Duncan Bannatyne The TV That Made Me

Telly, that magic box in the corner.

It gives us access to a million different worlds,

all from the comfort of our sofa.

In this series, I'm going to journey through

the fantastic world of TV with some of our favourite celebrities.

They have chosen the precious TV moments that shed light...

-The wind almost blew my BLANK off.

-You're nearly in the telly here.

'..on the stories of their lives.'

You are so blinking clever, you look after him.

-This takes me back completely.

-Come on.

Some are funny...

HIGH PITCHED: # And when they were down they were down... #

-Some...

-Thank you!

..are surprising.

Terrifies the life out of me.

Some are inspiring...

I wanted to be on the telly.

That's it from me, back to you two.

And many...

This rather futuristic TV...

..are deeply moving.

-And it was heartbreaking. I wept. It was heartbreaking.

-It's not real.

So come watch with us as we hand-pick the vintage telly

that helped turn our much-loved stars

into the people they are today.

Welcome to The TV That Made Me.

My guest today has gone from a wee Scottish paperboy to

a multimillionaire by way of selling ice creams,

servicing tractors and sailing with the Royal Navy.

He is now an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, author

and most famous for being one of the original fire-breathing

millionaires who inhabited the Dragons' Den.

It's Duncan Bannatyne.

When you run out of money, give me a ring.

The TV that made him includes the classic

Fall And Rise Of Reggie Perrin's personal fortunes.

We will be selling our usual full range of utterly useless rubbish.

The epic spectacle of the Edinburgh Tattoo.

And dramatic events from the cobbles of Coronation Street.

You ought to watch her, she's a bad 'un.

It can only be the one and only Duncan Bannatyne. Sir, really.

-It should be sir.

-Oh, thank you.

-First things first.

Now, I've got a new show where celebrities come on

-and talk about their TV memories, are you in or are you out?

-I'm in.

Yeah? I'm glad you're in.

-Are you excited?

-I'm very excited. This is my excited face.

THEY LAUGH

So this today is a celebration,

a selection of TV shows that possibly made you who you are.

And we're going to go back to the beginning

and have a little look at the young Duncan.

Duncan Walker Bannatyne was born in 1949.

He was the second eldest of seven children who grew up

in an austere post-war Scotland.

Duncan and his family lived in the famously tough shipbuilding

area of Clydebank, which was a major target of German bombing

raids during the Second World War.

So, how devastating was the Blitz to Clydebank?

-You know, did it pretty much flatten it?

-Yeah, it was pretty bad.

Yeah, Clydebank took some really big hits.

Because it was shipbuilding, so they tried to destroy the ships.

I believe that you started your life in a requisitioned house.

That's right. It was called Springfield House.

But what does that mean when it's a requisition?

Well, after the war, the Government requisitioned some houses,

took them off the owners, really, cos they were big houses.

And they had to accommodate families.

So we... There was three families lived in this house.

With an outside toilet.

-And you got a room each.

-One outside toilet?

-One outside toilet, yeah.

-For three families?

-Three families, yeah. Yeah.

So, Duncan, I want to ask, was TV a big part of your life?

It was when we eventually got one.

I didn't have a television until, I think, I was about

eight or nine years old when the first television came to our house.

So what did you do before you had a telly?

-Did you ever see any television?

-No. We...

Well, for about six months, I think, before we got ours,

there were some friends who had a television, so we'd all go to theirs.

I mean, five families go around...

-Imagine if you're... You're probably watching a screen that big.

-Yeah.

-In a box like this.

-That's right, yeah.

-Built like a bungalow.

Do you remember what it was like getting your first telly?

Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

You know, my parents told me we were going to get a television.

And I think it was a Friday night, we came home from school...

Well, we ran home from school, excited, because the television

was going to be there. And my dad, who worked shifts,

he was sitting, watching cricket.

I distinctly remember walking in and seeing that television,

and we had to sit down.

"It's only cricket, can we watch something else?"

No, he was just watching the cricket, and that was it.

-Here is a bit of cricket.

-A bit of cricket, yeah.

-That's the same... That is exactly the same cricket match.

-No!

