Americans Wogan: The Best Of

It was a show that went out three nights a week, live...

Mr Wogan, you're on. You're on.

With a live audience

and everyone who's anyone dropping in.

The great and the good, the bad and the ugly.

They called it Wogan.

Ha, I never knew why.

So, if you're sitting comfortably,

I'll show you something I made earlier.

God knows what they'll make of us in 25 years' time.

Today it's all about the special relationship and my particular part

in keeping it going because the Americans are coming.

In the shape of Stevie Wonder, Tony Curtis, Victoria Principal,

and Michael J Fox.

Yes, there was always a little frisson of excitement

on the show when our presence was graced by a big name

from across the pond,

bringing a bit of Hollywood sparkle to dear old Shepherd's Bush.

And one such visitor was Rock Hudson,

one of the cinema's most popular leading men.

Unknown to anyone,

Rock had been diagnosed with HIV three months before this interview,

and the year after he came on the show, sadly he passed away.

I found him warm and funny and unaffected by his fame.

When were you first in Europe?

-First?

-Yeah, when did you come over here?

-Were you an actor when you came over here?

-Yes,

-1950. Huh.

-Yes.

-PLUMMY ACCENT:

-Yah.

AUDIENCE CHUCKLES

Were you over here to make a movie?

Yes. In London, Channel Islands.

What was that one?

-Do you r...?

-ALL LAUGH

Erm, the Sea Devil, it was called.

-You obviously...

-Don't ask me what it was called, I don't remember.

I was going to say you remember it with a great deal of affection.

LAUGHTER

And now you're back here again with us. Do you visit very often?

And is it easy for you to travel around?

Well, I love England, I love London, so as much as I can, yes.

-Um...

-But it can't be easy for you to be anonymous.

-Oh, yes, it can.

-Can it?

-Oh, yes.

-And I walk fast.

-Oh.

-AUDIENCE LAUGHS

I would have recognised you immediately.

-No, you wouldn't.

-Wouldn't I?

-No.

I walk too fast.

-Who were your idols when you decided to go into movies?

-Spencer Tracy.

-Is that who you wanted to be?

-Oh, yes.

-You were too tall for Spencer Tracy.

-I know, I know. I don't care.

LAUGHTER

I don't care, I loved him.

As your film career developed...

and I watched it closely cos I was your great fan - still am.

-Thank you.

-As you... I'm not a fan of many people.

-You didn't see the Sea Devils.

-I didn't see the Sea...

Who says I didn't see the Sea Devils?

-You don't remember if you did.

-I was testing you.

AUDIENCE LAUGHS

What was it about?

It was about these people on the sea playing a very vital role in the

struggle to keep Europe and mankind free from the fascist threat.

Was it?! LAUGHTER

You were in it.

I don't remember, I really don't.

THEY LAUGH

Films like Pillow Talk seem very tame now by comparison with

today's more explicit standards.

Do you regret the way films have gone

in terms of being more explicit?

No, I don't. I must tell you something I find interesting,

Pillow Talk was, I don't know, 20 years ago, 25 years ago.

We almost didn't do it because it was too dirty.

SMATTERING OF LAUGHTER

Were those the days you had to keep a foot on the floor

-when you got on the bed?

-Yes.

It had to be single beds, didn't it?

Yes, but also, in getting back to your question...

AUDIENCE LAUGHS

I...

I, like, remember vividly in a Western, I was cut off at the pass

-by...

-I fairly saw it.

LAUGHTER Yes. And I had to say, "Oh, darn it."

There's better things to say at that moment, right?

-Today you can say them.

-Yeah.

We couldn't say them then.

It might have dented the old image a bit

though if they'd heard you using more...

-Why?

-..rigorous language, mightn't it?

-Why?

Well, because I think the heroes in those days had to be more clean-cut.

-Do you think so?

-More... Yes.

-I mean, I think...

-Isn't tall enough?

LAUGHTER

Tall is good.

Tall is very, very good.

I've tried to say that but sometimes it doesn't work.

I bump my head a lot.

What about breaking into the films first,

to get back to how you got in the first place?

Before Sea Devils?

Was there anything before Sea Devils?!

Yes.

Only the silent, surely.

HE SIGHS

LAUGHTER

How did you actually break in?

Uh, this is going to sound smug - and I don't mean it to -

I applied for a job and got it.

Um...

