0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is Salford Quays, the brand-new home of BBC North.
0:00:05 > 0:00:10Match Of The Day, Breakfast News, 5 Live, they are all coming here.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Oh, and Corrie's moved in just around the corner.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16I can't wait to see Gary Lineker rubbing shoulders with Ken Barlow
0:00:16 > 0:00:20in the Rover's Return over a pint of best bitter. Love it.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Some of the very best of British TV has been made right here, up North.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Remember these?
0:00:26 > 0:00:28UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Live on the show, Take That!
0:00:33 > 0:00:34The only way now is up, up, up!
0:00:40 > 0:00:45I'll be looking back at some of the great BBC TV shows which have been made in the Northwest
0:00:45 > 0:00:49and finding out what it is about this part of the world
0:00:49 > 0:00:52that's created some of the best telly of the last 50 years.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I don't know what you guys drink up in Manchester
0:00:55 > 0:00:57but there seems to be something in the water
0:00:57 > 0:00:59that says that little spark of creativity.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02What about Salford? Any of you Salford lads, then?
0:01:02 > 0:01:04CHEERING
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Is there a process to becoming a Northerner?
0:01:13 > 0:01:19Probably 16 pints of bitter...and 40 Embassy Regal.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21What's going on?!
0:01:21 > 0:01:22That is lovely.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER
0:01:27 > 0:01:30I prefer to be spellbound.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43One of my favourite TV shows as a kid was Top Of The Pops.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46I loved the music and I LOVED the dancing.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50I mean, I wanted to be one of Pan's People, for goodness' sake.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And hard to imagine, I know, but for the first three years
0:01:53 > 0:01:57the show was actually broadcast from a converted church in Manchester.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58This is BBC One.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Yes, it's number one! It's Top Of The Pops!
0:02:04 > 0:02:08MUSIC: "The Last Time" by the Rolling Stones
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Top Of The Pops was launched on New Year's Day 1964
0:02:12 > 0:02:16by none other than the late King of Pop, Jimmy Savile.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Wednesday January 1st 1964,
0:02:18 > 0:02:217:30 in the evening, live, black and white TV,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25first group the Hollies, Rolling Stones and people like that,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27and it was...tremendous.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Who does anything on New Year's Day?
0:02:30 > 0:02:34So the Beatles and the Rolling Stones... New Year's Day?!
0:02:34 > 0:02:39So when they've been at Marianne Faithfull's penthouse flat the night before doing God knows what
0:02:39 > 0:02:42they had to be on a train at 6am to Manchester to a disused church.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46They must have said to Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham, "Are you serious about this?
0:02:46 > 0:02:50"For some new pop programme? We're the biggest groups in the world."
0:02:50 > 0:02:53"You're still going doing it. You can have a sandwich on the train."
0:02:53 > 0:02:56# Well, I'm sorry, girl, but I can't stay... #
0:02:56 > 0:03:01They decided to put Top Of The Pops in Manchester because they couldn't bear it in London.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06London was very hoity-toity and Manchester... Where is Manchester?
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Anything that they didn't want to do in London
0:03:10 > 0:03:12they slung up to the old church in Manchester.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16They didn't want anything to do with pop music, so that was our place.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23To appear in the audience of Top Of The Pops was a dream come true,
0:03:23 > 0:03:28and not surprisingly a few famous faces turned up at the studios.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33Yes, that really is George Best strutting his stuff.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38# Oooh, oooh Baby love, my baby love... #
0:03:38 > 0:03:44The Supremes even made their world television debut on the programme.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49There was absolutely no problem getting artists to come.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Top Of The Pops was THE number-one pop show in the whole WORLD.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58# To make you stay away for long
0:03:58 > 0:04:01# Cos baby love, my baby love... #
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Jimmy Savile was so different.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09He had a completely different voice, his total presentation was not...
0:04:09 > 0:04:12I wanted to say not normal, but that sounds unkind.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16It was just so entertaining and he was such a character.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18# I got the blues in the morning
0:04:18 > 0:04:20# I got the greens at night... #
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Except I'm a tee-totaller. Oh, I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. Yes...
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Jimmy Savile, obviously, he's not got it QUITE right.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I've never seen anyone at a rock gig looking quite like Jimmy Savile.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33But he's worked out that the suits and ties of the squares has gone
0:04:33 > 0:04:35and the kids are going to do something else.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39# You've lost that lovin' feeling... #
0:04:39 > 0:04:45By the end of '67, the show was so successful it had outgrown the old church and was moved to London.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48# You've lost that lovin' feeling... #
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Everybody that comes up to the North is affected by the North
0:04:51 > 0:04:54and Northern people and things like that.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59And it just... It was a magic mix, the North and Top Of The Pops.
0:04:59 > 0:05:00Magic mix.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06# Bring back that lovin' feeling
0:05:06 > 0:05:12# Whoa, that lovin' feeling... #
0:05:12 > 0:05:16In the early '70s, the BBC decided it needed more space.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The old church was demolished
0:05:19 > 0:05:23and work began on new studios on Oxford Road in Manchester.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Now, on the fringe of the city centre, it's all down to New Broadcasting House.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Not so characterful, perhaps, as a collection of old churches,
0:05:31 > 0:05:36but more appropriate to broadcasting in the '70s and the '80s.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Now, that's what I've been looking for.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47Jeux Sans Frontieres, or It's A Knockout to me and you.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Unforgettable Saturday-night telly.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Stuart Hall's laugh, Eddie Waring's scoreboard,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55those ridiculous giants' costumes.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57You just could not beat it.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16It was absolute genius. Absolute genius.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Everybody had to make a date with It's A Knockout.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23It was just a seminal programme of our time.
0:06:26 > 0:06:32All these people dressed up, not just in a costume,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35but characters that were, like, six or eight feet tall.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Meanwhile, shambling up are St Albans!
0:06:38 > 0:06:40STUART HALL LAUGHS UPROARIOUSLY
0:06:40 > 0:06:46STUART HALL TRIES TO SPEAK BUT BREAKS DOWN LAUGHING
0:06:47 > 0:06:52I think it's Stuart Hall's unbridled enthusiasm for everything that he does.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56But now, equally divine, equally delectable,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58is your actual uncle Eddie Waring. Ed.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02You very rarely hear a grown man nearly wetting himself these days
0:07:02 > 0:07:05on the television, and the simple joyousness of that conveys it.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08It still works. When you hear it, you still can't help...
0:07:08 > 0:07:12I think people of all ages... Because he's really having a good time.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER
0:07:19 > 0:07:21We've got a pool, you can see behind,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24and one of the very good games that's been in Knockout
0:07:24 > 0:07:27through the few years we've been doing it is the pillow fight.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Bonkers decision with Eddie Waring.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33From sport, from rugby league, to bring him into that!
0:07:33 > 0:07:37So then to get a commentator who sounds just as bemused by what's going on...
0:07:37 > 0:07:39"Errrrr..."
0:07:39 > 0:07:43It may be a little wet above, but the crowd are really enjoying this.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Don't know whether the competitors are. Hey, no holding.