-THEY LAUGH

-Are we that good?

Of all the amazing things that could've been on,

-it was the cricket.

-That was it, yeah.

So the first thing Duncan Bannatyne ever saw on his own TV

in one of the tougher parts of the west of Scotland was a game

mostly played by Englishmen on southern village greens.

So your first TV moment, you have chosen a show - Take Your Pick.

Take Your Pick, yeah. Great programme. Yeah, loved it.

-Shall we have a little look?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-All right, Duncan.

Here we go. Have a little look at Take Your Pick.

'It's time to meet this evening's competitors as they come...'

Take Your Pick. Does it take you back?

-It certainly does!

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

So let's meet our first contestant.

Take your pick was one of the first shows

screened by ITV when it launched in 1955.

Its addictive combination of quick fire yes/no game and thrilling

mystery box round set the template for many game shows to follow.

And it became an immediate ratings hit.

Keep your face up a wee bit, dear.

So she's not allowed to say yes or no.

That's right. If she does, she doesn't get to play the game,

so she can't win a prize.

I mean, it's such a simple concept.

-Yeah.

-But, you know, so effective, isn't it?

Tell me this, whereabouts do you come from?

What's your favourite colour?

Red, blue, borstal.

Borstal? Where did borstal come in? "Red, blue, borstal."

-Your husband is in borstal?

-He is... No.

GONG

THEY LAUGH

That is good.

Who's the guy with the gong? Do know who he is?

Nobody knows his name.

-Just this mystery man who just turned up.

-Just Mr Gonger.

And the next one. A nice welcome, please.

But I think it was interesting, Michael Miles, no-nonsense

in his presenting. Here she comes, she is going to be good,

this one.

-You were looking a bit cagey when you came in there, weren't you?

-Yes.

GONG

THEY LAUGH

They should bring it back!

I mean, it's so simple, but it is difficult.

It's amazing how difficult it is not to say yes or no.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Do you fancy your chances? Go on, then.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-All right.

-If I must.

Duncan Bannatyne to the test, ladies and gentlemen,

with our very own version of the yes/no game

from Take Your Pick.

We're going to put 30 seconds on the clock.

You've got 30 seconds. Time starts now. Are you from Glasgow?

I am, yes. GONG

THEY LAUGH

-Can we do that again?

-I'll do it again.

We're going to put another 30 seconds on the clock,

ladies and gentlemen.

Duncan's second go.

-So, Duncan, are you from Glasgow?

-I am from Glasgow.

-OK.

If you make it to 30 seconds, will you buy me a drink?

-I will buy you a drink if I make it.

-God bless you.

What letter comes after R?

What letter comes after R? I think it's an S.

-Did you say yes?

-No, I said... GONG

Yeah!

That was... You were so rubbish.

I'm terrible!

Duncan, I want to talk about your dad's choice now, you know,

something he used to love.

I mean, he loved the cricket.

Yeah. One thing he really enjoyed...

Because he was in the Army, the Scottish Highlanders,

-and they were based in Edinburgh Castle.

-Yeah.

So every year, you had the Edinburgh Tattoo.

-I don't know if you remember that, do you?

-Oh, no, I do!

And I'll tell you why, my dad used to work for the BBC

and he used to be a rigger's supervisor. So he would go...

I, even at a young age, went up there and saw it.

-I mean, it was a huge thing for Edinburgh as well.

-Yeah.

-Shall we have a little look?

-Yeah.

Here we go, let's have a little look. Here it is.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo of 1962.

CROWD CHEERS

The Military Tattoo

has been an annual event since 1952,

and it remains a poignant reminder and a rousing

celebration of the achievements of the Commonwealth's armed forces.

Today, it's estimated that 100 million watch it on telly

in the dozens of countries that screen it around the world.

These military bandsmen, 200 altogether,

are drawn from the Royal Marines and Parachute Regiment.

Would you remember watching this on the telly with your dad?

Yeah, I did. We'd sit and watch it with him.

I mean, we'd get bored by the end of the programme

because it was quite a long programme, I think,

and there was a lot of this in it.

So your father, I mean, this was a big thing for him.

Big thing for him, yeah.

