Browse content similar to TV Greats: Our Favourites from the North. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is Salford Quays, the brand-new home of BBC North. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
Match Of The Day, Breakfast News, 5 Live, they are all coming here. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:10 | |
Oh, and Corrie's moved in just around the corner. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
I can't wait to see Gary Lineker rubbing shoulders with Ken Barlow | 0:00:14 | 0:00:16 | |
in the Rover's Return over a pint of best bitter. Love it. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
Some of the very best of British TV has been made right here, up North. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:24 | |
Remember these? | 0:00:24 | 0:00:26 | |
UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
Live on the show, Take That! | 0:00:30 | 0:00:33 | |
The only way now is up, up, up! | 0:00:33 | 0:00:34 | |
I'll be looking back at some of the great BBC TV shows which have been made in the Northwest | 0:00:40 | 0:00:45 | |
and finding out what it is about this part of the world | 0:00:45 | 0:00:49 | |
that's created some of the best telly of the last 50 years. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
I don't know what you guys drink up in Manchester | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
but there seems to be something in the water | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
that says that little spark of creativity. | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
What about Salford? Any of you Salford lads, then? | 0:00:59 | 0:01:02 | |
CHEERING | 0:01:02 | 0:01:04 | |
Is there a process to becoming a Northerner? | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
Probably 16 pints of bitter...and 40 Embassy Regal. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:19 | |
What's going on?! | 0:01:19 | 0:01:21 | |
That is lovely. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:22 | |
UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
I prefer to be spellbound. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
One of my favourite TV shows as a kid was Top Of The Pops. | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
I loved the music and I LOVED the dancing. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:46 | |
I mean, I wanted to be one of Pan's People, for goodness' sake. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:50 | |
And hard to imagine, I know, but for the first three years | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
the show was actually broadcast from a converted church in Manchester. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
This is BBC One. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:58 | |
Yes, it's number one! It's Top Of The Pops! | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
MUSIC: "The Last Time" by the Rolling Stones | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
Top Of The Pops was launched on New Year's Day 1964 | 0:02:08 | 0:02:12 | |
by none other than the late King of Pop, Jimmy Savile. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
Wednesday January 1st 1964, | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
7:30 in the evening, live, black and white TV, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
first group the Hollies, Rolling Stones and people like that, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
and it was...tremendous. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
Who does anything on New Year's Day? | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
So the Beatles and the Rolling Stones... New Year's Day?! | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
So when they've been at Marianne Faithfull's penthouse flat the night before doing God knows what | 0:02:34 | 0:02:39 | |
they had to be on a train at 6am to Manchester to a disused church. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:42 | |
They must have said to Brian Epstein and Andrew Loog Oldham, "Are you serious about this? | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
"For some new pop programme? We're the biggest groups in the world." | 0:02:46 | 0:02:50 | |
"You're still going doing it. You can have a sandwich on the train." | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
# Well, I'm sorry, girl, but I can't stay... # | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
They decided to put Top Of The Pops in Manchester because they couldn't bear it in London. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
London was very hoity-toity and Manchester... Where is Manchester? | 0:03:01 | 0:03:06 | |
Anything that they didn't want to do in London | 0:03:06 | 0:03:10 | |
they slung up to the old church in Manchester. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
They didn't want anything to do with pop music, so that was our place. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
To appear in the audience of Top Of The Pops was a dream come true, | 0:03:19 | 0:03:23 | |
and not surprisingly a few famous faces turned up at the studios. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:28 | |
Yes, that really is George Best strutting his stuff. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:33 | |
# Oooh, oooh Baby love, my baby love... # | 0:03:33 | 0:03:38 | |
The Supremes even made their world television debut on the programme. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:44 | |
There was absolutely no problem getting artists to come. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:49 | |
Top Of The Pops was THE number-one pop show in the whole WORLD. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:54 | |
# To make you stay away for long | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
# Cos baby love, my baby love... # | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
Jimmy Savile was so different. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
He had a completely different voice, his total presentation was not... | 0:04:04 | 0:04:09 | |
I wanted to say not normal, but that sounds unkind. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:12 | |
It was just so entertaining and he was such a character. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
# I got the blues in the morning | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
# I got the greens at night... # | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
Except I'm a tee-totaller. Oh, I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. Yes... | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
Jimmy Savile, obviously, he's not got it QUITE right. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
I've never seen anyone at a rock gig looking quite like Jimmy Savile. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
But he's worked out that the suits and ties of the squares has gone | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
and the kids are going to do something else. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
# You've lost that lovin' feeling... # | 0:04:35 | 0:04:39 | |
By the end of '67, the show was so successful it had outgrown the old church and was moved to London. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:45 | |
# You've lost that lovin' feeling... # | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
Everybody that comes up to the North is affected by the North | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
and Northern people and things like that. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
And it just... It was a magic mix, the North and Top Of The Pops. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:59 | |
Magic mix. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:00 | |
# Bring back that lovin' feeling | 0:05:00 | 0:05:06 | |
# Whoa, that lovin' feeling... # | 0:05:06 | 0:05:12 | |
In the early '70s, the BBC decided it needed more space. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
The old church was demolished | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
and work began on new studios on Oxford Road in Manchester. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:23 | |
Now, on the fringe of the city centre, it's all down to New Broadcasting House. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
Not so characterful, perhaps, as a collection of old churches, | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
but more appropriate to broadcasting in the '70s and the '80s. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:36 | |
Now, that's what I've been looking for. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
Jeux Sans Frontieres, or It's A Knockout to me and you. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
Unforgettable Saturday-night telly. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:49 | |
Stuart Hall's laugh, Eddie Waring's scoreboard, | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
those ridiculous giants' costumes. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
You just could not beat it. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:57 | |
It was absolute genius. Absolute genius. | 0:06:12 | 0:06:16 | |
Everybody had to make a date with It's A Knockout. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
It was just a seminal programme of our time. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:23 | |
All these people dressed up, not just in a costume, | 0:06:26 | 0:06:32 | |
but characters that were, like, six or eight feet tall. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:35 | |
Meanwhile, shambling up are St Albans! | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
STUART HALL LAUGHS UPROARIOUSLY | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
STUART HALL TRIES TO SPEAK BUT BREAKS DOWN LAUGHING | 0:06:40 | 0:06:46 | |
I think it's Stuart Hall's unbridled enthusiasm for everything that he does. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:52 | |
But now, equally divine, equally delectable, | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
is your actual uncle Eddie Waring. Ed. | 0:06:56 | 0:06:58 | |
You very rarely hear a grown man nearly wetting himself these days | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
on the television, and the simple joyousness of that conveys it. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
