Christmas
brings many things, presents, food and television in abundance. As
the schedules have been released for this year the usual soaps and
also big hitting programmes dominate, but it wasn't always like this.
At one time there was a one stop shop to see all your stars in, the
BBC coming together if you will. The show which dominated the big day
itself for more than fifteen years was Christmas Night with the
Stars, a place where the stars shone so bright and you could get the
likes of Cliff Richard rubbing shoulders with Eric Morecambe and
Ernie Wise. Usually in ten minutes sections of
the
most popular sitcoms of the year, the best light entertainment shows
and the biggest stars. This was a show of might by the BBC to show
the viewers their selection box of personalities.
The
first show in 1958 was hosted by magician David Nixon, performing
tricks himself as well, the line-up was a stellar one with the cream
of British comedy appearing in sketches such as Ted Ray, Charlie
Chester, Charlie Drake combing with future stars Tony Hancock and
Kenneth Connor, the nature of the show meant that Dixon of Dock Green
appeared with Billy Cotton and also the Beverly Sisters performing,
though the interest comes in the cast with future Benny Hill writer
Dave Freeman performing with Charlie Drake and the writers of the
show reads like a who's who of comedy writing. The partnerships of
Galton and Simpson are there with Muir and Norden plus Charlie
Chester as well. This was the cream of the talent the BBC had,
meaning something was there for everyone. To say that the BBC wanted
to get a march on the fledgling ITV franchises was an understatement,
though this showed ITV on the biggest occasions that the Beeb were
willing to fight for their audience. Plus with the Light
Entertainment department getting new directing and producing talent
into their ranks, this would set the BBC up for the 1960's.
With
the BBC's intentions clear to fight for the audience which was out
there, the sixties was to be a decade which would change light
entertainment for ever. A decade of pushing the boundaries, where
Britain would change in itself. At the start of the decade with the
opening of the new Television Centre in 1960, one of the newest
purpose built television studios in the world. The raising of the
standard, made the programmes even better. The first show of the new
decade featured Sid James from Citizen James, Harry Worth on film
plus regulars David Nixon and Jimmy Edwards. It might seem the
programme had hardly changed at all, but by 1962 Eamonn Andrews has
taken on the role of presenting The Black and White Minstrels, Dixon
of Dock Green and The White Heather Club. But backing these
favourites up were two shows which were new and were to show the BBC
had started to change in its comedy output. The Rag Trade starring
Peter Jones, Reg Varney with support of Miriam Karlin and Esma
Cannon, the show had been on the air since 1961 but 1962 was the
first time when the honour of appearing on the biggest show of the
year was bestowed on it.
By
1964, the programme had moved away from including shows with a
dramatic narrative. So Jack Warner became the host as Eamonn Andrews
had moved to ABC, but the focus was more about the light
entertainment stars. The Black and White Mistrels were present with
Billy Cotton, the traditional had there place in there but with pop
starting to rule the roost, the show acknowledged this with
appearances from Kathy Kirby and The Barron Knights. Two stars who
were to become two of comedy's biggest stars performed sketches in
the form of Benny Hill and Dick Emery, their comedy seemed the same
by the end of the decade Hill had moved to Thames Television and
Emery was still present on BBC1. Though with comedians there was a
place for the all-round entertainers as well, Roy Castle being one of
them. The future Record Breakers host had his own show, singing and
dancing showing off his talents on a weekly basis, Castle was very
much a British 'Sammy Davis Jnr.' , though his career though bubbling
along didn't hit the heights as many people thought he would do at
that time. Alongside Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd, Freddie Frinton and
Thora Hird performed a shortened version of their sitcom Meet the
Wife, but 1964 also saw the launch of BBC2 and one their biggest
comedies which had been repeated on BBC1, The Likely Lads was asked
to film an insert for the programme with Rodney Bewes as Bob and
James Bolam as Terry reflected on the Christmas season in their own
inimitable way. It was a sign that a new wave was sweeping through
light entertainment.
