Martin Roberts 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've chosen the precious TV moments that shed light...'

Oh, I loved this!

-BOTH:

-Crackerjack!

-'..on the stories of their lives.'

Oh, listen, this looks smashing, John.

-BOTH:

-# Right on time. #

'Some are funny...'

-I love you.

-BOTH:

-# Became of the people. #

'Some...'

-Just like that.

-'..are surprising."

I'll let you into a secret I've never told anyone before.

'Some are inspiring...'

I've always wanted to be a Miss Something.

The best TV transports you.

'..and many...

Did George Orwell get his predictions right?

-It's also dramatic.

-'..are deeply moving.'

-Ohh.

-The death of John F. Kennedy...

-This takes me back.

-Oh, makes me want to cry.

-Oh. You can have a cry if you want.

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 is a broadcaster, journalist and presenter.

He has been a regular host of Wish You Were Here,

and the travel editor of Woman magazine but these days is

best known as the host of BBC One's Homes Under The Hammer.

It can only be Martin Roberts. And the TV that made him

include Britain's love affair with exotic travel...

Fish and chips. Pint of English ale and all the trimmings.

..the birth of interactive television...

What do you want to swap it for today?

That tape recorder down there.

..and a little goodie-goodie-yum-yum.

Llan-dlubber!

-The one and only Martin Roberts, here you are.

-Good to see you.

Good to see you, too. I'm a huge fan of Homes Under The Hammer.

Well, I'm very proud of it, thank you very much.

12 years we've been going for now so...

-Are you looking forward to today?

-Yeah.

Honestly, when I was asked to do this and I looked through,

delved into my history, and...

Shows from your childhood, they trigger off so many memories

and so many emotions.

It was... Sort of it was tears, some of it was laughter, some of it

was just, "Oh, my gosh, I'd forgotten all about that."

And, so, yeah,

really looking forward to just seeing some of the bits from my childhood.

We're looking forward to it.

I mean, as you're well-known today, it's a selection of TV shows that

I feel has probably even shaped you into the person you are today.

Shall we have a little look at what it was likely to be the young Martin Roberts?

Let's do that. It's going to be a bit scary, this, isn't it?

In 1963, the same year Doctor Who debuted,

Martin Roberts also made his very first appearance.

Born and bred in Warrington,

he was an only child and, no doubt inspiring his lifelong

thirst for knowledge, both his parents were research scientists.

-It's your first TV memory we're going to show now.

-OK.

I won't say any more. Because I do think it has the best opening ever.

Here it is.

THEME MUSIC PLAYS

Ohh! SIGHING

MUSIC CONTINUES

Aw, it just makes you feel warm and cosy.

It's everything that was nice about being a kid, isn't it?

The year was 1967 and this was Trumpton,

the much-anticipated sequel to Camberwick Green.

13 episodes produced, in animation terms, at record speed in just

nine months.

You look at the animation here, and it's the simplest

kind of stop-motion animation and yet, as a child...

I think what's interesting is how much of it's repeated.

It is that repetition. So I think you derive huge comfort from that.

When you look back at it now, as an adult, you think,

"Is that a bit boring, perhaps?"

But actually as a child you want the repetitiveness.

It sort of goes in there and provides that whole comfort.

"A red rose will do nicely instead of a carnation."

Not only was the action simple, so were the stories,

with each episode telling the tale of the single and usually

quite small mishap attended to by the Trumpton Fire Brigade.

"Trumpton Fire Station.

"What? Mrs Cobbit's cottage? Branch through roof?"

Mrs Cobbit's cottage.

-It's all so dramatic.

-Yes.

"Yes, yes, by all means.

"We'll come right away, right away."

BELL RINGS

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew,

-BOTH:

-Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub.

-Well remembered.

-Yeah, of course. Absolutely.

"Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub."

ENGINE TURNS ON

The style of the programme also meant the writers had to get

creative as neither water, steam nor fire could be shown

because they were too difficult to animate.

Then as they drive along, isn't it,

# Did-i-la-ding ding! Did-i-la-ding, did-i-la... #

Where is this stored in my mind?

"No, no, not the hose, we don't want to wash the branch off the roof.

"Cuthbert, to the box. Drive to the cottage."

The end result was classic storylines such as the mayor's hat

getting stuck in a tree

and the equally dramatic tale of the paint tin jamming the town clock.

"Elevate."

It does take you back to that simple time

and maybe sitting with me on Mum's knee or whatever it was.

So, do these shows remind you of this happy childhood that you had?

For me, as a child growing up, television was a magical thing.

I remember when we got our first colour television. And I actually...

The day arrived, I couldn't sleep the night before.

And as it turned out, we were going to a pantomime or something.