It still works. When you hear it, you still can't help... | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
I think people of all ages... Because he's really having a good time. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
We've got a pool, you can see behind, | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
and one of the very good games that's been in Knockout | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
through the few years we've been doing it is the pillow fight. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
Bonkers decision with Eddie Waring. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
From sport, from rugby league, to bring him into that! | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
So then to get a commentator who sounds just as bemused by what's going on... | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
"Errrrr..." | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
It may be a little wet above, but the crowd are really enjoying this. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:43 | |
Don't know whether the competitors are. Hey, no holding. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
CHEERING | 0:07:46 | 0:07:47 | |
It really looked grim. You were kind of glad to be indoors watching it | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
rather than there, I think. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
And yet there was something kind of...that lifted the spirits | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
about people dressed as celery sticks | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
kind of rolling about in pools of murky rainwater and things. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:02 | |
Pauline Cooper can't count. Shall we ask what the Ely score there was? | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
-She can't count. Go on. -I make it 24. -Your mother will be very pleased. Right, hop it, then. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:11 | |
And that other fella, Arthur, in his striped blazer. | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
15. Two points to Ely. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:16 | |
Two more points to Ely. Get them on the scoreboard, Bev. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:20 | |
And then of course they went very international | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
with Jeux Sans Frontieres. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
Where they used to...used to go abroad to places like Belgium, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:31 | |
and they'd do it at night and it looked all colourful | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
and the water would look like a swimming pool, | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
and then they'd cut back to Warrington... | 0:08:37 | 0:08:41 | |
-HE CHUCKLES -..filming in February, in the mud. | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
We had 80 million viewers, every Friday night. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:48 | |
IMITATING THEME TUNE: # Ba-ba bom-bom-bom, bom-be-bom-bom-bom... # | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
THEME TUNE PLAYS | 0:08:51 | 0:08:55 | |
Yes, 80 million viewers across Europe would tune in every week | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
to watch the European version of the show. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
When it went abroad, you know, it all looked very glamorous. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:07 | |
It was Champions League It's A Knockout, wasn't it? | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
It did look much more glamorous. We thought, "Wow. It's very sophisticated abroad, isn't it?" | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
The penguin game, which is shown on YouTube non-stop, from Aix-les-Bains, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:21 | |
featuring the eight penguins collecting water on a carousel. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:25 | |
Go on, get in! | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
Why it works is everyone, except possibly Stuart Hall, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
is taking this incredibly seriously. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
You know those men in those penguin suits and their assistants, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:38 | |
that national pride is at work here. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
The national pride of the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Latvia, wherever, is at stake. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:45 | |
And so that's what makes it so touching and so funny. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:49 | |
Now, Dougie, a dustbin man from Skegness, was our penguin, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
and he gave us some of the greatest fun I've ever had in my life. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:58 | |
Because he completely destroyed it. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:01 | |
When they speeded up the carousel, he went quicker. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
He took out the German, the took out the French. He took out the Dutch! | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
But he kept running, had nothing in his bucket! | 0:10:07 | 0:10:12 | |
HE TRIES TO SPEAK BUT BREAKS DOWN LAUGHING | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
STUART HALL LAUGHS UPROARIOUSLY | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
In there, Dougie! | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
STUART HALL SCREAMS WITH LAUGHTER | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
And there's been no shortage of laughter from up here. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:34 | |
Some of our best-loved comedians are from this part of the world. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
Peter Kay, Johnny Vegas, John Bishop, Steve Coogan, | 0:10:37 | 0:10:41 | |
they all began right here. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:43 | |
You can see that the warm air is moving out of the way | 0:10:43 | 0:10:46 | |
and the cool air is coming back in, so that makes more sense... | 0:10:46 | 0:10:50 | |
Hi! It's roasting, Dianne! | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
My name's Paul Calf. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:56 | |
Er, support Man City, er, like drinkin'... | 0:10:56 | 0:10:59 | |
Scrap, fight, punch-up, break some bloke's nose. I like life! | 0:11:01 | 0:11:05 | |
Revolts me how some people live. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
-Eddie, I think you need to wear a mask. -Why, do you think I'm going to get recognised? | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
No, I just don't like looking at your face. Ha-ha-ha-ha! | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
Now is what counts, Rimmer, living for today. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
Who knows what'll happen tomorrow? Or in the next five minutes? That's what makes life so excitin'. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:23 | |
Some of the best comedy shows of the last 30 years | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
have originated from Manchester. | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
My first job here, in this very studio, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
was, I was an usher for Red Dwarf. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
Erm, I just used to show people to their seats and make sure everyone had their tickets. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:46 | |
And I used to watch the show and watch Craig, | 0:11:46 | 0:11:50 | |
and I've since worked with Craig, just worked with Danny John-Jules. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:54 | |
I'd sit here and watch and go, "Oh, I'd love to be in something like this one day." | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
-We'll catch you up. -Are you sure you've got everything? | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
Just the bare essentials, food and medical supplies. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
I'm just taking the bare essentials too. 36 change of clothing and ten full-length dress mirrors. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:09 | |
Cat, we're going to be away for 12 hours. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:13 | |
You think I need more mirrors? | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
A lot of the time Red Dwarf was on, I was working in the evenings, | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
and one of the times I remember most fondly was the canteen, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:21 | |
before it was modernised, it was still very stark, just postwar... | 0:12:21 | 0:12:25 | |
The furniture looked like it could have come from Churchill's bunker or something in the canteen. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:30 | |
But I remember Red Dwarf being filmed | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
and the guys in the make-up, it was too expensive to strip it off and strip it back on, | 0:12:32 | 0:12:37 | |
so they'd be trying to have a salad with all that funny make-up on, or egg and chips or whatever it was. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:42 | |
There probably wasn't a salad bar in those days! | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
And that's it, there's nothing else? | 0:12:45 | 0:12:46 | |
Just a Pot Noodle. | 0:12:46 | 0:12:49 | |
Oh, and I found a tin of dog food in the tool cupboard. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
It's obvious what's getting eaten last, then. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
I can't stand Pot Noodles. | 0:12:54 | 0:12:56 | |
And the buzz that we got in the building, because there was | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
a network, big show being done here, | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
you saw those Chris Barries and people walking around, you know, they were very much part... | 0:13:03 | 0:13:09 | |
And I think that that's what the BBC in Manchester has always thrived on, really, | 0:13:09 | 0:13:13 | |
