Theme Time : Gustav Holst - The Quatermass Experiment

When it came to scoring Nigel Kneale's superb Quatermass serials of the 1950s for the BBC, there was only really one choice; Holst's 'Mars, The Bringer Of War'. So good was it, that when BBC4 remade the first Quatermass serial, The Quatermass Experiment for a live broadcast in 2005 they used the same opening graphics and the same score from Holst. After all, what else was there to top it?

Scuttlers - 19th Century Chavs

You'd be forgiven for thinking that youth culture gangs like chavs and hoodies or Teds, Mods and casual dress football hooligans are the inventions of the last few decades. In fact moral panic about delinquent youths, each dressed in an indentifiable uniform of their own devising, is a tale as old as time, as the Scuttlers of the late 19th Century Manchester prove.

Scuttlers were members of Manchester and Salford neighbourhood youth gangs aged, on average, from 14 to 20. Their clothing was just as distinctive as a Burberry wearing chav or a parka clad mod. Indeed like modern day youth gangs, style was key. Always well turned out in their chosen uniform, they would often mimic the higher wealthier society that, through sheer twist of fate at birth, these slum warriors had no chance to ever reach or become part of. The Scuttlers wore brass tipped clogs which when connecting with the cobbled streets of the Manchester slums created the distinctive clattering echo or scuttling sound that the gangs inevitably took their name from. They were the first youths of Manchester to adopt the baggy style that became so popular at the height of the Happy Mondays fame and the Madchester scene. Their 'loose fits' were sailor style bell bottom trousers, fourteen inches around the knee and twenty one around the ankle - the better to show off the clogs. A heavy thick leather brass buckle belt, often illustrated with women's names or serpents and arrow pierced hearts was worn with pride around their midriff and, when wrapped tightly around the wrist, would be used as a weapon in 'scuttles' ie battles with rival gangs. Quality and weight of the belt were essential as they proved a formidable tool for the battles for supremacy that waged in the rabbit warrens of squalid Victorian streets. They would also carry knives but the intention was always to wound and maim rivals rather than kill. Scuttlers would also wear flashy silk scarves or white mufflers whilst the collective hair style was a short back and sides topped off with a long 'donkey' fringe, that hung lower on the left hand side, plastered down on their forehead and over that eye. Peaked caps were sometimes worn, but always tilted at the back, to show off the fringe.

Meanwhile a Scuttlers girl also adopted a distinct visual look consisting of clogs, shawl and a vertically striped skirt.

Angels with Manky Faces, 2009 play about Scuttlers

The gangs were incredibly territorial and would adopt the names of their streets or neighbourhood to distinguish which 'battalion' they belonged to, for example The Bengal Tigers represented Bengal Street in Ancoats, whilst The Meadows Boys took their cue from the Angel Meadow district. It was certainly a popular activity amongst the disadvantaged youth; a scuttle in 1879 was reported to occur between over 500 youths. Scuttling reached a peak in 1890-'91 with Manchester's Strangeways Prison recording more inmates interned for scuttling than for any other crime.

It was the turn of the century that saw Scuttling die out, thanks to a dedicated effort to give the youths a distraction and diverting them to other more peaceful, worthwhile and civilised activities to expend their energy. The setting up of working lads clubs (such as Salford Lads Club, scene of the famous The Smiths photo almost a hundred years later) and the formation of St Marks West Gorton Football Club (later to become Manchester City FC) along with the rise in street football, cinema and the demolition of several slums all helped put an end to The Scuttlers, though their influence clearly continues through other youth gangs to this very day.

Here's an interesting short documentary film from Inside Out on the Scuttlers, hosted by Corrie's Terry Duckworth, Nigel Pivaro

Out On Blue Six : Sleeper

Ah Sleeper, 90s indie britpop band fronted by the gorgeous Louise Wener.

Blame/thank the Never Mind The Buzzcocks 1998 compilation ep on TV last night for me digging this track up.

I like the knowing Dale Winton cameo in the vid. He was famous for Supermarket Sweep back then.

I kind of miss the 90s :(

End Transmission

Smoking Hot

Andie MacDowell, because I watched Green Card for the umpteenth time on BBC1 last night

It's a shame you only ever see her in make up ads on TV these days, she was such a star back in the day, and I don't care what anyone says I loved her in Four Weddings

Daisy Donovan - The Greatest Shows On Earth

11 O'Clock Show presenter Daisy Donovan (daughter of 60s snapper Terence) was back on our TV screens tonight after a lengthy time away, with a new show The Greatest Shows On Earth, a documentary series in the Louis Theroux vein, which takes a look at bizarre television across the world. And she's lost none of her sharp humour in the most ridiculous situations.

