:51 > 0:31:56In 1973, the 50-year BBC monopoly was finally ended
0:31:56 > 0:31:59and commercial radio was now legal.
0:32:00 > 0:32:06With all this new competition, Radio 1 had to become more entertaining,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10so new blood was drafted in to take the station into the '70s.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13# Noel Edmonds. #
0:32:13 > 0:32:17One man who wasn't pleased to see the new handsome young face
0:32:17 > 0:32:22was Tony Blackburn, who'd been relegated from the high-profile breakfast slot.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24When Noel took the Breakfast Show from me,
0:32:24 > 0:32:28yeah, it was really annoying, really, really, really annoying!
0:32:28 > 0:32:31# ..Headin' for a showdown... #
0:32:33 > 0:32:36The original Radio 1 star...
0:32:37 > 0:32:39..finally eclipsed.
0:32:39 > 0:32:44I don't think I was the nicest person to Noel. I didn't welcome him into the fold.
0:32:44 > 0:32:45Doing anything over the weekend?
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Er, well I'm going down to Shirley in Southampton in actual fact.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50- You doing anything? - Er, no, nothing at all.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53- No, I'm gonna stay in the studio and wait for Monday to come round. - How terribly boring for you.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59I couldn't forgive him for being younger and talented and better looking than me!
0:32:59 > 0:33:02It's really annoying when that happens.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06Mrs Scott has written to me from High Street, Riddings, Derbyshire,
0:33:06 > 0:33:10and says, "I saw a picture of you recently with half your beard missing.
0:33:10 > 0:33:11"Have you really shaved it off?"
0:33:11 > 0:33:13No, Pauline. Have a listen.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16That's me beard. It's still there.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19It's a kind of design classic in a way, isn't it, you know?
0:33:19 > 0:33:23The tidy beard and the kind of, that haircut that's never changed
0:33:23 > 0:33:28and that sort of smooth and unthreatening and sort of semi-beige sort of image, you know.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30# ..the children of the revolution
0:33:30 > 0:33:31# No, no... #
0:33:31 > 0:33:37After attracting a record-breaking audience on his Breakfast Show, Noel didn't hang around.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40He moved swiftly into what was then the dead zone of TV -
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Saturday mornings, and started a light entertainment revolution.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Yes, there is no finer place to be on a Saturday morning than in front of a TV set tuned to BBC One
0:33:48 > 0:33:51and there's no finer place than to be on this side of the camera.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55When Noel Edmonds started the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
0:33:55 > 0:33:58in the early '70s, it was a natural way forward
0:33:58 > 0:34:03because daytime TV was almost non-existent and weekend TV started with him, so to speak.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07Noel's training and background on radio was enormously helpful
0:34:07 > 0:34:11when he came to television, because the absence of an earpiece,
0:34:11 > 0:34:18the absence of autocue meant you were removing two barriers between you and the audience.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20They are a lovely lot, really.
0:34:20 > 0:34:21Aren't you?
0:34:21 > 0:34:24You really are lovely. What does that do?
0:34:24 > 0:34:29He just had that knack which very, very, very few presenters,
0:34:29 > 0:34:33whether they be radio presenters or TV presenters have got of doing live
0:34:33 > 0:34:39television and being completely at ease, as though it was pre-recorded, and he was the master of that.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47# You've done it all
0:34:47 > 0:34:50# You've broken every code... #
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Never one to do the expected, Kenny Everett's move to television broke with two traditions.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00He didn't do children's TV and he didn't do it on the BBC.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02Today the BBC.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Tomorrow...ITV if they'll have me!
0:35:04 > 0:35:09They did have him, for three very successful years.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12The thinking was at Thames Television
0:35:12 > 0:35:15he would be the whacky, funny DJ introducing the bands.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20Radio will be a thing of the past, and now stand by to see our first viewing item.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Eyeballs at the ready? Paul McCartney and Wings, start viewing now!
0:35:23 > 0:35:27His input was thinking of characters and what he would do with them.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32I hope you'll all go and see my new movie, Bloodbath Of The Naked Vixens.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35It's all done in the best possible taste!