the fact that there are big productions coming out of here. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
I haven't eaten for six days, I'm going to eat the dog food. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
I'm sure the dog food will be lovely. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
Rimmer, this isn't dog food. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
This is a piece of prime fillet steak in blue-cheese sauce. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:28 | |
It's been charcoal-broiled in garlic butter | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
and is going to taste delicious. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
Delicious. Delicious. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:35 | |
My sociological theory about why people up North have a better sense of humour | 0:13:40 | 0:13:44 | |
and all the best stand-up comedians are Northerners | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
is the fact that we've had it harder. Do you know what I mean? We've... | 0:13:46 | 0:13:50 | |
We're poorer and we've had tougher times. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
And what do you do in a time when you're struggling? | 0:13:53 | 0:13:56 | |
You have a laugh about it. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:57 | |
-H-hello. I'm Bob. -Fat Bob. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
Fat Bob. Paul's best mate. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:03 | |
For me, for my first TV job, Paul Calf, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
it's a video diary about real people from Salford. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:08 | |
It's not me doing an act. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:10 | |
I've got to think, people at home have to think that Fat Bob | 0:14:10 | 0:14:14 | |
lives on an estate near the Flemish Weaver. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
See the way she were looking at me? It's obvious, in't it? | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
She wants me body. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
Let's face it, Bob, having a body that drives women wild | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
is a bit like having a green Ford Cortina Mk. 4. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
You've either got one or you haven't. And I've got one. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
-I haven't. -Exactly. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
Working-class communities produce people | 0:14:33 | 0:14:38 | |
who learn to laugh in the face of adversity. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
And that notion of, something that would otherwise destroy you, | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
turn it into a gag, and disarm it, dismantle it, make something from it. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:52 | |
And Johnny Vegas plays a small-time drug dealer in the comedy sitcom Ideal. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
Over the years, many famous faces have made guest appearances on the show, | 0:14:56 | 0:15:01 | |
most recently Paul Weller and Kara Tointon. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
'I put the success of Ideal down to a really strong cast.' | 0:15:03 | 0:15:08 | |
Everyone genuinely loved working on the show and believed in it, | 0:15:08 | 0:15:12 | |
and it was just quirky enough, | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
'it was one of those shows that people just really got into.' | 0:15:14 | 0:15:17 | |
Anyone fancy cheese on toast? | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
You read me like a book. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
-Could you cut the crusts off mine, please, Paul? -No problem, love. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
Ooh, and me. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:28 | |
Tell you what, I'll cut the crusts off the whole loaf. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
Cheers, Paul. You're a mate. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
Again, it's testament to the show | 0:15:35 | 0:15:37 | |
that everyone came in and didn't have a problem sending themselves up. | 0:15:37 | 0:15:41 | |
I thought the whole exhibition related a liminal anxiety. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:46 | |
It wasn't as mesmerising as I expected. I like to be mesmerised. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:50 | |
-I like to be mesmerised. -I like to be mesmerised. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
I prefer to be spellbound. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
'I was kind of...honoured, you know.' | 0:15:56 | 0:15:58 | |
And Johnny loved it, he kept telling me he loved it, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:03 | |
and I wasn't really conscious of doing anything. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:06 | |
I remember I had to come into the frame and raise an eye. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:10 | |
To be honest, I didn't really know what was going on! | 0:16:10 | 0:16:13 | |
'I had my little scene, and I didn't really know what was going on.' | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
I came here straight from my philosophy evening class. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:21 | |
Right. And what did you learn about this week? | 0:16:21 | 0:16:23 | |
-Foucault. -Come on, you must have learnt something! | 0:16:23 | 0:16:27 | |
Caroline Aherne turned the traditional chat show format on its head in the '90s. | 0:16:31 | 0:16:35 | |
With her sharp wit and special blend of Northern humour, | 0:16:35 | 0:16:39 | |
Mrs Merton was a smash hit with audiences. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
The genius of it is making it an old lady - a rather pleasant, | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
twinkly old lady - disarms everyone straight away. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:49 | |
Now, every woman's dream is to marry Paul Daniels. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
This dream came true for the lovely Debbie McGee, | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
and she'll be popping up later. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
Debbie McGee was on the very first show. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
All I knew about the Mrs Merton Show was it was some sort of comedy chat show. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:05 | |
I walked on, and then her first question was... | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
What first, Debbie, attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels? | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
Well... | 0:17:25 | 0:17:27 | |
"What attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" | 0:17:28 | 0:17:32 | |
Well, that, you know, that humour there, | 0:17:32 | 0:17:36 | |
because humour can be used as a weapon, and you feel that around Manchester and Liverpool, | 0:17:36 | 0:17:41 | |
anybody who's getting a little bit - and it's happened to me! - | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
who's getting a little bit above themselves. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
Debbie McGee is disarmed by it so she can't object to it, | 0:17:47 | 0:17:51 | |
and that is a stroke of genius. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
Caroline Aherne is brilliant at it, because she plays the old lady | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
'with both utter sweetness and a real naughtiness as well.' | 0:17:57 | 0:18:01 | |
Say you wake up of a night, and you're in your bed, | 0:18:01 | 0:18:05 | |
and you wake up, and you just put your hand out to stroke Paul's little head, | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
and he's not there - do you look up, and he's at the end of the bed, | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
pulling doves out of his pyjamas? | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
Do you find that happens? | 0:18:18 | 0:18:20 | |
'I never felt uncomfortable for a minute' | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
on the Mrs Merton programme, I laughed from beginning to end, | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
I laughed every time I watched her interviewing other people afterwards, | 0:18:25 | 0:18:29 | |
cos mine was the first one to ever be recorded. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
I thought she was hysterical, | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
and my experience of it was just fun and laughter. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
In the late '90s, Caroline Aherne returned to our screens in The Royle Family, | 0:18:45 | 0:18:50 | |
this time alongside co-writer Craig Cash. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
We were like a real family. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
It was beautiful, it turned into a lovely, lovely job. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:03 | |
I don't drink at all, me. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:05 | |
Just a bottle of stout of a night, and a sherry at Christmas. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:11 | |
What about a whisky at New Year, Nana? | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
Oh, aye, whisky at New Year! | 0:19:13 | 0:19:17 | |
Sherry at Christmas and a bottle of stout. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
Sitting on that sofa, as I am now, | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
and the rest of the family were down here, I was squashed in together, | 0:19:24 | 0:19:30 | |
it was lovely. I could fall asleep between takes, it was lovely. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:35 | |
I remember ringing home and saying to my mum and dad, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
you have got to watch this, because it's like being sat at home! | 0:19:38 | 0:19:43 | |
How many Northern families must have thought, | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
"This is like our house, exactly like our house." | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
And of course they didn't see that. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