Tonight's debut episode saw her in Brazil where some of the most extreme and horribly degrading TV is broadcast. Largely involving young girls in states of undress being treated as nothing more than pieces of meat for the nation's entertainment.

Now, I'm no prude and indeed as my friend and fellow blogger Cait recently described me in her spotlight on blogs post, I 'appreciate the female form' on this blog (click here) with posts like 'bum day'...but my word, what Brazil TV with shows like Miss Bum Bum, where judges examine and rate starlets bottoms like they're vets examining a horse, complete with upskirt shots, and the gruesome 'comedy' of Panico na TV which abuses, defiles and humiliates similar bikini clad starlets making them fight for pieces of cheese is just plain sick. Meanwhile away from the sexism there's a Sunday morning family entertainment show with dancing girls, a singing priest and a reformed drug dealer for a host, and a Crimewatch style show that thinks nothing of showing gruesome shots of murdered corpses...at lunchtime! Here's a link, apologies that it is from The Scum newspaper Daisy-Donovan-is-back-with-The-Greatest-Shows-On-Earth

Thanks Daisy, I'm not sure I'll ever complain about the UK TV output with the same vitriol ever again. And it's good to see you back on TV.

Theme Time : Jack Trombey/Jan Stoeckart - Callan

Callan started out life as a one off TV play from 1967 entitled A Magnum For Schneider, from the pen of James Mitchell. It starred Edward Woodward as David Callan, a former soldier, miniature war games enthusiast and a dead shot, albeit reluctant, professional assassin for The Section, a branch of the Intelligence Service. ITV, quick to see they had a hit on their hands, ordered a series for later that year and the show ran for a total of four series until 1972. A film was made in 1974 and a one off TV special entitled Wet Job aired in 1981.

The theme tune, entitled 'Girl In The Dark', was written by Jack Trombey aka the Dutch composer Jan Stoeckart

It was subsequently covered by Chaquito and his orchestra and, with lyrics, by Edward Woodward himself - retitled 'This Man Alone' 

The reverberations from ITV's successful spy drama would continue down the decades; Edward Woodward would go on to play a similar role in the US TV drama The Equalizer (Previously 'Theme Timed' here) whilst less savoury, the Cypriot Greek and former Corporal with the British Paras (alleged to have fired 26 shots on 'Bloody Sunday' in Derry, NI 1972) Costas Georgiou, was so enamoured with the series that he took the alias Callan (and the rank of Colonel) when he became a professional mercenary in Angola. He can be seen in the centre background in the photograph below. He was subsequently executed in the Luanda Trial of 1976 for killing 14 of his own men for 'desertion', 2 Angolan civilians and for various claims of torture. 

PS; It's easy to forget how huge Edward Woodward was in his heyday. Callan was a national phenomenon. When one series ended on a cliffhanger, a graffiti campaign spread across the land to get the show back on air! He was the lead in cult favourite The Wicker Man as well as the lead in one of Australia's finest films, the anti war classic Breaker Morant. In the 80s with The Equalizer he was just as big, albeit internationally. He was the only white man to be allowed to walk unaccompanied in the downtown dangerous areas of New York's Harlem because of the good work his character did for minorities and he would always carry a card with details of helplines and support groups as he was inevitably asked for help by people confusing fact with fiction. The US, eager to keep a hold of him after The Equalizer wrapped in 1990, placed him in another thriller vehicle - albeit one in a very light hearted, naturally comedic vein - entitled Over My Dead Body, in which he starred as Maxwell Beckett a crime writer who is roped into solving the real thing by a young journalist played by Jessica Lundy. Despite it doing relatively well in France and here in the UK, it was a flop and cancelled after just three months. As a bonus, here's the theme/opening credits to that...

Ultimately Woodward returned to the UK and starred as a northern binman of all things in the excellent drama Common As Muck as well as a host of other great dramas and films (including Hot Fuzz) until his death aged 79 in 2009.

Learn Guitar With David Brent Part Three

Part Three came online today, 'Spaceman Came Down'

Bumday

Alpha Papa Trailer

New trailer for the Alan Patridge movie. Cannot wait!

