Kate Garraway The TV That Made Me

TV - the magic box of delights.

As kids, it showed us a million different worlds,

all from our living room.

This takes me right back.

That's so embarrassing!

I am genuinely shocked.

Each day, I'm going to journey through the wonderful world of telly

with one of our favourite celebrities...

It's just so silly.

I love it! Is it Mr Benn?

-Shut it!

-..as they select the iconic TV moments...

Oh, hello...

..that tell us the stories of their lives.

Oh, my gosh!

-Cheers.

-Some will make you laugh...

HE GROWLS

LAUGHTER

..some will surprise...

TOY SQUEAKS

..many will inspire...

-Ooh!

-Look at this. Why wouldn't you want to watch this?

..and others will move us.

Seeing that there made it huge impact on me.

Got a handkerchief?

So, come watch with us as we rewind

to the classic telly that shaped those

wide-eyed youngsters into the much-loved stars they are today.

Welcome to The TV That Made Me.

My guest today is a well-loved TV presenter.

Ladies and gentlemen, Kate Garraway.

-Hello.

-Hello, how are you?

-Very well.

-You look absolutely beautiful.

-Thank you.

-Welcome to my humble abode.

-Look at this.

-Come and sit yourself down.

Nice little pink sofa.

She's been waking up the nation on breakfast telly for years.

-Hello.

-With a radiant smile and ready wit.

-Thank you very much.

-In the midst of all the early starts,

she's even managed to spare some time to slap on some sequins for

a shimmy and a shake on Strictly, coming eighth in 2007.

Amongst the TV that made her...

The thrilling adventures of a finger puppet and his friends...

"This isn't really me," says Fingermouse.

..ground-breaking daily investigative journalism...

I may well be arrested,

because I look as if I may be committing an offence in the near future.

..and a daytime magazine show that knew how to throw a party.

I'm a massive television fan.

I love watching the telly, I always have done.

-And yeah, so I do love it. I love a bit of telly.

-Yeah?

Yeah. I should say my favourite thing is friends and family, but really,

-it's watching telly.

-Is it really?

Yeah, and when I was little, my parents didn't really...

I don't think they really approved of telly.

There was always a feeling that radio was somehow better.

Certainly, we never watched ITV.

That was a bit spivvy.

-Oh, really?

-And we never watched breakfast television.

So I'm obviously a huge disappointment to them in a lot of ways, really.

Seeing as what happened next.

Well, you talk about your childhood and what we're going to do,

we're going to look back now, rewind the clock and look at a young Kate.

-Here she is, Kate Garraway.

-Oh.

Born and raised in the quiet historic market town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire...

Kate Garraway and her younger brother grew up in a happy home,

with Dad a civil servant and Mum a teacher.

She was a model pupil at school and budding musician at home.

Practically a one-woman band.

With a degree in English and Political History under her belt and

journalism in her sights,

she started out in radio before graduating to regional TV news.

I was a very good girl.

-Was you?

-I was really good girl, yeah.

I just talked a lot.

I always got told off for talking, but other than that...

I was one of those slightly annoying studious ones that tried really hard.

Didn't necessarily achieve anything, but tried very hard at everything.

Tried hard at musical instruments, tried hard at everything.

You'd have hated me at school.

No, didn't you play the clarinet?

I played the clarinet, I played the violin...

Well, it just so happens...

-Oh, no!

-No, I'm joking.

-Honestly, I haven't touched it for years.

The violin, the piano, the recorder...

-Really?

-Yes, I was like, a real joiner-inner.

-And none of that you've kept up?

-No, it's annoying.

I sort of went off to uni and discovered drinking and boys, I think -

and stopped playing the clarinet and the violin.

What is the first TV programme that made a big impression

on the lovely Kate Garraway?

-It's Fingerbobs.

-I remember it.

I love a bit of Fingerbobs.

Fingerbobs.

# Yoffy lifts a finger... #

Rick Jones as Yoffy.

# And a mouse is there. #

-Different era, isn't it?

-Totally different era.