And I actually came out of the school trip - I must have

been about seven or something - left the whole school trip,

walked down the road away from the theatre, found a phone box

and phoned home to find out if the television had arrived.

Because it was so exciting.

And we rented it from like some RentaFusion, or Rediffusion,

because you didn't own a television, or Granada, whatever it was.

-Radio Rentals.

-Radio Rentals, that's it!

You rented the TV, you didn't actually own the TV.

It sat there and the first time I saw colour television...

was-was truly amazing.

The Beeb started transmitting in colour in 1967.

But what really made the likes of Trumpton

so appealing was its narration, provided by the legendary

children's presenter Brian Cant.

"Done it already?" says Chippy. "My word, you have been quick."

"What are you going to do with this branch?"

"Oh," says Captain Flack, "We hadn't thought of that."

Brian's big break came in 1964 with the creation of Playschool,

a series he would host for the next 21 years.

Though he also found time to narrate the Trumptonshire Trilogy

concluding with Chigley, the tale of life in an industrial hamlet.

Then, in the '70s, came Playaway,

famous for its groan-inducing humour.

Even so, it kept British kids laughing for 13 years

and Brian went on to work on countless other shows.

In 2010, he was awarded a well deserved BAFTA for his outstanding

contribution to children's television.

No wonder he was regular viewing in the Roberts household.

So, what was your living room like, then?

It was, funnily enough, I'm sure we had furniture very...

-Could you critique our room, I mean...

-Well, I think...

-Homes Under The Hammer.

..it's covering the whole spectrum of taste/architectural eras/

car-boot sale opportunities.

My dad was a DIY fanatic so my memory of early childhood is a house

that was constantly being built, knocked down, rebuilt, redesigned.

And he never... Didn't really get round to finishing things. So he'd start projects...

I seem to remember there was...

Once one project was finished, another project would start.

So the house was in this total sort of chaos.

And I'm sure that has had something to do with how

I ended up being into property and doing what I'm doing.

And so how would you...

What was the seating arrangement with regards to...

So, I guess, I used to sit really close,

probably on a beanbag or something.

Don't you worry about that. We want to make you feel at home.

-No, you haven't got a beanbag?!

-Of course we have.

-There you go.

-You just... There's no expense spared, is there?

Look at that.

-Do you want me to sit there, then?

-Yeah, of course.

Uh!

-Well, actually, no.

-No?

-I probably would have been more like...

-Is that the look?

-That is the look, yes. Definitely.

-And what would you watching?

-What would I be watching?

Can you not hit your feet on the floor, please?

-This is what I would have done.

-No, I'm not having it.

-But you're going to ruin the carpets.

-I don't think they had...

It's so surreal, you chatting to me seriously laying on a beanbag.

-Does it make you feel better if I do that?

-No.

I won't stay here for long, by the way, because I do feel a bit...

slightly out of my comfort zone. Although, actually, it's quite nice.

So, on your beanbag, what sort of things would you be watching?

It was something you were scared of.

Well, my mum and dad were both sort of scientists

and very much into educational programmes so we used to watch

things like Horizon and all sorts of documentaries and stuff.

But there were some which I definitely don't think were suitable for kids.

And I remember there was one documentary about the Pharaohs

and about Tutankhamen, in particular, which absolutely put

the complete heebie-jeebies over me.

And I couldn't sleep, and I've been paranoid and frightened

of mummies and I've never watched any those horror movies with mummies.

Do you think you can cope with sitting up here and having a look at...

-Can we hold hands?

-..one of those Pharaoh things. Yes, we can.

-Thank you.

-In a manly way, let's hold hands.

-Yes.

Don't get too frightened now, Martin. Have a little look at this.

Peering beneath the southernmost of the three great couches,

we noticed a small, irregular hole in the wall.

HE WHIMPERS

Here was yet another sealed doorway and a plunderer's hole.

First uncovered in 1922, the tomb of Tutankhamen is

one of archaeology's biggest ever discoveries.

50 years later, this programme,

Tutankhamen Postmortem, celebrated the anniversary,

as well as documenting the reopening of the Pharaoh's tomb

to allow for a series of x-rays.

Only the head, protected by the golden mask,

had escaped this carbonising damage,

and when the last decayed bandages were removed from it,

Carter was able to look at last at the face of the king,

whose name on some pottery jars had set him digging for the tomb

some ten years before.

I mean, look, it's just spooky, spooky, spooky, spooky.

And it's the thought that, you know,

the people who went in there got these curses on them,

so you know, Lord Carnarvon and his whole family was cursed

and it carried on through the generations,

and just this whole thought that, you know, gosh, what is that spooky stuff?

And I don't know, the whole thing with the wrapping and all that,

I don't now. Looking back at it now...

Actually, this has been good therapy,

cos I do look at that and think, what's scary about that?