Because he was part of that, you know,

when he was in the war, before the war.

So he was in the war, your dad?

Do you know, he never actually got to the war.

No, he got on a ship, and the ship was sunk.

-And he was taken prisoner to a Far East prisoner of war camp.

-Right.

And he spent five years as a prisoner of war.

Of course, at the end of the war, he was one of the...

The Americans opened the prison camps and the prisoners in there

were like five or six stone, the walking dead, he was one of them.

-Really?

-Yeah.

So did he talk about his experiences being in a prisoner of war camp?

Very, very seldom. Normally, he wouldn't.

But there was a couple of things... We were having a drink together

and he talked about them then.

So when he came out, what he decided in his head was,

he was going to get fit and he was going to find a woman,

he was going to fall in love, he was going to get married

and he was going to have a family.

And he did over the next few years. You know, very successfully.

-Are you very proud of your dad?

-Oh, yes, absolutely, yeah. Yeah.

I think I got my father's determination.

He was determined to build a family up and do that after...

after the war. And so I think I've always been determined

when I focus and when I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it.

Now, we haven't spoken about your mum much, but we are going to.

-Your mum's choice now, what do you think that is?

-Coronation Street.

-It's got to be.

-Yeah.

Now, has she bestowed this love of Corrie onto her son?

I watch it a bit, but I was with my mother

when we watched the very first episode.

We've got that. This is the very first episode of Coronation Street.

You wouldn't say that if you saw the residential part.

It's the last word! And another thing, the property is...

Broadcast in December 1960,

the first episode of Corrie

was about the new owners of a corner shop -

a lady called Elsie Tanner,

who is thinking money has gone missing from her purse, and a

boy called Ken Barlow, who secretly dreams of going to university.

The rest, as they say, is TV history.

Now go and put the kettle on. You'll be all right on your own.

They won't eat you, you know.

So why do you think your mum enjoyed it so much?

I think it was just sort of true life, wasn't it? You know.

-Ena Sharples comes in and...

-Oh, Ena Sharples!

-Yeah, she was a great character.

-Yeah, yeah. Oh, here she comes.

You remember! You haven't seen this for... But you remembered

-Ena Sharples was coming in.

-She comes in, yeah.

-I'm Mrs Sharples.

-I'm very pleased to meet you.

-I'm a neighbour.

-IMITATES HER:

-I'm a neighbour.

Esmeralda Street, eh? Very bay window down there, aren't they?

THEY IMITATE HER

-You come across a Mrs Tanner yet?

-I can't say I have.

-You will.

You ought to watch her, she's a bad 'un.

Oh, while I think on, you owe me an egg.

Do you think if I put you to the test now, you could maybe answer

some questions about characters on Coronation Street?

I've got a terrible, terrible, terrible memory

-so probably not, but I'll have a go.

-Well, tough!

Hard luck, we're going to have a go.

Can we just play yes or no again?

Don't give me this about a bad memory,

you remembered that Elsie Tanner was going to walk through

the door, and you haven't seen it for 50 years.

Well, there's short memory and long memory. It's two different things.

So, Duncan, let's test your love of vintage Coronation Street

characters with a little game we like to call Who Am I, Chuck?

Can we test out your buzzer, please?

Can you give me a buzzer?

-You want me to buzz?

-Yeah.

-Buzz!

-Good, I'm happy with that.

We couldn't afford a buzzer,

but buzz in whenever you know the answer.

Here it is. Here's the first one. Who am I, Chuck?

"I was born in Weatherfield in 1899 with the maiden name of Schofield."

Phillip Schofield. No.

-Duncan...

-Oh, buzz!

No, you didn't buzz in.

Remember, Coronation Street character.

"I was once fined 40 shillings for stealing from a supermarket."

-Oh, my goodness.

-"My favourite tipple was milk stout."

-Here's your next one...

-Buzz!

-Ena Sharples?

-Ena Sharples, absolutely correct.

She was fined for stealing?

-Yeah, 40 shillings.

-Oh, I didn't know that.

-A lot of money in those days.

-Wow.

-"My maiden name is Grimshaw.