# Puts his hands together... #

Fingerbobs was created in 1972 for part of the schedule called

Watch With Mother and was just 15 minutes long.

Only 13 episodes were ever made.

# And a tortoise head peeps out... #

LAUGHTER

So, this is something Kate Garraway really enjoyed?

I really loved it. Loved Fingerbobs. I made all these things, obviously.

Oh, really? You made them?

-Oh, of course I do, yeah.

-You made them.

I made... Oh, my God.

Hold on. There you go. There's yours.

I made them especially for you.

-OK.

-So, put the glove on.

You're going to be the bird and I'm going to be Fingerbob.

It's a funny time, isn't it?

Because you think of what our kids watch now,

there isn't a single show that hasn't got CGI and everything.

And yet, I was glued to a man in some rather effeminate white gloves,

a ping pong ball and a bit of orange card. Something like that, wasn't it?

Aw, we can do our own little show.

There you go. Brian lifts a finger and a mouse scampers about.

-Isn't it something like that?

-Hello, you're Gulliver.

-I'm Gulliver.

-Hello, Gulliver.

My name's Fingerbob.

-Hi.

-Give me a peck.

-Oh!

-There you go.

It's going to be a thatched roof.

That's what the straw is for.

You see? That's brilliant.

But I suppose there's a bit of effort gone into it.

And now he's bringing some more straw. This could be a two-part series.

-Here's another load.

-So, it takes you back?

It really takes me back, it really takes me back.

And you know...

Talk about being of its era

because when you were really young, preschool,

and when you had a sore throat or something,

this was just like finding a diamond on an allotment or something.

This was just amazing. It's brilliant and I like it.

-It makes me feel cosy, just watching it.

-Yeah.

You'd sit down and watch TV as a family.

Go into the kitchen to have your tea, go into the sitting room...

So, when you were in the sitting room, were there snacks allowed?

Were you allowed to have anything?

-Not really.

-No?

No, not really. I don't know whether we were especially messy as kids.

Sunday nights and Saturday nights you were allowed to have sandwiches in the lounge and everything,

-but we didn't really do that.

-Crumpets?

-Crumpets, that was my favourite night.

They'd bring it on Saturday night, we'd have crumpets,

Duchess Of Duke Street and Starsky And Hutch.

I'll get the crumpets.

LAUGHTER

I mean, can you ask more than that? Get me a crumpet.

I have a crumpet.

This is a big deal, because we weren't really allowed to eat

food on our laps. Look at that!

-Giving Kate a bit of crumpet!

-I could be...

LAUGHTER

Warm crumpet, melted butter,

life can't get better than that, can it?

No, I think I'd like a little bit of jam on that, though.

-No?

-You see, I would never have dreamed of jam when I was little.

This was enough for me.

You and all your big expectations.

Always pushing for more.

And what would you be watching on a Saturday night?

So, Saturday night... I love Saturday night.

I still think Saturday night in front of the telly is just a great

thing to do. And for me, the era I can remember, I must have been about 10 or 11,

something like that - it was Duchess Of Duke Street.

-Do you even remember Duchess Of Duke Street?

-Yeah.

-I do.

-There was always a drama below stairs, wasn't there?

And a party upstairs. There was always something going on.

And then after it was Starsky And Hutch.

And I would have this thing where

I was convinced I was going on a date with David Soul - Hutch.

So, I would,

during the end of Duchess Of Duke Street, as the title rolled,

race upstairs, put on my mum's peach nightie, which she's still got...

Peach nightie, put on lipstick...

-Your mum has still got that peach nightie?

-I think she kept it for sentimental reasons,

because there's so many pictures of me in this peach nightie.

Peach nightie, bright red lipstick, which was hers - or orange red lipstick -

come downstairs and say I was going on a date with Hutch,

as the Starsky And Hutch titles rolled. And I couldn't really speak, I would say,

"I'm going on a date with Hutch." And my dad would torment me by trying to make me speak,

because I wouldn't want to ruin my lipstick. And I was obsessed with David Soul.

I even made this felt purse and I cut a picture of him out of a box.