When Professor Harrison reconstructed the facial

features on the basis of the skull of these remains, again,

it was quite clear that they were those of a young man.

And this would disturb the young Martin?

It would, and I would hide behind a sofa just like this,

but it doesn't sometimes make any sense as to why you found

things either very appealing, like Trumpton, or very scary,

like a silly documentary about Tutankhamen.

Just, it all goes in there and you won't get me

inside a pyramid for love nor money.

As well as peace and love, the '60s also gave us

the documentary series, many of which would last for decades.

1967 was the year David Attenborough launched The World About Us,

which was on air for 20 years

and, of course, changed wildlife photography for evermore.

Presenter Alan Whicker went on to spend 35 years travelling

the globe, investigating everything from the building

of Disneyland to gay rights.

Going one better, the arts-based series Omnibus.

First screened in 1967, it continued for 36 years,

and during that run featured everyone from Bowie to Madonna,

and won an impressive 12 Baftas.

But topping all of these records is Horizon,

the science and philosophy series which debuted in 1964

and is still going strong to this day.

-So, we've just watched the Tutankhamen thing...

-Right.

..and I know you're very distraught, you know, and I don't want

you to worry, because I've got another little treat for you.

I'll get rid of the beanbag now, cos I don't want you banging your feet.

-No, I'm sorry that was annoying there.

-Yeah, it was annoying me.

-Sorry, Dad!

-All right.

What have you got back there?

-Oh, wow!

-I've been in the kitchen, love.

-Oh, look at this!

-So, this was part of your...

-Oh, fantastic.

-Do you want some?

-Yeah.

I used to eat cereals while I was watching telly, I have to say.

-What's your favourite?

-Well, this was more than this, because...

-I don't know why...

-I'm going to have Frosties.

I'm going to have Coco Pops, that works well.

-It's always the Rice Krispies that are left at the end.

-Yeah.

Nobody wants the Rice Krispies!

Erm, but whenever we used to go on childhood,

I used to go on childhood holidays,

that was the only time we ever had little packets of cereal,

and it was such a treat, and nowadays,

whenever we go on holiday, cos I'm a huge fan of caravans...

-Thank you very much.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah, I'm a huge fan of going on caravan holidays,

and we've got a caravan, and the kids absolutely love it.

For my age group, there's no better holiday for kids,

but I always insist that in the caravan we have little

packets of cereal like this. And why does it taste any different?

But, I tell you, if I poured this out of the big packet,

-it would not taste... Mm-mm, mm-mm.

-It is lovely.

And little packets and everything. Excellent.

-We've got your parents' choice now.

-OK.

-I won't say anything.

-OK.

-Oh, fantastic!

-Well, time to go.

But it's true, it was that sort of tax in that

sort of part of the world, in that country, Wales.

The name of the game was Call My Bluff.

Two teams, each with three celebrity contestants.

They were given one word and three possible definitions.

As I was saying when I was interrupted...

A simple idea that ran for 33 years and was later revived for nine more.

Stagnum is...

an extremely important, nay, vital part of a barometer.

It is the little bowl cistern at the bottom of a barometer,

which contains the mercury, which expands

and contracts according to atmospheric pressure.

-Mum and Dad loved crosswords.

-Yeah.

Mum was an absolute wizard, she was also -

and this is where it's quite interesting -

she was also very into puns, my mum,

so she would always be coming up with interesting ways of, well,

making jokes and puns and stuff, and, actually, this probably

went to make me what I am in terms of the stuff I say on telly.

Robert Powell, true or bluff?

Oh, what a shame.

CHEERING

-Do you think you'd have done well at something like this?

-Yeah.

-Absolutely.

-Good, well, let's put you to the test!

-Oh, right, OK.

-I set myself up for that, didn't I?

-Yes, you did.

I'm going to give you an unusual word with three definitions, Martin.

-OK.

-It is time to test your property knowledge

in a special edition of a game we are calling Brian's Bluff.

I'm going to give you, well, you know the rules, don't you?

I'm going to give you three definitions.

-You've got to tell me which one is the real one.

-OK.

-Badigeon.

-Oh, wow.

Plaster and ground stone mixture for repairing masonry.

That's the first one.

-Or is the spike on the bottom of a for sale sign?

-Rubbish!

Or a mythological crossbreed between a badger and a pigeon?

-Badigeon.

-What's that got to do with property,

apart from pigeons possibly being in the attic?

-Don't look into it!

-And badgers in the garden! Sorry.

-You said it was all property related!

-Well, it nearly is.

-It kind of is, OK.

-So, which one do you think it is?

-Well, it's the first one, obviously.

-It is.

-Plaster and ground stone mixture.

-I knew that.

-Badigeon.

Next one, abat-jour.