"In my time living on Coronation Street, I was a shop assistant,

"factory supervisor, cafe manager and a barmaid.

-"I was known..."

-Buzz! Elsie Tanner.

Absolutely. Good. Very good. Spot on there, well done.

Here's your final one.

-See, you did watch Coronation Street.

-Yeah.

"My maiden name was Hunt.

"I arrived on Coronation Street as a flirty receptionist

"and became a local government official.

-"I have been married four times to three different men..."

-Buzz!

God, what's her name, with the big glasses. Buzz! Deirdre Barlow.

Three out of three, well done!

Well done indeed.

-The late great Anne Kirkbride, do you remember?

-Yeah.

-Absolutely, yeah. Fantastic actress.

-I think, Duncan,

-we have outed you as a secret Coronation Street viewer.

-Yeah.

So which of our favourite female soap stars

pulled in the most viewers?

At four, from the much missed Brookside,

it's Anna Friel's Beth,

whose lesbian kiss got the show its highest ever audience

of seven million in 1995.

At three, the return of Claire King's character, Kim Tate,

gave her on-screen husband, Frank,

a fatal heart attack as the ratings

rushed to 13 million for Emmerdale.

At two, when Jean Alexander's Hilda Ogden bowed out of Corrie,

28.5 million people tuned in

to wish her their best.

But at one, Hilda's pipped to the post by Angie Watts.

When Anita Dobson's character was served divorce papers

by that no good husband Den on Christmas Day, 1986,

an audience of 30 million tuned in.

So, what did you think that tough upbringing gave to you?

It gave me just the feeling that I wanted to do things different,

I wanted to get out of that.

I wanted to see the world, that's why I joined the Royal Navy.

I wanted to do lots of different things.

-Yeah? So you were in the Navy for how long?

-Five years.

-I was 15 when I joined, 20 when I came out.

-You were 15!

You could join at that...?

-It was the last year that you could leave school at 15.

-Oh, right.

So what did you see? What parts of the world did you see?

We circumnavigated the world, we went round it.

We were in the Keys in Florida,

we went round South Africa, Singapore, Australia...

Do you feel that you grew up in that time, those five years?

-Yeah, I did, yeah. It was amazing, yeah. I saw a lot of things.

-Yeah.

-Saw different worlds.

-So why did you leave the Navy?

HE CACKLES

-What?

-Well, I was court-martialled.

-Oh, really?

-Dishonourably discharged.

-Oh, really?

And sentenced to nine months' detention

-at Colchester Detention Barracks.

-Really, what for?

Showing violence to a superior officer.

Showing violence to a superior officer.

I lifted him off the gangway and tried to throw him

-off the side of an aircraft carrier.

-Where do you move from there?

Well, I moved back into my parents' house

when I was 20 and I had to go and sign on as unemployed.

I had no qualifications, no education, really,

and no references.

A lot of people would give up, but it's obvious you didn't.

Yeah, well, I went one day to sign

and get my unemployment benefit and they said there's a new

initiative the Government had started where you can retrain.

And I looked at the options and I thought, "Wow, this is great.

-"Repairing typewriters."

-No!

-Yeah!

I wanted to be a typewriter repairman cos I thought

I'd be in an air-conditioned office all the time,

surrounded by secretaries.

-What's wrong with that?

-Sounds good.

You had to tick a second one

so I ticked agricultural vehicle fitter and welder, for some reason.

I ticked that and I went back to the dole office and they said,

"There's no typewriter repairman vacancies any more, so you're going

"to train as an agricultural vehicle fitter and welder."

That's a mouthful.

You need an O-level just to say that.

Yeah, but I passed as an agricultural vehicle fitter and welder.

And I've still got that to fall back on if things go wrong.

-You know what I mean? Yeah.

-So what did you learn as an agri...

HE MUMBLES

Well, I learned how to say "agricultural vehicle fitter and welder"!

Comedy hero?

-Leonard Rossiter.

-Yeah.

So let's have a little look, shall we?

This is what makes Duncan laugh.

Leonard Rossiter's performance

is so good that we almost forget that Reginald Iolanthe Perrin

is a man who has had a complete nervous breakdown

and faked his own death.