I've still got it and I later interviewed David Soul when I was

working at ITV and I showed him this and I think he was a little bit scared,

if I'm honest.

LAUGHTER

I think he was like, "That's lovely.

"Please take this woman away."

LAUGHTER

Yeah.

Well, we're going to go onto your Must See TV now.

-OK.

-Have a little look at this.

-Shall we have a look?

-Yeah.

What does it feel like to be alone,

out of work and homeless in the big city?

Nationwide, Kate.

Nationwide, yeah.

Following the national news,

this magazine-style current affairs series ran every weekday for

over 3,000 episodes from 1969.

By becoming Tony Crabbe,

I hope to find the answers to all questions by experiencing life

in the gutter first-hand.

-Wow.

-Immersive journalism, it was then, wasn't it?

It was. So, Nationwide - and we don't have anything like it,

although The One Show, I guess, has that vibe about it, hasn't it?

When I was little,

my dad sat down and wanted to watch the Six O'clock News,

because in those days, dads got home for six.

So many dads don't - poor things, stuck in traffic, working late,

working weird shifts. If your dad got home,

he wanted to watch the Six O'clock News, which I found a bit boring.

I didn't understand most of it.

But then Nationwide came on afterwards and Nationwide,

I just thought was extraordinary.

Everything about me had to look right.

BBC make-up girl Sula cut lumps out of my hair and made it look dirty.

It had something funny, something clever,

I think people forget that kind of journalism.

That report was amazing. It's very common now for reporters to do that,

to go and experience things for real.

But no-one had done that before and he went and he lived on the streets

and he showed a side of being homeless that, certainly, I'd never seen.

Most people had never seen before.

My dirty clothes actually make me look a suspicious person.

Because I've got nowhere to go and nothing to do,

I may well be arrested...

He didn't make it romantic, as though all the homeless people were poor, fallen souls.

He showed it as it was and you know, some of them were

their own worst enemies,

some of them are actually quite threatening and violent and it just

revealed a whole world, in a way,

that made sense to me and made me want to be a journalist.

-Oh, really?

-Made me want to be a journalist, yeah.

I think it's fascinating and I think breakfast TV and a lot of

news programmes now have learnt a lot from shows like Nationwide.

I think we are trying to make things more welcoming to more people,

rather than very posh, serious news like it used to be when I was little.

Is it true that when you was little, you used to interview yourself?

Yeah, when I was little, I had one of those reel-to-reel...

-Do you remember those?

-Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah.

-And also,

one of those square-box ones where you press play and record together.

And I would record interviews with myself.

Sometimes, I'd be characters of TV programmes and we still have the tape

of me interviewing myself - me being both myself and Margaret Thatcher.

Oh! And what age would you be?

Well, I was really little. She was Education Secretary at the time. I obviously didn't really know that,

I just knew that she'd taken away the milk in schools for kids

and my mother was furious about it. I was delighted, because it was disgusting.

But I knew this was a big scandal and children were apparently suffering.

So I was interviewing her, saying, "How dare you?"

And she was saying, "Some may argue that, actually,

"it's good to get rid of milk."

And I would answer again.

We've still got it, so my mum was like,

either you were going to be bonkers,

or you were probably going to be an interviewer when you grew up! From that evidence.

-Do you enjoy interviewing people?

-Yeah. Don't you?

-Oh, I do.

-I find it interesting.

-And I think talking to people is the most fun.

I don't really have any proper hobbies, I just like talking to people,

whether it's getting into a cab or sitting on a bus.

I'm one of those weird people who says, Hi, how are you?"

And starts talking to people and I think to get the chance to talk to

people generally and also people with extraordinary stories to tell,

who have done amazing things in life...

-I mean, what a way to pay the mortgage.

-Yeah.

-It doesn't get any better than that, does it?

-Yeah.

Now, I believe, Kate, you've got a love of Pot Noodle.

Well now, my parents...

I didn't realise it, but my dad had two allotments at one point.

He grew loads of vegetables.

We had fresh, home-grown vegetables all our life.

Amazing - and then, one day, my brother and I saw an advert for Pot Noodle.

