Korkey's TV Gold: BBC Wales at 50

This is BBC Cymru Wales.

Now a treat for viewers across the nation as we join comedian

and broadcaster Chris Corcoran for a look back at 50 years of BBC Wales.

50 years ago, someone thought it was a good idea

to give Wales its own TV channel.

So I've dug out the funniest bits,

intentional or not, from that time in order to entertain you.

I'll show you clips from BBC Wales shows that are

old and West Walian...

All I wanted was a few grapes to make a pie.

..funny...

You're not leaving your little butterfly?

-I've got to, bach, I've got a stand ticket.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

..dangerous...

..dramatic,

legends laughing at themselves...

Oh, grief!

If I have grandchildren, they shouldn't be shown this.

..and groovy?

Just made it up on the spot.

Plus this...

and this.

I don't remember anything about that era at all!

Welcome, Welsh people!

Back in 1964, BBC Wales were building themselves a new home.

So, as the builders were busy brewing up,

BBC Wales was getting ready to launch its own television channel.

MALE VOICE CHOIR SING

You know, in February,

the BBC starts a new television service, BBC Wales.

The new transmitters at Wenvoe and Haverfordwest will link up with

the transmitters already covering Mid Wales, the west and North Wales -

an all-Wales network.

So, with free rein to broadcast literally anything on our own

bilingual channel, what did we show on the opening night?

A news item on the closure of a divinity college in Bala.

Buoyed by this success,

BBC Wales went in search of our most lovable eccentrics.

I've got a collection of hats here. I'll show some to you now.

This old hat has kept me very well this cold winter, you know.

Protects my head in severe weather.

And it has been cold this winter.

And it has been cold this winter and I wrap myself up like this.

Oh, it has been useful to me.

Now, when going out...when going out milking

I put this on.

Yes, in the year of The Beatles, civil rights,

free love, flower power

and Vietnam, we decided that what viewers wanted to see was

a farmer in a variety of hats!

Honestly, this was a real man!

Next, Welsh TV producers saw an opportunity to promote Welsh

products...made by eccentrics, obviously.

Wales Today discovered that in West Wales,

one man was pioneering a sophisticated continental crop

and at the same time they revealed the future economic policy

that would serve our nation so well.

If in doubt, trust the English.

Mr Jones, at 65, has just completed the harvest

of his three-quarter acre vineyard at Pembrey in Carmarthenshire.

Indeed, it's the first Welsh wine harvest for 100 years.

Well, I wasn't sure on the price.

So I sent away to London to get an idea.

They recommended me that 12 shillings would be all right,

plus three shillings duty, which means 15 shillings a bottle.

All I wanted was a few grapes to make a pie and all I've

used my rolling pin, so far, is to crush the grapes to make this wine.

With stuff like local fine wines on offer, someone at the BBC

realised that TV could be used to sell Wales to the world.

So, they made a film following a Londoner on holiday

in Carmarthenshire.

Just roll it from there, Bryn.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Where's the bus for Caio?

-There are no buses to Caio.

-Well, how do you get there?

-Walk.

-Walk?

-Yes.

CHURCH BELL RINGS

What a godforsaken place!

The miniskirt has not arrived in Caio yet.

The women...they're big women.

Not the petite bird from my walk of life.

Statuesque, more the Amazon type.

Some strange people around here.

There was that girl from Swansea University,

studying zoology because...

I hate most human beings.

Another interesting person.

But the charming old Wales was changing!

As citizens in Cardiff got to grips with new technology,

BBC Wales was there using telly to promote road safety.

Inspector Dix, the panda crossing looks a bit complicated to me,

what's the city police done to teach the public how to use it?

Well, 15,000 pamphlets have been distributed at schools

and at homes in the area and for the past week,

this crossing has been supervised by the police.

Initially the police pressed the button for the public

and, of course, later the public are doing it under police supervision.

As 50-year-old teenagers roamed the streets of Wales, crossing

roads without police supervision and threateningly combing their hair.

BBC Wales took its media role

of exaggerated scaremongering very seriously, as this clip

of Peter Purves' dad talking into a Slush Puppie shows.

Teenage terrorists invade this little village

and turn it into battle ground.

They fight amongst themselves, cause damage

and leave a trail of broken beer bottles

and broken pint glasses and the trail leads to this Beat dance hall.

In other words, it's outside people that cause the damage?

Yes, it isn't the Bangor people that come down here any more.

Yeah, it's probably the English.

BBC Wales needed to engage with a disaffected youth...and fast!

So, they came up with...The Singing Barn!

THEY SING

The audience were an amalgamation

of two brilliant Cardiff based choirs.

So when the chorus came, the entire audience sprang to life

and sang in perfect harmony whatever song the groups were singing.

# And she invited me to hoodiddie in the kitchen

# With a too-diddle-doo-diddle-ay

# And a too-diddle-day-diddle-alley

# With a too-diddle-doo-diddle-ay

# And a toodle-loodle-alley... #

If it was a Scottish song, we sang it in a Scottish accent.

If it was an Irish song, we sang it in an Irish accent.

# Lots of fun at Finnegan's... #

If it was a Welsh song, we sang it in a Cardiff accent,

which ruined it.

# Shut your mouth says Paddy Magee! #

Whilst Welsh viewers watched The Singing Barn, British audiences were

tuning into the like of The Beatles and the Stones on Top Of The Pops.