"Nothing happens, all they're doing is sitting there watching telly!" | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
DOORBELL Get that, will you? | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
'The Royle Family is genius.' | 0:19:58 | 0:19:59 | |
Very, very funny, but very, very moving, | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
in particular the sequence where Barbara is doing her mother's hair, | 0:20:03 | 0:20:09 | |
and they're singing to each other. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
That is not just comedy, that's some of the greatest drama you'll ever see. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:16 | |
-Barbara. -Yes? | 0:20:16 | 0:20:18 | |
Do you think you could get on with me toenails next? | 0:20:18 | 0:20:22 | |
Yeah. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
Barbara? | 0:20:26 | 0:20:27 | |
Yes? | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
Barbara. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:30 | |
Come here. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
Thank you. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:37 | |
Thank you, Barbara. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
What for? | 0:20:39 | 0:20:40 | |
Everything. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:41 | |
And what the Royle Family is is a celebration of the ties that bind in Northwest families. | 0:20:43 | 0:20:49 | |
It's a family, a Northwestern family, under the microscope. | 0:20:49 | 0:20:55 | |
Beautiful television. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
So many people are just dismissed into care homes - | 0:20:57 | 0:21:03 | |
get rid of them. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
And years ago, they would remain in the family. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:12 | |
'And Barbara kept me in the middle of everything. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:17 | |
'It was wonderful, wonderful. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
'A wonderful way to end your life, in the middle of it all.' | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
# Que sera sera | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
# Whatever will be will be | 0:21:29 | 0:21:33 | |
# The future's not ours to see | 0:21:33 | 0:21:37 | |
# Que sera sera | 0:21:37 | 0:21:41 | |
# What will be will be | 0:21:41 | 0:21:45 | |
# When I grew up and fell in love | 0:21:45 | 0:21:49 | |
# I asked my sweetheart... # | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
The old BBC Manchester building has never won any prizes for its architecture, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
but then you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
Some of the most original and creative TV shows of the last three decades | 0:22:01 | 0:22:05 | |
have come out of this place. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
And one or two of them have revolutionised the way television is made. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
In 1987, Janet Street-Porter moved here from Channel 4, | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
and made radical changes to youth programming. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
'When I arrived at the BBC, I could see that using the offices in Manchester' | 0:22:22 | 0:22:26 | |
as our base, instead of being in a studio, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
with reporters popping up and sitting behind desks, | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
the people that made the programme would be part of the programme. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
We want to know what you think about rescue outreach. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:44 | |
You'd see the office, and it was all part of the same thing. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:48 | |
They'd tell you how the story was going, and how they put it together. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:52 | |
The programme that I'm probably most proud of that I made in Manchester | 0:23:00 | 0:23:05 | |
was Rough Guides, because before that, travel shows were so drab! | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
You'd have Judith Chalmers standing on the beach, | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
they'd be talking about value for money, it was always about beaches, | 0:23:12 | 0:23:16 | |
hotel rooms, and it was never about what the locals got up to. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:20 | |
We start looking for company in Anchorage, | 0:23:20 | 0:23:23 | |
home to half the population. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:25 | |
Where drillers turn to killers, lonely hearts are melting, and the ice men cometh. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:30 | |
'We wanted to recreate what would happen' | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
if you did actually go as a backpacker to these places, | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
and took a wrong turn. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:39 | |
With contract killings in Russia now numbering 500 a year, | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
the police have decided to fight fire with fire, by forming an elite squad. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
'For me, the most frightening people' | 0:23:49 | 0:23:51 | |
I ever met in my life were the police in Moscow. | 0:23:51 | 0:23:57 | |
Moscow itself, at the time, when we did Rough Guide to Russia, was absolutely terrifying. | 0:23:57 | 0:24:03 | |
The whole place had just opened up, | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
but it seemed like no-one was in charge. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
'And we went out for the day with the police, chasing gangsters. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
'In actual fact, it wasn't the gangsters that terrified me, | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
'these police were running round, brandishing guns around.' | 0:24:14 | 0:24:18 | |
Raids take place almost daily. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:20 | |
The fast cars and big guns may conjure up images of the latest Die Hard film, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:24 | |
but in reality, dying is all too easy. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
There have been over 100 police deaths on such missions in the last few years. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:30 | |
And on the way back, we got stopped by police, | 0:24:32 | 0:24:34 | |
and they...we had machine guns in the car, | 0:24:34 | 0:24:38 | |
pointing in your face, saying, "Where are you going? What are you doing here?" | 0:24:38 | 0:24:42 | |
And we'd say, "We're just a little travel programme!" | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
Down the corridor, The Travel Show was also doing things differently. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:54 | |
But for a more mainstream audience. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:57 | |
I think what set The Travel Show apart from other travel programmes | 0:24:58 | 0:25:02 | |
that were on air at the time was that we were given the brief | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
to tell it as it is. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
So we were sent to a particular location, and basically, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:13 | |
'had to tell the viewers back home what it was that we found.' | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
I've come to the Greek Orthodox Saint Gerasimus monastery, | 0:25:16 | 0:25:20 | |
home to guess who - Gerasimus. He's the patron saint of Cephalonia, | 0:25:20 | 0:25:24 | |
and apparently is taken very seriously by a lot of the islanders. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
I have to put on... Cover myself up. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
'In Cephalonia,' | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
we went to the shrine of St Gerasimus, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
and basically, I had to squeeze through this tiny little hole. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:43 | |
Apparently anyone of any shape or size | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
is supposed to be able to get through this hole. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:50 | |
It's an interesting front door! | 0:25:50 | 0:25:52 | |
Hurrah! | 0:25:54 | 0:25:55 | |
Once through this hole, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
you're supposed to be cleansed of all your sins, | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
but if you're very, very bad, you'll come in here clean, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:07 | |
and you'll go out there dirty. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
Right, now I've got to try and get out of this place. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
'I ended up in this chamber, and then we had all the subsequent problems of trying to get out again. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:19 | |
'It was fine.' | 0:26:19 | 0:26:20 | |
I'm not quite sure whether or not I was cleansed, | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
I'll leave that to everyone else to decide. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
Hi, we are live from Manchester for ORS '84, let's go! | 0:26:26 | 0:26:31 | |
In the '80s, the BBC in Manchester was once again at the cutting edge at music. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:38 | |
Some of the biggest bands of the day made their TV debuts on the Oxford Road Show. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:43 | |
Broadcast live from the studios every Friday evening. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
Well, Oxford Road Show, presumably most people thought it was coming from Oxford, | 0:26:48 | 0:26:53 | |
but it had a ring to it, | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
and it was a brand, that, for the BBC, for a while. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:58 | |
And in fact, the BBC in Manchester | 0:26:58 | 0:27:02 | |
and the Oxford Road building did have a kind of reputation for music. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:06 | |