0:35:35 > 0:35:38I came from an old school where you rehearsed it
0:35:38 > 0:35:42and then you did it in the studio in front of an audience
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and the audience laughed or applauded in front of a set, whatever.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47There was a, a fixed way of doing it.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52With Kenny Everett, suddenly I found myself in a very, very small studio
0:35:52 > 0:35:58with Kenny, with Barry Cryer, with Ray Cameron, a cameraman, a boom operator, and that's it!
0:35:58 > 0:36:02No audience. If you heard any laughter it was the crew, and we never asked them to laugh
0:36:02 > 0:36:04that would be insulting.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07Any laughter you heard was them and I loved that atmosphere.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11It's rock and roll time on The Kenny Enema Show,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14cos rock and roll's my favourite kind of music, you know what I mean?
0:36:14 > 0:36:19Kenny Everett, I think, is the single most innovative artist
0:36:19 > 0:36:24that TV ever had and his early death was a great, great loss
0:36:24 > 0:36:28and the results he got on screen were just astonishing.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33But he'd pioneered most of that fantasy and imagination on his radio show.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Radio was his spiritual home, but he became very good on television.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39He adapted to it brilliantly.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43In 1981, Kenny was brought back into the bosom of the Beeb
0:36:43 > 0:36:47to produce almost the same show with almost the same title.
0:36:47 > 0:36:53Hello and welcome to our brand new series with brand new jokes from a brand new TV station!
0:36:53 > 0:36:55- It's still the BBC.- What?
0:36:55 > 0:36:57- It's still the BBC.- Still the BBC?
0:36:57 > 0:36:58- Yeah.- Oh, bum!
0:36:58 > 0:37:02And the BBC tried to turn him into a BBC comedian -
0:37:02 > 0:37:06rehearse through the week and the audience come in on the Friday night,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09and then he became very good with a studio audience. They loved him.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Hello, darlings,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13and welcome to the show!
0:37:13 > 0:37:15I don't know. Kenny's not with us any longer.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17I can't ask him. I wish I could.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20But I think he preferred the ITV way of doing it.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25I think if Ev was still with us, he would have been back in a big way with the young generation.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30With the advanced technology, he'd be able all sorts of stuff with it now.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32I think he would have survived triumphantly.
0:37:33 > 0:37:39Meanwhile, Noel Edmonds, having conquered Saturday mornings, moved on to Saturday nights,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43a slot he would hold in one form or another for almost 20 years.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47He took the creativity which he'd done on the radio, and transferred it
0:37:47 > 0:37:51to television, and very few programmes had happened like that.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55It's really just a number of little sketches put together,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57a bit like an old-style radio variety show.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01It's got crazy sort of stunts on it that appeal to everybody,
0:38:01 > 0:38:03it's got stuff that kids are in,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06it's got stuff where adults get covered in gunge which kids like.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11At the same time Noel Edmonds is keeping it all together with a knowing wink!
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Thank you very much indeed, and a very good evening to you.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16It's great to be back, another series of the Late, Late Breakfast Show.
0:38:16 > 0:38:19And every Saturday teatime, I'm going to be taking you through
0:38:19 > 0:38:23until Christmas with all sorts of wonderful things. I mean it.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Those "wonderful things" included
0:38:25 > 0:38:29some very dangerous-looking live stunts where anything could happen.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Well, obviously we'll keep you posted as to exactly what happened with that attempt.
0:38:37 > 0:38:42It certainly looked remarkably frightening from the pictures I can see. They're sorting him out.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45That driver was OK, but another contestant's Houdini-style escape
0:38:45 > 0:38:49from a suspended cage went horribly wrong.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52The BBC is carrying out a full investigation after a man was killed
0:38:52 > 0:38:56when rehearsing a stunt for tomorrow's Late, Late Breakfast Show.
0:38:56 > 0:39:0125-year-old Michael Lush from Southampton fell more than 100 feet from a crane.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05I didn't know what had happened. I walked into Jim Moy's office and there were
0:39:05 > 0:39:08more grey men than normal all sitting around this table,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11all looking like their careers had ended.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14And then the story came out and initially it was
0:39:14 > 0:39:18he'd been seriously injured and then we heard he'd died, and...