Should be here in four minutes.

Don't fuss, Mum. You know what I like.

Launched by Golden Wonder in 1977,

its adverts focused on the convenience and simplicity of this quick, hot snack.

Tender pasta noodles with vegetables and soya pieces in a rich, savoury sauce.

Marketed as the Instant Nibble,

the ads were designed to appeal to everyone, whether at work, on the sofa,

or even on the hoof.

Now in new sweet-and-sour, and cheese and tomato flavours.

A snack in a pot...

-Makes sense...

-Pour water on, open a sachet...

-Bring it on.

-..all manner of delights.

Never tasted such a thing, but saw the advert.

And on Christmas Eve one year, my mum, out of exasperation said,

"You can have anything you want to eat. What do you fancy eating?"

And we both said, "Pot Noodle."

I think it literally broke my parents' heart.

If I said, you know, "I'm about to run away with the circus,"

she would've been less distressed.

-You're easily pleased.

-I know!

-Aren't you?

"I am going to take you out on a date, let's go and have a Pot Noodle."

-LAUGHTER

-What's wrong with that?

This is your comedy hero,

a lady who used to give you a lot of belly laughs.

On the 28th of January...

Mr and Mrs Robinson from Harrow on the Weald...

-Pamela Stephenson.

-Pamela Stephenson, yeah.

-From Not The 9 O'Clock News.

Yeah, I know exactly where...

But then, the trouble started...

On February the 19th, the Robinsons' seven-year-old son, George,

got an attack of appendicitis had to be rushed to hospital.

They rang the electricity board, who responded...

"This has got nothing to do with us."

Joining Pamela Stephenson in the hit comedy sketch show,

Not The 9 O'Clock News, was Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith.

I mean, Not The 9 O'Clock News was a really great show.

And she was brilliant, wasn't she?

Cos you know, I guess we still have a little bit of that trouble now where

people don't think women can be funny.

-And she came along and I think, blew all that out of the water.

-Yeah.

With a satirical take on current affairs,

the series also lampooned popular TV shows and personalities.

Naturally upset by this,

Mr and Mrs Robinson had a quarrel which ended in Mr Robinson savagely

pushing his wife through a plate-glass window.

On both occasions, they contacted the electricity board,

and on both occasions, they were told...

"I'm sorry, this really has got nothing to do with us."

I think she was definitely one of the first female artists that I was

aware of, to come along and to have a woman being funny and holding her own

and not just playing a giggly woman,

but absolutely intrinsic to the comedy and funny in her own right.

Definitely, I think she's brilliant.

Kate, now it's a little bit of comfort television for you.

Oh, snugly viewing.

Yet, it's something that would put an arm around you when you were at home

and not feeling 100%, you know?

Aw, OK, let's have a look.

-It's Pebble Mill.

-Pebble Mill?

-Pebble Mill At One.

-Oh, I love Pebble Mill!

Starting in 1972, and broadcasting live at lunchtime

from the foyer of Birmingham's Pebble Mill,

it was one of the pioneers of daytime television.

What was it you liked about it?

It's a funny thing, isn't it...?

..thinking why.

Because I was quite young when I used to watch it.

It was stuff about how to get rid of a baby belly after you've given birth.

I'd be like this, absolutely glued - "Wow, that's amazing!"

And it would be stuff really aimed for mums and housewives, of course.

-And students.

-And students.

I think students must have watched bewildered, like me,

but there wasn't anything else on,

so you watched it and loved it and it was snugly and the presenters made

-you feel comfortable.

-This, I think, is a lovely clip,

because if you watch it,

you realise that the presenters are actually slightly inebriated -

and this is a show just before Christmas.

-OK.

-I'm just about finished on my naughty sporty..

-Naughty sporty?!

-Naughty sporty, yeah, which is actually...

I mean, it's a glass with a legwarmer on it and it's a black and leather lace garter

seductively tied around the top.

Alcohol and a live studio programme is really a recipe for disaster, isn't it?

-It's not good, is it?

-Oh, now there's a comb over.