0:07:46 > 0:07:47CHEERING
0:07:47 > 0:07:51It really looked grim. You were kind of glad to be indoors watching it
0:07:51 > 0:07:53rather than there, I think.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57And yet there was something kind of...that lifted the spirits
0:07:57 > 0:07:59about people dressed as celery sticks
0:07:59 > 0:08:02kind of rolling about in pools of murky rainwater and things.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Pauline Cooper can't count. Shall we ask what the Ely score there was?
0:08:06 > 0:08:11- She can't count. Go on.- I make it 24. - Your mother will be very pleased. Right, hop it, then.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13And that other fella, Arthur, in his striped blazer.
0:08:13 > 0:08:1615. Two points to Ely.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Two more points to Ely. Get them on the scoreboard, Bev.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24And then of course they went very international
0:08:24 > 0:08:26with Jeux Sans Frontieres.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Where they used to...used to go abroad to places like Belgium,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and they'd do it at night and it looked all colourful
0:08:34 > 0:08:37and the water would look like a swimming pool,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41and then they'd cut back to Warrington...
0:08:41 > 0:08:43- HE CHUCKLES - ..filming in February, in the mud.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48We had 80 million viewers, every Friday night.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51IMITATING THEME TUNE: # Ba-ba bom-bom-bom, bom-be-bom-bom-bom... #
0:08:51 > 0:08:55THEME TUNE PLAYS
0:08:56 > 0:09:01Yes, 80 million viewers across Europe would tune in every week
0:09:01 > 0:09:04to watch the European version of the show.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07When it went abroad, you know, it all looked very glamorous.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10It was Champions League It's A Knockout, wasn't it?
0:09:10 > 0:09:15It did look much more glamorous. We thought, "Wow. It's very sophisticated abroad, isn't it?"
0:09:15 > 0:09:21The penguin game, which is shown on YouTube non-stop, from Aix-les-Bains,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25featuring the eight penguins collecting water on a carousel.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27Go on, get in!
0:09:27 > 0:09:31Why it works is everyone, except possibly Stuart Hall,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33is taking this incredibly seriously.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38You know those men in those penguin suits and their assistants,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40that national pride is at work here.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45The national pride of the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Latvia, wherever, is at stake.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49And so that's what makes it so touching and so funny.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Now, Dougie, a dustbin man from Skegness, was our penguin,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58and he gave us some of the greatest fun I've ever had in my life.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Because he completely destroyed it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04When they speeded up the carousel, he went quicker.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07He took out the German, the took out the French. He took out the Dutch!
0:10:07 > 0:10:12But he kept running, had nothing in his bucket!
0:10:12 > 0:10:16HE TRIES TO SPEAK BUT BREAKS DOWN LAUGHING
0:10:16 > 0:10:19STUART HALL LAUGHS UPROARIOUSLY
0:10:25 > 0:10:27In there, Dougie!
0:10:27 > 0:10:31STUART HALL SCREAMS WITH LAUGHTER
0:10:31 > 0:10:34And there's been no shortage of laughter from up here.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Some of our best-loved comedians are from this part of the world.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41Peter Kay, Johnny Vegas, John Bishop, Steve Coogan,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43they all began right here.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46You can see that the warm air is moving out of the way
0:10:46 > 0:10:50and the cool air is coming back in, so that makes more sense...
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Hi! It's roasting, Dianne!
0:10:54 > 0:10:56My name's Paul Calf.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Er, support Man City, er, like drinkin'...
0:11:01 > 0:11:05Scrap, fight, punch-up, break some bloke's nose. I like life!
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Revolts me how some people live.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12- Eddie, I think you need to wear a mask.- Why, do you think I'm going to get recognised?
0:11:12 > 0:11:15No, I just don't like looking at your face. Ha-ha-ha-ha!
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Now is what counts, Rimmer, living for today.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Who knows what'll happen tomorrow? Or in the next five minutes? That's what makes life so excitin'.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Some of the best comedy shows of the last 30 years
0:11:29 > 0:11:31have originated from Manchester.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39My first job here, in this very studio,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42was, I was an usher for Red Dwarf.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Erm, I just used to show people to their seats and make sure everyone had their tickets.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50And I used to watch the show and watch Craig,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54and I've since worked with Craig, just worked with Danny John-Jules.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58I'd sit here and watch and go, "Oh, I'd love to be in something like this one day."
0:11:58 > 0:12:01- We'll catch you up. - Are you sure you've got everything?
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Just the bare essentials, food and medical supplies.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09I'm just taking the bare essentials too. 36 change of clothing and ten full-length dress mirrors.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Cat, we're going to be away for 12 hours.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15You think I need more mirrors?
0:12:15 > 0:12:18A lot of the time Red Dwarf was on, I was working in the evenings,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21and one of the times I remember most fondly was the canteen,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25before it was modernised, it was still very stark, just postwar...
0:12:25 > 0:12:30The furniture looked like it could have come from Churchill's bunker or something in the canteen.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32But I remember Red Dwarf being filmed
0:12:32 > 0:12:37and the guys in the make-up, it was too expensive to strip it off and strip it back on,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42so they'd be trying to have a salad with all that funny make-up on, or egg and chips or whatever it was.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45There probably wasn't a salad bar in those days!
0:12:45 > 0:12:46And that's it, there's nothing else?
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Just a Pot Noodle.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Oh, and I found a tin of dog food in the tool cupboard.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54It's obvious what's getting eaten last, then.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56I can't stand Pot Noodles.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01And the buzz that we got in the building, because there was
0:13:01 > 0:13:03a network, big show being done here,
0:13:03 > 0:13:09you saw those Chris Barries and people walking around, you know, they were very much part...
0:13:09 > 0:13:13And I think that that's what the BBC in Manchester has always thrived on, really,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16the fact that there are big productions coming out of here.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19I haven't eaten for six days, I'm going to eat the dog food.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22I'm sure the dog food will be lovely.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Rimmer, this isn't dog food.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28This is a piece of prime fillet steak in blue-cheese sauce.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31It's been charcoal-broiled in garlic butter
0:13:31 > 0:13:33and is going to taste delicious.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35Delicious. Delicious.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44My sociological theory about why people up North have a better sense of humour
0:13:44 > 0:13:46and all the best stand-up comedians are Northerners
0:13:46 > 0:13:50is the fact that we've had it harder. Do you know what I mean? We've...
0:13:50 > 0:13:53We're poorer and we've had tougher times.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56And what do you do in a time when you're struggling?
0:13:56 > 0:13:57You have a laugh about it.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01- H-hello. I'm Bob.- Fat Bob.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Fat Bob. Paul's best mate.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06For me, for my first TV job, Paul Calf,
0:14:06 > 0:14:08it's a video diary about real people from Salford.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10It's not me doing an act.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14I've got to think, people at home have to think that Fat Bob
0:14:14 > 0:14:17lives on an estate near the Flemish Weaver.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21See the way she were looking at me? It's obvious, in't it?
0:14:21 > 0:14:23She wants me body.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26Let's face it, Bob, having a body that drives women wild
0:14:26 > 0:14:28is a bit like having a green Ford Cortina Mk. 4.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31You've either got one or you haven't. And I've got one.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33- I haven't.- Exactly.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38Working-class communities produce people
0:14:38 > 0:14:41who learn to laugh in the face of adversity.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45And that notion of, something that would otherwise destroy you,
0:14:45 > 0:14:52turn it into a gag, and disarm it, dismantle it, make something from it.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56And Johnny Vegas plays a small-time drug dealer in the comedy sitcom Ideal.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Over the years, many famous faces have made guest appearances on the show,
0:15:01 > 0:15:03most recently Paul Weller and Kara Tointon.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08'I put the success of Ideal down to a really strong cast.'