0:39:18 > 0:39:23That was how I heard. I was dragged into an executive's office and told it.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27Noel wasn't there, Noel wasn't at the location.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29There've been lots of stupid stories told over the years.
0:39:29 > 0:39:35Neither of us were anywhere near Michael Lush that day. He was at a rehearsal site out in Oxfordshire.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37And the incident occurred,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40and we still don't know why.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44ANNOUNCER: Because of the tragic accident involving Michael Lush
0:39:44 > 0:39:48while preparing for tonight's edition of the Late, Late Breakfast Show,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52the BBC has decided to cancel this and all future editions of the programme.
0:39:52 > 0:39:57I think it was beyond any doubt that this show would not be coming back.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00There was no way you could do it because the press would have been against the BBC.
0:40:00 > 0:40:06Essentially my BBC television career was stopped in its tracks by that at that stage.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11Noel and Smithie's successful partnership was dissolved forever,
0:40:11 > 0:40:15allowing Noel to distance himself from the Michael Lush affair.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20But it wasn't long before he was back on Saturday nights, bigger and better than ever.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23He gave birth to House Party and he was back live,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26and the rocket took off, and off he went.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31Welcome to The House Party! Yes, my new live 50-minute show...
0:40:31 > 0:40:35And this is where Noel really became a major star.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Eddie the Eagle Edwards!
0:40:38 > 0:40:41What it had was a kind of sense of being improvised,
0:40:41 > 0:40:44but within a narrative or a context,
0:40:44 > 0:40:46ie the "house party", the conceit,
0:40:46 > 0:40:51the door opening, someone... "Who's at the door now?" had a very clever format.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Hello to each wing.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58One of the things you felt when you watched Noel's House Party was not just whether you were being
0:40:58 > 0:41:03entertained but you would sort of gasp at its accomplishment. How could it be doing that?
0:41:03 > 0:41:06And then it sort of finished on time and you got on, it was all live.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11The most, I suppose, noteworthy element of that was NTV,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15when suddenly we were in somebody's living room!
0:41:19 > 0:41:22This is the moment I love, I absolutely adore.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27This is one of the highlights of my week, and so let's go and meet this week's star of NTV.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33Hello!
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Hello, Andy!
0:41:35 > 0:41:37- Hello, Noel!- How are you?
0:41:37 > 0:41:40I'm all right, mate. I can't... no!
0:41:42 > 0:41:48And of course the ever-popular gungeing of guests never seemed to lose its appeal.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51It was a critical part of that Saturday night schedule
0:41:51 > 0:41:53and actually it was a show we were proud of and pleased to have.
0:41:53 > 0:42:00But it was an overnight success, and allowed us to do anything.
0:42:01 > 0:42:07Which included having an eight-foot tall man in a plastic suit as your co-star.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09Mr Blobby must be still out there.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11What is he now, is he like a Tramp? Where is Blobby?
0:42:12 > 0:42:17Sadly, Mr Blobby and all the other characters from Crinkly Bottom
0:42:17 > 0:42:20were retired in 1999 after audiences plummeted.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23You know, it had exhausted the audience really by then.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26They'd seen it, they knew what Noel's House Party was like,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29and however much it was changed, it still was the same programme,
0:42:29 > 0:42:34and inevitably, after a while, they'd had enough of it.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38So after entertaining the nation for nearly a quarter of a century,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41Noel was dropped like a stone from the schedules.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44For a man used to the limelight this was a cruel blow.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48If you've been the centre of attention for years on a Saturday night,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53to actually acknowledge that the audience has sort of no longer got an appetite for it
0:42:53 > 0:42:56is quite a difficult thing to do, so I'm quite sympathetic to that.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00At the same time, there isn't any doubt that the show had ended.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05Well, I think it's Noel's pride and his belief that he was a good programme-maker that BLEEPED him off.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09While Noel took the classic route from DJ to TV superstar,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13another major entertainer who began in children's TV
0:43:13 > 0:43:16was making an unusual move in the opposite direction.
0:43:16 > 0:43:21This is ghastly even by his own low, vile unspeakable standards.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26He's covering them, they're dancing, he's throwing, there's muck going everywhere, that's...