MUSIC: "What Difference Does It Make?" by the Smiths | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
# All men have secrets and here is mine, so let it be known | 0:27:19 | 0:27:25 | |
# For we have been through hell and high tide | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
# I think I can rely on you | 0:27:27 | 0:27:31 | |
# And yet you start to recoil, petty words... # | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
Because it has always been such a great music town, and such a small city centre, | 0:27:35 | 0:27:40 | |
you could feel the buzz of creativity, | 0:27:40 | 0:27:43 | |
you had Factory Records just behind the BBC on Oxford Road, | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
so if you wanted to see if New Order were up to anything, you could nip next door and see Tony Wilson, | 0:27:46 | 0:27:52 | |
and it was that kind of town, really, Manchester. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:55 | |
You a fan of the Smiths? | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
-CROWD: -Yes! | 0:27:57 | 0:27:58 | |
You'd better say yes! | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
Yeah, yeah, I am(!) | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
They were on the show three weeks ago, and we asked Morrissey | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
if he'd take us out to show us round his home town. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
He doesn't normally do this type of thing, but he said for us, he would do. | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
He's showing us around Stratford and Salford. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
The show produced some remarkable firsts, | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
like this rarely-seen film about Morrissey's angst-ridden youth. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:21 | |
The only way that I could find any mental relaxation | 0:28:21 | 0:28:25 | |
is to simply go out and walk. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:27 | |
And to walk around these streets. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:31 | |
Which can seem quite depressing to most people. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:36 | |
That film, now it seems like someone doing an impression of Morrissey, doesn't it? | 0:28:36 | 0:28:40 | |
"Oh, I was so misunderstood..." | 0:28:40 | 0:28:42 | |
I was always struck when he started out, the way Morrissey spoke. | 0:28:42 | 0:28:46 | |
He didn't speak like other people in bands. | 0:28:46 | 0:28:48 | |
Although I've always lived in Manchester, | 0:28:48 | 0:28:51 | |
and relatively close to here, to this part of Manchester, | 0:28:51 | 0:28:56 | |
now, when I pass through here, or even being here today, | 0:28:56 | 0:29:00 | |
it's just so foreign to me. | 0:29:00 | 0:29:01 | |
He looks like he'd been watching The Naked Civil Servant before he came out. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:06 | |
He was very enunciated. He was his own creation, even then. | 0:29:06 | 0:29:10 | |
"Nobody understood me, I just stayed in my room, reading Proust," | 0:29:10 | 0:29:14 | |
or whatever he said he was doing. | 0:29:14 | 0:29:16 | |
I never had a social life, I never left the house, | 0:29:16 | 0:29:19 | |
I just simply sat in and read and watched television, | 0:29:19 | 0:29:22 | |
and done all the things that in life are considered to be quite negative and soul-destroying. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:27 | |
Joy Division made their one and only network TV appearance at the studios. | 0:29:33 | 0:29:39 | |
I think that's probably most people's | 0:29:43 | 0:29:47 | |
first experience of Joy Division on the telly. | 0:29:47 | 0:29:50 | |
You know, nationally. People must have thought, "What on Earth? | 0:29:50 | 0:29:56 | |
"What on Earth is this?" | 0:29:56 | 0:29:57 | |
# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio | 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 | |
'In front of it you've got Ian Curtis, who still remains | 0:30:15 | 0:30:18 | |
'one of the unique presences in front of a band, I think. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
'Just kind of lost in the music,' | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
in a trance, really, and doing that peculiar dance and dressed in these very utilitarian clothes. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:30 | |
It was very anti-showbiz. It was very stark, | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
but it was arresting. | 0:30:33 | 0:30:34 | |
# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio | 0:30:34 | 0:30:39 | |
# Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio... # | 0:30:40 | 0:30:45 | |
Children's television has launched a lot of TV careers. | 0:30:54 | 0:30:57 | |
I got my big break on SMTV in 2002. | 0:30:57 | 0:31:00 | |
See if you recognise these faces. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
# 8-15 from Manchester, 8-15 from Manchester | 0:31:03 | 0:31:08 | |
# 8-15 from Manchester... # | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
Joining us in the studio all morning are the latest teenage heart-throb. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:15 | |
They're with us today, live on the 8-15, Take That! | 0:31:15 | 0:31:18 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:31:18 | 0:31:22 | |
'People were queuing around the block,' | 0:31:22 | 0:31:24 | |
-and that was before Take That were even anything. -I know, | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
I wish I'd known then how big they were going to be. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:29 | |
We'd have been a lot nicer to them. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
Perhaps you'd like to introduce yourselves to the nation. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:36 | |
-I'm Robbie. -I'm Gary. -I'm Mark. -I'm Howard. -I'm Jason. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:40 | |
-And we are... -ALL: Take that! | 0:31:40 | 0:31:42 | |
-I thought you were going to say good morning as well. -ALL: Good morning! | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
'I remember seeing a video of them the day before, | 0:31:45 | 0:31:48 | |
'when we were in rehearsals.' | 0:31:48 | 0:31:50 | |
They were being very much marketed toward a gay audience. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:54 | |
-Were they? -Yeah! And there was a lot of, you know, | 0:31:54 | 0:31:57 | |
Lycra shorts and back-flipping and puffed up and, yeah... | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
I remember thinking, are they right for us? | 0:32:00 | 0:32:03 | |
But when they came in | 0:32:03 | 0:32:05 | |
'they knew exactly how to play it. They knew what we wanted. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:09 | |
'I just thought they were pros from the word go.' | 0:32:09 | 0:32:12 | |
I hear you've all got party pieces that you do. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:14 | |
Entertain your friends and impress people. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
-What about the splits, Howard? -ALL: Go on, Howard! -Go on! | 0:32:17 | 0:32:21 | |
He's been rehearsing this all afternoon! | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
I don't believe you can do the splits! | 0:32:23 | 0:32:26 | |
-ALL: Whooooa! -Oh, wow! | 0:32:26 | 0:32:28 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:32:28 | 0:32:32 | |
-Robbie was doing his impressions. -Yeah. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:34 | |
HE LAUGHS Well, I don't know about that! | 0:32:34 | 0:32:37 | |
HE PUTS ON STRANGE VOICE | 0:32:37 | 0:32:40 | |
It's Jimmy Savile! | 0:32:40 | 0:32:43 | |
I just remember Robbie being absolutely bags of fun and charming. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
He just had it. From an early age, | 0:32:46 | 0:32:50 | |
he knew what we he was doing. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
I don't suppose it's a disadvantage that you're very, very good-looking boys, is it? | 0:32:52 | 0:32:57 | |
-How do you feel about the fact... -She's a smooth talker, isn't she?! | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
-Are you being promoted? -Thank you, we didn't know! | 0:33:00 | 0:33:04 | |
I found him really irritating, actually. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
I thought, "Oh, he's full of himself, isn't he?" | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
That's what it takes to be in a band. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
I know, Dianne's much more charitable than I am. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
Another famous face also made his debut | 0:33:19 | 0:33:22 | |
on the children's TV show Why Don't You? | 0:33:22 | 0:33:25 | |
This is the last letter, | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
and it's been stuck in its box for months and months and months. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
'Yes, long before he became one half of Ant and Dec, | 0:33:34 | 0:33:37 | |
'a very young Anthony McPartlin revealed he was a natural on camera.' | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
-Dollop that on, like that. -'Ah, bless him.' | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
Put your cream on... This is my best bet, this. | 0:33:45 | 0:33:48 | |
Just go mad with it! | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
Don't worry if it goes in a big lump, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
cos you just spread it around with the knife. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:56 | |
And, oh, yes, Manchester is responsible for the Chuckle Brothers. | 0:33:56 | 0:34:00 | |
To me. To you. Ahem! | 0:34:00 | 0:34:02 | |
-To me. -To you. -To me. -To you. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
They're amazing, aren't they, the Chuckle Brothers? | 0:34:06 | 0:34:09 | |
That they've lasted this long, and they are still as popular today. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
-I'd say THAT is amazing rather than THEY are amazing. -Well, yeah. | 0:34:13 | 0:34:17 | |
Oh, dear. Oh! | 0:34:17 | 0:34:18 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:34:20 | 0:34:21 | |
But they are really popular with kids, still. | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
It just goes to show that you can never tell, really, | 0:34:24 | 0:34:27 | |
