THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS TELLY PAST (part two)

Meanwhile, whilst yesterday I focussed on that year’s Christmas from a Radio Times perspective, over on “the other side”, the TV Times of 1975 presented us with a scheduling magazine completely devoted to the output of just one channel, and presented it in a completely down-to-earth and “popular” way. Whereas the official organ of the British Broadcasting Corporation (you can almost hear the fanfare of trumpets) offered an intricate and traditional illustration for generally what was its most best selling edition of any given year, TV Times went for a caricature of the famous faces that would be gracing its screens over the festive season.

Already the power of the “personality” was making its mark in a decade that would see the big “stars” of BBC Television like Morecambe & Wise and Bruce Forsyth being tempted across the divide (or, if you prefer, poached) by ITV’s deeper pockets. Interestingly, with its greater emphasis on those personalities, over more traditional Christmas imagery, on the cover of its main publication, perhaps they felt more “valued” there…? Over the course of the few decades since, this more personality based approach was also adopted by the Radio Times, especially after all of the publications were allowed to publish all of the channel information, although with the coming of the deregulation of listings magazines and more competition, the illustrated cover has recently returned to give a more distinct look in a crowded market.

So what did ITV (no suffixed number one back then) offer its viewers at Christmas in 1975, then? Well the cover shows a balloon full of celebrities including Les Dawson, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Frankie Howerd, Barbara Windsor, Peter O’Toole and Sooty. Some, like Shirley Bassey are still around, whilst others, like the clown Charlie Cairoli and Angela Baddeley (Mrs Bridges) are long gone (but not forgotten). Interestingly, if this is a representation of some kind of Celebrity “Balloon Debate”, it is the Scottish entertainer Andy Stewart that was the first to be thrown out…

The glossy, almost full-colour pages within reveal that on Christmas Eve, after a day that included the “Mr and Mrs Christmas Party”, the film “Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Sooty Christmas Special Show” (with guest Billy Dainty), the evening settled down to a selection of familiar fare such as “Here’s Lucy”, “This is Your Life” and “Coronation Street” followed by “Merry Christmas Fred, from the Crosbys” Bing Crosby’s fortieth consecutive Christmas show, also featuring Fred Astaire. After this you could “Safari by Balloon” over Mount Kilamanjaro narrated by David Niven, and then settle down to an episode of “Police Woman” featuring Angie Dickinson.

Christmas Day itself meant Chipperfield’s Christmas Circus and the Leslie Phillips (“I say”) film “Doctor in Trouble” on either side of the Queen’s Speech and then the rest of the day was given over to “The Bay City Rollers Show with Gilbert O’Sullivan”, “Christmas Celebrity Squares”, the Christmas editions of the comedies “Get Some In!” and “Love Thy Neighbour” (I know… I found it hard to believe too, but there it is in, er, black and white…) and the big Christmas night feature film was “The Taming of the Shrew”

Boxing Day 1975 included “Jason and the Argonauts” and “The Flintstones on Ice” alongside “David Copperield” and “A Christmas Runaround” in the daytime, and at 6.05 in the evening there was (I kid you not) “Space:1999”. After that there was “A Special Who Do You Do” (Oh God. Impressionists and Christmas. The worst pairing since Nitro met Glycerine), a “Rising Damp” special, an obscure film called “The Great Bank Robbery” and “Les Dawson’s Christmas Box”. More stalwart viewers could then remain in their armchairs for Russell Harty’s look behind the scenes of “Upstairs, Downstairs”, a Judy Garland concert and a Christmas short story about a violin, before an event that will be unfamiliar to younger viewers, the “Closedown” at 1.10.

New Year’s Eve on ITV included alongside the usual suspects of “This is Your Life”, “Coronation Street” and, er, “University Challenge” (I know… on ITV!! But it lived there for a long, long time, long ago...), Frankie Howerd as Casanova, New Year’s Eve at the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club with Bernard Manning and the movie “Wait Until Dark” until the dubious delights of Andy Stewart’s “Hogmanay Show” greeted 1976.

Finally, New Year’s Day’s bank holiday entertainment chiefly involved a “Carry On” Film (“Again, Doctor”) more “Love Thy Neighbour” (…) and the launch of the huge new costume drama “Clayhanger” and ended the day with an episode of “Kung Fu” guest starring William Shatner, which is printed, for no very good reason that I can think of, next to an advert for a product promising to combat hair loss.