So, BBC Wales figured it was time to get hip with its own

Welsh language pop show.

Cue the titles, mate.

Disc A Dawn featured Welsh acts and vomit-inducing 1960s camera work.

# Troi pob un yn feddw. #

I have in front of me

an original director's script for the cameraman of the show.

And it reads...

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

.."Out, in, out, in, out, in, out,

"in, out, in, out, in, out, in."

Nice.

Disc A Dawn was hugely popular

but the Welsh public wanted more.

So Welsh groups were writing material as fast as they could

but the producers still struggled to fill the show.

Such and such a song has been on Top Of The Pops on Saturday,

it's number one, we want it on Disc A Dawn by next Saturday.

So we'd translate these songs, then, during the week.

# Gan bwyll, paid rhuthro 'mlaen

# Mae bore cyfan o dy flaen

# Hei, cicia cerrig lan a lawr

# Chwilio am sbort a theimlo'n heini. #

I do remember me prancing around being terribly youthful,

singing a Welsh version of Feeling Groovy,

which was Teimlo'n Heini.

# A oes gen ti ddim i'w ddweud

# Di-dm-di-dy, teimlo'n heini! #

And how were the children of Wales served in the 1960s?

Great! Telewele made home-made fireworks.

It's all right, boys, it's only gunpowder!

Just scrape it onto the floor.

As a new decade dawned, BBC Wales embraced a whole new world...

..of colour!

Come on, mate, it's been your move for 40 years.

It was boom time for Wales' TV salesmen.

Colour television sets were really scarce and I was on the phone

nearly every day, "When am I having telly, when am I having telly?"

"How many do you want?"

"How many can you give me?"

"Will you take 100?" He said...

and he sent me a lorry, 100 tellies.

And that was ten days before Christmas and we got them all out.

But not everyone was lucky enough to be part of the colour revolution.

In Corris, you can only have colour TV

if you live in a private dwelling house.

If you live in a council house like one of these here, you've just

got to know your place and make do with black and white.

It's all to do with the fact that Corris is in a valley and they

can't get direct television pictures here, so they get pipe television.

But there are two companies, one supplying colour pictures to

private houses and one supplying black and white to council tenants.

What would be the main advantage for you of colour?

Well, to see the dresses and the dancing programmes.

We don't even have BBC Two, let alone have anything in colour.

So whilst viewers in Corris were missing out on...pretty much

everything, those not living in Middle Earth were able to

enjoy one of BBC Wales' most loved comedy acts.

Here they are in a sketch about a Welsh attempt to industrialise

dairy puddings production.

Now, the milk and the rice goes down here, you understand?

And it travels through here, now, as far as the gurgle valve.

-Right? Are you reasoning my thinking now?

-Yes, indeed.

Then, later on, then, the rice and the sugar join the milk,

come together, you understand, down here.

If you want to step back a little bit now,

we're still in the experimental stage.

-Oh, I see.

-No risks.

-Back you go, then.

-Fine.

-Bit more.

That's it, you keep going till I tell you. You go back a bit.

I think you're about right there now.

Here we go, then.

One...two...three!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Another big hit of the '70s was Poems And Pints,

a show featuring songs and poems and, well, pints.

My abiding memory of one particular Poems And Pints was

when Hywel Williams, who was directing it, said,

"Right, we're going to do this on the Irish ferry."

# In action he had lost an eye

# But that caused him no trouble

# Said, "Sam, I have no cause to sigh...I'm always seeing double." #

We realised that the ship is beginning to

move around an awful lot.

A gale had blown up.

A force nine gale!

And suddenly we couldn't stand straight.

# Who ne'er could, ne'er could keep his legs... #

And he wasn't the only one!

There were 200 people in the lounge of the Saint Columba

when we started recording that programme.

The were five left in the Columba by the time we'd got to the end.

# Oh, Tom, Dick and Harry were three fine men...#

It went out a couple of weeks later and I thought, surely,

the continuity announcer on BBC Two is going to say,

"And now we come to this week's edition of Poems And Pints -

"a programme recorded in a force nine gale, in the Irish Channel".

But they didn't, they didn't say a word.

So, we just looked as if we were too drunk to stand!

# Did you ever see

Did you ever see

# Did you ever see

# Such a funny thing before?! #

APPLAUSE

Poems And Pints also launched a singer/songwriter who would go on to

become one of the biggest names in the UK and a living legend in Wales!

So I think this calls for a longer chat.

I know you hate watching yourself back.

I know you do...but this is one of your slightly less well known

songs but, I think, for me,

it's got one of the greatest punch lines

in Welsh comedy history, in my opinion.

Do you remember this?

# She said she came from Crymlin

# And that her name was Anne

# She told me "You can walk me home"

# I said "I got a van"

# We turned into a lay-by

# Where she told me she loved me

# So I gave her my debenture

# Block A, row three. #

-I've never listened to that.

-Have you not?

-Never, ever sung that song since.

-No way?

Not once in my life ever sung that song

because it's got such a long ending

-to the actually punch line...

-Yeah.

..people would sing the line before I could get to it.

Cos there was a three bar break.

So, I never used to sing it for fear someone would throw

the...I've never, ever seen that and I've never sung it since.

So, what was the hardest bit about going from live to telly,

then, for you?