Abat-jour.

A dead bat used in Paris to ward off evil spirits in 15th-century homes.

A French builder's hammer,

only to be used inside the home on the Sabbath day, or...

What?!

A hammer for Sundays?!

-I love that!

-A skylight used to direct light into a room.

Abat-jour.

-I'd go for the last one.

-You are absolutely correct.

Honestly, we haven't rehearsed this, have we?

-No, course we haven't.

-People won't believe that, but there we go.

-You're going to be so upset when you don't win anything.

-No, I'm not!

-Falconet. Please.

-Falconet.

-No badgering. Here we go.

Is it a velvet curtain used to separate

a boudoir from the toilet in a medieval times...

-What's the word again?

-Falconet.

-OK, all right.

-Falconet. The word is falconet.

The conical stone point on the top of a castle turret,

or, finally, a mini falcon. Falconet.

HE LAUGHS

-I think it's the middle one.

-You think it's the middle one?

-I do.

-Incorrect.

-HE GROANS

It's a mini falcon.

-Falcon-et.

-You got...

LAUGHTER

-What did you say?

-I said falconet.

Fairly enough, fair enough!

Your comedy hero is the person we are about to see.

It's interesting, cos I went through comedy heroes

and there's obvious people like Ronnie Barker and Dave Allen

and Morecambe and Wise, I mean, they were true comedy heroes, but in

terms of effects on me, this person was somebody who made, who had fun...

-Well, let's have a look.

-..with normal people.

-Don't tell anyone.

This is Martin's comedy hero, ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning, Noel!

-Keith Chegwin!

-What a superstar.

Well, they say there's nothing like blowing your own trumpet

and you're right, that was nothing like blowing my own trumpet.

Keith Chegwin began his career as an actor,

but it was Swap Shop that made him a household name.

He was walking down the road with two sacks in either hand

full of telephones, and this policeman came up to him

and said, "Hey, what are you doing with those two sacks?"

He said, "Well, my brother said I can join his band

-"if I have two sacks of phones."

-NOEL GROANS

Just not taking himself too seriously.

In later life, he did that, didn't he do the naked darts thing?

Let's not go there, let's not go there. Yeah, he did.

But that, just again,

sums him up in a way that he didn't take himself too seriously.

-Cheggers, swap away.

-Oh, thank you very much, Noel.

Well, the swapping is going very well, here in Blackpool.

The live Saturday morning programme allowed kids to swap

just about anything they didn't want.

-And what do you want to swap it for today?

-That tape recorder down there.

Oh, right, we're doing well this morning. There you go, madam.

That was the first time that I felt that you, as a viewer,

-as a child, could interact with the television...

-Without a doubt.

..because you could pick up a phone or you could go along

to where they were doing their live bits, and you could actually

swap physically which you owned and get something else back.

It's like, suddenly the television wasn't just there,

something you watch, you could actually interact with it.

I mean, let's remind everyone, it was ground-breaking, wasn't it?

I mean, no-one was doing this.

No, and because it was real kids phoning up,

so people like you as a viewer watching were actually on telly.

"Oh, my gosh, wow! I'm talking to Noel Edmonds!"

-Is your hand all right?

-This is a phone, Brian.

-Sorry.

LAUGHTER

Erm, why do I do that? It's like, I don't need to do that any more, do I?

You can go and record your mum singing now.

Without doubt, watching Saturday morning telly was a rite of passage.

But how many Saturdays have we shared

with our favourite BBC kids' shows?

In the case of Saturday Superstore, the follow-up to Swap Shop,

which even kept the same phone number, an impressive 142

Saturdays, though the original Swap Shop went further with 146.

And then there's The Saturday Show,

famous for audience participation, games and gunge.

It boasted 172 episodes.

Mind you, Phillip Schofield, Sarah Greene and Gordon the Gopher

went one better.

After six years on the air, they were Going Live for 179 Saturdays.

But beating them all, it's Live And Kicking with eight series

and 267 Saturday mornings.

Martin, you're such an avid TV watcher that you even collect

-memorabilia.

-I thought you might like to play with my toys.

-Captain Scarlet.

-These are hugely collectable these days.

These are the original Dinky Corgi toys.

-With this kind of thing, what you really want is...

-I know. I had it.

-The fact it does that. Did you?

-It fired matches from the front.

-Yeah, and look at this.

-There's Captain Scarlet.

-There's Captain Scarlet inside.

-He could come out.

-These would move down.

-You remember this completely.

This was my era, Captain Scarlet.

Now this, this is off another TV show.

-This is your UFO interceptor...

-Yes.

..and again, this is really precious cos it's got all the bits.

-I mean, you've got a young lad.

-Do you want to play with it?

-You put this in, like that.

-And would you let your boy play with these?