0:43:26 > 0:43:30Back in 1977, TISWAS was ITV's rough-and-ready alternative
0:43:30 > 0:43:33to the polite Multicoloured Swap Shop,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37and made Chris Tarrant a cult among kids and hung-over students.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41But in 1987 when he left TISWAS behind, radio was still seen as
0:43:41 > 0:43:46the poor relation to TV and a retrograde step in showbiz terms.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49I don't think Tarrant had much television work at the time
0:43:49 > 0:43:51and I think he was looking for an opportunity.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55And we saw in him, you know, the management team saw in
0:43:55 > 0:44:00him a real personality, somebody who could really connect with audiences.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03And connect he did.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Chris Tarrant's 16-year career at Capital is one of the most successful in commercial radio.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11He was up for a challenge, for something different.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15But in those days nobody moved from TV to radio,
0:44:15 > 0:44:17everybody moved from radio to TV, was seen to be the dream path,
0:44:17 > 0:44:21and it was a big jump to go to the prime show on the prime station
0:44:21 > 0:44:27for somebody who hadn't, until six months before or whatever, done the radio at all.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31But he took to it like a duck to water and came out the traps flying!
0:44:31 > 0:44:36It was during that time at Capital that Chris and his producers developed their radio quiz,
0:44:36 > 0:44:42Double Or Nothing, into perhaps the most successful entertainment format ever,
0:44:42 > 0:44:47selling worldwide and making Chris Tarrant, you guessed it, a millionaire!
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Chris was part of the whole birth of the show.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55It was very much what he did on radio, and it was David Briggs,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59who was his producer at Capital, who was one of the people
0:44:59 > 0:45:03that worked on the idea and, you know, came up with it.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Let's play Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
0:45:08 > 0:45:14I think a lot of the style of Chris Tarrant, that you see when he does Who Wants To Be A Millionaire now,
0:45:14 > 0:45:20is based on what he and I worked on when we were doing radio shows and doing radio competitions.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24What staggered me was that the format gave away the answers
0:45:24 > 0:45:27to the questions, that it was a multiple choice quiz.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30It is Nelson Mandela. It's not Gorbachev either,
0:45:30 > 0:45:32I'm sure it's Nelson Mandela. I'd like to play.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34- Final answer?- Final answer.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40The reason Chris is so good at Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43is that he wants everybody to win a million quid.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45He really, really does.
0:45:45 > 0:45:46We don't wanna give you that!
0:45:46 > 0:45:51It offered a million pounds as a prize in a game show and that had
0:45:51 > 0:45:55never been done before, and that was quite an eye-catching thought.
0:45:55 > 0:46:01But ITV's accountants must have trembled at the prospect of giving away millions of pounds.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05My anxiety about it was whether it would bankrupt the network!
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Would someone be winning a million pounds every night?
0:46:08 > 0:46:11That was the responsible question that you had to ask -
0:46:11 > 0:46:15would you be giving away a million pounds every night that it was on?
0:46:15 > 0:46:19And actually as you played it you realised it was really hard to win
0:46:19 > 0:46:24a million pounds because, even at £2,000, at £4,000, at £8,000,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28this is cash that you're not going to jeopardise,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31you're not going to take crazy risks on questions
0:46:31 > 0:46:33you don't know the answers to.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35I think it's worth going for.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38AUDIENCE GASP
0:46:38 > 0:46:41And then I realised that the format was a work of genius!
0:46:41 > 0:46:44You've just won one million pounds!
0:46:51 > 0:46:54£1 million!
0:46:58 > 0:47:03It was during Chris Tarrant's reign at Capital that commercial radio really hit its stride, new stations
0:47:03 > 0:47:10playing jazz and classical opening up, and the first national station Virgin coming on air.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13Radio 1 now looked very old-fashioned indeed.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15..the final half-hour of the programme,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18it's the Rolling Stones with Little Red Rooster.
0:47:18 > 0:47:25Radio 1 was still stuck firmly in the past, and Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse made sure they knew it
0:47:25 > 0:47:29with their spoof DJs Smashie and Nicie.
0:47:29 > 0:47:30'Hello?'