Dynamite band, yeah, coming on.

She's had a couple of cocktails, hasn't she?

# Now I'm the king of the swingers, oh

# The jungle VIP... #

Oh, dear!

-You used to love this.

-I loved it!

# I want to be like you-ooh-ooh... #

What's he wearing?

# I want to walk like you, talk like you, dooby-doo... #

That is an office party

that everyone is going to regret.

You see, this is why students loved it,

because it's just sort of surreal, isn't it?

It's like...

car-crash TV.

Regular hosts for the first few years of Pebble Mill

were Donny MacLeod, Bob Langley and Marian Foster.

Later, they were joined by Jan Leeming and David Seymour.

And when he wasn't making saucy cocktails,

regular strands included Jeff Banks' fashion and style tips.

By 1991, Alan Titchmarsh was at the helm

and the series ran for a further five years.

I mean, would you like to have worked on Pebble Mill At One?

I'd love to have worked on Pebble Mill At One.

Let's be honest, it's not a million miles from shows I've done since on breakfast TV.

It's that mixture of a bit of fun, a bit of serious,

a bit of comfy, a bit of hard news.

It's that kind of thing, isn't it? Maybe less hard news, but...

You know, it's essentially magazine shows.

I mean, out of all those genres, what you've just said,

which one do you aspire to?

Which one do you enjoy the most?

Well, I think, weirdly enough, it's the mixture that I like.

I don't think there's anywhere else but in breakfast TV generally,

where you get the chance to...

There isn't, is there? When you sit down and you can speak to

a Hollywood star about what they do,

a mum who has tragically lost their child through something ghastly and

is fighting for justice...

Give a politician a good talking to about something that you care

about and your peers care about and...

I just don't think there's anywhere else that you get the chance to do that.

Have you got a bit of that straight talking in you?

-I think you have.

-I think it probably have a little bit.

I think I have, yeah. I do do a lot of research.

I learned very early on that actually, you've got to be...

You've got to do your homework.

You can't know everything and politicians will always bamboozle you with figures,

but if you've done a lot of research and you know your stuff,

and if you don't understand what they're saying, then it's fine to think,

"If I've spent a day researching this and I'm still confused by this,"

then no-one at home has got a chance,

because they've got other priorities in their life other than spending a

day researching what a politician has to say.

So, I do feel like I have got a bit of that, yeah.

Politicians shouldn't expect people to spend hours and hours and hours

studying them to understand them.

It's their job to be clear to us.

Watching TV over our cereal in the morning is a relatively new idea.

When Breakfast Time launched on the BBC in 1983 with Selina Scott and

Frank Bough, it made TV history.

Broadcasting on 17 January,

two weeks before ITV's new programme, TV-am.

It was ground-breaking in its informal style.

There were red sofas,

steaming coffee cups and fun features like Russell Grant's astrology,

as well as keep fit with the Green Goddess, Diana Moran.

Meanwhile, over on ITV, a relatively unknown Anne Diamond

was partnered with Nick Owen to revive

TV-am's flagging viewing figures.

An instant hit, Anne and Nick proved to be a winning formula,

with just a little help from Roland Rat.

Yeah, rat fans!

It was a partnership so successful that Anne and Nick were poached

by the BBC in 1992.

So, Kate - how did you start in television?

How did I start in television? Well, I...

-Look.

-Ooh, hello!

How old would you have been then?

I had lot of hair.

Um... I was, I think, about 28 then.

-Oh, really?

-When I first left college, I was desperate to be a journalist,

but they didn't have the courses like they do now.

I couldn't really afford to pay myself to go on a course.

So, I was working doing all sorts of things,

including working for a law firm and a station opened up called Fox FM

in Oxford and I went along and volunteered on Saturdays and Sundays to work

for them for free. And then I managed to get a job working for

Radio Oxford as a travel person.

I then worked my way from there and ITV News in those days had a scheme,

where they trained two people a year.

And then, I went to train with them and I went to Central News and then Meridian.

And you then moved from there to GMTV?