-Yeah, of course.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Push it.

-Are you ready, ready, ready, ready?

BRIAN SINGS

Boom!

Whoa...

-Bring it on.

-And better than that, you could put a cap in it,

so that when it went off it went bang as well.

Yeah, it's the sort of thing I would love to collect. I can tell you...

What's stopping you?

Well, I didn't want to confess, but I have...

I'm not in your league, I haven't got the box,

but I have got a Captain Scarlet.

-On my 40th, my wife bought me that car.

-Oh, fantastic!

That's why I'm a bit of an expert on that one now,

but I did have it as a child and played it to death...

-Yeah.

-..and probably threw it away when I grew out of it.

Yeah, of course. And that's how it should be, to be fair.

But that is, of course, what makes them valuable,

to get them in this kind of condition where they have either come from

a stock in a shop, or some child who didn't play with them very much.

Then that makes him pretty valuable. So, anyway...

So is there something you've missed out on,

something out there that you're desperate to get your hands on?

Thunderbirds things - I haven't got any,

and I think you definitely need to have Thunderbird 2.

-That's the green one.

-Yeah.

But actually, this is big business now.

And every now and again, you'll see some of the big auction houses

-have auctions of TV memorabilia.

-Yeah, yeah.

And I went to one a couple of years ago, where there was lots of things,

including some stuff from a programme called Rainbow.

So they had Zippy...

THEY GROAN LIKE ZIPPY

-There it is.

-And George, the pink, fluffy...

-BRIAN GURNS That's very good.

-"..George."

-But they had...

-I can't believe I done that, I'm sorry.

Yeah, you did, it's OK, it's good.

-But they had the original Bungle outfit.

-Oh, yeah.

You know that Bungle was the bear? The big bear outfit.

And it sold at the auction for £10,000.

-No?

-Yeah, for the Bungle outfit. So the following day,

they were interviewing on the radio the man who had...

the man who was presumably the creator of Rainbow.

They said, you must be delighted -

you just got £10,000 for your Bungle outfit.

And he went, "Well, tinged with a bit of sadness." "Why?"

He said, "Well, we had two,

"and a couple of years ago,

"I was up in the attic, and my kids got a hamster

"and we needed some bedding for the hamster.

"So we actually chopped up one of the Bungle outfits

"and used the outfit for hamster bedding."

-£10,000.

-£10,000.

-Very expensive hamster bed.

-Yeah.

This next section is Just Because.

We've been told it's Just Because because there's no real explanation.

-OK.

-It's just because you love it.

# Goody

# Goody, goody, yum, yum. #

Oh, the kitten!

I'd forgotten the kitten!

LAUGHTER

Now, what this was, was absolutely...

-Anarchic.

-..anarchic,

makes no sense, silly television,

which was almost along the lines of

Monty Python for kids, if you like.

LAUGHTER

With a motto, "We do anything, any time",

Tim Brooke Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie

set out on their trandem on a series of bizarre adventures.

-Where are we due?

-Llan-dlubber.

-HE SPLUTTERS

-Right, we're doing Llan-dlubber!

-LAUGHTER

-..this little island

off the coast of Wales.

The Goodies delighted its audiences with slapstick,

social satire and movie parodies.

In fact, everything from serious issues, such as apartheid,

to being pursued by a giant Dougal from The Magic Roundabout.

I mean, this is before, obviously, computer-generated stuff and CGI,

but I mean they really give it a go, don't they?

Special effects were absolutely there, weren't they?

But look at that set - I mean it's fantastic.

It's all wobbly at the edges and stuff.

Seen as family entertainment,

The Goodies often ran into trouble with its BBC bosses,

and moral watchdogs, such as Mary Whitehouse.

Even so, it enjoyed 12 years on the air,

and even spawned the odd hit single.

# Do-do-do the funky gibbon

# The funky gibbon... #

The most successful being The Funky Gibbon.

# ..oo-oo-ooh!

# Ooh-ooh-ooh... #

Written by Bill Oddie, it spent 10 weeks in the charts

and peaked at number four.

# ..do the funky gibbon now. #

And that's just one of the ways this series broke new ground.

One of the first to use chromakey, did you know that?

-Were they?

-Yeah.

Have you seen it available to buy on DVD or anything like that?

Or have you seen it repeated? Is it on any of these other channels?

I can tell you there is an actual campaign to get it out there

and it is coming out on DVD.

The Goodies are coming out on DVD!

But how long has that taken,

-cos it must be like 25 years ago when it was on?

-Yeah.

That's brilliant news.

From three great comics,

it's now time to look at the person that most influenced your career...

-OK.

-..Martin. There you go.

'Many Chinese learn English,

'so the chance to try it out is quite an event.'

Do you know the BBC?

I know.