Only because I didn't know any better.

I just sent some pictures around and asked for interviews

and I got one interview and...

Got the part from there?

Well, no, that man became my agent a couple of years later and...

he took me around to a director and the director said,

"Fine, put him in the...

"Put him in this film, see what he looks like,

"give him some lines here and there."

And that's how it started.

What about the lovely ladies with whom you've acted,

Liz Taylor in Giant?

-Do you keep on touch with them?

-Oh, yes, yes, yes.

She's a very, very good friend.

-And Doris Day?

-Yes.

She lives just below San Francisco now.

She doesn't live in Los Angeles any more.

Was she as sweet and bubbly in real life as she was on the films?

We never...stopped laughing. We had uncontrollable giggles.

We couldn't stop.

We couldn't look at each other.

Um, I remember one...

-I'm going to take a little time.

-Of course.

-I have to explain this.

We were doing this shot supposedly on the beach. This was in a sound stage.

We were lying on the sand, you see,

and the camera was up here shooting straight down.

And this was to be just a couple of shots before lunch.

And then during lunch they would move to another sound stage

to do another scene.

And it was a scene where I was trying to get her to kiss me.

I was trying to make her be aggressive

and I was playing the innocent.

And I had lines like, "I'd like to kiss you but I don't know how."

And... AUDIENCE LAUGHS

And then she had to say...

She had to say, "Oh, well, that's easy,"

and lean over and plant one on me.

And then of course the joke is over.

Now I'm supposed to take over and give her a proper one.

Well...

You can't roll over smoothly

and our teeth clicked.

-TERRY LAUGHS

-The first kiss?

And then...

We were there a day and a half trying...

LAUGHTER

..to get the scene and we just couldn't.

I mean, we would look at each other, we would spew in each other's faces.

Great fun, I love it.

Rock Hudson, one of my favourite guests.

And here's another great Hollywood character

and another heart-throb from the golden age of cinema,

a man of many more parts than a famous '60s hairdo - Tony Curtis.

Looking back to those '50s and '60s, you were the trendsetter.

You were Tony Curtis, people copied you in everything you did.

-Were you conscious that you were setting trends?

-I was unconscious.

LAUGHTER

Really unconscious. I never... I really have never planned anything.

You know, everything has always been somewhat spontaneous

and just...I just let it happen.

I didn't try to imagine myself as a trendsetter one way or the other,

I just wanted to get through the day.

Do you know, the meaning comes after the work.

-Yeah.

-Life is only...

The only way you can come to any conclusion about life

is after you've lived it.

-People ask me, when am I going to...

-But then you're dead!

Yeah, but... People have asked me to write an autobiography.

I said, "But I can't do it, I don't know how it'll end."

-Yes, but it'll be too late by the time...

-Yeah, right.

And then who would want to read it?

Well, I mean, a lot of people are writing sort of Hollywood exposes.

Oh, well, yes.

But, like, Jackie Collins writing Hollywood Wives,

I've had more Hollywood wives than she has!

AUDIENCE LAUGHS

-I mean, you know, it's crazy.

-Boasting again.

-Yeah, I know!

ALL LAUGH

-It's not like that anyway, is it?

-No, no, no.

-Of course, it's worse.

Worse, worse, worse! And you, Terry, how are you?

I'm bearing up under the unequal strain. It's the throat, you know.

How many of these shows have you done so far?

-AUDIENCE:

-Ahh.

-Oh, shut up!

-They couldn't care less about me.

-No?

Just before the show started, I went down and I breathed on them

and they all ran out.

It's the barber you go to.

I shouldn't have had that garlic last night.

Listen, how did you get on to talking about me?

This interview is about you.

-Yeah, you think so?

-You, you!

-Yeah, OK.

It's just cos, do you ever say to yourself...

-"Here's me, the boy from the Bronx"?

-No, I don't.

-Why not?

Well, because I didn't come from the Bronx.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

I came from Manhattan.

And I was born and raised in Manhattan.

I lived in the Bronx once but that's...

Listen, if I'd wanted a geography lesson, I would have asked you!

-Right.

-Why didn't you come from the Bronx?

-Oh, yeah, right.

-You ruined the whole thing about coming from the Bronx!

Well, you know, you've kind of put me...

May I stand up for a minute? I'm going to button my jacket.

You just told me about buttoning jackets and sitting down.

-Then sit down again.

-Getting up and down.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to stand up and open it again.

If you were from the Bronx, you would have done that

properly in the first place.

-Right.

-Now it turns out you come from Manhattan.

-Yeah. I've forgotten what you said.

-Yeah.

But when you got down, did you think...

Because remembering the parts that you had and all the rest of it,

you had a very marked Bronx accent, although you came from Manhattan.

Let me say this, living is living from the first day you're born.

The fact that you end up in the movies doesn't make you any

more special than before you ended up in the movies.

-Course not.

-So, you know, I don't reflect that.

I don't pull "a little boy from the Bronx or Manhattan ends up

"a famous movie actor."

To me, both are distinct, strong and positive.

One cannot forget your past and you cannot forget your present.

And you hope for the future.

You know, one...

I've learned a very important lesson.

I've come through a very serious illness.

I'm an alcoholic and have a drug addiction

and this really almost killed me

and I didn't know it.

I thought I was weak-willed, and this was what usually people

thought of people who drank a lot or used drugs.

But I have since found out through research that's been

done in America that it's a disease.

And it's a disease that you have to fight as a disease.

It's an incurable disease that can be cured only by abstinence.

So therefore, I thank God that I'm still alive and able to battle it

and able to help as many friends as possible in that.

So you see, that, the fact that I'm alive talking with you here,

with these fine people here, that in itself is the blessing.

And also it's full marks to you for the strength of character

-that it takes.

-Well, the character only comes from the researching

and I can't spread the gospel enough.

There was a time where I said, "Oh, it's all just a rhetoric

"and it's all political, you know, drinking and drugs,

"they're just saying that because they don't want..." Whatever.

But it's true.

It is killing and it's doing a lot of damage to a lot of young

people in the world and we all are, I feel owed to somehow

give a lift and confidant support to as many young people as possible.

Good for you. Well, thank you for saying that.

-That's important.

-There's just something I have to give you.

-A little surprise.

-Oh, my God.

-Even as we speak...

-Where did you get that from?!

-I've been hiding it for some years.

-'Ello!

-The old cane and JR hat.

BRITISH ACCENT: Cor blimey.

-How long have you been missing that?

-Where did this come from?

-I stole it last time you were here.

-I've been missing it for...

-No!

-I nicked it from you, yes.

-Did you nick it from me?

-The old cane and the hat.

-Bend over!

Look at that.

Well, I'm so glad you've got my stick and hat for me.

-It's another nice...

-Isn't it wonderful, yes?

I love it. Where did you find it?

-Let that be my little secret.

-All righty then.

-What a surprise show this is.

-Tony Curtis, ladies and gentlemen.

How happy I am to be here, ladies and gentlemen.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You got my hat back! Clever man.

Lord knows where the hat and cane came from.

Now, while I try to remember,

a bar or two of a song from an icon of country music,

the great Willie Nelson.

APPLAUSE

# Maybe I didn't love you

# Quite as often as I could have

# Maybe I didn't treat you

# Quite as good as I should have

# If I made you feel second-best

# Girl, I'm sorry, I was blind

# But you were always on my mind

# You were always on my mind

# Maybe I didn't hold you

# All those lonely, lonely times

# I guess I never told you

# That I'm so happy that you're mine

# Little things I should have said and done

# I just never took the time

# But you were always on my mind

# You were always on my mind

# Tell me

# Tell me that your sweet love hasn't died

# And give me

# Give me one more chance to keep you satisfied

# I'll keep you satisfied

# Maybe I didn't love you

# Quite as often as I could have

# Maybe I didn't treat you

# Quite as good as I should have

# Little things I should have said and done

# I just never took the time

# But you were always on my mind

# You were always on my mind

# You were always on my mind

# You were always on my mind. #

APPLAUSE

Willie won multiple Grammy awards for that, and rightly so.

We're meeting a real tough guy now, always the baddie.

The very look of him would frighten the horses.

And the voice - like gravel on a gravestone.

Lee Marvin.

It must be said that you look more like Lee Marvin than Lee Marvin.

You're one of the very few Hollywood stars

who looks every inch what you think he's going to look like.

I think that's because I don't use much make up,

-because it doesn't help.

-Yeah.

I use a lot and it doesn't help me at all.

Well, we're both in the same boat.

But you do look the sort of a fellow that very rarely got sand

kicked in his face on the beach.

I mean, are you tough?

No, I think I am...

I have the opportunity to play it tough

which saves me a lot of bruises.

You don't get many fellas

coming up to you in a bar trying to pick fights, do you?

No, but I buy a lot of them drinks so they don't.

LAUGHTER

That's like the best way to protect yourself.

Was this the kind of defence with you really, acting tough?

Well, it's acting out.

It saves me from getting locked up or spending

a lot of time in gaol.

And you get rid of it on the screen, you know,

so don't have to do it on the street.

But you were a marine.

Did you have to act tough as a marine

to hide your fear for instance?

Well, you have to do a lot of acting to hide that.

I guess that's where I learned how to act.

-In the marines?

-Yeah.

But you picked up a Purple Heart, which is something

we don't hear too often.

You're suitably modest about it.

How did you win that?

You don't win them, you get them when you get hit.

So in other words, I'd rather not have it.

AUDIENCE LAUGHS

Did you get hit in a very vulnerable place?

Yes, I got hit in the...

HE MOUTHS

LAUGHTER

This doesn't give me much to talk about, right, Terry?

ALL LAUGH

APPLAUSE

So you obviously were hospitalised after that.

And then... Was it then you decided to be an actor

while you were in hospital setting there festering?

No, I was trying to figure out how to get out of the Marine Corp then.

And after the war was over... I was discharged just before that.

..I just went into the normal jobs that a 21-year-old scout sniper would

go into in civilian life, right?

I was digging ditches.

So...

I just happened to be in a community that was kind of artsy

and they had a little summer start company there

and I fell in with the girls and the boys of that group

and I liked it very much and just stayed with them.

And then went to Hollywood?

Eventually, yeah. The theatre first and then, you know, that route.

Did you get as typecast in the theatre as you subsequently were

-in Hollywood?

-Oh, no, the theatre was wide open.

You could hide behind wigs and costumes, where the camera is

a little more intimate than that so I couldn't disguise myself too well.

Hmm, I mean, this tough appearance made them

first cast you as a gangster and a killer?

No, actually, I think

the reason I was cast as that is that I wasn't a model-looking,

young, leading man. I had...

And so all those guys were the heavies,

so I was one of those guys,

so I became a heavy and that was it.

Did you enjoy it, punching John Wayne for instance?

Well, anybody enjoys that.

LAUGHTER

And getting away with it.

Did you ever get hurt in any of those screen fights?

I know you ducked the punches and there was a lot of extras

and all that, but did John Wayne ever land a good one on you?

No, no, we've always avoided each other on that

because we had to go to work tomorrow, you know?

And so it's...it's a dance, it's a choreographed dance.

-Hmm.

-So, no, I was never really injured in films.

You also have a reputation...

I'm sure it still doesn't hold good.

..of being something of a drinker in your halcyon days.

-Oh, yes, I was much younger.

-Was that like being the old gunfighter

that people would come up and challenge you to drinking bouts?

Didn't you have a famous one with Oliver Reed once where

he challenged you to drink yourselves unconscious?

-LAUGHTER

-You don't remember?

-I did a film with Ollie, yeah.

-Do you not remember the drinking?

I think we were in Mexico, I'm not sure.

Well, it was fun whatever it was.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Did...

But at the time... I know you hardly touch the stuff now at all.

At the time, did your legendary drinking prowess have anything

to do with you getting the part of the drunken gunfighter?

No, but I took the horse out and got him the part.

-Cos he was drunk as well, wasn't he?

-He had to be.

I mean, he wouldn't drink, so I had to talk to him for a while.

But he made me very good in that film, that horse.

Friendship goes a long way with a few little...

Have you always been a family man?

Well, that was out of necessity, you know, that's...

They were just there?

No, the sheriff was there.

-Or her father with a gun?

-That's what I'm saying.

ALL LAUGH

Sweetheart.

My wife is in the audience.

I think she's probably been, would you say one of the most

effective things in your late mellowing?

Has she eventually worn you down?

Well, even in my early mellowing...

-Sorry.

-Yeah, she's been around a long time in my life.

I met her when she was 15 and I was 21.

And justice was finally done.

She made an honest man of you, did she?

Or the town did, I've forgotten which one.

LAUGHTER

And now I'm an honest man.

We're delighted to see you, Lee, and thank you for coming.

Thank you. APPLAUSE

WHISTLING AND CHEERING

Like every other chat show, Wogan thrived on big names,

but of course it was great to meet stars in the making

at the beginning of their careers.

Here's one of them - Michael J Fox, about to become

one of the world's biggest celebrities...

Well, being fairly small.

..with the release of the first of the Back To The Future films.

AUDIENCE APPLAUDS

Just saying, to see, Michael...

Cos I saw a screening of that movie and it really is sensational.

-I'm glad you liked it.

-And I have to say that,

isn't the real star of the film the car?

Well, yeah, but you don't have to tell me that.

Yeah, no, the car is incredible.

This is a DeLorean car,

which goes back and forward into the future.

-Right.

-And takes you back...

Back into the past and then you've got to try

and get back to the future with this.

You can never explain this movie. That's the good thing about it.

I thought I just explained it in ten seconds.

People really have to go and see it.

Yeah, it's a DeLorean that this friend of mine who's a mad scientist

converts into a time machine and I get kind of trapped in it.

It takes me back to the '50s and I run into my parents

and screw things up royally and have to kind of get it...

-I have to introduce my parents...

-Yeah.

-..otherwise, I won't exist

and my mother is kind of smitten with me,

-which is a sticky situation.

-That's right.

But the film manages to get over that...

-Yeah, it handles it really well.

-..Oedipal situation.

-Right. Right.

It's the kind of all-American

teen hero that you play, though, isn't it?

Kind of, yeah, which is good for a Canadian.

LAUGHTER

You can feel a bit uneasy being a Canadian playing...?

No, it's kind of funny, actually, cos people say that.

Kind of the all-American kid from Vancouver, which is really great.

I mean, the thing about the film was you went back in time

-and subtly changed your own life by being back in the past.

-Right.

Would you...? I mean, did it make you think at all...

It certainly made me think.

..how much you'd like to go back in time and see things?

Um, you know, I thought about that

cos it was something that I thought about when I was doing it -

what would I change or what would I alter?

I don't think I'd change anything. I mean, it worked out all right.

-I mean, here I am.

-Certainly worked out for you, yeah.

-I'm in England.

-You're supposed to be about 17 or 18 in the movie.

-Right.

How old are you in real life?

-HE MUMBLES

-Are you?

-Yeah. No, I'm 24.

-You don't look it.

-No, I know. I know.

I think I made a deal somewhere along the line and I don't want to know...

You haven't got a painting in an attic anywhere, have you?

There may be. There may be. But, yeah, I've just been real lucky.

How did you manage to stay so fresh doing that movie?

Because I know you were also shooting

a very successful Family Ties series that you do in the States.

It was a strange situation cos I worked on Family Ties

from ten in the morning until about six at night

and then I'd get in a car and go over to Universal

and work until about two, 2:30 in the morning.

But the people, the energy involved, with the other people in the film,

was just so great that you were just so inspired when you got there.

Bob Zemeckis, who directed it, is a total lunatic,

but happily, can be productive in society

by making films and he really had a lot of energy.

And I guess there's the other Stevie Wonder.

Not the one who was here tonight,

but Steven Spielberg certainly had things going and under control.

So, it was something that I really believed in.

He's making so many movies at the moment, Steven Spielberg,

that eventually, this programme will be made up

of stars from Steven Spielberg movies

coming in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

You're in America now with the success of Back To The Future.

You are, I suppose, to be regarded as a superstar

and yet, here, the movie hasn't opened yet.

-LAUGHTER

-So, nobody knows who you are.

-Yeah.

-LAUGHTER

-Where would you rather be?

-Where would I rather be?

-Here or in the States?

This is fun. This is fun. Especially...

I went out for a drink

with some friends on Saturday night when I first got in

and I was quite glad by the end of it that no-one did know who I was.

TERRY CHUCKLES

But it's kind of nice to have a bit of both, I think.

Before it hits and it hits, as it will, very big.

Well, especially cos London is such a great walking town, you know.

It's a great place to get out and walk around and see everything

so it's nice to have seen it like this

before either they see the movie and like me

and stop me and talk to me or see the movie

and want to stone me. LAUGHTER

So, one way or the other, I've seen London so...

I don't think they're going to want to stone you.

I think you're going to be very, very big indeed.

It's a wonderful movie.

I hope that everyone here likes the movie. It's a lot of fun.

-Glad you could drop in and see us.

-Thank you. My pleasure.

-Michael J Fox!

-APPLAUSE

Michael J Fox, still acting today

and doing so much for the awareness of Parkinson's disease.

Good man.

Now, when my next guest Stevie Wonder came on the show,

he received one of the biggest ovations from the audience

the Shepherd's Bush Theatre had ever seen.

Incredibly talented, a child prodigy,

he told us what it was like growing up in the music industry.

You really didn't have a normal teenage, then, did you?

I mean, you were famous by the time you were 12 or 13.

It was still normal. I mean, my allowance was only 2.50 a week.

-AUDIENCE:

-Aw!

Give me a break! LAUGHTER

And, um...you know, I did the normal things.

I fell in love every week... LAUGHTER

..by the age of 16.

At 15, it was the time that...

Well, I'd been writing for a while, but the first hit that I had

was in '65 with a song called Uptight

and that was a tour that we came over here and performed

and I did the Scotch Club.

They allowed me to perform and sing there.

-They didn't serve liquor while I was performing.

-Yeah.

And it was a little cutesy. It was like...

# Baby, everything is all right

# Uptight, out of sight. #

It was like I'm a poor man's son across the railroad track

The only shirt I own is hanging on my back

But I'm the envy of every single guy Cos I'm the apple of my girl's eye.

HE MUMBLES AUDIENCE LAUGHS

-That was around about, what, '65?

-'65, yeah.

-Yeah. And that was...

-HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Those were very productive years for you, weren't they?

Between '65 and '70, you had an awful lot of hits,

like For Once In My Life, My Cherie Amour

and Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday.

Do you have a favourite from that time?

I think probably... HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

..I enjoyed doing all the songs.

For Once In My Life, of course, was special because it...

I kind of changed the song around

from the way that I guess the writer originally wrote it.

But I felt that the lyric...

I mean, the original song by Tony Bennett, of course, is great.

Of course, he just recorded another one of my songs.

I'm just kidding. LAUGHTER

Um, you know, just doing it like...

# For once in my life I have someone who needs me

# Someone I've needed so long. #

HE HUMS

-It's great like that.

-You've forgotten that.

-Oh, somewhat.

But the way that we did it was like...

# For once in my life I have someone who needs me

# Someone I've needed so long... #

I thought it was something that you were supposed to rejoice.

# For once I can say this is mine You can't take it

# Long as I know I have love I can make it

# For once in my life I have someone who needs me

# Ba-da-da-da-da. #

You know, that kind of thing.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I must tell you the truth, really.

What happened was we were supposed to get in last night here

around ten-something and there was a little trouble with the plane.

I told them I wanted to fly.

They said, "No, you can't do that, Steve."

LAUGHTER I said, "Come on. One time.

"Let me fly the Concorde one time."

They said, "No, Steve. You can't do it."

They said, "You'll be moving too fast to see the turns."

LAUGHTER

But so we got in...

-..at about five this morning.

-Yeah.

-SIREN WAILS FAINTLY

-Hang on.

I think they're coming for you, Steve!

Did you do something bad the last time you were here?

-I told them I was coming to be on your show.

-That's it.

LAUGHTER

And then in the mid-'70s, you did that wonderful album -

-Songs In The Key Of Life.

-AUDIENCE MEMBER:

-Whoo!

Well, Songs In The Key Of Life... LAUGHTER

the...

The one song that... Well, you know, a few songs were very successful

from Songs In The Key Of Life. The...

# Isn't she lovely?

# Isn't she wonderful? #

About my daughter Aisha.

And the first song on the album was a song that kind of relates to why...

One of the major reasons of me being here in England this time.

Um, we're going to be...

..raffling off a signature that I will do for a cover of the album

and I plan to also maybe donate a harmonica to the same thing

and they can raise money for the children in need.

-That would be super.

-It would be a good feeling...

-Yeah.

-..to give a lot of money.

APPLAUSE

But the...

Thank you! LAUGHTER

But the one song that is from the album that kind of relates to...

..to I guess the whole drive that's been happening

and fortunately, since Songs In The Key Of Life

in 1976 is released, there have been some incredible things

that have happened in the world of music

and more and more people have begun to sing along.

And making the world realise that it is a song

that can create and help to make harmony.

This song is called Love's In Need Of Love Today.

I'll just do a little bit of it for you.

