215 Shang-A-Lang

First  watched :  April  1975

Shang-A-Lang,   featuring  the  Bay  City  Rollers  at  the  height  of  their  UK  fame,  was  the  latest  pop  show  produced  by  Granada's  Muriel  Young , replacing  45  which  I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  because  I  didn't  recognise  Kid  Jensen  when  he  turned  up  on  Top  of  the  Pops  in  the  late  seventies. Despite  my  interest  in  pop  I didn't  see  that  many  of  the  ITV  pop  shows  and  I  think  it   may  have  been  that  they  weren't  chart-based  like  Top  of  the  Pops  so  I  didn't  trust  them  to  maintain  quality  control. Or  perhaps  it  was  an  autistic  love  of  lists  that  kept  me  glued  to  Top  of  the  Pops  as  much  as  the  music.

I  didn't  really  have  much  choice  with  Shang-A-Lang  as  my  sister's  school  friends  had  bought  into  Rollermania  which  meant  she  couldn't  miss  it. Although  she  picked  Woody  as  her  favourite,  I  don't  think  she  was  ever  that  enamoured  with  them  and  certainly  never  bought  any  merchandise  ; it  was  just  a  social  necessity. I  enjoyed  their  hits  in  1974  but  when  the  hype  really  took  off  around  the  beginning  of  1975  it  alienated  me  and  I  certainly didn't  enjoy  watching  this  show.  None  of  the  Rollers  were  particularly  good  off  the  stage  - the  older  Alan  Longmuir  looked  particularly  uncomfortable  - and  their  accents  didn't  help ; they  wouldn't  get  further TV  work  until  invited  to  bleat  about  their  financial  misfortunes  in  the  nineties.

Nevertheless  I  do  look  out  for  clips  from  this  show  for  a  particular  reason. In  the  mid  to  late  nineties  I  worked  for  a  guy  who'd  been  the  accountant  for  Granada  in  the  seventies. As  part  of  the  management  team  he  had  to  do  his  share  of  evening  shifts  as  one  of  them  had  to  be  on  site  whenever  something  was  happening  in  the  building. So  it  happened that  he  was  often  on  duty  when  Shang-A-Lang  was  being  filmed  and  had  to  muck  in  as  a  "bouncer "  stopping  the  hysterical  girls   reaching  the  stage. The  cameras  often  focused  on  these  efforts     and  he  became  a  reluctant  member  of  the  show's  cast  to  the  amusement  of  his  friends  and  family  at  the  time. I  haven't  spotted  him  yet  but  keep  looking.