Well, I've always loved communication

and I've always been at my best when I've got people around me.

I found it very difficult, the falseness and the rehearsals.

"Quiet in the studio, please!"

And all that, it used to kill all atmosphere and I rejoiced

in that atmosphere, which you obviously don't get in television.

You also toured leisure centres to do your TV shows from.

Quick pop quiz, right.

I'm going to read you out a list of leisure centres

and I want you to tell me if you did a TV show from them.

OK? So, just yes or no.

-Pontypool leisure centre?

-Yes.

-Deeside leisure centre?

-Yes.

-Ebbw Vale leisure centre?

-Yes.

-Rhydycar leisure centre, Merthyr Tydfil?

-Yes.

-Llantwit Vardre leisure centre?

-No.

-No, that's my leisure centre.

-Well, you never asked, you never asked.

-No, very disappointed.

Let me show you a little clip from one of your other TV performances.

Some stand out, like Sydney Opera House.

# And we were singing hymns and arias

# Land of my fathers

# Ar Hyd y Nos. #

Good night, Sydney!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

That's the only time in my life,

apart from maybe the Royal Albert Hall, in London,

where I've been overwhelmed by a building...standing outside.

Once I was in, I was fine. I was where I'm at.

But to stand outside the Sydney Opera House, thinking,

"What am I doing here?"

When I went on, it was phenomenal! After 30 seconds, I was away.

Now, Max, I'm never going to have an opportunity

to play the Sydney Opera House

and sing songs like you've sang there like Hymns And Arias.

But this is my only chance,

so I've written you a new verse that I would be very privileged

if you would play along with me and allow me to sing for you.

I'd be privileged to, Chris.

-And you've got to score it out of ten at the end, right?

-All right.

OK. So, I'll take my lead from you, right.

Ladies and gentlemen, live at Glyn-Neath rugby club,

the legend that is Chris Corcoran.

Thank you.

# Wales are winning grand-slams now

# Nearly every year

# Because they're drinking protein shakes

# Instead of loads of beer

# George North is our new star player

# One step and he is gone

# He's like a speedy Scott Quinnell

# Or a massive Barry John. #

# We were singing

# Hymns and arias

# Land of my fathers

# Ar Hyd y Nos! #

Good night, Sydney!

-Filling up.

-HE LAUGHS

-You can have that.

-That was brilliant.

-You can have that, I'll copy it out for you and you can take it away.

-Please, promise I'll sign it.

-Score out of ten?

-Ten.

-Yes!

In the '70s, BBC Wales looked to its past successes

and decided to revamp The Singing Barn.

The Singing Barn became The Singing Train.

The Singing Train

became The Singing Barge.

The Singing Barge

became The Singing Straits

and The Singing Straits

became The Singing Trail...

..which really should have been called The Singing Horse

but everyone realised that that suggested the show actually

featured an actual singing horse,

which no matter how often they pretended to stand in a river...

# I want to stand in a stream with you...#

..it would have been an anti-climax. Nice song, mind.

# I'd like to lie in a field with you

# Would you like to do it too? #

Aw! Pretend lovers.

So what were the challenges of filming a transport-based light-ent show?

Being on a train, you couldn't play live.

You just couldn't get over the noise of the wheels of the train

and all the clanging.

So there was a mechanism whereby a big reel-to-reel tape

would play a recording of the song and we would all mime to it.

# Little railway, little railway Clack, clickety, clack

# Singing along to the end of the track

# Over streams and up mountains through woods and through vales... #

If somebody made a mistake, you had to go all the way

back down the bottom of the track and start all over again.

You couldn't just start it again,

because the vision through the window would be all wrong.

# No-one can ride it but the pure and holy

# Lord, Lord, this train... #

We went up and down Snowdon about 18 times on this train.

Hywel Williams, the producer, said,

"John, we're doing Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay,

"but I want a bit of choreography." I said, "What, now?" He said, "Yes."

So I made it up on the spot.

And then at one point, I jumped off the dock, right onto a boat!

How I did it, I don't know, and keep singing.

# Sitting here resting my bones

# And this loneliness won't leave me alone

# 2,000 miles I roamed

# Just to make this... #

Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay,

or as it became known in BBC Wales circles,

Leaping Around A Tiny Harbour In A Pair Of Flares.

In the end, the commissioners realised that

there was nothing wrong with the format in the first place,

and so they put everyone back in a barn.

# Don't you cry when you see I'm gone... #

Right, what else is on in the '70s? Oh, this looks all right.

It's about some Welsh rugby boys going on tour.

Right, you two, bed.

In 1978, BBC Wales made a film that was so brilliant,

so way ahead of its time and so encapsulated Welsh rugby humour,

there was only one word to describe it -

genius.

Written by Gwenlyn Parry and directed by John Hefin,

Grand Slam starred Windsor Davies...

Come on, you silly f... Mr Lloyd-Evans!

..Sion Probert, and Hollywood actor Hugh Griffith

as father to young buck rugby fan Dewi Pws.

Hugh Griffith! Burton never had an Oscar.

Hugh Griffith had an Oscar for Ben Hur,

and I was dead scared of him.

Double beds!

-Right. Here's mine.

-And I'm here.

Glyn can sleep with me. I'm used to his smells.