0:47:30 > 0:47:35Right, here's a bunch of crazy loonies who are almost as bonkers as me!
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-adnesssss!
0:47:39 > 0:47:42# Madness, madness, they call it madness... #
0:47:42 > 0:47:45You just can't underestimate the impact
0:47:45 > 0:47:50that Smashie and Nicie had on Radio 1. I mean, it was huge.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53It was very, very well informed,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57very astute and made uncomfortable viewing for many people!
0:47:57 > 0:48:02Here were these DJs with this massive radio audience
0:48:02 > 0:48:06but suddenly made to look really cheesy, really old-fashioned.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11These people really considered themselves as having jobs,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14if not for life, certainly until they decided to retire
0:48:14 > 0:48:18or go and do something else, which, when you think about it,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22is a fairly bizarre state of mind to get into if you're on a pop station.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27So Matthew Bannister, the man who launched Chris Tarrant on Capital,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31was brought in as the new controller to revive the station.
0:48:31 > 0:48:38Someone, somewhere in the BBC had decided to give Matthew the mandate to do whatever it took.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42So the atmosphere in the building, in the ladies' loo, in the toilet,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45that's where you'd try and find out as much as you could.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48It was a horrible time.
0:48:48 > 0:48:53Before Bannister even started his new job, one of his main targets made a pre-emptive strike.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Dave Lee Travis, one of the BBC's longest-serving disc jockeys,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59announced his resignation today live on Radio 1.
0:48:59 > 0:49:06'Changes are being made here that go against my principles, and I just cannot agree with them.'
0:49:06 > 0:49:08Am I sorry I left? No.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10Am I sorry I did it on air?
0:49:10 > 0:49:13No, not at all. I would do exactly the same thing over again.
0:49:13 > 0:49:18Simon Bates also resigned, knowing his time was up.
0:49:18 > 0:49:24But over the course of the next few months, a major cull took place as 38-year-old Gary Davis,
0:49:24 > 0:49:2947-year-old Bob Harris and 66-year-old Alan Freeman
0:49:29 > 0:49:32were all told to pack up their records and leave.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35We-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-bye-bye!
0:49:35 > 0:49:39And this is Dave Nice saying I invented the '60s and they were a roaring success.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42In the '70s I founded glamorous rock, that too was phenomenal.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44In the '80s, Smashie and I ruled the world.
0:49:44 > 0:49:49Now it's the '90s and the new Controller of FAB FM thinks we're for the scrap heap!
0:49:49 > 0:49:54Well, I've got a message for you Mr So-Called Mr Sir from Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57You think we're finished? You ain't seen nothin' yet!
0:49:57 > 0:50:00I'm sure there was a great deal of anger and bitterness,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04because these were people who'd given a lot of service to the BBC.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06It was just like...
0:50:06 > 0:50:11here the man who's been given a big BBC axe to chop down everything,
0:50:11 > 0:50:15to get rid of everybody, you know, the ultimate hatchet man!
0:50:15 > 0:50:18I mean, if I'd been in Matthew Bannister's position
0:50:18 > 0:50:21and I'd been still on the stage, I'd have sacked myself!
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Because I'd have been too old for it.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29The end result of Matthew Bannister's cull was disastrous,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33with listeners leaving Radio 1 for its commercial rivals.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37At the same time as the station was going through big changes,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41another former DJ was making a big splash on The Big Breakfast.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Welcome back, viewers, to the Big Breakfast studio!
0:50:45 > 0:50:48It was a revolution in terms of breakfast television,
0:50:48 > 0:50:51in the sense that it was a radio show on TV,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54and Chris took a lot of those radio show
0:50:54 > 0:51:00ideas and elements that he'd honed over the previous few years into television.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03# There's Chrissie and Gaby and there's the crew
0:51:03 > 0:51:06# We're on every day and we love you
0:51:06 > 0:51:09# Zig and Zag and Peter too
0:51:09 > 0:51:12# But there's no fourth line So shooby-dee-doo... #
0:51:12 > 0:51:14I learnt so much from Chris.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16I think all the television I'd done till then...
0:51:16 > 0:51:19I'd been in TV four or five years already,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23and it had been very structured, and I sort of learnt to...
