S22 Contemporary TV

[Jonno]

Attack of the Cybermen launched very strongly with 8.9m viewers for the first part - these days, probably enough to top the weekly chart, but back then only 71st! So what else was the nation watching in January 1985?

1) Coronation Street - 20.3m
2) It'll Be Alright On The Night - 18.5m
3) Wish You Were Here - 17.6m
4) Name That Tune - 16.6m
5) You'll Never See Me Again - 15.8m
6) Crossroads - 15.7m
7) That's Life - 15.6m
8) Dempsey and Makepeace - 15.5m
9) Full House - 15.4m
10) All Star Secrets - 15.1m
11) Emmerdale Farm - 15.1m
12) Bullseye - 14.8m
13) Dallas - 14.7m
14) This Is Your Life - 14.4m
15) Early Evening News (ITV) - 13.8m
16) Up The Elephant - 13.6m
17) The Beiderbecke Affair - 13.3m
18) Fresh Fields - 13.2m
19) The Price Is Right - 12.8m
20) Dynasty - 12.7m

ITV completely dominate with 17 of the Top 20, but big changes are just around the corner for the BBC...

[Nyder]

Yay for The Price Is Right & Leslie Crowther. Loved loved loved that show.

Top bloke Leslie. Interviewed him twice for University Radio Bath. Name-dropper Nyder strikes again :-)

[Andrew Curnow]

Nice to see Dallas riding high, and also I never realised quite how popular That's Life was - I remember always watching it of a Sunday evening in a "putting off going to bed before school tomorrow" kind of a way.

[Nyder]

Crossroads still riding high in the ratings too!

[SiHart]

Quite right too!

[Nyder]

I'm sure Gary Glitter was on All Star Secrets. I'm not joking!!

[Simon R]

Fresh Fields!

[Andrew Curnow]

Re Crossroads, was it not early in 1985 (probably around the time Doctor Who was cancelled in fact) that they first brought in a 'proper' opening title sequence? And not forgetting the arrival of Nicola Freeman, my goodness!!

[SiHart]

It was. The Hunters would be off a little way into the year to be replaced by new management.

[Jonno]

Into February 1985 and a whole new look for BBC1 with a new computer-generated globe and a new look to weekday evening schedules with most shows now starting on the hour or half-hour and at 7pm we had Wogan on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and EastEnders on Tuesday & Thursday. It would take a few months for Enders to rise to the top of the charts, so what were we watching in February 1985?

1) Coronation Street - 18.9m
2) Last of the Summer Wine - 18.8m
3) Coronation Street - 18.6m
4) That's Life - 16.4m
5) Game For A Laugh - 16.0m
6) Wish You Were Here - 15.6m
7) Name That Tune - 14.7m
8) Family Fortunes - 14.4m
9) All Star Secrets - 14.3m
10) News And Weather (BBC) - 14.1m
11) Dallas - 14.0m
12) This Is Your Life - 13.9m
13) Full House - 13.9m
14) One By One - 13.2m
15) Dynasty - 12.6m
16) Mastermind - 12.6m
17) News (ITV) - 12.4m
18) That's My Boy - 12.4m
19) Fresh Fields - 12.2m
20) Dempsey and Makepeace - 12.1m

[Nyder]

I'm watching Bob's Full House again on Challenge TV. It's good stuff! I've never watched a single episode of Last of the Summer Wine, and I'm going to keep it that way!

[Jonno]

Ditto - I always loved BFH at the time and getting a really nostalgic kick out of it! Ideal for a TIVO series link - record it every week without thinking about it and then fast forward all the ads!

They finsihed the 1984 series yesterday so we should be into 1985 next, rather appropriately!

However, the Full House in this Top 20 is an ITV programme, so it's not that!

[duncan]

Interesting to see how much comedy was watched back then.

[Jonno]

Note to Dave - BFH not on Challenge for the foreseeable!

[Nyder]

What???? No that's my Saturday nights ruined! I hope they didn't only buy the 1984 series and nothing else!

[SiHart]

I used to love One by One. That was a good show.

[Jonno]

Me too, Si - it was a sort of replacement for All Creatures wasn't it but seemed more exciting as it was contemporary and had wild animals!

Now I think of it, one of my offair recordings from S22 included a trailer for One By One right at the end of the one of the episodes.

Shame that programmes like this don't have a home on any of the digital channels.

[Stephen Morgan]

On 9th MArch 1985 Season 2 of Robin of Sherwood debuted opposite Dr Who on ITV.
Richard Carpenters update of the Robin Hood legend, this one starring Michael Praed as Robin, did very well in the ratings, and it's stories of mystical goings on, sword and sorcery, became in instant hit with the kids. Praed of course became an early 80s pin up idol, left the series at the end of this season and later went on to success in American soap Dynasty. He was replaced in season three by Sean Connery's son Jason who we had recently seen in the Dr. Who story, Vengeance on Varos.
Robin of Sherwood's soundtrack was provided by Irish group Clannad, who had formed in 1971 and were popular on the folk circuit. Their first chart success came in 1982 with The Theme From "Harry's Game". The soundtrack album of Robin gave them further international success, shame then that singer Enya left in 1981 for a solo career that really didn't take off until 1988, but who had huge success and buckets full of album sales.

[Jonno]

I love ROS - indeed the S2 finale is possibly the finest single piece of TV I've seen.

[Nyder]

I've never seen ROS *hides away in shame*

[SiHart]

Boo!

Actually I remember chatting about that when we first met. You should, you really should. It's one of my favourite shows ever.

But funiliy enough I don't remember it being on opposite Who. But I know we watched it, cos it was a show we watched as a family and really loved.

[Andrew Curnow]

It's one of those shows that I just never 'got' - like, to pick another one, The Office more recently, it just didn't do anything for me. So although I watched a few RoS episodes (and certainly the final Praed episode, mainly out of curiosity to see how they did it) it left me cold.

[Nyder]

You've mentioned loads of great TV shows that I should watch Si - I shall add ROS to the list (top of the pile being Secret Army :-)

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Anyone have a clue what "Up the Elephant" was?

[SiHart]

It was a Jim Davidson "sitcom" I think.