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Everyone genuinely loved working on the show and believed in it,
0:15:12 > 0:15:14and it was just quirky enough,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17'it was one of those shows that people just really got into.'
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Anyone fancy cheese on toast?
0:15:21 > 0:15:23You read me like a book.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27- Could you cut the crusts off mine, please, Paul?- No problem, love.
0:15:27 > 0:15:28Ooh, and me.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Tell you what, I'll cut the crusts off the whole loaf.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Cheers, Paul. You're a mate.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Again, it's testament to the show
0:15:37 > 0:15:41that everyone came in and didn't have a problem sending themselves up.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46I thought the whole exhibition related a liminal anxiety.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50It wasn't as mesmerising as I expected. I like to be mesmerised.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53- I like to be mesmerised. - I like to be mesmerised.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56I prefer to be spellbound.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58'I was kind of...honoured, you know.'
0:15:58 > 0:16:03And Johnny loved it, he kept telling me he loved it,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06and I wasn't really conscious of doing anything.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10I remember I had to come into the frame and raise an eye.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13To be honest, I didn't really know what was going on!
0:16:13 > 0:16:17'I had my little scene, and I didn't really know what was going on.'
0:16:17 > 0:16:21I came here straight from my philosophy evening class.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Right. And what did you learn about this week?
0:16:23 > 0:16:27- Foucault.- Come on, you must have learnt something!
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Caroline Aherne turned the traditional chat show format on its head in the '90s.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39With her sharp wit and special blend of Northern humour,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Mrs Merton was a smash hit with audiences.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45The genius of it is making it an old lady - a rather pleasant,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49twinkly old lady - disarms everyone straight away.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Now, every woman's dream is to marry Paul Daniels.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56This dream came true for the lovely Debbie McGee,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58and she'll be popping up later.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Debbie McGee was on the very first show.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05All I knew about the Mrs Merton Show was it was some sort of comedy chat show.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08I walked on, and then her first question was...
0:17:08 > 0:17:12What first, Debbie, attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?
0:17:12 > 0:17:14LAUGHTER
0:17:14 > 0:17:17APPLAUSE
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Well...
0:17:28 > 0:17:32"What attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?"
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Well, that, you know, that humour there,
0:17:36 > 0:17:41because humour can be used as a weapon, and you feel that around Manchester and Liverpool,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44anybody who's getting a little bit - and it's happened to me! -
0:17:44 > 0:17:47who's getting a little bit above themselves.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Debbie McGee is disarmed by it so she can't object to it,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and that is a stroke of genius.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Caroline Aherne is brilliant at it, because she plays the old lady
0:17:57 > 0:18:01'with both utter sweetness and a real naughtiness as well.'
0:18:01 > 0:18:05Say you wake up of a night, and you're in your bed,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09and you wake up, and you just put your hand out to stroke Paul's little head,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13and he's not there - do you look up, and he's at the end of the bed,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16pulling doves out of his pyjamas?
0:18:16 > 0:18:18LAUGHTER
0:18:18 > 0:18:20Do you find that happens?
0:18:20 > 0:18:22'I never felt uncomfortable for a minute'
0:18:22 > 0:18:25on the Mrs Merton programme, I laughed from beginning to end,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29I laughed every time I watched her interviewing other people afterwards,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31cos mine was the first one to ever be recorded.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34I thought she was hysterical,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37and my experience of it was just fun and laughter.
0:18:45 > 0:18:50In the late '90s, Caroline Aherne returned to our screens in The Royle Family,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53this time alongside co-writer Craig Cash.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57We were like a real family.
0:18:57 > 0:19:03It was beautiful, it turned into a lovely, lovely job.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05I don't drink at all, me.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11Just a bottle of stout of a night, and a sherry at Christmas.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13What about a whisky at New Year, Nana?
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Oh, aye, whisky at New Year!
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Sherry at Christmas and a bottle of stout.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Sitting on that sofa, as I am now,
0:19:24 > 0:19:30and the rest of the family were down here, I was squashed in together,
0:19:30 > 0:19:35it was lovely. I could fall asleep between takes, it was lovely.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38I remember ringing home and saying to my mum and dad,
0:19:38 > 0:19:43you have got to watch this, because it's like being sat at home!
0:19:43 > 0:19:46How many Northern families must have thought,
0:19:46 > 0:19:48"This is like our house, exactly like our house."
0:19:48 > 0:19:50And of course they didn't see that.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55"Nothing happens, all they're doing is sitting there watching telly!"
0:19:55 > 0:19:58DOORBELL Get that, will you?
0:19:58 > 0:19:59'The Royle Family is genius.'
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Very, very funny, but very, very moving,
0:20:03 > 0:20:09in particular the sequence where Barbara is doing her mother's hair,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and they're singing to each other.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16That is not just comedy, that's some of the greatest drama you'll ever see.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18- Barbara.- Yes?
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Do you think you could get on with me toenails next?
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Yeah.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27Barbara?
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Yes?
0:20:29 > 0:20:30Barbara.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Come here.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Thank you.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Thank you, Barbara.
0:20:39 > 0:20:40What for?
0:20:40 > 0:20:41Everything.
0:20:43 > 0:20:49And what the Royle Family is is a celebration of the ties that bind in Northwest families.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55It's a family, a Northwestern family, under the microscope.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Beautiful television.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03So many people are just dismissed into care homes -
0:21:03 > 0:21:06get rid of them.
0:21:06 > 0:21:12And years ago, they would remain in the family.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17'And Barbara kept me in the middle of everything.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21'It was wonderful, wonderful.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25'A wonderful way to end your life, in the middle of it all.'
0:21:25 > 0:21:29# Que sera sera
0:21:29 > 0:21:33# Whatever will be will be
0:21:33 > 0:21:37# The future's not ours to see
0:21:37 > 0:21:41# Que sera sera
0:21:41 > 0:21:45# What will be will be
0:21:45 > 0:21:49# When I grew up and fell in love
0:21:49 > 0:21:52# I asked my sweetheart... #
0:21:54 > 0:21:58The old BBC Manchester building has never won any prizes for its architecture,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01but then you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Some of the most original and creative TV shows of the last three decades
0:22:05 > 0:22:07have come out of this place.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11And one or two of them have revolutionised the way television is made.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19In 1987, Janet Street-Porter moved here from Channel 4,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and made radical changes to youth programming.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26'When I arrived at the BBC, I could see that using the offices in Manchester'
0:22:26 > 0:22:30as our base, instead of being in a studio,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33with reporters popping up and sitting behind desks,
0:22:33 > 0:22:37the people that made the programme would be part of the programme.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44We want to know what you think about rescue outreach.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48You'd see the office, and it was all part of the same thing.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52They'd tell you how the story was going, and how they put it together.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05The programme that I'm probably most proud of that I made in Manchester
0:23:05 > 0:23:09was Rough Guides, because before that, travel shows were so drab!
