First viewed : Uncertain
I'm not sure when I first caught this but I think I would have chosen this over Nationwide as part of that Friday night schedule.
This was / is Granada's version of Yorkshire's Calendar or LWT's Today , a half-hour round-up of regional news and events, sometimes interesting , sometimes boring or faintly embarrassing. The only thing that made it stand out for me was that I absolutely hated one of the presenters and I think you can probably guess who that was.
At this point in time I didn't have a clue about the extracurricular musical activities of Tony Wilson ( as he then was ) ; he was just this super-aggravating smarmy git with an awful haircut and a voice and delivery that insinuated he was somehow above his colleagues.
I eventually learned to tolerate him and after the demise of Factory made him more vulnerable I grew to appreciate what he tried to do for the city and was sad when he passed away.
By the time I knew who Wilson was, it would have been due to my growing love for Joy Division and New Order. Before, he would have just been a face on boring (to me at the time) shows like "World in Action"...
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, "Lookaround" - the Border TV equivalent of Granada Reports - had none of the reflected glamour Wilson could bring, though a young Richard Madeley cut his teeth there (and, I was once told, got his car thrashed in Cleator Moor by some lads not happy of some 'Southern poof' being on their turf).
My dad would constantly poke fun at the low-key nature of the news by predicting items like "man's hat blows off into Maryport harbour"... it sometimes seemed he wasn't far off.
I think Madeley moved around a bit because I remember him talking about working with Wilson which must have been Granada and it was on Yorkshire's "Calendar" that he got assaulted by Shaky.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thanks for getting the ball rolling re Comments on here !
Madeley met Judy Finnigan on Granada Reports and was such an obnoxious Tony clone it was unbearable. There's a great clip on Tony's obit programme that Granada specially made after his death that shows Tony deliver a news item and then conclude with "Over to Richard" and Madeley's sat there in exactly the same kind of pose as Tony in the same kind of gear. So naff. Always loved Tony, as a kid he was more known to me as the newsreader and, best of all, as the host of Granada Upfront with Lucy Meacock which was always great fun. The music side never really joined up in my infant/pubescent brain. BTW, Love that photo at the top there.
ReplyDeleteYes, Upfront was a Friday night favourite for me too so it will feature in due course.
ReplyDeleteIt just felt so vital and buzzing, genuinely live. Best debate show in my opinion, something about its night slot that lifted it away from the dour The Time The Place with the odious Stapleton or Kilroy. And he may have been a Marmite type but no one can deny that Wilson was a superb live broadcaster. It's a shame there aren't any uploads of it on YouTube - beyond the odd snippet.
DeleteI wouldn't deny that either. We will come back to him in at least five future posts.
ReplyDelete