what the audience is going to like. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:30 | |
Let go, Barry. Oh, hang on! | 0:34:31 | 0:34:32 | |
That was close. Give yourself a clap. | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
-Have you seen the goldfish? -All safe and sound. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:42 | |
BBC Manchester is home to some of the longest-running TV shows - | 0:34:52 | 0:34:57 | |
A Question Of Sport, Songs Of Praise, Mastermind... | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
I wonder what my specialist subject would be? | 0:35:00 | 0:35:04 | |
The thing about Mastermind, I believe, | 0:35:04 | 0:35:08 | |
it's intelligent. It doesn't make any concessions. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:12 | |
It doesn't assume that the general public | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
are thick as two short planks, because they're not. | 0:35:15 | 0:35:18 | |
As a family, I always used to sit down, usually with my mother, | 0:35:18 | 0:35:23 | |
and watch Mastermind. I think she wanted to find out if I was learning anything at school. | 0:35:23 | 0:35:27 | |
But it was that music, you know, "Duh-duh-duh-duuuuh...dah!" | 0:35:27 | 0:35:31 | |
In the spotlight tonight is the Strictly dancer Darren Bennett. | 0:35:31 | 0:35:36 | |
His subject is the sci-fi films that became a force to be reckoned with. | 0:35:36 | 0:35:40 | |
The writer and DJ Stuart Maconie takes on a century of works by Britain's greatest poets. | 0:35:40 | 0:35:45 | |
It is absolutely terrifying. When he says, "Our next contender, please," | 0:35:45 | 0:35:49 | |
you feel a band of steel around your stomach - | 0:35:49 | 0:35:52 | |
it's like Narnia or Poltergeist, "I've fallen into the television." | 0:35:52 | 0:35:55 | |
It's both really exhilarating and really frightening. | 0:35:55 | 0:35:58 | |
What is the title of Laurence Binyon's poem that contains the line, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:01 | |
"They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old"? | 0:36:01 | 0:36:05 | |
-The Fallen? -Yes. | 0:36:05 | 0:36:07 | |
I thought, "I'm not going to do pop music or pies, or any of the things people think I'll do. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:12 | |
"I'll do 20th-century British poetry, because that's what I'm interested in." | 0:36:12 | 0:36:16 | |
In the green room, the lad from The Bill said, "What are you doing? | 0:36:16 | 0:36:21 | |
I said, "20th-century British poetry. What are you doing?" | 0:36:21 | 0:36:25 | |
He said, "I'm doing Star Wars." I said, "Right." | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
And then the nice girl from Big Brother said, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:32 | |
"I'm doing Nirvana, the band," and I thought, "Why have I done this? | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
"What was I thinking of? | 0:36:35 | 0:36:37 | |
"Out of sheer, hubristic showing off, I've picked this. | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
"I'm not going to know any of the answers!" | 0:36:40 | 0:36:42 | |
What if you did get 0? | 0:36:42 | 0:36:45 | |
You'd look a fool, wouldn't you? | 0:36:45 | 0:36:47 | |
Never be able to walk the streets again. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
"There's that Gene Hunt. He's thick, isn't he? Stupid." | 0:36:49 | 0:36:53 | |
I watch the contenders walking out from their chairs and... | 0:36:53 | 0:36:59 | |
their eyes fixed on the black chair, and however experienced as quizzers they are, | 0:36:59 | 0:37:04 | |
however clever they are, you know they're scared. Everybody's scared | 0:37:04 | 0:37:08 | |
'when they go and sit in that Mastermind chair.' | 0:37:08 | 0:37:10 | |
Now then, you are... | 0:37:10 | 0:37:12 | |
..I'll probably offend you by saying this - | 0:37:15 | 0:37:18 | |
a professional Northerner? | 0:37:18 | 0:37:19 | |
-Oh, John, I regard myself as a gifted amateur. -LAUGHTER | 0:37:19 | 0:37:25 | |
We had some good-natured banter about me being a professional Northerner. | 0:37:25 | 0:37:29 | |
Oh, you've got coffee bars up there, now? | 0:37:29 | 0:37:32 | |
Oh, we've got everything. Running water, electricity... | 0:37:32 | 0:37:35 | |
I threw the chair at him, but I think that's edited out of the transmitted version. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:41 | |
And A Question Of Sport's been putting sports stars to the test for an incredible 40 years. | 0:37:45 | 0:37:50 | |
All three of us say, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
when we come to work to do A Question Of Sport, | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
it feels like a hobby, not a job. We thoroughly enjoy it. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
'For me, it's the best thing I do on TV.' | 0:38:00 | 0:38:04 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:38:04 | 0:38:07 | |
'For me, growing up, it was one of the things I always watched.' | 0:38:07 | 0:38:10 | |
Also, when I was asked to come on it as a player, | 0:38:10 | 0:38:13 | |
'it was a rubber stamp that you've done quite well in your sport. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:17 | |
'I was very proud the first time I appeared as a guest as well.' | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
There are four, altogether. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:23 | |
I wouldn't know, no...don't know. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
-Take a look over there. -Oh! | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
The Princess Anne moment, I think, would probably be, | 0:38:31 | 0:38:36 | |
if there was a top ten iconic Question Of Sport moments, | 0:38:36 | 0:38:39 | |
I think that would probably have to be up there. | 0:38:39 | 0:38:43 | |
-I would love to put my arm round you! -My handbag is heavier than it looks! | 0:38:43 | 0:38:47 | |
I would love to put my arm round you! | 0:38:47 | 0:38:50 | |
Whenever someone talks about Question Of Sport and a guest, | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
it was that. Not only the coup to get her on the show, but then | 0:38:52 | 0:38:55 | |
the way she was loving being on the show and having a laugh and a giggle | 0:38:55 | 0:38:59 | |
and for him just to think it was absolutely fine to give her a hug! | 0:38:59 | 0:39:03 | |
It was magic. It was Question Of Sport magic. | 0:39:03 | 0:39:08 | |
Emlyn's been giggling in the background as if he knows exactly who it is. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:13 | |
-No, we think it's Alan Lamb. -It's Alan Lamb. -Yes! | 0:39:13 | 0:39:16 | |
-APPLAUSE -Good stuff! Good stuff! | 0:39:16 | 0:39:20 | |
There was that amazing moment when Emlyn Hughes was the team captain | 0:39:20 | 0:39:24 | |
and you have Princess Anne... | 0:39:24 | 0:39:26 | |
'I can't imagine if I had Princess Anne here now, I'd say,' | 0:39:26 | 0:39:31 | |
"Do you fancy singing Love Divine, mate?" | 0:39:31 | 0:39:33 | |
It just wouldn't happen! | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
I can see you're with the right captain! | 0:39:35 | 0:39:37 | |
Well done, mate! | 0:39:37 | 0:39:39 | |
Good stuff, you can come back again! | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
And it's ladies' night on Matt's team. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:44 | |
He's joined by two stars who have jumped their way to glory. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:47 | |
It was another story two decades later when Princess Anne's daughter Zara Phillips | 0:39:47 | 0:39:52 | |
appeared on the show opposite husband-to-be Mike Tindall. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:56 | |
'I suppose it was a bit different when I had Zara Phillips on the show,' | 0:39:56 | 0:40:00 | |
because I look at her as a friend rather than | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
part of the Royal Family. That was the difference with Emlyn. You could sense... | 0:40:03 | 0:40:08 | |
it wasn't that he was bowing, but it was all very, "Everything OK, ma'am?" | 0:40:08 | 0:40:13 | |
'Whereas with Zara, she will give as good as she gets, | 0:40:13 | 0:40:18 | |
'which is a fantastic trait for someone who is under pressure so much.' | 0:40:18 | 0:40:22 | |
She doesn't care. She will be giving out plenty of banter, | 0:40:22 | 0:40:26 | |
which is, again, | 0:40:26 | 0:40:27 | |
'a great dynamic for the show.' | 0:40:27 | 0:40:29 | |
Gonna tell me the truth? | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
Always! | 0:40:33 | 0:40:35 | |
Ah, that's lovely! | 0:40:35 | 0:40:37 | |
I love that! | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
Whatever you like, you're in charge. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
So Mike tells me. | 0:40:43 | 0:40:45 | |
The appeal of Question Of Sport is the...interplay. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:50 | |
Move on! Move on! What's this?! The horses! | 0:40:50 | 0:40:54 | |
The posh stuff! | 0:40:54 | 0:40:56 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
-Dressage! -Yes! | 0:40:59 | 0:41:01 | |
-If you're not first, just...! -WHISTLE BLOWS | 0:41:01 | 0:41:05 | |
Oh! | 0:41:05 | 0:41:07 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:41:07 | 0:41:09 | |
'It's very English,' | 0:41:09 | 0:41:11 | |
Question Of Sport. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
Quite self-deprecating and not taken too seriously. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:17 | |
When it comes to fear factor, | 0:41:25 | 0:41:26 | |
there's nothing more terrifying than entering the Dragons' Den. | 0:41:26 | 0:41:30 | |
It's taken you 14 years to send an e-mail? | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
Doesn't that worry you? | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
I wouldn't for one second consider investing in you. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:38 | |
You're what? You're going to sell your house | 0:41:38 | 0:41:42 | |
to back this? | 0:41:42 | 0:41:43 | |
Yes. | 0:41:43 | 0:41:44 | |
Do not | 0:41:44 | 0:41:46 | |
sell your house for this. | 0:41:46 | 0:41:48 | |
When you see individuals come up the stairs, | 0:41:48 | 0:41:51 | |
you can sometimes physically see an individual shake. | 0:41:51 | 0:41:55 | |
When you see their nervousness | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
and then all of a sudden you get engaged in a conversation with them, | 0:41:57 | 0:42:01 | |
and especially when you see that the individual has got it - and when I say "got it", | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
you know they've got that entrepreneurial spirit and drive and coupled with a great product - | 0:42:05 | 0:42:10 | |
you're sitting there thinking, "Now I'm starting to shake." | 0:42:10 | 0:42:13 | |
I find it really, really difficult | 0:42:13 | 0:42:16 | |
to actually take on board what you've achieved. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:22 | |
It's phenomenal. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:26 | |
Absolutely phenomenal. | 0:42:27 | 0:42:29 | |
I'm totally blown away by it. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:31 | |
That is all I can say. | 0:42:31 | 0:42:33 | |
And I'm going to make you an offer. | 0:42:34 | 0:42:37 | |
But every now and then | 0:42:37 | 0:42:40 | |
the show throws up some disastrous pitches, like the famous chair multi-gym. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:44 | |
It's a walking machine, not a running machine. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:47 | |
What made it even more hilarious for me was that Duncan, | 0:42:50 | 0:42:54 | |
being the gym expert, went up and tried to use some of these things. | 0:42:54 | 0:42:59 | |
I tell you, I cried my eyes... I mean, | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
'it was hilarious.' | 0:43:02 | 0:43:03 | |
You're frightening the life out of me! | 0:43:03 | 0:43:06 | |
You're like two old codgers! | 0:43:06 | 0:43:07 | |
Two old codgers in their living room trying to get fit! | 0:43:07 | 0:43:11 | |
'I couldn't have summed it up better than that. Duncan was out of breath, giggling away, | 0:43:11 | 0:43:17 | |
'it was like Laurel and Hardy. If there's one thing' | 0:43:17 | 0:43:19 | |
in television that I've learned, it's that when your show becomes really successful, | 0:43:19 | 0:43:25 | |
on occasions, you have your show parodied, | 0:43:25 | 0:43:30 | |
so other people try to emulate it. One of the great things I remember is Harry and Paul, | 0:43:30 | 0:43:34 | |
where they would actually mirror the Dragons. | 0:43:34 | 0:43:37 | |
Here's the bit that we think will really excite you about Augcember. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:41 | |
We intend to relocate Christmas Day to the 15th of Augcember. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:46 | |
Over to you, Ken. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:49 | |
So there are two... Thanks, bro. | 0:43:49 | 0:43:52 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:43:52 | 0:43:54 | |
'It was weird,' | 0:43:54 | 0:43:55 | |
because they'd do things you don't realise you're doing yourself. | 0:43:55 | 0:43:58 | |
So, Harry would turn around and say, "Hello. I'm Peter." | 0:43:58 | 0:44:03 | |
That's a lot of Christmas shopping time. Good USP. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:07 | |
Thank you. | 0:44:07 | 0:44:09 | |
I like the sound of this, I sell a jolly lot of calendars | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
in my shops and I can hear the cash registers ring-a-ding-a-dinging, | 0:44:16 | 0:44:21 | |
a-sing-a-ding-a-dingaling, a-ting-ting-tinging. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:24 | |
I feel very sorry for Deborah Meaden, because I think she got the short straw on that one. | 0:44:25 | 0:44:30 | |
I mean, she really was... | 0:44:30 | 0:44:33 | |
I think Harry Enfield really, really... | 0:44:33 | 0:44:35 | |
I don't think they're ever going to speak, Deborah and Harry Enfield. | 0:44:35 | 0:44:38 | |
'It's all down to the grumpy one. But she doesn't look impressed, either. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:43 | |
'See how she looks at them with loathing and contempt. | 0:44:43 | 0:44:46 | |
'Hating every fibre of Brian and Ken's perspiring bodies.' | 0:44:46 | 0:44:51 | |
Ken, I'm out. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
But it just shows the success of the programme | 0:44:59 | 0:45:01 | |
and I can't tell you how great it is to hear and see other people | 0:45:01 | 0:45:05 | |
almost taking the mickey out of us, it just shows we've made it. | 0:45:05 | 0:45:09 | |
# Be still for the glory of the lord | 0:45:09 | 0:45:14 | |
# Is shining... # | 0:45:14 | 0:45:16 | |
Another long-running favourite made here is Songs Of Praise, | 0:45:16 | 0:45:20 | |
recently celebrating its 50th anniversary. | 0:45:20 | 0:45:24 | |
Aled Jones was already famous for his angelic voice | 0:45:24 | 0:45:27 | |
when he first appeared on Songs Of Praise as a choirboy. | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
But his singing wasn't always appreciated | 0:45:30 | 0:45:33 | |
when he joined in the hymns while watching the show at home. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:36 | |
As a child I always used to, sort of, be told off for singing along, you know, too loudly, | 0:45:36 | 0:45:40 | |
and spoiling it for my gran! | 0:45:40 | 0:45:42 | |
And in 2001, Aled presented his very first | 0:45:42 | 0:45:45 | |
Songs Of Praise from his home city in Wales. | 0:45:45 | 0:45:48 | |
Welcome to Bangor and the oldest diocese in Britain. | 0:45:48 | 0:45:52 | |
Yeah, I was petrified going back to Bangor. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
I knew all the people in the congregation and to this day, I'll let you into a little secret, | 0:45:58 | 0:46:02 | |
I don't like doing the pieces to camera in front of the congregation | 0:46:02 | 0:46:05 | |
because if there are kids there, they're invariably going... | 0:46:05 | 0:46:09 | |
Or... looking at their watches. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:10 | |
And I'm saying, "The next hymn is..." I'll have to do it, usually, about 13 times. | 0:46:10 | 0:46:14 | |
We begin with a hymn dedicated to all the saints in Wales | 0:46:14 | 0:46:18 | |
sung to this very familiar Welsh tune. | 0:46:18 | 0:46:21 | |
I've always thought we should be wearing a T-shirt saying | 0:46:21 | 0:46:24 | |
"Songs Of Praise, the world's greatest karaoke." | 0:46:24 | 0:46:27 | |
Because nowadays I think it's watched by 13 million, or something like that, worldwide. | 0:46:27 | 0:46:31 | |
And I would say that maybe half of them even maybe don't go to church, | 0:46:31 | 0:46:35 | |
but they minute they launch into "Praise My Soul, The King Of Heaven," | 0:46:35 | 0:46:38 | |
it takes them back to school assemblies or maybe a comfortable, happy time in their lives. | 0:46:38 | 0:46:43 | |
'When Songs Of Praise turns up in a parish, it causes bedlam.' | 0:46:47 | 0:46:53 | |
It's a massive deal within the church itself | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
and then suddenly there's people going, "She doesn't come here, she goes to St Bernadette's. | 0:46:55 | 0:47:00 | |
"Oh, the cheek of her!" | 0:47:00 | 0:47:02 | |
I love the whole idea that the church is only full when Songs Of Praise is there. | 0:47:02 | 0:47:06 | |
I'm not sure if that's the case. Maybe there are a few more in the congregation | 0:47:06 | 0:47:10 | |
than there would be on a Sunday morning. I think the big difference Songs Of Praise makes to a community | 0:47:10 | 0:47:15 | |
is that the hairdressers make a lot of money. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:17 | |
One of his proudest moments was when the show was featured on The Vicar Of Dibley. | 0:47:17 | 0:47:21 | |
Well, I've had a letter from BBC Religious Programmes, | 0:47:21 | 0:47:24 | |
chap called Tristan Campbell, | 0:47:24 | 0:47:26 | |
he says that he wants to film Songs Of Praise here at St Barnabas. | 0:47:26 | 0:47:30 | |
Heaven preserve us. | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
I loved the fact that they thought it was Tom Jones. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:35 | |
It was like, "No, Aled Jones, you know, ooh!" I get that a lot. | 0:47:35 | 0:47:38 | |
And the Northwest has produced some of the most memorable dramas of the past 50 years. | 0:47:39 | 0:47:45 | |
Three words - Life On Mars. | 0:47:45 | 0:47:49 | |
(Loved it!) | 0:47:49 | 0:47:50 | |
-'I've got a reported stabbing.' -Stabbing? Where? | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
'Christie's Textiles, Queen Mary Road, uniform's already on the scene.' | 0:47:53 | 0:47:57 | |
-Queen Mary Road? -Alpha-One, we're all over it. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
'Life On Mars re-created 1970s Manchester, with scenes filmed all over the city.' | 0:48:01 | 0:48:05 | |
It's a one-way street so take a left, and then... | 0:48:05 | 0:48:08 | |
# Oh, yeah! | 0:48:08 | 0:48:10 | |
# It's like lightning | 0:48:10 | 0:48:12 | |
# Everybody was frightening | 0:48:12 | 0:48:14 | |
# And the music was soothing | 0:48:14 | 0:48:15 | |
# And they all started grooving | 0:48:15 | 0:48:17 | |
# Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah! | 0:48:17 | 0:48:21 | |
# The man at the back said everyone attacked | 0:48:21 | 0:48:23 | |
# And it turned into a ballroom blitz. # | 0:48:23 | 0:48:24 | |
Life On Mars, I'm not going to speak about | 0:48:24 | 0:48:27 | |
cos they should have given me a role in it, all right. | 0:48:27 | 0:48:29 | |
Life On Mars was Glenister and John Simm. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:31 | |
Do you know what? | 0:48:31 | 0:48:33 | |
I think you're trying to show me up. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:35 | |
You don't scare me, Hunt. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
It's an interesting point you raise, allow me to retort. | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
Better? | 0:48:51 | 0:48:53 | |
Fantastic performances, a great drama. | 0:48:53 | 0:48:56 | |
Every copper has to be whiter than white or the whole thing falls apart. | 0:48:56 | 0:49:00 | |
No, you're living in cloud-cuckoo-land, Sam. | 0:49:00 | 0:49:02 | |
Once I'd got the script, I... | 0:49:02 | 0:49:05 | |
And I'm not just saying it, as people sometimes do, I couldn't put it down. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:10 | |
'They sent me the first episode of it, and I thought, "It's never going to work,"' | 0:49:10 | 0:49:15 | |
and I don't even think I finished reading it. | 0:49:15 | 0:49:18 | |
And then my agent told me to finish reading it and I did. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:20 | |
The first 15 pages, you know, | 0:49:20 | 0:49:22 | |
it just seemed like another ordinary cop show. | 0:49:22 | 0:49:26 | |
Modern day, et cetera, and then suddenly, that moment, bam! | 0:49:26 | 0:49:29 | |
Where Sam gets run over, | 0:49:29 | 0:49:32 | |
suddenly wakes up in 1973. | 0:49:32 | 0:49:33 | |
# It's the freakiest show | 0:49:33 | 0:49:37 | |
# Take a look at the law man Beating up the wrong guy... # | 0:49:37 | 0:49:44 | |
The scripts describing we pan back and we see, "The Mancunian Way, coming soon." | 0:49:44 | 0:49:49 | |
# ..Cos I wrote it ten times or more | 0:49:49 | 0:49:52 | |
# It's about to be writ again | 0:49:52 | 0:49:56 | |
# As I ask you to focus on Sailors, fighting in the dance hall | 0:49:56 | 0:50:03 | |
# Oh, man, look at those cavemen go... # | 0:50:03 | 0:50:09 | |
And it was one of those things where you just thought | 0:50:09 | 0:50:11 | |
this is either going to go, you know, straight down the swanny or it's going to be a massive hit. | 0:50:11 | 0:50:16 | |
And luckily, it was a massive hit. | 0:50:16 | 0:50:19 | |
I just watched it, it blew me away because they knew how to do that | 0:50:19 | 0:50:23 | |
with total respect for an audience who like watching telly | 0:50:23 | 0:50:26 | |
these days with all its technical... Yeah, they just did it so smartly. | 0:50:26 | 0:50:31 | |
And so credibly. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
'It lit me up and, yeah, five-star, world-class product.' | 0:50:34 | 0:50:40 | |
Don't ever waltz into my kingdom acting king of the jungle. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:44 | |
Who the hell are you? | 0:50:44 | 0:50:45 | |
Gene Hunt, your DCI, and it's 1973, almost dinner time. I'm having hoops. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:50 | |
They were such... such different characters | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
and they clashed every time. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
But then there was a begrudging respect | 0:50:55 | 0:50:58 | |
and they came to love one another by the end. | 0:50:58 | 0:51:01 | |
And it was quite a touching relationship, I thought. | 0:51:01 | 0:51:05 | |
I mean, there's some scenes in it, which usually end up in the pub, | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
and it's usually at the end of the episode. | 0:51:08 | 0:51:11 | |
And they're usually quite moving, I find, when I see them. | 0:51:11 | 0:51:14 | |
There was a wonderful scene where we start hearing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John, playing. | 0:51:14 | 0:51:20 | |
-Do you want my appraisal of you? -No. | 0:51:20 | 0:51:23 | |
# ..to my old man | 0:51:23 | 0:51:27 | |
# You know you can't hold me for ever... # | 0:51:27 | 0:51:30 | |
It's your round, then. | 0:51:30 | 0:51:32 | |
'And I still watch that scene and I get quite choked watching it.' | 0:51:32 | 0:51:35 | |
I think it's a lovely scene. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:37 | |
# ..to open | 0:51:37 | 0:51:38 | |
# This boy's too young to be singing the blues... # | 0:51:38 | 0:51:41 | |
Thank you. | 0:51:41 | 0:51:43 | |
Gis a job. Go on, gis it. Gis a go, go on. | 0:51:56 | 0:52:01 | |
Over the years, | 0:52:01 | 0:52:02 | |
the Northwest has produced some of the very best television drama. | 0:52:02 | 0:52:05 | |
-Am I right!? -Yes! -Am I right?!! -Yes!! | 0:52:05 | 0:52:09 | |
Tony? | 0:52:13 | 0:52:14 | |
-You should never chain-smoke alone, you know. -Do you want one? | 0:52:14 | 0:52:19 | |
-Mate, what are you doing here? -I've got a couple of things on. -Business or pleasure? | 0:52:19 | 0:52:23 | |
Ahh! | 0:52:23 | 0:52:25 | |
He's alive. | 0:52:28 | 0:52:30 | |
And the North is blessed by some of the best drama writers in the UK. | 0:52:30 | 0:52:34 | |
Paul Abbott, Alan Bleasdale and Jimmy McGovern, to name but a few. | 0:52:34 | 0:52:39 | |
-Glaswegian? -Yeah. -45 years old? | 0:52:39 | 0:52:44 | |
About, yeah, I didn't really see his face, he was driving. | 0:52:44 | 0:52:47 | |
Billy Rafferty. | 0:52:47 | 0:52:48 | |
He's dead, Willy. | 0:52:48 | 0:52:51 | |
'There's a great love of language' | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
in and around Manchester and Liverpool pubs, | 0:52:54 | 0:53:01 | |
a great joy in language and a great joy in storytelling. | 0:53:01 | 0:53:05 | |
In conversation, actually, in the sense of a community, | 0:53:05 | 0:53:09 | |
and I think writers have tapped into that | 0:53:09 | 0:53:12 | |
and brought it, you know, to a national audience. | 0:53:12 | 0:53:15 | |
-What's your name? -Otto. -What? | 0:53:16 | 0:53:18 | |
Otto. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:20 | |
And it's this love of language and storytelling | 0:53:20 | 0:53:22 | |
that Jimmy McGovern has used to such dramatic affect in The Street. | 0:53:22 | 0:53:26 | |
Otto? Why Otto? | 0:53:26 | 0:53:29 | |
Well, look, I'm no good to you. I can't even look after myself, never mind someone like you. | 0:53:32 | 0:53:37 | |
What's distinctive about The Street, and any great writing, is you feel | 0:53:37 | 0:53:41 | |
like the writer listens to how people actually speak. | 0:53:41 | 0:53:46 | |
And we all know that in Manchester and Liverpool it's very idiosyncratic. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:50 | |
'There's a joy in language and I think Jimmy has a very acute ear | 0:53:50 | 0:53:55 | |
'for the way people in the Northwest talk and think.' | 0:53:55 | 0:53:58 | |
Don't read anything into this, yeah? | 0:53:58 | 0:54:01 | |
Another writer who's made his mark is none other than Paul Abbott. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:05 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:54:05 | 0:54:06 | |
Tricks like this get round. He'll be a very lonely guy, he'll need somebody to write to from prison. | 0:54:06 | 0:54:11 | |
Can I answer the phone? | 0:54:11 | 0:54:13 | |
He started out writing on Coronation Street and Cracker, | 0:54:13 | 0:54:17 | |
before BBC's Clocking Off. | 0:54:17 | 0:54:18 | |
Mackintosh Textiles, Trudy speaking, how can I help you? | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
I remember Paul talking about the demise of the single play, | 0:54:21 | 0:54:27 | |
you know, The Play For Today, the Wednesday Play, whatever it was. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:30 | |
And how he wanted to reinvent that. | 0:54:30 | 0:54:33 | |
And the only way that he could do that, or to get a commission, | 0:54:33 | 0:54:37 | |
was to sort of basically link six different stories | 0:54:37 | 0:54:44 | |
around this setting which was the factory. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:46 | |
-Trudy's out of her kennel. -You what? -Trudy. | 0:54:49 | 0:54:54 | |
Big day, she's washed her hair! | 0:54:54 | 0:54:55 | |
When I look at the amount of work that must have gone into six single films for one series | 0:54:57 | 0:55:04 | |
that can't fail, and I wrote them like a train. | 0:55:04 | 0:55:08 | |
Very hard work to make that much work to fit into one hour in cost terms, but we did. | 0:55:10 | 0:55:15 | |
Jesus. | 0:55:15 | 0:55:16 | |
-Stuart. -What's happening? -Where's Sue? -She won't talk to me. | 0:55:18 | 0:55:24 | |
-Where's Eddie? -Upstairs. -Get him out, he's scaring us. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:30 | |
'It was great fun to do.' | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
I love working in Manchester. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:35 | |
It was a great job to do and also quality, quality writing, you know. | 0:55:35 | 0:55:40 | |
Paul Abbott teamed up with John Simm again this year with Exile. | 0:55:40 | 0:55:44 | |
Dad, lie down, it's 10. Nancy said if you don't go to bed at 10 O'clock you get cranky and then... | 0:55:44 | 0:55:49 | |
A psychological thriller set in Lancashire about a tabloid hack | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
who's forced to take care of a father with dementia. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:58 | |
Nothing changes, does it? | 0:55:58 | 0:56:00 | |
I want Nancy! | 0:56:00 | 0:56:02 | |
Don't we all? | 0:56:03 | 0:56:04 | |
Exile was a fantastic script, you know, an idea by Paul Abbott written by Danny Brocklehurst | 0:56:04 | 0:56:10 | |
staring Jim Broadbent, which, you know, it's going to be good. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:16 | |
I thought, "That's going to be good, as long as I don't mess it up." | 0:56:16 | 0:56:19 | |
Yeah, great part, great part, and I was lucky enough, | 0:56:19 | 0:56:24 | |
I think Danny had me in mind when he wrote it, which was a lovely thing for me. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:30 | |
I mean, I'm humbled by that. So I hope I did it justice. | 0:56:30 | 0:56:35 | |
-Do you remember the planes crashing into the Twin Towers? -9/11/2001. | 0:56:35 | 0:56:41 | |
-Do you remember Margaret Thatcher? -Bitch. -I'll take that as a yes. | 0:56:41 | 0:56:47 | |
What about...Liverpool winning the Champions League? | 0:56:49 | 0:56:55 | |
What?! | 0:56:55 | 0:56:56 | |
Dementia's not all bad, then. | 0:56:59 | 0:57:01 | |
John Simm does things so excellently, they're nearly invisible, | 0:57:01 | 0:57:04 | |
and it's proper acting, and yeah, I loved his respect for the technique of Jim Broadbent, | 0:57:04 | 0:57:12 | |
and 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. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:19 | |
'And he dovetailed really beautifully with Jim Broadbent. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:24 | |
'And they got the best performances out of each other.' | 0:57:24 | 0:57:27 | |
And I know it's still in there. | 0:57:27 | 0:57:29 | |
And believe me, I'm going to get it out. | 0:57:32 | 0:57:37 | |
So the BBC has come a long way since its days of studios in converted churches. | 0:57:49 | 0:57:55 | |
It's now starting a whole new chapter here at Media City on a bigger scale than ever before. | 0:57:55 | 0:58:00 | |
The BBC in the Northwest launched the careers of some of our best-loved stars | 0:58:01 | 0:58:06 | |
and left us with some classic TV gold. | 0:58:06 | 0:58:09 | |
Tyler! | 0:58:09 | 0:58:11 | |
Put that soppy bloke down and get in. Going to Archer Lane, | 0:58:11 | 0:58:14 | |
shots fired, lovely. You two tarts, get in. | 0:58:14 | 0:58:17 | |
Oh. Tom! Oh! Good to see ya. | 0:58:26 | 0:58:32 | |
Come on, Jack. | 0:58:32 | 0:58:34 | |
Let's be naughty, I know you want to. | 0:58:34 | 0:58:37 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:48 | 0:58:50 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:58:50 | 0:58:52 |