We were in the Bristol Hotel, very posh hotel,

John Hefin, Gwenlyn Parry,

the actors, and he was there...

-HE MUMBLES

-"I want a drink."

You had to listen very carefully. What was he saying?

"I want a drink." So he got a round in.

And this went on for about an hour, and he was getting all the rounds.

And I said, "Mr Griffith, can I pay?" "No, you can't!" And so on.

After an hour, he said, "We're going. I'll settle it."

He ran up to reception and out.

I said, "How much did it cost, Mr Griffith?" "Nothing!"

"What do you mean, nothing? What did you say, then?"

"Room 208!" And off he went.

Some poor dab in room 208 ended up with a £150 quid bill!

It was classic boys on tour.

-Excuse moi.

-Oui, monsieur?

Ah, voulez-vous voir see ma chambre sex?

Pardon?

Um...allumez-vous feu dans mes draps?

Sale Gallois!

What did I say?

THEY LAUGH

First time nude scenes with Sharon. I knew Sharon, great friends.

And John said, "OK, we'll just have a little break now, cup of tea,

"everybody down, and relax."

So, leaving Sharon and I in the bed, just sitting like that,

I suddenly a little voice came, "Don't start anything!

"I'm still under the bed." It was the sound man, Harry North!

You're not leaving your little butterfly.

I've got to, bach, I got a stand ticket.

But you can see it here with me.

Knock-on. Right, be good.

They keep showing repeats! Don't... Hang on a minute.

The one person that wasn't pleased was my mother, a Methodist capel.

She watched it and she was devastated,

and she didn't go to chapel for two weeks,

and the minister now,

she said, "I'm not going there, Dewi has let the family down."

She was telling everybody in the road,

"I can't hold my head up." She was in shock for two weeks.

And anyway, the minister was worried now, so he called round.

Knocked on the door. "Oh! Oh.

"Come in, come in. Ray, Rachel, Ray. Our Dewi. He's let us down.

"That's why I haven't come to chapel."

"Why?" "That film, that film!"

"Oh, it was great! Wasn't it a fantastic film?"

"What?" "Yes!"

Next Sunday, there was Mam up in chapel, "Did you see our Dewi in Grand Slam? Wasn't he good?"

Whilst we've been good at making comedy films, there is one thing

in Wales that we are not really known for, and that's glamour.

But in the '70s, BBC Wales tried to change this,

with predictable results.

Thank you and good evening.

Welcome to the very beautiful Swansea Leisure Centre.

Still, at least the places

the contestants came from were glamorous.

Miss Ystradgynlais. Miss Rhyl West.

Miss St Asaph South.

Miss Flint.

Miss Trethomas. Miss Newport East.

Miss Pyle. Miss Merthyr Tydfil.

She comes from Cardiff,

although she's representing Merthyr Tydfil tonight.

The dancers proving they were made for dancing.

These days, anyone can get on TV.

But back in 1979, it was still a novelty.

"Eh, Trev, I bet you can't get into shot." "All right, how much?"

-"50p."

-..competing for the title of Miss Wales 1979.

We'll also have a chance to meet some of the previous title holders...

"Right, double or quits. I bet you can't stay there longer."

"All right!"

"Stay there. Stay there. Got to stay there for a pound, Trev. Stay."

"Stay! Oh, he's clapping you, Trev."

St Asaph North!

And Maria Bell is Miss Wales 1979.

And what was the music

used to celebrate the winner of this

pageant of aesthetic femininity?

-# She may be the face... #

-No.

-# Once, twice... #

-No.

BRASS BAND PLAYS "Men Of Harlech"

Yes, Men Of Harlech. It's obvious.

And had health and safety in children's TV improved since the '60s?

Not in the slightest.

Plenty of examples of dangerous behaviour to be getting on with.

Plus, in Teliffant,

the weirdest show ever to have disturbed the minds of the young.

Helo pawb a howdy-dw. Sgena'i Syr Wynff ddim amser is wastraffu.

Because there was no subtitles, to the eight-year-old non-Welsh speaking me,

Teliffant was just a weirdo in a mac

screaming at a man baby in braces.

Gwylia'r paent ddudais i y twmffat twp!

HE SCREAMS

And, yes, that is a man pouring petrol on another man.

But it's OK! Because it's children's telly!

HE SCREAMS

In the decade to come, Welsh language programmes like Teliffant

and the BBC's longest-running TV soap Pobol Y Cwm,

would find a new home on another new channel for Wales, S4C.

So on our journey through 50 years of BBC Wales TV gold,

we have arrived at the '80s. Run VT!

The '80s -

a decade of crippling unemployment, industrial decline

and subtle fashion statements.

Yes, the '80s were a grim time in Wales,

so as a cathartic release,

we decided to torture our own population.

Uh!

Dear me.

I don't think I want to suffer alone.

Try it out on somebody else, I think.

-Excuse me, would you like to try some snuff?

-Some what? Snuff? Ooh!

Give me the back of your hand. All right, put it there, then.

-Just a small little bit. There you are. Now then, OK?

-Yeah.

-Up to the nostrils.

-Yeah.

With precision and try not to grimace. All the way up.

-Come on, you're not trying.

-The other one?

-You're not trying.

-I am!

Don't you do it like this?

You have a go that way, then. It doesn't say in the instructions.

Ooh, it's gone up the nose there.