0:51:23 > 0:51:25take all that out of the way!
0:51:25 > 0:51:27You were watching a TV show, but you didn't know
0:51:27 > 0:51:29if it would drift off into chaos...
0:51:29 > 0:51:33It's New Year's Eve and we've got a girl called Eve who works here,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37so let's have a look at New Year's Eve Eve! Here she is!
0:51:37 > 0:51:39It was everybody all in together.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42The crew were very involved, it was, as Chris always used to say,
0:51:42 > 0:51:45"This is the best job in the world."
0:51:45 > 0:51:52And those first few years on The Big Breakfast for us were magical, absolutely magical.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55I tell you what, it's been a good year, hasn't it, Dan?
0:51:55 > 0:51:57It's been a great year, mate!
0:52:02 > 0:52:07After two years of Big Breakfast, Chris formed his own company and produced his own show.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09They've brought their suitcases!
0:52:12 > 0:52:15- You've brought your toothbrushes? - ALL: Yeah!
0:52:15 > 0:52:18- And you've brought your passports? - ALL: Yeah!
0:52:19 > 0:52:23Don't Forget Your Toothbrush sold all over the world and made
0:52:23 > 0:52:27Chris Evans one of the richest and most powerful men in British media.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31But Chris's old boss at Radio 1 was in deep trouble.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35The listening figures were at rock bottom and they needed to
0:52:35 > 0:52:38attract a big star for the prestigious breakfast show.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41We hadn't thought we could get Chris Evans, to be honest,
0:52:41 > 0:52:46because we thought he'd done his radio time and was heading off on a meteoric rise to television stardom.
0:52:46 > 0:52:52I knew, because I'd worked with him in the past, that he was a brilliant radio professional.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55So it wasn't about just plucking a star off the shelf,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59it was getting somebody who had built a reputation on television
0:52:59 > 0:53:03and bringing him home to radio, where we knew he could do the business.
0:53:03 > 0:53:09But surely ailing Radio 1 was a downward step for a man at the top of the TV world?
0:53:09 > 0:53:14I walked in and said to him, "I suppose you know what I've come to talk to you about?"
0:53:14 > 0:53:17And he said, "Don't even pitch it to me - I want to do it."
0:53:17 > 0:53:22"I know I want to do it because every time I think about it, it makes me want to go to the toilet."
0:53:22 > 0:53:25A few days later, Chris phoned me and said,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28"We're gonna do the Radio 1 breakfast show."
0:53:28 > 0:53:29And I was, like, "OK!"
0:53:33 > 0:53:35This is BBC Radio 1, and we're on the air!
0:53:35 > 0:53:38Chris Evans was the right man at the right time.
0:53:38 > 0:53:43I've been practising for this job for the last 20 years, that's what I say!
0:53:43 > 0:53:46It was Britpop, it was the mid-'90s, everybody thought we were great,
0:53:46 > 0:53:48we thought Britain was great.
0:53:48 > 0:53:49We were probably wrong!
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Oasis and Blur were in the charts, and we were pretty pleased with ourselves.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56There was a euphoria - probably slightly over-inflated
0:53:56 > 0:53:59- and Chris Evans was right in the middle.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02At the epicentre of the Zeitgeist, if you like!
0:54:02 > 0:54:07It's seven and a half minutes to nine, and that was, er Strike and U Sure Do. Coming up, Oasis.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Oh, I like them! Oasis! Oasis!
0:54:11 > 0:54:14So, in a way, he's an emblem of the mid-'90s, Chris Evans.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18He was absolutely on the top of his game, and there was no-one to touch him at that time.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20Now, not many people can say that!
0:54:24 > 0:54:29As if five mornings a week of live radio wasn't enough, in 1996
0:54:29 > 0:54:31Chris Evans took on the extra challenge
0:54:31 > 0:54:36of presenting live television every Friday night on Channel 4.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40Good evening, and welcome to the second live TFI Friday Late Night.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44After a few months of this gruelling schedule, Chris decided that Radio
0:54:44 > 0:54:48One should give him Fridays off to concentrate on his new TV show.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51He saw it that he could do a perfectly good service
0:54:51 > 0:54:53for Radio 1 Monday to Thursday
0:54:53 > 0:54:56and a perfectly good service for Channel 4 on Fridays,
0:54:56 > 0:55:02and why on earth couldn't people see that that was the best result for everybody concerned?