Do you know what BBC...

BBC is the British Broadcast Company.

Inspired by Jules Verne's classic novel,

Around The World In 80 Days saw Michael Palin,

formerly of Monty Python,

transform himself from one of Britain's favourite comedians

into one of the world's most recognised travel presenters.

Yes.

What comes over about Michael Palin in this,

and everything that he does,

-is just what a nice guy he is.

-Uh-huh.

A genuinely nice guy.

And you felt like it really was an adventure,

and it wasn't scripted.

It was almost like let's just see what happens.

It was a true adventure.

'I'm now only six days behind Fogg,

'and he'd lost his Passepartout,

'who got drunk in Hong Kong.'

So after visiting 14 countries,

travelling 28,000 miles

and contracting one case of Delhi belly,

Michael Palin did indeed travel the world in 80 days,

or to be more precise,

79 days and seven hours.

I'm only doing this so the cameraman can get the sunset,

so I'll leave you to it.

All yours, Nigel.

It's over there, the sunset, if you can't see it.

That big red thing behind the building, all right?

When I started out when I was at university,

I was also doing the hospital radio station,

and in the local theatre was Michael Palin and Terry Jones,

doing a two-man show.

I thought, well, I'll go and do an interview.

I went along and I went when they were doing the sound check.

I went up to Michael Palin - my absolute hero - and said,

"Can I do a little interview with you for the hospital radio?"

And he said, "Well, come and see us at the end of the show."

So at the end of the show, duly I went backstage into the green room.

There was the mayor there with chains and all these local dignitaries,

they were all in this green room.

After about 10 minutes, Michael Palin stood on a chair and said,

"OK, everybody, you're all going to have to go now,

"cos we've got an important interview to do."

So I thought, that's a shame.

Anyway, I'm walking out with the mayor, the great and the good,

and Michael Palin comes running after me and said, "No, no, it's with you!"

Cherished by Martin, this lesser-known Monty Python interview

still exists, as well as a promo voiced by the stars themselves.

You are...

Oh, you are listening to Radio Royal.

You're listening to M-m-m-martin Roberts...

Roberts.

Yes, Martin Roberts is available on the National Health

as part of your treatment.

And while it played to an audience of dozens rather than millions,

Martin will never forget that day.

There they were, comedy legends,

you know, travel, TV reporting legends,

my superheroes, and I was basically a nothing.

And yet they spared the time to be with me and to do those things.

And so when I meet people now, you know,

people ask for autographs and they want their picture taken,

I remember how that made me feel at the time

-and I'll always say, "Fine, absolutely delighted."

-Yeah.

So, hero? Absolutely.

For what he does, for what he did with Monty Python,

for what he did subsequently, for what he does now.

Absolutely.

Perhaps inspired by his comedy hero,

Martin decided against a career in electronics

and pursued a life on the radio,

eventually working as a roving reporter for the BBC's local

stations in Merseyside, Lancashire

and Manchester in the mid-80s.

And at the end of the decade, he had his big break in television.

Martin, you've been a broadcaster for well over

-a quarter of a century.

-Mm-hm.

Erm, but I want to take you back now

-and we're going to have a look at your first big break.

-No!

-Have a look at this...

Now, it's time for another report from Martin Roberts.

This week, motorsports.

Fantastic! This is The 8:15 From Manchester!

-Saturday morning kids' TV...

-Yeah...

From Manchester, surprise, surprise!

If you've outgrown your BMX, you're in for something a bit more

exciting, something with a bit more speed...

This could be the place to come.

Boreatton Park in Shropshire, where you can spend the whole week trying out different motorsports.

Like zinger quads!

MUSIC: "The Race" by Yello

'Ha-ha-ha! I can't believe you found a clip of that!'

I didn't even think they had video recorders recording those shows!

When you come on this holiday,

you spend the mornings doing motorsports and in the afternoon,

you can do other things, like the death sli-i-i-ide!

The year was 1990 and this was 8:15 from Manchester.

You can go canoeing!

A Saturday morning children's magazine show,

which featured cartoons, repeats of Rentaghost

and a long-haired roving reporter called Martin Roberts.

'How important was that to your career?'

It was actually the first thing I did on television.

And I'll tell me how that came about, very strange,

I was actually working at the local radio station in the same

building in Manchester, as where the television was produced and I actually went to the canteen

and I was standing in the queue for the canteen and there was some

lemon meringue pie, which was, like, phosphorescent yellow.

And I said to the man standing beside me, "Look at this lemon meringue pie, ha-ha..."

We laughed about it being radioactive.

As we were walking away, he said, "By the way, what do you do?"

I said, "I work downstairs in the radio station." He said, "Oh, have you ever thought about television?"

I went, no! He went, "Oh, well, if you ever fancy it, Peter, fifth floor." I went, "Oh, yeah, right."

So, later that day, I phoned up the operator and I said, "Is there a Peter on the fifth floor?"

And they said, "Oh, only the Peter - head of television." I was like...

-So, my big break, if you want to say...

-Lemon meringue...

-..came as a result of talking about lemon meringue pie in the queue of the canteen.

-Amazing.

Children's television has launched the career of many a celebrity.

Like Todd Carty, whose breakthrough role was as

the iconic Tucker Jenkins in Grange Hill

before he moved to Albert Square and played EastEnders' Mark Fowler.

Fearne Cotton may be best known for Xtra Factor

and Celebrity Juice but her debut was at 15,

presenting the Disney Club on Good Morning Television.

Meanwhile, Ant and Dec didn't always rule the world of light entertainment.

Their big break came putting Geordie accents

and Tyneside on the kids' TV map, in Byker Grove.

Zoe Ball's entry into the world of showbiz

was as a presenter on Live And Kicking. Mind you, she is not alone.

During its eight-year run, the series also helped raise

the profile of Andi Peters and Jamie Theakston.

And even Doctor Who's sidekick, John Barrowman.

-Now, we're going to move on to comfort viewing.

-Uh-huh.

So, you're at home, you're feeling a bit under the weather

and this is what you watch...

Thank you.

Fish and chips, a pint of English ale and all the trimmings.

First launched in 1969, this is the programme that spent

the next 38 years enticing us to go abroad.

It inspired a series of short lived spin-offs, including

Summer Holiday, Holiday On A Shoestring, and even

Holiday - Fasten Your Seatbelt, where the presenters took on holiday-related jobs.

This goes to show that going to Spain doesn't mean you must

change your holiday habits.

It's John Carter's voice, those wonderful, dark, syrupy, treacly...

Because of the fuel and currency surcharges,

this year's package deals are bound to cost more.

But in spite of it all, some people reckon Benidorm can still

give Blackpool a run for your money.

'In its heyday, the Holiday programme attracted audiences of up

'to 20 million and in 1974, ITV decided to get in on the act,

'launching their own travel show, Wish You Were Here.

'A series that would one day feature a fresh-faced Martin Roberts.'

So, I was there as a travel journalist, working alongside

Judith Chalmers, and actually John Carter and people who I had grown up with again,

And it's just like, "Oh, my gosh,

"I can't believe I'm working with these people!"

And I got to do that job, of being a travel journalist,

travelling the world and reporting on it.

Is it as amazing as it seems, or, you know...?

You know, you'll never get any sympathy from people

when you say... Yes, it is the most amazing thing ever.

The reality is, holidays and travelling is about the people

you are with and there were lovely crews and great people.

It's not quite like travelling with your family. And also, it's all done on a,

-"We've got to get in and out as quick as possible".

-Yeah, yeah...

So, I remember one of my trips, I did Vancouver, which is

an amazing place, in Canada, and we did Vancouver for a day.

So, it was...

It was an 8 1/2 hour journey there, it was 24 hours in Vancouver,

-and it was 8 1/2 hours flying back.

-And it changed your life.

It changed your life very much so doing that.

Well, actually, it did because doing Wish You Were Here,

one of the things I did was, I used to do a charity climb for the NSPCC.

-And I filmed the charity climb up Kilimanjaro.

-Wow!

So, I climbed Kilimanjaro and on that charity climb,

I met my...person who became my wife. And the mother of my children.

So, erm, we actually, you could say,

we fell in love on the top of Kilimanjaro because I got really

badly sick with altitude sickness and just about made it to the top.

Did my final piece to camera right at the top of Kilimanjaro, saying,

"That was absolutely horrendous and I've still got to get down.

"But I've raised all this money for the NSPCC."

And, very emotional, did that, and it was almost like,

my body then said, "Right, your work's done, it's MY turn."

And...I got really badly sick with altitude sickness, which is

very serious and you've got to get off the mountain really quickly.

But through the mists on the top of Kilimanjaro appeared this

behuddled figure, clutching a piece of fruit cake and it was my wife,

subsequent wife-to-be, whose nan had baked her a fruitcake to

take on this trip and it was the last piece of fruitcake that she had

and she gave it to me on the top of Kilimanjaro.

Soon after that fateful slice of fruitcake,

Martin and Kirsty were married and today are proud parents of two.

As for Wish You Were Here, the show that brought them together,

it came to an end in 2003, after almost 30 years of being on the box.

But that very same year, Martin was asked to present a brand new

show, one which would go on to exceed all expectations.

We've got a clip here. Have a little look at this first.

This is a very old clip. I can tell straightaway.

Hello and welcome to the programme.

We're both property developers and we love the thrill of a good deal.

Absolutely. And in today's programme, we've got

three potential good deals to show you.

It's even more exciting because they're all coming up for auction.

So, let's find out what happens to them when they go under the hammer.

After 12 years on our screens,

Homes Under The Hammer can boast some pretty impressive numbers.

Over 2,000 properties featured

and more than 180,000 miles travelled up and down the country.

And the number of puns? Impossible to count!

When they come back and you go...

And they have done an incredible amount of work on that house,

they're not lying when they say, "Oh, yes.

"I've done this for 6,000..."

And I can't even, I don't know, buy a toilet...

One of my favourite stories was a chap who was going to do

the entire house, new roof, new electrics, damp proof throughout,

build a conservatory, rewire, new kitchen, new bathroom.

I said, "What's your budget?" He said, "2,000 quid."

And I was like, "OK. And how long?" "Three weeks."

So, not surprisingly, when we came back,

he hadn't quite finished it and he'd gone a bit over budget.

Have there been people that have literally blown you away?

Or on the other spectrum, you've gone back and gone - ahem?

Yes, absolutely.

My most touching ever story, and this will make me cry,

but there was a story we did where we followed a couple who'd bought

a house in Stockport.

We were filming with them and I said, "Why did you buy this property?"

And the lady said, "Unfortunately, my mum has just passed away

"and we used to go and visit her in the hospice

"and we used to sit with her and watch Homes Under The Hammer

"and she said, when I die, I want you to take some of my inheritance

"and I want you to do what this man is telling you."

So we were all there and she said, "That's what we've done.

"We've used my mum... She died a few months ago.

"We've taken that money and that's what we've bought."

And it was like her mum's spirit was in the room.

And the big hairy cameraman was crying, I'm crying,

the woman's crying, and in that instance, you think, "There you go.

"Her mum's spirit was there," and they'd done really well with this house.

So you get into people's lives and I'll never take that for granted.

I like the say sometimes, quite seamlessly,

you'll go from a little story into an apt bit of music,

something that very much fits that moment.

I take a bit of credit, but it's the editors.

The editors are amazing at finding tracks that fit perfectly

and not in... Sometimes in a really subtle way.

You'll hear a few bars of a song and think,

"What's that got to do with what I'm watching?" And then, you'll twig that

somewhere in the lyrics, there's a little line,

or sometimes it's really in your face. I know what you're thinking.

Yuck! But no, it's a piece of architectural history.

Do what you like with the rest of the house, but touch that at your peril!

# You can't touch this

# You can't touch this

# You can't touch this. #

Well, if you were in the edit, Martin,

let's see how you would do with the Homes Under The Hammer songbook.

-Oh, boy.

-Mm-hm. So, I've got some...

This is the ultimate guide,

the perfect song to use in any property-based situation.

Excellent.

A couple have bought a house that is across an overflowing river

and can only be reached by a bridge. What song should we use?

Got to be Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Er... Bridge Over Troubled Water. Correct.

Thank you.

A property developer has decided to extend his plans to the

floor above and build a room in the loft.

What song does he choose?

Ah... Um... Three Steps To Heaven.

Three Steps To Heaven...

Yes.

And finally, a house has been snapped up by a developer

-and it is exactly halfway along the length of the street.

-OK.

-We're talking about a house...

-It's in the middle of the street. OK.

-You'd have to then find a song which had middle of the street...

-Yeah.

Something middle of the road, middle of the street... Madness.

# Our house, in the middle of our street

# Our house. #

-Bingo!

-Wrong.

-Oh.

-No, you're right.

It is amazing. I mean, you know...

Problems with the sewers - Going Underground by The Jam.

I mean, it just goes on... It is very, very good.

So what do you watch now? What keeps...

What floats your boat, love?

-I tell you what, I watch a lot of Cbeebies and...

-Yeah, with the kids.

And CBBC, and that's great cos they're repeating

a lot of the programmes that I used to watch when I was a kid.

Which is fantastic. So that... We sit down, we watch a lot of films.

A lot of it is driven by the kids,

so they love things like I'm A Celebrity, they love Strictly...

-How about you? Are you a big fan of I'm A Celebrity?

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Is it something you would like to do?

-Yeah! Definitely!

-I'm up for that.

-Martin, you have been a wonderful guest.

-I hope you've enjoyed it.

-It's been a pleasure. Really good fun.

I want you to choose a theme tune now that we can go out on.

Well, I think I'd like to go back, to the Gerry Anderson stuff

and those theme tunes were amazing.

The Captain Scarlets, the Joe 90s... But it has to be Thunderbirds.

Yes.

My favourite. Yeah, without a doubt. So, my thanks to Martin

and my thanks to you for watching The TV That Made Me.

We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.

# Theme from Thunderbirds by Barry Gray