THEY LAUGH

-What flavour is it?

-Strong.

Oh, that's a good one.

-Excuse me, sir, would you like to try some snuff?

-Snuff?!

I've just had my bloody teeth out!

And one thing BBC Wales were still excellent at

was finding lovable eccentrics.

Vince Williams spent 50 years of his life in the mines,

and he's now completed plans for his final journey underground.

Like his father and grandfather before him,

he's a part-time gravedigger at the local cemetery.

Steeped in tradition,

Vince Williams believes in a good funeral, and that includes his own.

So the one-time miner decided to literally dig his own grave, now his pride and joy.

What's your opinion of your own grave?

Well, my wife said it's lovely now.

She had the shivers before.

No matter. Good God!

-You don't think it's a bit morbid?

-Not a bit. Not a bit.

We've done it for years. I've picked my bearers and all.

It's going to be a big funeral, is it?

I expect not quite so big as Cardiff Arms Park.

It won't be as big as that. Max Boyce is coming.

So you're all ready?

I'm all ready now. Only waiting to go now.

It was the age of one-name celebrity entertainment shows -

Wogan, Parkinson,

and Wales's very own Margaret.

Margaret featured Margaret Williams,

some other people,

interpretive dance of life in a 1980s call centre...

..and what boys from Aberdare did after dialling the speaking clock.

"Come on, boys, are we going down the rugby club?"

"Hang on two minutes now! We'll go after I've done this back bend."

And if Margaret was the queen of the '80s dance floor,

the king of the comfy sofa was Chris Stuart.

SMOOTH JAZZ MUSIC

Nice nod. Come on, Chris, let's get this show going. Jazz it up, baby.

Yeah.

Yeah, tinkle them. Tinkle them ivories. Oh, it's a beauty.

-So how was the start of the show for you, Chris?

-Terrific.

The Chris Stuart Cha Cha Chat Show

was probably Wales's first foray into chat.

Chat was... I guess it had been around for a while,

but that sort of light entertainment chat was still fairly new.

We did a special with Dorothy Squires, the Welsh chanteuse.

The play-on music was a song with which she'd had some success,

and it was I Am What I Am.

And in rehearsal,

she kind of clambered back to the top of these steps

on very high heel shoes,

and the band struck up

and she got down two steps, recognised the music

and just stopped and she said, "I'm not coming on to that ... tune."

And walked back and clambered back down again.

So we had to change all that, which meant that we hadn't rehearsed it.

LIGHT MUSIC AND APPLAUSE

Ah, well. At least when she arrived, all was forgiven and the hatchet was buried.

Or perhaps not.

Right, well, the thing to do here, Chris, is to get here on side.

You are a bit of an outsider, aren't you?

You do see yourself as at war with the showbiz establishment.

No, no, no, you're quite wrong, Chris, quite wrong.

There's some great memories from those days,

but it was all a bit hand-to-mouth.

In the 1980s, because of yuppies, who no-one really liked,

everyone got into the stock market, which no-one really understood.

So BBC Wales invented Computer Challenge,

which was a game show that no-one really understood,

presented by a man in someone else's clothes.

Well, this is it, then.

Finals time is at last here.

-Right, what have you got to do?

-How much now? No cost or the 40,000?

Save 12,000 a month but risk a shopfloor... What?!

20 then. OK.

-No, don't risk 20!

-Will that get us to 12, will it?

She just said 20.

I don't know what a 20 one does.

Don't click it if you don't know what it is. Oh, my God!

You just lost 20 grand!

Brain J Ford! Help!

Do you wish to spend 10,000 on industrial espionage?

-Yes.

-What?! No. That's illegal!

I feel like I'm really out of my depth.

There's half a chance I'm going to get investigated by the taxman.

One of us is going to end up in prison and I don't want it to be me.

In 1985, BBC Wales commissioned a show that was genuinely cool.

It had an innovative title sequence that featured face worms,

sand dunes, dislocated hips, the S&M X Factor,

a woman with no sense of size, and people who can't hold their drink.

The series was actually a training ground for new directors.

-So, what you think, then?

-I think Midge Ure is gorgeous.

We shot it on a Saturday, so that the building was empty,

so the new directors had to come up with a different location

every week, so we were virtually crawling through

the drains of the BBC at different stages.

For everything that's new in 1986, remember, it's got to be Juice.

One of the show's other presenters was Magenta Devine,

who was supercool.

She was cool on a table,

in Debenhams, next to a river,

inside on garden furniture,

outside on a walkie-talkie on CCTV in a car park,

down a mine, or in a scrum.

And what was also cool was, as well as featuring big bands,

the programme featured Welsh bands too.

That's cool as in they were given the opportunity to be on the telly,

not necessarily as in what they were doing.

# I'm in love, Diana

# But look, mate, don't tell Phil! #

At the start of the '90s, BBC Wales decided

that what a partially hung over audience needed on a Sunday morning

was a sofa-based magazine programme that featured ghosts,

Sunday shopping, Sir Michael Hordern,

Christmas cake, ties, Labi Siffre and salmonella,

and that was an actual show.

Only one man could handle that sort of portfolio.

One of the main programmes I think people associate you with is obviously See You Sunday.

-Oh, yes. Why's it off?

-This is your chance!

-Cos this, for me, is you at your best.

-Right.

And giving it some real gusto.