But it's this tragic basis

of the story that allows Rossiter to deliver such a classic act.

..We will be selling our usual full range of utterly useless rubbish -

square hoops, square footballs,

cruet sets with no holes,

blank books, fattening foods...

Got to get a round of applause for this...

..We will be introducing three new silent LPs -

We Aren't The Champions, You'll Always Walk Alone

and Songs From A Trappist Monastery.

-That is amazing. He's such a funny guy.

-Yeah.

People thought he was actually based on John Stonehouse.

-Yeah.

-You know, the MP.

-That's right.

-Do you believe that theory?

Yes, I think so, yeah. There was a bit of it.

Cos what was the story?

Well, John Stonehouse had done something similar, he'd, er...

I think he was an MP, and he took his clothes off on a beach

and disappeared. And he actually appeared somewhere else.

-So he tried to fake his own death?

-Yeah.

There will also be an exciting new range of useless car stickers,

like "We've been to the shop that sells car stickers",

"We haven't been anywhere" and "This sticker doesn't stick".

And you don't want to hear me waffling away all day...

Did you like it because he was a businessman?

There was a bit of that, yeah, but it was just, the whole thing was funny, everything he did was funny.

You know, I mean, he opens the shop and says,

"We're selling complete and utter rubbish." You know? The whole scenario.

-The scriptwriters must have been so great as well in those days.

-Yeah.

I mean, scripts like that

and other really iconic programmes,

like Only Fools And Horses, they had such fantastic writers all the time.

Mm-hm.

I want to move on to what you consider your,

you know, pivotal moment,

your epiphany, your moment where you went,

"Actually...this is what I can do."

Or "This is where I can make my millions."

Yeah. Well, I ended up when I was 25 living in the Channel Islands, in Jersey,

and I used to rent out deckchairs - which is great, you're meeting people all the time -

-and sold a bit of ice cream so I was a bit of a beach bum, really.

-Mm-hm.

And I was 29, I met my first wife,

and we decided we were going to

start a life together, have children, so we needed money,

a decent job and things. So we came back to England.

29 years old, I opened my first bank account when I was 29,

and we started saving up to buy a house.

And then I was working at a bakery, working shifts,

and I decided to buy an ice cream van and start selling ice cream.

So at the weekend I went and sold ice cream,

and I did so well, I went to work and gave a week's notice.

Within about a year I had about four or five ice cream vans,

and that was it, five years I spent just selling ice cream.

I realised then that I loved business, I loved the concept of business.

-Yeah.

-And adding up the percentages

-and where you could buy the best stock and sell the best stock and things like that.

-Yeah.

-And that's how I really became involved in business.

-Yeah.

From the ice cream business, I went into the nursing home business, looking after elderly,

and I sold that business and I didn't know what I was going to do.

But I went skiing, and I snapped the ligaments in my leg here,

so the leg goes like that, goes all floppy.

And so by the time they flew me back, did the operation,

it was about six months' recovery period on my leg -

I had to go and find a gym

with a machine where you could put your leg in it, and you build up your leg like that to strengthen it.

And I was sitting in the gym doing that,

and as I was sitting there I'm counting the tiles on the ceiling

so I knew how big this place was,

-so I knew what it would cost to build it.

-Yeah.

I knew what the fees were, cos I was paying them...

I knew how many members they had cos they were telling me so I'm calculating,

"God, you could get about a 35% return on this."

-Well, you're there with your leg...

-Yeah!

"35% return on this..."

-That's exactly it, yeah!

-Yeah.

-And so you moved into that.

-Yeah.

-That was it.

-You've certainly come a long way from that, though. My God. It just snowballed.

-Yeah.

I don't know how it happened!

-Because you haven't got a stop button, surely.

-Yeah.

Well, I enjoy it, because...

I always say to people who want to go into business,

if you don't enjoy it, don't do it.

-Yeah.

-You've got to really enjoy it and live it.

So, I want to look at the moment when we first saw

the young - well, YOUNGER, let's say -

Duncan Bannatyne...

..on Dragons' Den.

Looking for £150,000.

This is the first series.

When we first started out with the venture, the business...

I can't do it. I'm going to start again. I'm going to compose myself.

We're today here looking for £150,000.

We'll be selling out the business in three to five years.

-What kind of price?

-It's going to be in the order of about 600 million.

Oooh, you don't look happy, Duncan!

That would be nice, if it was possible. I don't think it is. That's a bit...

DUNCAN LAUGHS

That's what our figures are showing us.

That's based on unit sales of five million in the world market.

I'd be willing to invest 50,000 for 5%.

-I remember that. Saying that.

-Do you?

Can we confer quietly?

Confer quietly or loudly, whatever you like.

They start arguing with each other now.

No, we might as well carry on going down the road we're going.

-Sorry, but I mean...

-OK, then.

We have had the examiners' reports saying it IS possible.

When you run out of money, give me a ring.

So, how did you get the job on Dragons' Den? How did that come about?

What they decided with Dragons' Den...

There was a lot of big people like Richard Branson,

and the guy who owns easyJet, things like that, they couldn't do it.

So they decided to get five unknown people, and that's what they did.

So they approached me.

So I went down and met Peter Jones,

Doug Richard and the other two,

-and we sat there, we'd a little run through and it just felt pretty good.

-Yeah.

So how much has Dragons' Den impacted YOUR life?

Well, I quit Dragons' Den last year because I've done 12 years.

It was a great 12 years, it was great fun,

but it was starting to define my life.

And I didn't want my life to be defined by Dragons' Den.

-Yeah.

-And so I'm not doing it any more.

But, yeah, it's changed it quite substantially because,

you know, I meet people that I would never have met before.

So what's the worst pitch you have ever seen on there?

There was the cucumber cover.

Cucumbers get dried at the end,

so you put it in this, like, a condom

and it saves it going dry.

-Someone pitched that to you lot?

-Yeah.

I mean, how did you keep a straight face?

I don't think we did. And then there was this other guy,

and he was a Scotsman as well, and it was a single glove.

-For people with one arm?

-No!

He said... And I can understand this problem

cos I've been involved in it.

He said when he drove... He drove regular on the Continent.

So he drove over to the Continent,

and he forgot to drive on the right-hand side of the road,

so he had a car accident. A lot of people do.

So what he did is he had a glove, so he wore the glove to remind him

to drive on the right-hand side of the road.

-And I said, "Well..."

-That's a glove!

"..when you come back, don't you forget to drive on the left-hand side?"

He said, "Yes, so I've put two gloves in - a left one and a right one."

He invented a pair of gloves!

And he's trying to sell them at car ferries. A single glove.

So what next for Duncan Bannatyne?

I don't know, really. I...

I'm recession-planning my company so that somebody can take it over when I'm gone.

For my kids.

And spending time with my six children and two grandchildren

and just really enjoying life as much as I can.

Have you enjoyed it today?

Today, yes, absolutely fantastic.

So what sort of stuff do you watch now?

You know, what relaxes you at home watching telly?

I love watching Coach Trip.

-Oh, really?

-Sad as it is, yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

That's amazing. I wouldn't put you down as a man who watches...

-Have you watched it?

-Course I have. It's brilliant.

You see them all fighting at the end

-and stabbing each other in the back.

-Yeah.

So you're a keen viewer of that. You watch the odd bit of Corrie...

-A bit of Corrie.

-Duncan, I want to thank you. Have you enjoyed it?

I've loved it, yes. Thanks for having me.

Now, I give my guest

an opportunity to pick a theme tune now to go out with.

Is there any that you'd like to go out with?

Well, you know, one of the greatest theme tunes was a programme...

I don't watch it, I haven't watched it for ten years, but EastEnders.

-Ah.

-Boom, boom, boom...

Now, I mean, famously in something like EastEnders,

they have the doof doof moment, the cliffhanger, the big moment.

In the style of Taggart, possibly, we need a cliffhanger.

I would like you in Camera 1 just to say, in your Taggart voice,

"There's been a murder."

IMITATES TAGGART: There's been a murder!

Hit us with those drums, Duncan!

DOOF DOOF

MUSIC: EastEnders Theme