Come
the end of the decade, with the new ITA franchises in place and the
BBC looking towards newer talent, it gave the 1968 a new fresh look
which would start the new era of light entertainment at the BBC. In
this year, the show was a powerhouse, the host being the newly
arrived from ATV, Morecambe and Wise hosted the programme. Just
having Eric and Ernie on Christmas Day was a bonus, allowing them to
perform at their best, though the supporting cast was one which the
BBC could be proud of. The personality led variety show had come to
define light entertainment by the end of the decade, ITV had led with
the Tom Jones show but the Beeb could count on Cliff Richard to do
pretty much the same job but in a more boy next door style, the might
of pop was important to the very important teenage audience so both
Lulu and Petula Clark were included too. Both performers would go on
to have their own personality led variety show the same as Cliff
Richard with in the next five years following the programme.
Though
the biggest star the BBC could offer was Rolf Harris, this antipodean
bundle of many talents had his own show on a Saturday night inviting
the top singing stars of the day, performing dance routines with
Duggie Squires' Young Generation containing a future Blue Peter
presenter in Leslie Judd and future Light Entertainment executive who
would put his own mark on the genre in the 1990's, Nigel Lythgoe. Add
in the combination of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, comedy from
Marty Feldman and with new to that year comedies Not in Front of the
Children and more importantly Dad's Army filming sketches for the
programme, it is little wonder what the new ITV companies did for
1969, they thought back. They launched the All Star Comedy Carnival,
taking the best of what ITV had to offer from all the regional
franchises and showcasing them in one place. That first year one of
the main attraction was the Granada series 'The Dustbinmen' featuring
a pre-Are You Being Served Trevor Bannister.
With
the start of the 1970's, it saw the death of Tom Sloan in May 1970.
The head of the Light Entertainment group had been influential in
bringing so many shows which would define the BBC's output in the
1960's such as Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, Dad's Army,
the Val Doonican shows and even Dixon of Dock Green. His influence
over the BBC's biggest department meant that he could persuade the
performers to make appearances on Christmas Night with the Stars, but
all backed up with his team behind him like Stewart Morris, Yvonne
Littlewood, Roger Ordish, Terry Heneberry, Michael Hurll and most
importantly Bill Cotton Jnr. Cotton Jnr. himself had been a producer
for in house BBC productions since 1956 including his own father's
Band Show, so he was the natural choice to take over the role. The
1970 cavalcade of stars had Cilla Black appearing with Dick Emery,
Terry Scott, June Whitfield and Stanley Baxter. But the star power
the show had meant, Clodagh Rogers could be seen alongside Nana
Mouskori, Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis contributing to give a
transatlantic feel but none could top an appearance by Ol' Blue Eyes
himself, Frank Sinatra that's without noting the 'Galloping Gourmet'
Graham Kerr as well. This provided a combination of laughs, music and
even cooking as well, all the things for a perfect Christmas party.
So
with this wealth of talent on the one programme, what could ITV do
for their All Star Comedy Carnival of that year? Well, at 6.30pm, the
programme started with the mixture of The Lovers with Paula Wilcox
and Richard Beckinsdale, Hark at Barker meant that Lord Rustless
would get a place in the Christmas schedules for Ronnie Barker, the
Doctors in the House were there from London Weekend with the jokes
coming thick and fast from Yorkshire Television's Jokers Wild with
Barry Cryer presenting and his future Kenny Everett writing partner
Ray Cameron on writing duties. To add in variety, Des O'Connor
brought a snippet of his own show with Des singing, even down in
Weatherfield there was a seasonal visit to Coronation Street with the
regulars of the Rovers Return pondering about the festive season in a
especially written mini-episode. This of course pre-cursing the days
when the soaps and their story lines would become a integral of the
Christmas Day schedules. All linked together by Max Bygraves and with
musical accompaniment from Geoff Love and his orchestra as well, even
popular BBC sitcom stars Warren Mitchell and Rodney Bewes turned up
on the programme. Though it is surprising that the programme that
followed the show On the Buses wasn't part of the comedy carnival
itself with it being one of ITV's top rated shows at the time, but
maybe keeping separate from all the other shows meant the rest of
ITV's comedy and entertain could be showcased without them being
overshadowed by a mini-episode of such a popular show. On reflection,
ITV's effort may have seemed weaker in comparison for that year to
the BBC's effort but it did offer an alternative to the BBC though.