-I have to say, this made me belly-laugh.

-Oh!

Oh! With the...tappy ladies.

Oh, look at it.

-What are you wearing?!

-Is pink your colour? I don't think so. My word.

They obviously thought to themselves, "We can't put him in a dress,"

but we they put you in a pink waistcoat and a pair of shorts.

I'd forgotten about that! They didn't have counselling in those days.

But it was something similar.

It just goes from bad to worse!

You're doing literally everything wrong.

-And then your battery pack fell out.

-Yes.

Dear, oh, dear, oh, dear!

Oh!

Well, you've made my day, now. I'd forgotten I'd done that.

I'd just pushed it from my mind, and now it's rushed back in. Extraordinary.

The next little clip I want to show you,

because this is a real testament to your professionalism

of keeping an interview going under pressure.

Arabella Melville, you've just written a book about food and sex.

-Yes, it's the Good Sex Diet.

-The Good Sex Diet.

Can I introduce Colin as well?

-It takes two, as they say, to tango.

-Are we talking about tango here?

What kind of food are we talking about here?

-We're talking, actually, about some of the classical aphrodisiacs.

-Yes.

Oysters, for instance,

are the most concentrated source of zinc you can get.

I'd rather suck corrugated iron than eat oysters, to be honest.

I'm with you! I get up in the night with oysters.

Dear, oh, dear. I can't take seafood like that.

In the Good Sex Diet,

I'm actually trying to create a whole atmosphere for the readers,

get your juices flowing just from reading the book.

-Gastronomic juices.

-I see.

-Not just gastronomic juices.

Oh! Look at you.

What about other things which have health benefits as well?

I was thinking of carrots.

Desperate. Carrots! So they can help you to see where you're going.

Were they in your ear going, "Go to vegetables! Go to something safe!"

That it hilarious. Your reaction was brilliant.

# There's no business like show business... #

And See You Sunday also featured someone else you might recognise.

No. No. Yes.

It's 7.30 on a cold damp night here in Usk.

We're at Cliff Richard's second home, Savvas Nightclub,

where tonight it's the final of the Karaoke Championships.

Already inside the club they're limbering up, flexing those vocal chords.

Let's go inside and get a piece of the action.

-HE SINGS VERY BADLY:

-# Please release me

# Can't you see? #

When this next young lady walked in the joint,

we knew she was a gal of distinction.

# Spend a little time with me. #

CHEERING

We've got a scout here from EMI Records,

and they're going to take the tapes back to the A&R department in London,

and they might get a recording contract out of one of them.

We may find tonight the new Rick Astley or Samantha Fox.

What a frightening thought!

With bags of undiscovered singing talent around,

Wales was the perfect hunting ground

for one man in search of the stars of tomorrow...

and yesterday.

# Sisters, sisters

# There were never such devoted sisters. #

# Luck be a lady tonight

# Luck be a lady tonight. #

-# Go on, now, go!

-I'm off!

-# Walk out the door

-There's no door. #

First time we did auditions,

Titanic was number one in the charts,

and this first girl singer came in and there were six of us in a line,

Geraint Evans, myself, Alan Wakeman,

one of the co-writers, sitting there saying,

"What are you going to sing?"

"I'm going to sing the theme from Titanic."

"Oh, that's a lovely song. Great." This was nine o'clock in the morning.

"She was quite nice. We'll give her eight out of ten."

About two in again. "What you doing?" "Theme from Titanic."

"Oh, there we are."

By the time three o'clock came, we had about 75 Titanics,

so in the end, I was just drawing ships across the line.

I keep drawing them, and if went down like that,

they were no good, but if they got to the end of the page, they were in.

# My heart will go on and on. #

Glug, glug, glug!

You look at X Factor these days, and they stole a lot of our ideas,

I must be honest with you, like filming the auditions,

going on the streets, going to the houses, surprising people.

Hello, Simon Cowell, please.

Hello, Simon Cowell.

I'm phoning on behalf of Owen Money.

You do know who he is! You stole all his ideas.

Just up your street.

Hello? Hello?

In the noughties,

BBC Wales decided to take serious current affairs presenters

out of the field that they were good at and put them in the field.

Often literally.

It was a format that was well received,

-except for amongst corn farmers, where...

-It was massively unpopular.

They were newscasters. They went outside. He had a tie.

She had six buttons. They had cars.

And eyes. There are his.

Gearstick.

They were out of their field.

And when they got together, they did lots of TV serieses.

GALLERY MUSIC FROM "Vision On"

Et cetera.

And then there was Derek.

There was one occasion that I was filming in Holyhead

and for some reason, I kept on coming out with the word "Hollywood".

So I was trying to deliver these lines,

and I kept on saying "Hollywood" instead of "Holyhead",

and it was fun for a few times that I made this mistake,

but after about 10 or 20 times, I kept on saying "Hollywood",

the producer and the team were getting a bit cheesed off.

That hasn't stopped BBC Wales

coming up with other series ideas for Derek.

Here are a few clips from Derek's shows in development.

Weatherman Standing.

Weatherman Squatting.

And Weatherman Falling Over.

And I know someone who was taken even further out

of their comfort zone by BBC Wales.

Listen, tell me in your own words, someone who hasn't seen

Work Experience, describe what the format is.

Everyone is fascinated by stand-up comedy.