0:55:02 > 0:55:07And then one Thursday I got a letter hand-delivered to me in my office
0:55:07 > 0:55:11from his agent which said, "Unless Chris has tomorrow
0:55:11 > 0:55:16"and every subsequent Friday off, we're giving you three months' notice to quit under our contract."
0:55:16 > 0:55:20I can understand wanting Fridays off. Who wouldn't want Fridays off?
0:55:20 > 0:55:25Chris, by his own admission, became a bit of a monster, and I think that he thought
0:55:25 > 0:55:27that people couldn't say no to any of his demands.
0:55:27 > 0:55:32And I thought, "Well, I can't possibly just give him tomorrow off.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34"Maybe we can talk about this."
0:55:34 > 0:55:40Unable to get his own way, Chris decided that he wanted to be released from his BBC contract
0:55:40 > 0:55:44and started sending out none too subtle messages on air.
0:55:44 > 0:55:50# Please release me, let me go... #
0:55:50 > 0:55:55And then...we didn't turn up one day.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58The BBC this afternoon agreed to release the Radio 1 DJ
0:55:58 > 0:56:02Chris Evans from his contract with immediate effect.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04He had resigned after management refused to give
0:56:04 > 0:56:08him Fridays off, but he wasn't due to leave until the end of March.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11But today the presenter didn't turn up for work.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14That was it. You know, we kind of got fired...
0:56:14 > 0:56:15which was quite cool, really!
0:56:15 > 0:56:19A couple of years down the line - we were on Virgin at the time -
0:56:19 > 0:56:25I went for lunch with Chris and said, "Do you think we made a mistake leaving Radio 1?"
0:56:25 > 0:56:28And he said "Yes," and that was the first time he'd admitted to it.
0:56:28 > 0:56:36Although 20 years separate them, there are striking similarities between Chris Evans and Simon Dee.
0:56:36 > 0:56:40Both tried to juggle radio and TV unsuccessfully, both let fame and
0:56:40 > 0:56:47adulation go to their heads and both were ultimately fired for their arrogance.
0:56:48 > 0:56:53Whatever you think of Chris Evans he showed that radio was a cool place to be,
0:56:53 > 0:56:58and in his wake more TV talent was eager to get behind the microphone.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Zoe Ball and Sarah Cox were just the tip of this new trend.
0:57:03 > 0:57:09Well-established stars like Jonathan Ross, Ricky Gervais and Michael Parkinson had discovered
0:57:09 > 0:57:16that you CAN work in TV and radio without losing your credibility or your pay packet.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22Top names now command top sums, and radio is no longer seen as
0:57:22 > 0:57:27a poor cousin to TV, but more like a wise old rich uncle.
0:57:30 > 0:57:35There do seem to be a lot of people now that come from the TV world into the radio world,
0:57:35 > 0:57:40and I don't think that's a bad thing, because what it's suggesting is that radio is worth doing.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Given the choice out of radio and television, I tell you now,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50the greatest medium is radio, bar none.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53Radio is more fun than television, for sure.
0:57:54 > 0:57:59The difference between radio and television is you can get into people's heads on the radio.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04As a training ground, as a communication medium,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08radio is far superior to TV. Always will be.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13Next time in The Story Of Light Entertainment, we look behind
0:58:13 > 0:58:18the laughter at the unstoppable rise of television's greatest comics.
0:58:18 > 0:58:19My turn now, darling!
0:58:19 > 0:58:24- Comedy does pay you a lot of money if you get it right. - Hello, Dave!
0:58:24 > 0:58:27And there's something about human nature that as soon as it
0:58:27 > 0:58:31sees a kind of chink in your armour they don't feel sorry for you,
0:58:31 > 0:58:33they just want to hurt you even more.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36I'm in the dressing room before I go on, it is so lonely,
0:58:36 > 0:58:39waiting for the clock to go to eight o'clock.
0:58:39 > 0:58:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd