And welcome to the first Creamguide this side of 2022, but with your listings for the second week of the year. It’s all very complicated, especially now Blue Peter is on Fridays. Keep in touch via creamguide@tvcream.co.uk.
SATURDAY
8th JANUARY
BBC2
19.40 The Perfect Morecambe and Wise
Into the postbag, and Jon Hodder kicks off the year in suitable style. “Strange occurrences as I read this week's Creamguide and particularly the mention of Sid James' last ever appearance on film just minutes after I'd walked past the Empire Theatre in Sunderland where of course he famously died in 1976. I was walking back to my hotel room after witnessing Sheffield Wednesday's 5-0 hammering at the Stadium of Light and it's debatable as to who suffered the most, Sid or me.” Shirley Bassey’s in this one, and they don’t just throw this schedule together...
20.10 Shirley Bassey at the BBC
21.10 Elvis: The Rebirth of the King
22.10 David Bowie and The Story of Ziggy Stardust
It’s the International Year Of Shirley Bassey! After last night’s hoopla on BBC4, with more to come later in the week, her 85th birthday celebrations continue as part of an evening of music docs to mark three acts who were all born this week, making up a fairly unlikely triple bill. If they’re acts of interest to you it’s likely you’ll have seen them before, but the Elvis one is the most interesting as it argues his Vegas years weren’t the nadir that some critics suggest but the man at his very best.
ITV
15.00 The Story of SMTV Live
A new Ant and Dec show starts tonight but, alas, it’s another high stakes game show where they have to spend ages reading out rules, which isn’t what we want to see, we want to see them mucking about and ad-libbing. Happily we can see them do that in fine style in this repeat from last Christmas with the lads meeting up with Cat to reflect on probably the last Saturday morning show to be watched and enjoyed by all ages, given when it began it was still just about in the era where the only adult alternatives were the Open University or in a foreign language. All the great bits are featured, including the amazing Eggy Pumps.
BBC4
22.40 Parkinson: The Peter Cook Interviews
Looks like we’re starting a repeat run of the mid-nineties compilations over the next few weeks, some of which we’ll have seen in recent years as obits and tributes, and some we won’t have seen for a while. This first episode was actually made as a tribute in the first place, as Peter Cook had died just before the series began. Cook was a famously awful chat show host, with his own series being abandoned after just three weeks in the early seventies, but when he was on form, a great guest, as Parky benefitted from.
ITV4
10.30 The Big Match Revisited
After a brief pause we’re back in February 1981, and because we tend to skip these episodes, here’s a rare chance to see Brian make one of his contractually obliged trips to a Third Division ground, in this case Craven Cottage to see Fulham play Portsmouth. But the reason we’re getting this one is presumably because Granada were at the Manchester derby that day, and that’s what gets top billing.
Talking Pictures TV
21.00 Maigret
When the Beeb repeated a load of vintage shows to mark their sixtieth anniversary in 1982, they had to apologise after showing an episode of the classic sixties Maigret because they picked a terrible episode Maigret himself was hardly in. Seemingly there’s no such issues here because it looks like this channel is going to be screening them all, given this is a rare example of a sixties series where every episode exists in the archives. A giant show in its day, even now every revival – including the Rowan Atkinson one that came and went a few years back – is compared to Rupert Davies’ portrayal, so well worth another look.
BBC Radio 2
13.00 Pick of the Pops
All the Saturday staples are back after their Christmas breaks, and here’s Gambo with 1984 and 1996 which are, of course, really the fag end of 1983 and 1995 respectively. That said, the former is quite a notable chart as it’s the week Relax stormed up from number 35 to number six after their Pops performance and Mike Read realised what the lyrics were when he was playing it. Sadly Mike Flowers, having failed to make it to Christmas number one, is already sliding down the latter chart, but let’s hope for the likes of Dubstar.
SUNDAY
9th JANUARY
Talking Pictures TV
21.00 Secret Army
Well, after further study revealed that BBC2’s film premiere The Sisters Brothers does not feature Trevor and Simon, we’ll instead alight on this, though when we were back within the bosom of our family over Christmas Creamguide’s dad was eager to tell us that he was still watching it every week and thoroughly enjoying it. And we’ve now reached the final episode of series one, with series two to follow.
MONDAY
10th JANUARY
BBC2
19.30 Mastermind
This show’s Monday stablemates are coming towards the end of their runs, with the Only Connect final next week, but there’s still ages to go here ensuring we’ll be quizzing to start the week until well into the spring. Someone’s answering questions on Bob Dylan here, alongside a potentially intriguing round on the Green Party.
BBC4
22.00 Art on the BBC
Unlike Dali last week there’s no opportunity to hear the subject of this profile in their own words as they died in 1890, but Van Gogh has been a favourite subject of film makers for many years, no doubt because he really is the epitome of the tortured artist. In this programme Kate Bryan romps through the archives to discover if anyone has ever managed to successfully separate the art from the artist while discussing his work, and yes, there are clips from Doctor Who as well.
So the Companion rolls on into another year, and here’s a show we ended up watching at Christmas as the least objectionable option for the whole family. That reminded us it’s one of TV’s longest running game shows, having been on our screens, off and on, for nearly forty years. It’s...
CATCHPHRASE (1986-2002, 2012-)
Like many other game shows, including Call My Bluff and Blockbusters, Catchphrase is an American format that did much better in the UK than in its home country, where it had a short-lived daytime run in the early eighties. Excitingly we’ve got a snatch of it (and some of the surrounding presentation) here, and you’ll find much of it familiar, including the rotating structure (although only one person gets to ride it), the sound effects, the letters board in the final, the fountain-style screen saver on the big screens and even many of the catchphrases. It was picked up by game show specialists Action Time and TVS took a punt on a British version, though the pilot was a complete technical disaster which took hours to record. That was at least good news for Brian Conley who was the warm-up and did such a good job of keeping the audience going during the fraught production that he was immediately offered several jobs.
Disastrous though the pilot was, there was something there and a series was commissioned to start in January 1986. Hosting the show was affable Northern Irish comedian Roy Walker, a familiar face in previous years on variety and series like The Comedians. Comedians of Roy’s generation were always eager to land game show gigs as it kept you in the public eye and gave you a reason to be on screen without using up all your material, and if you were funny it was a bit of a bonus. If you found the right one, too, it could keep you in work for years. Roy certainly did find the right one as Catchphrase appeared on screen pretty much fully-formed, its simple but inspired format able to be described within thirty seconds and with plenty of playalong potential for the whole family.
Catchphrase’s first slot was the post-Highway placing of 7.15 on Sundays, where a juvenile Creamguide always found it made for perfect viewing after a bath and the Top 40. And so successful was it that when Roy returned for a second series he was able to proudly announce it was the most-watched game show on telly in 1986. One difference between the UK and USA versions was that this was still in the era when there were strict limits on prizes, hence why the UK incarnation prevented players buzzing in until a bell was rung, to limit the number of phrases they got through during the show and stop contestants winning thousands of pounds. One thing they never managed to ever get right, though, was the competitiveness of the game as one contestant would seemingly always dominate right from the start and the winner would be obvious after about two minutes.
Although its neon set (which hung around for ages) makes it look pretty old hat now, Catchphrase was hugely advanced for its time thanks to its use of computer graphics to generate the catchphrases. Rather brilliantly, five hundred of them were released on a standalone VHS, which also allows us to hear Ed Welch’s long-running theme tune in full, plus all the stock music that accompanied the animations. They do sound a bit weird without Roy, mind, as mindful of leaving dead air when nobody knew it, he would embark on non-stop patter – “There’s Mr Chips, what’s he doing? There’s no bell, remember!” – until someone finally buzzed in to shut him up. Roy ended up with various stock phrases, most famously “it’s good but it’s not right” used even when the contestants couldn’t be wronger, although our favourite was always the extended “riiiiiiiiight!” at the climax of a round.
Of course these days we get celebrity versions of game shows every five minutes – which we’re not that bothered about because we don’t care who’s being entertaining as long as someone is – but in the eighties these were strictly reserved for Christmas. Here’s a festive episode from 1989, only the second half unfortunately, which means we don’t get to see the bit we vividly remember from watching it at the time, four people precariously squeezed onto the rotating structure and holding onto it for dear life as it revolved. Nick Owen wins, which is rather appropriate as he hosted the pilot, though the presence of “Mrs Thatcher” suggests the show had started to get a bit self-aware, and we think by this point they’d already used both “say what you see” and, yes, “catchphrase” as catchphrases.
Catchphrase was progressing happily on ITV, filling any available slot and always pulling in a decent audience, before disaster struck in 1991 when TVS lost their franchise. But this wasn’t the end for Catchphrase and TVS recorded umpteen episodes in 1992 which were then stockpiled by ITV and continued to be broadcast well into 1994, long after TVS had gone off the air and with a Meridian caption hastily stuck at the end.
After TVS went pop, most of its assets, including the Maidstone studios, were acquired by The Family Channel, the clean-living American network aiming to make inroads into the UK market with repeats of Highway to Heaven and other such wholesome fare. With Catchphrase being a favourite with kids and adults alike, they also produced a new family version of the old staple, with Roy replaced by Andrew O’Connor and a suspiciously invisible audience. They made hundreds of episodes of this, the most interesting being a celeb special with both Johnny and Zoe Ball, the latter very early in her TV career, and an edition including one of several TV appearances for a pre-teen Simon Amstell.
But ITV weren’t going to let this reliable ratings winner go quietly, and when the huge pile of stockpiled TVS episodes ran out, new episodes went into production. Action Time made it themselves as an indie production (with their own catchphrase for their logo) for Carlton, and the whole thing got suitably spruced up with the original titles and set finally being retired, but the rotating structure still present and correct, which was all to the good.
Roy continued to host, although the ballooning of soap episodes around the late nineties meant that many of the regular slots for quizzes on ITV found themselves occupied, so episodes of Catchphrase ended up being flung in every available slot, often months or even years after they were made. But it still rated well enough and there was huge uproar in 1999 when it was announced Roy was being dropped! In his place came Nick Weir, who had come up through the holiday camps and cruise ships and done the odd daytime show, but in primetime Catchphrase was his big break – quite literally, because he famously fell down the stairs on one of the first recordings and presented the rest of the series with a broken foot. Weir was alright as a host, but he wasn’t Roy and most people couldn’t see why the change had been made in the first place. Also, NO ROTATING STRUCTURE.
Weir hosted three series of Catchphrase, to little effect, before returning to the cruise ships, and then in 2002 the show went the same way as many of its primetime stablemates at the time, like Wheel of Fortune and Family Fortunes, and moved into daytime. This meant pounds became points and the audience became canned, while taking over as host was Mark Curry, who introduced a bit of business where his catchphrase was that he didn’t have a catchphrase. Curry tried his best but it was clear the show was now very much in reduced circumstances and the first daytime series was also the last, although episodes of this, and Weir’s final run, were eked out to fill gaps over the next eighteen months or so.
And that was it until 2012, when Catchphrase returned, now produced by STV. Stephen Mulhern was installed as host and you’d have to say it was a pretty faithful recreation of the original show, keeping all the rules in place along with many of the sound effects, and the new set and graphics looking like a natural evolution of the old show. The only difference was the first round now included three contestants rather than two, one of whom would be rather pointlessly eliminated, while there were more celebrity specials, though the obvious affection for the old show has seen a lot of celebs appear who are a pleasing diversion from the norm for primetime ITV, including Johnny Vegas, David Baddiel and Katherine Ryan.
And the new Catchphrase is celebrating a decade on screen this year, as it’s settled into the same role as the original series did – a show you’d never stay in for but you’d happily keep watching and playing along with if you stumbled across it in the schedules, which is the kind of show a TV channel can’t get enough of. And we did all of that without mentioning the snake charmer once.
TUESDAY
11th JANUARY
BBC4
20.30 Yes Prime Minister
Well, that’s the end of the One Foot repeats for now, but Keeping Up Appearances continues, and we’ve got this as well, neatly following on from Party Games being shown the other week. It’s often been said that the PM episodes aren’t half as good as the previous ones, Mark Lewisohn even referring to them as “second-rate”, because it stretches credibility that Hacker can be that stupid while having made it to Prime Minister, but we think that for various reasons that may be a less valid criticism these days.
WEDNESDAY
12th JANUARY
BBC Radio 4
11.30 Oti Mabuse’s Dancing Legends
It’s dancing on the radio, everyone! But this should make for quite an entertaining series in any case, as Oti welcomes a host of choreographers and dancers to celebrate their heroes and trace the history of dance. She’s not messing around either, as joining her first is the much-acclaimed Matthew Bourne, and he’s picked Fred Astaire.
13.45 Past Forward: A Century of Sound
This week Greg Jenner is continuing his rummage through the BBC archives picking clips at random from any point over the century and pondering what they tell us about Britain at the time. Among the items this week are interviews with Tariq Ali and Fred Perry, and a slice of Beckham-mania, but today it’s an encounter with Ernest Marples, who as transport minister in the sixties made a big impact on our car culture.
THURSDAY
13th JANUARY
BBC2
21.00 Andy Warhol’s America
We’re onto the sixties in this series, and while the UK was embracing the white heat of technology and Cool Britannia, America seemed to be undergoing some kind of national breakdown. That’s reflected in a decade of Warhol’s more challenging work, suitably shocking and hard-hitting for the era, although apparently Warhol himself seemingly relished these big events as providing suitable material.
FRIDAY
14th JANUARY
BBC4
19.15 The Shirley Bassey Show
Happy memories of this channel’s endless repeat run of The Good Old Days a few years ago as we get the whole of this series from 1976, not just with Shirl herself but also Nigel Lythgoe and the gang providing the hoofing and her special guests. Two guests tonight absolutely perfectly of their time as well, Johnny Nash and Gilbert O’Sullivan.
20.00 Top of the Pops
For The Human League in 1981, read the Manic Street Preachers in 1992 as acts who had the misfortune to make most of their Pops appearances on episodes presented by hosts who we’re not seeing, though happily their debut performance has escaped that fate and is undoubtedly the highlight of this one, though with James and The Wonder Stuff the average age of the performers is just about the right side of 40 for a change.
20.30 Top of the Pops
Then we’re skipping another one, although given it included a long sequence revolving around a phone vote for the Brit Awards, it would presumably have been cut to ribbons anyway. It also featured all nine minutes of the video for Remember The Time by Michael Jackson, but we’ll get it again on this one anyway, albeit happily in truncated form. Meanwhile after Color Me Badd’s success in 1991, their new single seems a bit of a no-brainer to appear as an exclusive but the Pops midas touch strikes again as it crawled to number 58 and they never made the Top 40 again. It’s also the last appearance of Steve Anderson, who hasn’t been very slick but he was enthusiastic and likeable enough, certainly no worse than the rest of the hosts, and who would go on to various gigs including shopping channel presenter, life coach and stand-up comedian before sadly dying a few years back.
CBBC
17.00 Blue Peter
The new slot took priority in this billing last week, but the big question is, of course, how much of the traditional festive fare did we get on the Christmas show? Well, the Christmas crib and the advent crown were present and correct – though it was the latter’s only appearance in December – and there was a carol at the end, albeit Away In A Manger rather than either of the “regular” ones, but we’re sorry to say that yet again there wasn’t the shiny ship next to the copyright date. Maybe next year.