They say to you, always,

"I could never do that, it must be the hardest thing in the world."

For me, I would find it much harder

to be a binman, a teacher, a policeman.

The one which is probably my favourite, which is drag queen,

which clearly, I think, is you properly out of your depth.

I immediately knew that I would be so horrifically out of my depth

that I almost didn't want to do it. Ceri Dupree, my mentor.

Can you say, "Thank you, sweethearts?"

HE GARBLES

Thank you!

-Are you being Shirley Bassey?

-Yeah, I'm channelling Bassey there.

That was like Prince Charles.

I think I might have to think Prince Charles, do I? Thank you!

-I love you.

-I love you.

-I love you all.

-I love you all even more.

-Prince Charles.

-Yes.

That's great fun.

-Yeah, great fun.

-That's really funny.

But what's great is that I can tell you're trying.

-You're really trying.

-I have three days.

One day training to be a teacher, or two days training to be a teacher.

So all of these things, I'm just getting my excuses in,

I'm not going to be very good at any of them.

This is so bad, it's an absolute joy.

Should have started by now.

# The minute you walked in the joint

# I could see you were a man... #

Look at Ceri's face!

# Good-looking, so refined... #

He liked it, that guy on the end.

It wasn't that good.

Every time I see that, that is just hilarious. That's really funny.

Are you...? What is your feeling, going into that?

For that, a mixture of just not knowing where you're at.

Being all at sea, going... As a comedian, you want it to be amusing,

but you're trying to do it properly, but also you're feeling too shy

and self-conscious to do it properly. Just a whole mix of emotions

that ends up all going into a big pot and coming out as that.

I've never felt as uncomfortable and as not knowing how to be.

I was trying to hide it by going into the crowd and messing about.

# The minute you walked in the joint

# I could tell you were a man of distinction

# A real big spender

# Good-looking, so refined

# Wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind?

# So now we get right to the point

# I don't pop my cork for every boy I see... #

This is the performer coming out now.

Well, this is somebody trying to, a performer trying to cope with...

Being out of your depth.

Yeah, but a little bit of you enjoying it, a little part of you...

Look at these characters!

-Like a hairy Tina Turner.

-Genuinely enjoying it.

If drag queen was you really exposed and out on a limb

and not knowing what you're doing, teaching was maybe the most

worthy one, or the one that you got most from.

Teaching is so different from when I was in primary school,

which is the 1970s. At the start, I was genuinely thrown.

This is genuine facilitated learning. Remember this one?

-Now then, that's your boat, is it?

-Yes.

Can you think of any reason why that wouldn't float as well as a boat?

-Because it's made out of Play-Doh.

-Because it's made out of Play-Doh?

Yeah.

Have you sealed all holes? Are they absolutely 100% water resistant?

Are they? OK, now then, let's see if this floats in the pond.

Oh! High-five!

Cute.

You made it float in the pond. Didn't you?

Then she pulls a trick on me.

Now, then.

This is the kid, though. This is the one I like.

Can you see any reason why this might not float?

See, that's great teaching!

Because it's made out of Play-Doh.

Because it's got a massive lump of Play-Doh at the bottom of it.

CHILDREN LAUGH

Ah! Sweet!

What's not to like? Working with kids, they're just absolutely wonderful.

A joy, an absolute joy.

Has it changed your perspective on life and jobs, having done it?

Don't be daft! It's only a TV series.

Despite us Welsh being a naturally modest people, BBC Wales

has got very good at promoting itself, especially in sport.

This bouncing ball trail for Wales's 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign

changed the way drunk people sang along to Andy Williams for ever.

-And remember Henry's heroes?

-It's the Stereophonics!

-How's it going, boys?

-Any spare tickets?

-Who are these guys?

-Are they Welsh?

-Aye, full on, man.

-Give us a go on your banjo.

-I think it's a bit out of tune.

-Can you play?

-Aye.

# Standing at the bus stop. #

No, can you play on the wing?

# We don't want to be your enemy. #

But the promo that took on a life of its own was Scrum 4,

a bunch of on-screen rugby fan mates,

Iestyn and Keith, and lovebirds Daf and Megan.

We were just these four friends who just wanted to get on TV.

And to get on TV, they pulled out their secret weapon.

Extendable leek. Gosh, what a nuisance that was.

We couldn't, we took it somewhere and they wouldn't let us in with it.

I think it might have been in Italy.

Into position, right in front of the Grandstand box.

All ready, prepared.

Preparation. Key.

We need to go that way. That way. That way. Keep going.

Lift it higher. Higher. The leek is on.

..and the yellow card.

We're on! That's it. Definite.

That away, away for two...

They've switched. Different camera shot. Come this way.

For Scotland to deliver something like that...

It would be massive.

Well, Grandstand had gone off the air, but we didn't stop there.

We went back for a bonus channel.

We're on S4C as well.

Yeah, we got S4C.

Oddi wrtha ni gyd, hwyl fawr.

Yes, big success.

And, of course, the big plot line was...

Megan got pregnant and so we did a big episode with me heavily pregnant.

I knew that I had one shot at going into labour in front of

however many 70,000 people in the stadium,

which was really nerve-racking.

People were genuinely worried about me.

I wanted to say, "I'm absolutely fine, and it's not real!"

I was in Marks & Spencer's, buying some food,

and this little old man, who must have been in his 80s,

came up to me and held my hand and said, "You're Megan. You're Megan!

"We love watching you! How's Daf? How's the baby?"

And you just think, "This is awful."

And I couldn't bear to tell him that it wasn't real, so I said,

"Yes, they're fine, they're lovely."

Then he went off and got his wife and said,

"My wife is in the next aisle."

He went off and got his wife

and there was this little elderly couple chatting away to me

and I hope they're not watching this.

Snowdonia 1890 was a series that took modern families

used to central heating, kettles, cars, tin-openers,

sitting down all day in front of a computer, supermarkets,

mobile phones and washing machines, and put them up a mountain.

So the audience could...

Now experience how they coped with the tough realities of Snowdonia 1890.

And on the whole, they found it...

It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

You know what would be an awesome follow-up series?

Taking a family from the 1890s and making THEM live in the present.

If only there was a way of travelling through time on the TV!

For the last nine years, Dr Who has been made by BBC Wales,

and in Wales, so half the fun,

apart from following the genius Doctors, the foxy sidekicks

and the terrifying aliens, has been to play Welsh location I Spy.

Um...Castell Coch!

-DING

-Yes!

Market Square, Pontypridd.

-DING

-Yes!

No way! That's the Monkey Tump in Tonteg.

That's where I grew up! Is it?

Everything is fine!

-DING

-Yes!

Nothing's wrong. It's all fine.

-And that's the Millennium Stadium.

-HONK

Oh, no! Millennium Centre. I meant Centre.

One of the advantages of filming in Wales on a Friday night,

of course, is that you don't have to pay extras.

But sometimes it can impact on the residents, especially

when the call of nature gets in the way of filming.

Humans will leave their homes. The males, the females...

A lot of the filming for Doctor Who

had taken place in the middle of Cardiff,

so it wasn't unusual to see the film crew there and now

and then we'd see a little Dalek trundle into the street.

It was the night before the 2008 Wales Grand Slam,

and I had arranged for all the cast and crew to use a local pub.

This particular pub was very busy with French rugby fans.

It was pandemonium. And during the night, I visited a friend,

John Lloyd, who lives just round the corner.

I knocked the door, it was late,

it was maybe two o'clock in the morning,

and John answered and he was there in a rugby jersey,

nice big loose-fitting rugby jersey, pair of shorts.

I said, "What's the matter? I'd do anything for you."

He said, "I need to use your toilet."

I said, "You don't have to ask. Just come in." "It's not for me."

Billie Piper, one of our main stars, needs to use the toilet.

You'd imagine the location manager would have organised toilets, but there'd been a bit of a lapse.

He thought I was joking. I said, "I'm serious. Back in five minutes."

My wife went into overdrive then, upstairs cleaning and polishing,

we had to give a good ten-minute spruce-up just to make sure

the facilities were to a suitable celebrity standard.

And he opened the door like Stars In Their Eyes.

He was there, the rugby jersey had gone.

He had a black suit on, he had a white shirt with open collar.

I was absolutely gobsmacked.

Nice small girl, ordinary everyday person. She was lovely.

You're Donna Noble's family, right? I'm Rose Tyler. And I need you.

Ever since Max Boyce, BBC Wales has been trying to develop the Holy Grail of TV formats,

one that blends entertainment and rugby.

Who knows? Maybe one day they'll find it.

But in the meantime, they asked me to do this.

Come on! I had to crowbar this in somehow.

Mark Titley. And that is a try for Eddie Butler,

the slowest number eight ever to play for Wales.

What was he doing there?!

Straight on.

Was the modern line-out as scary as I had imagined?

HE YELPS

I'd made an involuntary noise. Yes, it was.

Out of all the interviews I've done,

the one that people ask me about the most is the one with...

-the good sport and rugby legend that is Will Carling.

-Correct.

The legend and the... Yeah. Chris, your time on the rugby legend

and good sport that is Will Carling starts now.

Who was the Rugby Union centre who became the youngest ever

-England captain at the age of 22?

-Will Carling.

-Correct.

Who, during his time in the army,

rose to the rank of second lieutenant of the Royal Regiment of Wales?

-Will Carling.

-Correct.

Whose team was criticised for

relying on their forwards and not passing the ball out to the backs?

-Will Carling.

-Correct.

Who, despite playing that way,

-led England to three Grand Slams in the '90s?

-Will Carling.

-Correct.

Who has a social networking page about him called Will Carling Fanclub

that has on it only three comments and was last updated in 2002?

Will Carling. Correct.

Who is the greatest...? BEEP

Sorry, I've started, so I'll finish.

-Who is the greatest England centre of all time?

-Jeremy Guscott.

-Correct.

And at the end of that round, Chris, you've scored six points,

and just like the four teams I used to captain in the '90s, no passes.

I think it's sad when someone laughs

at their own little pre-prepared jokes!

So that's it. We've reached the end of our stroll through some funny,

eclectic, and in the case of Korkey's Six Nations,

brilliant clips from the last 50 years of BBC Wales TV.

I hope you enjoyed it.

So, with the time approaching generic o'clock

in case this programme gets repeated,

it's good night from me, Chris Corcoran,

and from all of us here

at BBC Cymru Wales.

Nos da.

I'll leave you

with a national anthem.

# I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window... #