1971
saw more change with the BBC's Light Entertainment department
bringing new shows to their schedule with the Generation Game,
Parkinson and the Two Ronnies, Messrs Barker and Corbett being
reunited with each other. Bill Cotton's stamp was firmly on the
department now, but come Christmas Day the stars were rolled out once
again including mini episodes of Dad's Army, Till Death Do Part
sharing the limelight with efforts from Lulu and her show, Mike
Yarwood making an impression on the audience both in the studio and
at home. It was a show of force once again from the Beeb, but ITV
counteracted pretty much with the same shows of the previous years
but with the inclusion of The Fenn Street Gang and Please Sir! Which
they had left behind, Father Dear Father came from Thames and
Lollipop loves Mr Mole from ATV. Plus Les Dawson made a mini-episode
of Sez Les which was doing great business for himself and also
Yorkshire Television as well. Mike and Bernie Winters hosted this
year, they themselves had made a contribution of a music item with
Opportunity Knocks' Hughie Green on trumpet/guitar, ITN newsreader
Gordon Honeycombe on sax, illusionist David Nixon on double bass,
Eamonn Andrews on trombone and the whole of the World of Sport team
providing the rhythm section, plus Mike Winters playing the clarinet.
This is one of those occasions where you wish the footage has not
been lost, just to see this spectacle. Not only for the sight of
Dickie Davies on drums or the fact what song they actually played,
with the Christmas TV Times of that year handily saying it would be
an old favourite.
But
with this chance at the BBC came a new policy to do with Christmas
television, all the stars who had roughly ten minutes to showcase
themselves and their programmes during Christmas Night with the Stars
seemed such a tight time to do so. So it was that 1972 was the last
Christmas Night with the Stars for another twenty four years,
introduced by The Two Ronnies after their success with the own show
in the previous year. As in previous years Dad's Army and Mike
Yarwood did mini-episodes of their own shows, with this year two
additions to the line up of The Liver Birds and The Goodies,
themselves fresh from their own success on BBC2. Plus Lulu appeared
as well as The Young Generation with this year Nigel Lythgoe being
credited as the choreographer of their dance routine, the credits for
this show read like a who's who of the BBC Light Entertainment
department, the Two Ronnies directed by Terry Hughes, Dad's Army by
David Croft, Jim Franklin producing The Goodies as well as Michael
Hurll and Sydney Lotterby. In addition to both musical directors
Ronnie Hazelhurst and Alyn Ainsworth and a stellar list of writers
including Michael Palin and Terry Jones, Barry Cryer and Neil Shand
to name a few. This was the way to go out, as from 1973, the
Christmas specials would out on their own and longer then before. The
BBC worked out that each show could do even more by each production
being
able to work on their own efforts, thus focussing the talents of the
crew, the writers and the performers. That idea was to have massive
success as the Christmas schedules of the BBC would continue to
dominate for many years to come.
The
swansong for the All Star Comedy Carnival would come for ITV in 1973,
up against the BBC's new style Christmas Day schedules. They could
offer Jimmy Tarbuck in a mock house with the going on with Man about
the House, Les Dawson making another appearance with Sez Les, My Good
Woman from ATV and Billy Liar from LWT plus Spring and Autumn from
Love Thy Neighbour's Vince Powell. But not even the might of the
Wandsworth School Choir and Fyfe Robertson could overthrow BBC1's
offering. So it was not surprise that after this year's edition that
ITV took the same approach as the BBC of pitching the best of their
shows up against each other, for Christmas Night with the Stars, the
style of that programme was used for the Funny Side of Christmas in
1982. Again the best of BBC comedy all in the same place and with
revivals in 1994 on BBC2 featuring the likes of Steve Coogan
performing and again ten years later in 2004 presented by Michael
Parkinson, but this version seemed more like an extend version of his
chat show. For the All Star Comedy Carnival, the idea has not been
revived by ITV and looks likely not to be any time soon.
Some
people may say that these programmes, maybe they were of their time.
But however without them we would not have got to the Christmas Day
schedules today, they were the first to introduce soaps on Christmas
Day, they were the first to have the leading comedies of the day back
to back, they were the first to have top variety in the same place
and they were the first to introduce new comedies to a wider
audience. Whatever way you want to look at it, Christmas would not
have been brighter places without them.
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