Goodbye Granadaland

As readers to the blog will notice from the little icon on the right over there, I'm from Granadaland, ie that area of the north whose televisual entertainment was provided in the glory days from the studios in the heart of Manchester via the Winter Hill TV transmitter and the financing of the Bernstein brothers. 

The famous Quay Street studios (above) with its bright red lettering, such a legendary site on the way into Manchester by road and rail for decades, is now no more. The company have, since March, moved to the Media City development in nearby Salford. As a result ITV paid a belated tribute to the 56 years Granada spent at Quay Street with a special programme last night entitled Goodbye Granadaland, hosted by Peter Kay and narrated by Suranne Jones.

It's easier to say what hasn't been made/come from Granada over the years rather than what has, so extensive is the catalogue; Coronation Street, Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel In The Crown, World In Action, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Prime Suspect, Cracker, 7 Up (and most recently 56 Up) This Morning, The Comedians, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Club, Game Set And Match, The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, Cold Feet, The XYY Man, Strangers, Bulman, Stars In Their Eyes, The Krypton Factor, Nearest and Dearest, Crown Court, Watching, Band Of Gold, Laurence Olivier Presents, The Time, The Place, The Jeremy Kyle Show (ugh) and University Challenge which has the honour of being the last programme recorded at Quay Street. 

It is also the station responsible for launching such talents as presenters like Tony Wilson, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan, and Michael Parkinson, writers such as Kay Mellor, Jack Rosenthal, Paul Abbott and Russell T Davies, comics like Kay himself, Steve Coogan, John Thompson, Caroline Aherne and Sacha Baron Cohen, and internationally critically acclaimed directors such as Paul Greengrass and Michael Apted. 

Music was also a key interest with Granada and thanks to Tony Wilson on the regional news show Granada Reports and subsequently So It Goes and The Other Side Of Midnight Granada scored debut and key performances from bands like Blondie, Joy Division, The Sex Pistols, The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. Take That would gain their TV debut at Granada, whilst The Stones In The Park, the Rolling Stones legendary Hyde Park concert was filmed by them, as was Mick Jagger's first interview upon his release from prison following the Redlands drug bust, care of World In Action

Ultimately with such a rich record no single tribute could do it justice, especially one that relied heavily on Peter Kay's tired stereotypical northerner schtick. Nonetheless it was a pleasant enough trip down memory lane that paid suitable, if often too brief, homage to key programmes.

"I think that what Manchester sees today, London will see eventually"

-Sidney Bernstein 

Granada came to fruition thanks to Sidney and Cecil Bernstein, brothers who had run a chain of cinemas and theatres in the South of England under the Granada umbrella since the 1930s, the name coming from the Spanish town where they had a holiday home. When the bid for commercial TV production companies came on the market in the 1950s, Sidney cannily purchased the rights for the north west for two reasons; one, so that it didn't impact on their cinema business in the south and two, because he believed Manchester being the rainiest city in England would be an ideal opportunity for high ratings as, because of the bad weather, people would stay at home with only the TV for their entertainment.

Robbie Coltrane looks out from Granada Studios

Growing up in the 80s and 90s were my pivotal years for TV watching and programmes shaping me and naturally Granada was at the fore. It felt like the north west was at the cultural heart of the nation back then with Granada Reports Tony Wilson responsible for the Madchester music scene running Factory Records and The Hacienda, as well as Wilson's great current affairs debate show Granada Upfront live each Thursday. There was also groundbreaking investigations from World In Action like the conviction quashing of The Birmingham Six, significant drama like Cracker and Jeremy Brett's definitive Sherlock Holmes, the nation's top talent show Stars In Their Eyes (long before the days of Simon Cowell!) and of course the perennial Coronation Street, the nation's number one soap opera.

 It was also the era that I was lucky enough to actually visit Granada Studios, when the company would allow tours for visitors and in my case, school parties. This was an amazing experience to actually walk around the studios, to step onto the cobbles of both Coronation Street and Sherlock Holmes' Baker Street as well as experience a replica New York street and 10 Downing Street right in the middle of Manchester!

Sadly by 2001, Granada Studios stopped its tour primarily because of Coronation Street going to 5 nights a week making set visits no longer tenable, but I have extremely fond memories of going there in the early 90s with school; for me, it was like experiencing Hollywood first hand!

Granada and the north west go hand in hand, and it's just one of the reasons why I am so proud to be a northerner.

Girls With Guns

Sharon Tate's Dec 1967 Esquire photoshoot by William Helburn

More Taylor Made