So... No, then I was working for Meridian and a brand-new idea, 24-hour news,

came along. BBC News 24, as it was called then,

launched, and I was there as one of the launch presenters.

It was quite rocky in those days.

It was the early stages of robotics and automation and cameras used to

freeze and there was no people, there were no camera people around,

so you just have to sort of lean into shot and just slide along and carry

on reading. It wasn't good. Things went horribly wrong a lot but it was

a brilliant training ground.

And then, I went to Sky News.

How did you then move on to GMTV?

GMTV... Eamonn Holmes and Fiona Phillips, brilliant presenters,

decided they wanted a shorter week.

Why wouldn't you? So luckily, I started presenting on Fridays,

so they could nip off early for the weekend and it just went from there.

Ah. Well, we've got a clip now,

of your first day at GMTV.

Oh, my God! This is going to be terrible.

I don't think I've watched this back.

I think I'd have been too scared to watch it back at the time.

-Kate Garraway, who's a new face to our...

-Hello!

-..GMTV happy family.

'I was really nervous.'

-It's good to be here.

-You won't be, by the end of the week.

Bless me. So young, so young.

So sweet, so innocent.

..On the programme this morning?

Yeah, 5,000 children need adopting in this country right now.

Find out how you might be able to help, in 15 minutes.

Following in the footsteps of Anne Diamond,

Kate joined GMTV in 2000 with her first show alongside the established

breakfast legend Eamonn Holmes.

..only to be attacked by the very people they are trying to help.

-A report on that.

-'What was it like, working with Eamonn?'

He is extraordinary, Eamonn Holmes.

-Oh, he is.

-He's a great person to sit alongside,

cos he teaches you everything you need to know.

What is the art of being a great interviewer/journalist?

I think, just listen what people have to say,

because I think everyone's got a great story to tell.

That's enough about that, let me carry on.

No, I'm joking. LAUGHTER

No, I think it is, it's imperative, isn't it?

It is, isn't it? It's actually listening,

because so many people just ask a question and when the person has

answered, just ask another question anything, hang on a minute,

you weren't listening to word they said.

-That's what I find, yeah.

-It is tough.

It's a lot tougher than you think, ladies and gentlemen, sitting here,

doing interviews. Let me tell you. I make it look easy!

So, what do you watch these days on TV?

I'm still a news addict.

I still love my rolling news,

I still always have a bit of rolling news on the TV.

-I love Modern Family. Do you watch Modern Family?

-Yeah.

-Very funny, isn't it?

-Very good.

I've been getting into The Man In The High Castle.

-Have you seen that?

-No, I haven't, no.

It's brilliant. It's if Germany won the war.

That's right, yeah.

That's good, you should try that one.

I love all that and big dramas - I love all the big American dramas.

Yeah, wonderful.

-I love telly.

-Would you have liked to have been an actress?

An actress...? That's a good question.

I don't know. I...

I don't think I would have been a very good actress, actually.

But don't you think being a journalist and being an interviewer

requires an amount of acting?

Well, I don't know, really.

Does it? Or does is it actually demand the opposite -

that you just stay yourself and concentrate on being yourself in chaos?

I don't know. I'm not sure that it is the same, acting.

Is it? Do you think it is? You're a performer though, aren't you?

I'm an entertainer, yeah.

-That's my job.

-So, you're an entertainer, you're a performer.

You've got that in you, whereas I...

-But I need a crowd.

-Do you?

-I need an audience.

What I like is that you are now interviewing me.

LAUGHTER

You see? This is my show and on my show

we let our guest choose the theme tune for us to play out on.

OK. Oh...

-We'd love you to pick something.

-So many theme tunes. I think it's going to have to be Nationwide,

just because that was such a big show when I was little, that I think

decided what I ended up doing for a living and probably the sort of person

I am, actually. So yeah, it's got to be Nationwide, I think.

Well, the sort of person you are is very beautiful, very glamorous and very dear.

-Oh, bless you.

-And thank you very much for being on.

-Thank you. So nice to see you.

-And you too. So, my thanks to Kate

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

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

-Thank you.

MUSIC: NATIONWIDE THEME