0:23:09 > 0:23:12You'd have Judith Chalmers standing on the beach,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16they'd be talking about value for money, it was always about beaches,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20hotel rooms, and it was never about what the locals got up to.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23We start looking for company in Anchorage,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25home to half the population.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30Where drillers turn to killers, lonely hearts are melting, and the ice men cometh.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33'We wanted to recreate what would happen'
0:23:33 > 0:23:37if you did actually go as a backpacker to these places,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39and took a wrong turn.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45With contract killings in Russia now numbering 500 a year,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49the police have decided to fight fire with fire, by forming an elite squad.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51'For me, the most frightening people'
0:23:51 > 0:23:57I ever met in my life were the police in Moscow.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03Moscow itself, at the time, when we did Rough Guide to Russia, was absolutely terrifying.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06The whole place had just opened up,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08but it seemed like no-one was in charge.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11'And we went out for the day with the police, chasing gangsters.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14'In actual fact, it wasn't the gangsters that terrified me,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18'these police were running round, brandishing guns around.'
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Raids take place almost daily.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24The fast cars and big guns may conjure up images of the latest Die Hard film,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26but in reality, dying is all too easy.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30There have been over 100 police deaths on such missions in the last few years.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34And on the way back, we got stopped by police,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38and they...we had machine guns in the car,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42pointing in your face, saying, "Where are you going? What are you doing here?"
0:24:42 > 0:24:45And we'd say, "We're just a little travel programme!"
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Down the corridor, The Travel Show was also doing things differently.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57But for a more mainstream audience.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02I think what set The Travel Show apart from other travel programmes
0:25:02 > 0:25:06that were on air at the time was that we were given the brief
0:25:06 > 0:25:08to tell it as it is.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13So we were sent to a particular location, and basically,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16'had to tell the viewers back home what it was that we found.'
0:25:16 > 0:25:20I've come to the Greek Orthodox Saint Gerasimus monastery,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24home to guess who - Gerasimus. He's the patron saint of Cephalonia,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28and apparently is taken very seriously by a lot of the islanders.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31I have to put on... Cover myself up.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35'In Cephalonia,'
0:25:35 > 0:25:37we went to the shrine of St Gerasimus,
0:25:37 > 0:25:43and basically, I had to squeeze through this tiny little hole.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Apparently anyone of any shape or size
0:25:46 > 0:25:50is supposed to be able to get through this hole.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52It's an interesting front door!
0:25:54 > 0:25:55Hurrah!
0:25:58 > 0:26:00Once through this hole,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02you're supposed to be cleansed of all your sins,
0:26:02 > 0:26:07but if you're very, very bad, you'll come in here clean,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and you'll go out there dirty.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Right, now I've got to try and get out of this place.
0:26:13 > 0:26:19'I ended up in this chamber, and then we had all the subsequent problems of trying to get out again.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20'It was fine.'
0:26:20 > 0:26:23I'm not quite sure whether or not I was cleansed,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I'll leave that to everyone else to decide.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31Hi, we are live from Manchester for ORS '84, let's go!
0:26:33 > 0:26:38In the '80s, the BBC in Manchester was once again at the cutting edge at music.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Some of the biggest bands of the day made their TV debuts on the Oxford Road Show.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Broadcast live from the studios every Friday evening.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53Well, Oxford Road Show, presumably most people thought it was coming from Oxford,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55but it had a ring to it,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and it was a brand, that, for the BBC, for a while.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02And in fact, the BBC in Manchester
0:27:02 > 0:27:06and the Oxford Road building did have a kind of reputation for music.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09MUSIC: "What Difference Does It Make?" by the Smiths
0:27:19 > 0:27:25# All men have secrets and here is mine, so let it be known
0:27:25 > 0:27:27# For we have been through hell and high tide
0:27:27 > 0:27:31# I think I can rely on you
0:27:31 > 0:27:35# And yet you start to recoil, petty words... #
0:27:35 > 0:27:40Because it has always been such a great music town, and such a small city centre,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43you could feel the buzz of creativity,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46you had Factory Records just behind the BBC on Oxford Road,
0:27:46 > 0:27:52so if you wanted to see if New Order were up to anything, you could nip next door and see Tony Wilson,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and it was that kind of town, really, Manchester.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57You a fan of the Smiths?
0:27:57 > 0:27:58- CROWD:- Yes!
0:27:58 > 0:28:00You'd better say yes!
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Yeah, yeah, I am(!)
0:28:02 > 0:28:05They were on the show three weeks ago, and we asked Morrissey
0:28:05 > 0:28:08if he'd take us out to show us round his home town.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11He doesn't normally do this type of thing, but he said for us, he would do.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14He's showing us around Stratford and Salford.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16The show produced some remarkable firsts,
0:28:16 > 0:28:21like this rarely-seen film about Morrissey's angst-ridden youth.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25The only way that I could find any mental relaxation
0:28:25 > 0:28:27is to simply go out and walk.
0:28:29 > 0:28:31And to walk around these streets.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Which can seem quite depressing to most people.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40That film, now it seems like someone doing an impression of Morrissey, doesn't it?
0:28:40 > 0:28:42"Oh, I was so misunderstood..."
0:28:42 > 0:28:46I was always struck when he started out, the way Morrissey spoke.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48He didn't speak like other people in bands.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Although I've always lived in Manchester,
0:28:51 > 0:28:56and relatively close to here, to this part of Manchester,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00now, when I pass through here, or even being here today,
0:29:00 > 0:29:01it's just so foreign to me.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06He looks like he'd been watching The Naked Civil Servant before he came out.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10He was very enunciated. He was his own creation, even then.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14"Nobody understood me, I just stayed in my room, reading Proust,"
0:29:14 > 0:29:16or whatever he said he was doing.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19I never had a social life, I never left the house,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22I just simply sat in and read and watched television,
0:29:22 > 0:29:27and done all the things that in life are considered to be quite negative and soul-destroying.
0:29:33 > 0:29:39Joy Division made their one and only network TV appearance at the studios.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47I think that's probably most people's
0:29:47 > 0:29:50first experience of Joy Division on the telly.
0:29:50 > 0:29:56You know, nationally. People must have thought, "What on Earth?
0:29:56 > 0:29:57"What on Earth is this?"
0:29:57 > 0:30:01# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio
0:30:03 > 0:30:08# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio
0:30:09 > 0:30:14# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio... #
0:30:15 > 0:30:18'In front of it you've got Ian Curtis, who still remains
0:30:18 > 0:30:21'one of the unique presences in front of a band, I think.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23'Just kind of lost in the music,'
0:30:23 > 0:30:30in a trance, really, and doing that peculiar dance and dressed in these very utilitarian clothes.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33It was very anti-showbiz. It was very stark,
0:30:33 > 0:30:34but it was arresting.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio
0:30:40 > 0:30:45# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio... #
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Children's television has launched a lot of TV careers.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00I got my big break on SMTV in 2002.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03See if you recognise these faces.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08# 8-15 from Manchester, 8-15 from Manchester
0:31:08 > 0:31:11# 8-15 from Manchester... #
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Joining us in the studio all morning are the latest teenage heart-throb.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18They're with us today, live on the 8-15, Take That!