Everybody say... HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

Clear your throats.

# Good morn or evening, friends

# Here's your friendly announcer

# I have serious news

# To pass on to everybody

# What I'm about to say

# Could mean the world's disaster

# To change your joy and laughter

# To tears and pain

# It's that love's in need

# Of love today

# Don't delay

# Send yours in right away

# Hate's going round

# Breaking many hearts

# Stop it, please

# Before it's gone too far

# Gone too far. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Stevie Wonder.

I could have listened to him at that old Joanna for hours.

Anyone who watched Wogan back in the day will remember

we had a ton of fun with the big American soap operas -

Dallas and Dynasty.

Over-the-top in every way.

At least the hairstyles, the shoulder pads,

the walk-in cupboards with the wire coat hangers,

the appalling JR, the tragic Sue Ellen.

Oh, we loved it all.

We couldn't get enough of stars

like Pam Ewing herself, Victoria Principal.

It's been said that Pam Ewing and Victoria Principal

couldn't be more different.

I know that you may have said this before,

but for a British audience,

obviously, we haven't seen you before,

are you very different from the character you portray?

Well, we work in the same place.

LAUGHTER

Um, are we very different?

I think, in the beginning, we were very much alike.

In the miniseries, Pamela was more outspoken

and I think she had a bit more fire

and then as the years progress, she became more quiet

and a little more submissive

-and I think that's where we parted ways.

-Hmm.

I mean, you wouldn't, in real life,

really fancy anybody like Bobby Ewing, would you?

LAUGHTER

That's a loaded question. LAUGHTER

In deference to Mrs Duffy, who is Patrick's wife, he's...

SHE LAUGHS Oh, dear.

Um, well, I can't say that that's true.

I don't know if I'd fancy the rest of the family.

LAUGHTER

What you're trying to say is that you admire him as an artiste,

but you wouldn't necessarily want to go out with him to dinner,

-which you continually appear to do.

-LAUGHTER

Why is everything taking place over lunch or dinner in Dallas?

Because they eat enormous amounts of food.

-They do, don't they? And drink.

-LAUGHTER

-Let's see, they're alcoholics and obese.

-Yeah.

-No! No, no.

-How do you stay sober?

-Always smashing it back, aren't you?

-LAUGHTER

No, actually, I suppose a lot of the things do take place

-over dinner on the show.

-Everything takes place over dinner.

In fact, since Pam has moved out, she very seldom eats or drinks.

Is she going to finish up with that fellow

-with the ferret under his nose?

-LAUGHTER

I'm sorry.

No, I can't say. Actually, I don't really know myself.

We find out week to week. We're given the script.

You get as confused by the script as we do.

Not confused, but I don't find out

until a few days before I begin shooting.

Do you get involved in the script?

You know, do you actually ask the scriptwriters,

"Well, come on. I'd like to know. What's going to happen next?"

-Oh, very much so, yes.

-And do they tell you?

-No.

LAUGHTER No.

They tell me as much as they can and sometimes,

there are things that I feel that Pam wouldn't do or say

-and then we have a sort of stand-off over that.

-And who wins?

Well, if I don't say it, I suppose I win.

LAUGHTER There have only been, I think,

two occasions in the entire history of the show that that's happened.

Pam would never be like that, would she?

No, actually, that was why I refused to say something.

I felt it was a sexual slur

and I felt that Pam would never say something like that

and I felt it was really going against the grain of her character.

Are you happy the way she's gone

or would you have liked the character to take another direction?

I think to play a character that I so admire

and that is so beloved...

-You don't admire Pam Ewing.

-Of course I admire her!

But people think she's a dummy.

LAUGHTER

-No, I think she's a sweetheart.

-Eh?

LAUGHTER No, she's a sweetheart.

You must occasionally think...

I mean, you're an intelligent woman.

You must play the part and think, "My God, why is she doing this?"

There are times when I wish Pam would speak up,

but there are other times...

Well, she's made me very wealthy.

LAUGHTER

What's going to happen to your career when it eventually,

as it must, finishes?

Well, I will fulfil the terms of my contract.

I'm pleased to hear it.

I don't know that I'll necessarily go on as long as the show does.

But when you finish, how are you going to move away

from the image that has been created of Pam Ewing?

With great difficulty.

I think it will take a lot of work on my part.

Um, I think it's going to be very difficult

the first few years to break out of...

I know if someone were in my living room once a week as a character,

I'd find it very hard to see them as anyone else

and so I've anticipated that,

but I think there's enough time for me to.

And the money will always be a comfort.

Um, I think I've been wise and saved my money and invested it,

which actually, a lot of series people

don't foresee that one day, it will end.

Why are you smiling?

-I'm smiling...

-LAUGHTER

I just like to hear you talking

completely differently from Pam Ewing

cos she'd never invest her money

cos she's a complete eejit with that kind of thing.

LAUGHTER Well, she married well.

It's very, very hard work, obviously,

when you do get up very early in the morning.

How hard is it for you to climb into the old make-up every morning?

-SHE LAUGHS

-Get out there on the set?

-It can't be easy.

-No, it's not that tough.

I mean, I get up between four and 4:30.

I'm in make-up at 5:40.

For some unusual reason, I'm supposed to be there at 5:40.

I think cos I'm always late so I'm there by six.

-And how long does it take you to do the make-up?

-Half a day.

LAUGHTER No, hair and make-up takes two hours

and we're on the set and we start shooting until six or seven.

What do you look like before the make-up goes on?

Just like this. It's a waste of time.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

A good sort, that Pam Ewing.

Do you know, I'd like to have invited her to the Oil Barons Ball,

but it turned out the Carringtons of Dynasty

were also up for a bit of gentle joshing

as I discovered when John Forsythe and Linda Evans,

also known as Blake and Krystle,

invited little old me to their humble abode.

Do you ever get sick of the character Krystle?

-I mean, she's so good.

-What's the matter with being good?

Yeah, but there's good and good.

You can be good but tough sometimes.

-I mean...

-Krystle's tough sometimes.

-No, she's not.

I mean, she must drive him mad. Does she drive you mad?

Yes, I've been driven mad more times than I care to remember.

-I've been trying to get her to be bad.

-In a bad way?

Not be good. And I'm trying to do something about...

-The old shoulder pads?

-Yes.

You even wear the shoulder pads in bed!

-Yes!

-You do, don't you?

-You don't wear yours?

That's all she wears.

I don't sleep in a dinner jacket, for goodness' sake.

Why do you keep drawing away?

-That's all she wears is just the shoulder pads.

-In bed?

-Just shoulder pads.

-Nothing else. Two shoulder pads.

She looks like an American football player.

-I don't want to be here any more. I want to leave.

-Don't go!

For goodness' sake. I've only just arrived.

I've come all this way and now you want to leave.

Well, you want to check my pads and I don't want you to!

Well, all right. I won't lay a finger on you then.

It seems disappointing to come all this way

and not even get a chance to touch your shoulder pads. Still...

-We gave you a drink.

-I brought you a mug.

That's right. And a shirt, yes. I'm feeling guilty now.

-We don't have a gift for him.

-Yes, I'm feeling very, very guilty.

Why don't we give him the family?

Yes, I'd like to give him a couple of children.

-Would you like a couple of my children?

-Certainly not.

Let him feel your shoulder pad. Go ahead.

Oh, that's terrific.

That's terrific, that shoulder pad. I feel good already.

-Now feel his shoulder pad.

-OK.

That's even better.

-Now, are you glad you came?

-This is it. Now I'm happy.

'But there was just one thing that would make me happier.'

But, look, before I go, there's just one thing I've always wanted to do.

-What's that?

-I'd like to walk just once down that great staircase.

-What? What for?

-It's just a lot has happened on that staircase.

Not enough has happened on that staircase.

I've tried and it didn't work.

-Your private life is your own business.

-All right.

All I just want to do is for once walk down that staircase.

-Can I do it?

-All right.

-Does it mean going back to the mansion?

No, we've got it right around the corner here. Come on. Go ahead.

MUSIC: Dynasty Theme Song

Merry Christmas, Terry!

Here it is. I've finally arrived.

The very chandelier, the smooth banisters,

these stairs on which you have to watch your step,

less you tumble over and lose your baby.

Look at this. An ancestral Carrington.

Stap me vitals!

If it isn't old JR Carrington,

the man who invented the shoulder pads.

This is it, I suppose -

the crowning glory to a wonderful day.

Like all wonderful days, it has to come to a close.

So, I suppose I'd better be on my weary way.

It's time for me to slip away now too

so join me for another backward glance

soon as you can.