0:31:18 > 0:31:22CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:31:22 > 0:31:24'People were queuing around the block,'
0:31:24 > 0:31:27- and that was before Take That were even anything.- I know,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29I wish I'd known then how big they were going to be.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32We'd have been a lot nicer to them.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36Perhaps you'd like to introduce yourselves to the nation.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40- I'm Robbie.- I'm Gary.- I'm Mark. - I'm Howard.- I'm Jason.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42- And we are...- ALL: Take that!
0:31:42 > 0:31:45- I thought you were going to say good morning as well.- ALL: Good morning!
0:31:45 > 0:31:48'I remember seeing a video of them the day before,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50'when we were in rehearsals.'
0:31:50 > 0:31:54They were being very much marketed toward a gay audience.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57- Were they?- Yeah! And there was a lot of, you know,
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Lycra shorts and back-flipping and puffed up and, yeah...
0:32:00 > 0:32:03I remember thinking, are they right for us?
0:32:03 > 0:32:05But when they came in
0:32:05 > 0:32:09'they knew exactly how to play it. They knew what we wanted.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12'I just thought they were pros from the word go.'
0:32:12 > 0:32:14I hear you've all got party pieces that you do.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17Entertain your friends and impress people.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21- What about the splits, Howard? - ALL: Go on, Howard!- Go on!
0:32:21 > 0:32:23He's been rehearsing this all afternoon!
0:32:23 > 0:32:26I don't believe you can do the splits!
0:32:26 > 0:32:28- ALL: Whooooa! - Oh, wow!
0:32:28 > 0:32:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:32:32 > 0:32:34- Robbie was doing his impressions. - Yeah.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37HE LAUGHS Well, I don't know about that!
0:32:37 > 0:32:40HE PUTS ON STRANGE VOICE
0:32:40 > 0:32:43It's Jimmy Savile!
0:32:43 > 0:32:46I just remember Robbie being absolutely bags of fun and charming.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50He just had it. From an early age,
0:32:50 > 0:32:52he knew what we he was doing.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57I don't suppose it's a disadvantage that you're very, very good-looking boys, is it?
0:32:57 > 0:33:00- How do you feel about the fact... - She's a smooth talker, isn't she?!
0:33:00 > 0:33:04- Are you being promoted? - Thank you, we didn't know!
0:33:04 > 0:33:06I found him really irritating, actually.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09I thought, "Oh, he's full of himself, isn't he?"
0:33:09 > 0:33:11That's what it takes to be in a band.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14I know, Dianne's much more charitable than I am.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Another famous face also made his debut
0:33:22 > 0:33:25on the children's TV show Why Don't You?
0:33:29 > 0:33:31This is the last letter,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34and it's been stuck in its box for months and months and months.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37'Yes, long before he became one half of Ant and Dec,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41'a very young Anthony McPartlin revealed he was a natural on camera.'
0:33:41 > 0:33:45- Dollop that on, like that. - 'Ah, bless him.'
0:33:45 > 0:33:48Put your cream on... This is my best bet, this.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50Just go mad with it!
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Don't worry if it goes in a big lump,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56cos you just spread it around with the knife.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00And, oh, yes, Manchester is responsible for the Chuckle Brothers.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02To me. To you. Ahem!
0:34:03 > 0:34:06- To me.- To you.- To me.- To you.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09They're amazing, aren't they, the Chuckle Brothers?
0:34:09 > 0:34:13That they've lasted this long, and they are still as popular today.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17- I'd say THAT is amazing rather than THEY are amazing.- Well, yeah.
0:34:17 > 0:34:18Oh, dear. Oh!
0:34:20 > 0:34:21SHE LAUGHS
0:34:21 > 0:34:24But they are really popular with kids, still.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27It just goes to show that you can never tell, really,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30what the audience is going to like.
0:34:31 > 0:34:32Let go, Barry. Oh, hang on!
0:34:36 > 0:34:39That was close. Give yourself a clap.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42- Have you seen the goldfish? - All safe and sound.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57BBC Manchester is home to some of the longest-running TV shows -
0:34:57 > 0:35:00A Question Of Sport, Songs Of Praise, Mastermind...
0:35:00 > 0:35:04I wonder what my specialist subject would be?
0:35:04 > 0:35:08The thing about Mastermind, I believe,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12it's intelligent. It doesn't make any concessions.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15It doesn't assume that the general public
0:35:15 > 0:35:18are thick as two short planks, because they're not.
0:35:18 > 0:35:23As a family, I always used to sit down, usually with my mother,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27and watch Mastermind. I think she wanted to find out if I was learning anything at school.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31But it was that music, you know, "Duh-duh-duh-duuuuh...dah!"
0:35:31 > 0:35:36In the spotlight tonight is the Strictly dancer Darren Bennett.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40His subject is the sci-fi films that became a force to be reckoned with.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45The writer and DJ Stuart Maconie takes on a century of works by Britain's greatest poets.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49It is absolutely terrifying. When he says, "Our next contender, please,"
0:35:49 > 0:35:52you feel a band of steel around your stomach -
0:35:52 > 0:35:55it's like Narnia or Poltergeist, "I've fallen into the television."
0:35:55 > 0:35:58It's both really exhilarating and really frightening.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01What is the title of Laurence Binyon's poem that contains the line,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05"They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old"?
0:36:05 > 0:36:07- The Fallen?- Yes.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12I thought, "I'm not going to do pop music or pies, or any of the things people think I'll do.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16"I'll do 20th-century British poetry, because that's what I'm interested in."
0:36:16 > 0:36:21In the green room, the lad from The Bill said, "What are you doing?
0:36:21 > 0:36:25I said, "20th-century British poetry. What are you doing?"
0:36:25 > 0:36:28He said, "I'm doing Star Wars." I said, "Right."
0:36:28 > 0:36:32And then the nice girl from Big Brother said,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35"I'm doing Nirvana, the band," and I thought, "Why have I done this?
0:36:35 > 0:36:37"What was I thinking of?
0:36:37 > 0:36:40"Out of sheer, hubristic showing off, I've picked this.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42"I'm not going to know any of the answers!"
0:36:42 > 0:36:45What if you did get 0?
0:36:45 > 0:36:47You'd look a fool, wouldn't you?
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Never be able to walk the streets again.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53"There's that Gene Hunt. He's thick, isn't he? Stupid."
0:36:53 > 0:36:59I watch the contenders walking out from their chairs and...
0:36:59 > 0:37:04their eyes fixed on the black chair, and however experienced as quizzers they are,
0:37:04 > 0:37:08however clever they are, you know they're scared. Everybody's scared
0:37:08 > 0:37:10'when they go and sit in that Mastermind chair.'
0:37:10 > 0:37:12Now then, you are...
0:37:15 > 0:37:18..I'll probably offend you by saying this -
0:37:18 > 0:37:19a professional Northerner?
0:37:19 > 0:37:25- Oh, John, I regard myself as a gifted amateur. - LAUGHTER
0:37:25 > 0:37:29We had some good-natured banter about me being a professional Northerner.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32Oh, you've got coffee bars up there, now?
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Oh, we've got everything. Running water, electricity...
0:37:35 > 0:37:41I threw the chair at him, but I think that's edited out of the transmitted version.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50And A Question Of Sport's been putting sports stars to the test for an incredible 40 years.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54All three of us say,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57when we come to work to do A Question Of Sport,
0:37:57 > 0:38:00it feels like a hobby, not a job. We thoroughly enjoy it.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04'For me, it's the best thing I do on TV.'
0:38:04 > 0:38:07LAUGHTER
0:38:07 > 0:38:10'For me, growing up, it was one of the things I always watched.'
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Also, when I was asked to come on it as a player,
0:38:13 > 0:38:17'it was a rubber stamp that you've done quite well in your sport.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20'I was very proud the first time I appeared as a guest as well.'
0:38:20 > 0:38:23There are four, altogether.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26I wouldn't know, no...don't know.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29- Take a look over there.- Oh!
0:38:31 > 0:38:36The Princess Anne moment, I think, would probably be,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39if there was a top ten iconic Question Of Sport moments,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43I think that would probably have to be up there.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47- I would love to put my arm round you! - My handbag is heavier than it looks!
0:38:47 > 0:38:50I would love to put my arm round you!
0:38:50 > 0:38:52Whenever someone talks about Question Of Sport and a guest,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55it was that. Not only the coup to get her on the show, but then
0:38:55 > 0:38:59the way she was loving being on the show and having a laugh and a giggle
0:38:59 > 0:39:03and for him just to think it was absolutely fine to give her a hug!
0:39:03 > 0:39:08It was magic. It was Question Of Sport magic.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13Emlyn's been giggling in the background as if he knows exactly who it is.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16- No, we think it's Alan Lamb. - It's Alan Lamb.- Yes!
0:39:16 > 0:39:20- APPLAUSE - Good stuff! Good stuff!
0:39:20 > 0:39:24There was that amazing moment when Emlyn Hughes was the team captain
0:39:24 > 0:39:26and you have Princess Anne...
0:39:26 > 0:39:31'I can't imagine if I had Princess Anne here now, I'd say,'
0:39:31 > 0:39:33"Do you fancy singing Love Divine, mate?"
0:39:33 > 0:39:35It just wouldn't happen!
0:39:35 > 0:39:37I can see you're with the right captain!
0:39:37 > 0:39:39Well done, mate!
0:39:39 > 0:39:42Good stuff, you can come back again!
0:39:42 > 0:39:44And it's ladies' night on Matt's team.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47He's joined by two stars who have jumped their way to glory.
0:39:47 > 0:39:52It was another story two decades later when Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips
0:39:52 > 0:39:56appeared on the show opposite husband-to-be Mike Tindall.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00'I suppose it was a bit different when I had Zara Phillips on the show,'
0:40:00 > 0:40:03because I look at her as a friend rather than
0:40:03 > 0:40:08part of the Royal Family. That was the difference with Emlyn. You could sense...
0:40:08 > 0:40:13it wasn't that he was bowing, but it was all very, "Everything OK, ma'am?"
0:40:13 > 0:40:18'Whereas with Zara, she will give as good as she gets,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22'which is a fantastic trait for someone who is under pressure so much.'
0:40:22 > 0:40:26She doesn't care. She will be giving out plenty of banter,
0:40:26 > 0:40:27which is, again,
0:40:27 > 0:40:29'a great dynamic for the show.'
0:40:29 > 0:40:32Gonna tell me the truth?
0:40:33 > 0:40:35Always!
0:40:35 > 0:40:37Ah, that's lovely!
0:40:37 > 0:40:40I love that!
0:40:40 > 0:40:43Whatever you like, you're in charge.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45So Mike tells me.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50The appeal of Question Of Sport is the...interplay.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Move on! Move on! What's this?! The horses!
0:40:54 > 0:40:56The posh stuff!
0:40:56 > 0:40:59LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:40:59 > 0:41:01- Dressage!- Yes!
0:41:01 > 0:41:05- If you're not first, just...! - WHISTLE BLOWS
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Oh!
0:41:07 > 0:41:09LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:41:09 > 0:41:11'It's very English,'
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Question Of Sport.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17Quite self-deprecating and not taken too seriously.
0:41:25 > 0:41:26When it comes to fear factor,
0:41:26 > 0:41:30there's nothing more terrifying than entering the Dragons' Den.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33It's taken you 14 years to send an e-mail?
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Doesn't that worry you?
0:41:35 > 0:41:38I wouldn't for one second consider investing in you.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42You're what? You're going to sell your house
0:41:42 > 0:41:43to back this?
0:41:43 > 0:41:44Yes.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46Do not
0:41:46 > 0:41:48sell your house for this.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51When you see individuals come up the stairs,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55you can sometimes physically see an individual shake.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57When you see their nervousness
0:41:57 > 0:42:01and then all of a sudden you get engaged in a conversation with them,
0:42:01 > 0:42:05and especially when you see that the individual has got it - and when I say "got it",
0:42:05 > 0:42:10you know they've got that entrepreneurial spirit and drive and coupled with a great product -
0:42:10 > 0:42:13you're sitting there thinking, "Now I'm starting to shake."
0:42:13 > 0:42:16I find it really, really difficult
0:42:16 > 0:42:22to actually take on board what you've achieved.
0:42:25 > 0:42:26It's phenomenal.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Absolutely phenomenal.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31I'm totally blown away by it.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33That is all I can say.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37And I'm going to make you an offer.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40But every now and then
0:42:40 > 0:42:44the show throws up some disastrous pitches, like the famous chair multi-gym.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47It's a walking machine, not a running machine.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54What made it even more hilarious for me was that Duncan,
0:42:54 > 0:42:59being the gym expert, went up and tried to use some of these things.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02I tell you, I cried my eyes... I mean,
0:43:02 > 0:43:03'it was hilarious.'
0:43:03 > 0:43:06You're frightening the life out of me!
0:43:06 > 0:43:07You're like two old codgers!
0:43:07 > 0:43:11Two old codgers in their living room trying to get fit!
0:43:11 > 0:43:17'I couldn't have summed it up better than that. Duncan was out of breath, giggling away,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19'it was like Laurel and Hardy. If there's one thing'
0:43:19 > 0:43:25in television that I've learned, it's that when your show becomes really successful,
0:43:25 > 0:43:30on occasions, you have your show parodied,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34so other people try to emulate it. One of the great things I remember is Harry and Paul,
0:43:34 > 0:43:37where they would actually mirror the Dragons.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41Here's the bit that we think will really excite you about Augcember.
0:43:41 > 0:43:46We intend to relocate Christmas Day to the 15th of Augcember.
0:43:48 > 0:43:49Over to you, Ken.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52So there are two... Thanks, bro.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54LAUGHTER
0:43:54 > 0:43:55'It was weird,'
0:43:55 > 0:43:58because they'd do things you don't realise you're doing yourself.
0:43:58 > 0:44:03So, Harry would turn around and say, "Hello. I'm Peter."
0:44:03 > 0:44:07That's a lot of Christmas shopping time. Good USP.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09Thank you.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16I like the sound of this, I sell a jolly lot of calendars
0:44:16 > 0:44:21in my shops and I can hear the cash registers ring-a-ding-a-dinging,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24a-sing-a-ding-a-dingaling, a-ting-ting-tinging.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30I feel very sorry for Deborah Meaden, because I think she got the short straw on that one.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33I mean, she really was...
0:44:33 > 0:44:35I think Harry Enfield really, really...
0:44:35 > 0:44:38I don't think they're ever going to speak, Deborah and Harry Enfield.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43'It's all down to the grumpy one. But she doesn't look impressed, either.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46'See how she looks at them with loathing and contempt.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51'Hating every fibre of Brian and Ken's perspiring bodies.'
0:44:53 > 0:44:56Ken, I'm out.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01But it just shows the success of the programme
0:45:01 > 0:45:05and I can't tell you how great it is to hear and see other people
0:45:05 > 0:45:09almost taking the mickey out of us, it just shows we've made it.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14# Be still for the glory of the lord
0:45:14 > 0:45:16# Is shining... #
0:45:16 > 0:45:20Another long-running favourite made here is Songs Of Praise,
0:45:20 > 0:45:24recently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Aled Jones was already famous for his angelic voice
0:45:27 > 0:45:30when he first appeared on Songs Of Praise as a choirboy.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33But his singing wasn't always appreciated
0:45:33 > 0:45:36when he joined in the hymns while watching the show at home.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40As a child I always used to, sort of, be told off for singing along, you know, too loudly,
0:45:40 > 0:45:42and spoiling it for my gran!
0:45:42 > 0:45:45And in 2001, Aled presented his very first
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Songs Of Praise from his home city in Wales.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52Welcome to Bangor and the oldest diocese in Britain.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Yeah, I was petrified going back to Bangor.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02I knew all the people in the congregation and to this day, I'll let you into a little secret,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05I don't like doing the pieces to camera in front of the congregation
0:46:05 > 0:46:09because if there are kids there, they're invariably going...
0:46:09 > 0:46:10Or... looking at their watches.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14And I'm saying, "The next hymn is..." I'll have to do it, usually, about 13 times.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18We begin with a hymn dedicated to all the saints in Wales
0:46:18 > 0:46:21sung to this very familiar Welsh tune.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24I've always thought we should be wearing a T-shirt saying
0:46:24 > 0:46:27"Songs Of Praise, the world's greatest karaoke."
0:46:27 > 0:46:31Because nowadays I think it's watched by 13 million, or something like that, worldwide.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35And I would say that maybe half of them even maybe don't go to church,
0:46:35 > 0:46:38but they minute they launch into "Praise My Soul, The King Of Heaven,"
0:46:38 > 0:46:43it takes them back to school assemblies or maybe a comfortable, happy time in their lives.
0:46:47 > 0:46:53'When Songs Of Praise turns up in a parish, it causes bedlam.'
0:46:53 > 0:46:55It's a massive deal within the church itself
0:46:55 > 0:47:00and then suddenly there's people going, "She doesn't come here, she goes to St Bernadette's.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02"Oh, the cheek of her!"
0:47:02 > 0:47:06I love the whole idea that the church is only full when Songs Of Praise is there.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10I'm not sure if that's the case. Maybe there are a few more in the congregation
0:47:10 > 0:47:15than there would be on a Sunday morning. I think the big difference Songs Of Praise makes to a community
0:47:15 > 0:47:17is that the hairdressers make a lot of money.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21One of his proudest moments was when the show was featured on The Vicar Of Dibley.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24Well, I've had a letter from BBC Religious Programmes,
0:47:24 > 0:47:26chap called Tristan Campbell,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30he says that he wants to film Songs Of Praise here at St Barnabas.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32Heaven preserve us.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35I loved the fact that they thought it was Tom Jones.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38It was like, "No, Aled Jones, you know, ooh!" I get that a lot.
0:47:39 > 0:47:45And the Northwest has produced some of the most memorable dramas of the past 50 years.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Three words - Life On Mars.
0:47:49 > 0:47:50(Loved it!)
0:47:50 > 0:47:53- 'I've got a reported stabbing.' - Stabbing? Where?
0:47:53 > 0:47:57'Christie's Textiles, Queen Mary Road, uniform's already on the scene.'
0:47:57 > 0:48:01- Queen Mary Road? - Alpha-One, we're all over it.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05'Life On Mars re-created 1970s Manchester, with scenes filmed all over the city.'
0:48:05 > 0:48:08It's a one-way street so take a left, and then...
0:48:08 > 0:48:10# Oh, yeah!
0:48:10 > 0:48:12# It's like lightning
0:48:12 > 0:48:14# Everybody was frightening
0:48:14 > 0:48:15# And the music was soothing
0:48:15 > 0:48:17# And they all started grooving
0:48:17 > 0:48:21# Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah!
0:48:21 > 0:48:23# The man at the back said everyone attacked
0:48:23 > 0:48:24# And it turned into a ballroom blitz. #
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Life On Mars, I'm not going to speak about
0:48:27 > 0:48:29cos they should have given me a role in it, all right.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31Life On Mars was Glenister and John Simm.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33Do you know what?
0:48:33 > 0:48:35I think you're trying to show me up.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40You don't scare me, Hunt.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45It's an interesting point you raise, allow me to retort.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53Better?
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Fantastic performances, a great drama.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Every copper has to be whiter than white or the whole thing falls apart.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02No, you're living in cloud-cuckoo-land, Sam.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05Once I'd got the script, I...
0:49:05 > 0:49:10And I'm not just saying it, as people sometimes do, I couldn't put it down.
0:49:10 > 0:49:15'They sent me the first episode of it, and I thought, "It's never going to work,"'
0:49:15 > 0:49:18and I don't even think I finished reading it.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20And then my agent told me to finish reading it and I did.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22The first 15 pages, you know,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26it just seemed like another ordinary cop show.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Modern day, et cetera, and then suddenly, that moment, bam!
0:49:29 > 0:49:32Where Sam gets run over,
0:49:32 > 0:49:33suddenly wakes up in 1973.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37# It's the freakiest show
0:49:37 > 0:49:44# Take a look at the law man Beating up the wrong guy... #
0:49:44 > 0:49:49The scripts describing we pan back and we see, "The Mancunian Way, coming soon."
0:49:49 > 0:49:52# ..Cos I wrote it ten times or more
0:49:52 > 0:49:56# It's about to be writ again
0:49:56 > 0:50:03# As I ask you to focus on Sailors, fighting in the dance hall
0:50:03 > 0:50:09# Oh, man, look at those cavemen go... #
0:50:09 > 0:50:11And it was one of those things where you just thought
0:50:11 > 0:50:16this is either going to go, you know, straight down the swanny or it's going to be a massive hit.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19And luckily, it was a massive hit.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23I just watched it, it blew me away because they knew how to do that
0:50:23 > 0:50:26with total respect for an audience who like watching telly
0:50:26 > 0:50:31these days with all its technical... Yeah, they just did it so smartly.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34And so credibly.
0:50:34 > 0:50:40'It lit me up and, yeah, five-star, world-class product.'
0:50:40 > 0:50:44Don't ever waltz into my kingdom acting king of the jungle.
0:50:44 > 0:50:45Who the hell are you?
0:50:45 > 0:50:50Gene Hunt, your DCI, and it's 1973, almost dinner time. I'm having hoops.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53They were such... such different characters
0:50:53 > 0:50:55and they clashed every time.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58But then there was a begrudging respect
0:50:58 > 0:51:01and they came to love one another by the end.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05And it was quite a touching relationship, I thought.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08I mean, there's some scenes in it, which usually end up in the pub,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11and it's usually at the end of the episode.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14And they're usually quite moving, I find, when I see them.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20There was a wonderful scene where we start hearing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John, playing.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23- Do you want my appraisal of you?- No.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27# ..to my old man
0:51:27 > 0:51:30# You know you can't hold me for ever... #
0:51:30 > 0:51:32It's your round, then.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35'And I still watch that scene and I get quite choked watching it.'
0:51:35 > 0:51:37I think it's a lovely scene.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38# ..to open
0:51:38 > 0:51:41# This boy's too young to be singing the blues... #
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Thank you.
0:51:56 > 0:52:01Gis a job. Go on, gis it. Gis a go, go on.
0:52:01 > 0:52:02Over the years,
0:52:02 > 0:52:05the Northwest has produced some of the very best television drama.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09- Am I right!?- Yes!- Am I right?!!- Yes!!
0:52:13 > 0:52:14Tony?
0:52:14 > 0:52:19- You should never chain-smoke alone, you know.- Do you want one?
0:52:19 > 0:52:23- Mate, what are you doing here? - I've got a couple of things on. - Business or pleasure?
0:52:23 > 0:52:25Ahh!
0:52:28 > 0:52:30He's alive.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34And the North is blessed by some of the best drama writers in the UK.
0:52:34 > 0:52:39Paul Abbott, Alan Bleasdale and Jimmy McGovern, to name but a few.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44- Glaswegian?- Yeah.- 45 years old?
0:52:44 > 0:52:47About, yeah, I didn't really see his face, he was driving.
0:52:47 > 0:52:48Billy Rafferty.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51He's dead, Willy.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54'There's a great love of language'
0:52:54 > 0:53:01in and around Manchester and Liverpool pubs,
0:53:01 > 0:53:05a great joy in language and a great joy in storytelling.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09In conversation, actually, in the sense of a community,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12and I think writers have tapped into that
0:53:12 > 0:53:15and brought it, you know, to a national audience.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18- What's your name?- Otto.- What?
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Otto.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22And it's this love of language and storytelling
0:53:22 > 0:53:26that Jimmy McGovern has used to such dramatic affect in The Street.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29Otto? Why Otto?
0:53:32 > 0:53:37Well, look, I'm no good to you. I can't even look after myself, never mind someone like you.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41What's distinctive about The Street, and any great writing, is you feel
0:53:41 > 0:53:46like the writer listens to how people actually speak.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50And we all know that in Manchester and Liverpool it's very idiosyncratic.
0:53:50 > 0:53:55'There's a joy in language and I think Jimmy has a very acute ear
0:53:55 > 0:53:58'for the way people in the Northwest talk and think.'
0:53:58 > 0:54:01Don't read anything into this, yeah?
0:54:01 > 0:54:05Another writer who's made his mark is none other than Paul Abbott.
0:54:05 > 0:54:06PHONE RINGS
0:54:06 > 0:54:11Tricks like this get round. He'll be a very lonely guy, he'll need somebody to write to from prison.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13Can I answer the phone?
0:54:13 > 0:54:17He started out writing on Coronation Street and Cracker,
0:54:17 > 0:54:18before BBC's Clocking Off.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21Mackintosh Textiles, Trudy speaking, how can I help you?
0:54:21 > 0:54:27I remember Paul talking about the demise of the single play,
0:54:27 > 0:54:30you know, The Play For Today, the Wednesday Play, whatever it was.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33And how he wanted to reinvent that.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37And the only way that he could do that, or to get a commission,
0:54:37 > 0:54:44was to sort of basically link six different stories
0:54:44 > 0:54:46around this setting which was the factory.
0:54:49 > 0:54:54- Trudy's out of her kennel. - You what?- Trudy.
0:54:54 > 0:54:55Big day, she's washed her hair!
0:54:57 > 0:55:04When I look at the amount of work that must have gone into six single films for one series
0:55:04 > 0:55:08that can't fail, and I wrote them like a train.
0:55:10 > 0:55:15Very hard work to make that much work to fit into one hour in cost terms, but we did.
0:55:15 > 0:55:16Jesus.
0:55:18 > 0:55:24- Stuart.- What's happening? - Where's Sue?- She won't talk to me.
0:55:24 > 0:55:30- Where's Eddie?- Upstairs. - Get him out, he's scaring us.
0:55:30 > 0:55:32'It was great fun to do.'
0:55:32 > 0:55:35I love working in Manchester.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40It was a great job to do and also quality, quality writing, you know.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44Paul Abbott teamed up with John Simm again this year with Exile.
0:55:44 > 0:55:49Dad, lie down, it's 10. Nancy said if you don't go to bed at 10 O'clock you get cranky and then...
0:55:51 > 0:55:54A psychological thriller set in Lancashire about a tabloid hack
0:55:54 > 0:55:58who's forced to take care of a father with dementia.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00Nothing changes, does it?
0:56:00 > 0:56:02I want Nancy!
0:56:03 > 0:56:04Don't we all?
0:56:04 > 0:56:10Exile was a fantastic script, you know, an idea by Paul Abbott written by Danny Brocklehurst
0:56:10 > 0:56:16staring Jim Broadbent, which, you know, it's going to be good.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19I thought, "That's going to be good, as long as I don't mess it up."
0:56:19 > 0:56:24Yeah, great part, great part, and I was lucky enough,
0:56:24 > 0:56:30I think Danny had me in mind when he wrote it, which was a lovely thing for me.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35I mean, I'm humbled by that. So I hope I did it justice.
0:56:35 > 0:56:41- Do you remember the planes crashing into the Twin Towers?- 9/11/2001.
0:56:41 > 0:56:47- Do you remember Margaret Thatcher? - Bitch.- I'll take that as a yes.
0:56:49 > 0:56:55What about...Liverpool winning the Champions League?
0:56:55 > 0:56:56What?!
0:56:59 > 0:57:01Dementia's not all bad, then.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04John Simm does things so excellently, they're nearly invisible,
0:57:04 > 0:57:12and it's proper acting, and yeah, I loved his respect for the technique of Jim Broadbent,
0:57:12 > 0:57:19and that's what John can do, he's like a chameleon and he can just hop in like you're meant to be able to.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24'And he dovetailed really beautifully with Jim Broadbent.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27'And they got the best performances out of each other.'
0:57:27 > 0:57:29And I know it's still in there.
0:57:32 > 0:57:37And believe me, I'm going to get it out.
0:57:49 > 0:57:55So the BBC has come a long way since its days of studios in converted churches.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00It's now starting a whole new chapter here at Media City on a bigger scale than ever before.
0:58:01 > 0:58:06The BBC in the Northwest launched the careers of some of our best-loved stars
0:58:06 > 0:58:09and left us with some classic TV gold.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11Tyler!
0:58:11 > 0:58:14Put that soppy bloke down and get in. Going to Archer Lane,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17shots fired, lovely. You two tarts, get in.
0:58:26 > 0:58:32Oh. Tom! Oh! Good to see ya.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34Come on, Jack.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37Let's be naughty, I know you want to.
0:58:48 > 0:58:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:50 > 0:58:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk