04-01-2022, 02:51 PM
I mentioned this in the ITV on C4 thread, but to avoid derailing that still further, I thought I'd start a new one. You may recall a few years back that someone promised to upload all the episodes of The Roxy to YouTube which got as far as episode two before being blocked for copyright reasons and that was the end of that. But we currently have a YouTube channel which is uploading every episode of The Tube...
https://www.youtube.com/user/davisxl1/videos
Heaven knows how long this is going to stay up for, but it's all absolutely fascinating so far. Jeremy Isaacs always used to say that one of the things he liked best about The Tube is that Tyne Tees didn't devote a studio to it, but seemingly the entire building, and that there was a genuine air of excitement about the whole thing, and that does come over in a lot of it. I know Malcolm Gerrie, the original producer, said that although he thinks it had a special atmosphere coming from Newcastle, he said that it could probably have worked in any city, as long as it was far enough away from London for all the acts to have to make a day of it and not just squeeze it in between two other shows, so it made it special.
Because of that it's very interesting not just as a record of music in the mid-eighties but also of youth culture in general and, yes, there are endless sequences in and around the Tyne Tees building. I remember this episode from 1983 was shown on More4 in 2007 as part of C4's 25th anniversary celebrations, and it was the first one I'd seen in full, rather than clips in compilations that obviously emphasised the performances, and it was really interesting to see it in full...
https://youtu.be/zjqryfsiGj4
The bit that really struck me was the very long feature about the music industry in Northern Ireland, which goes on for about half an hour, very much a programme in its own right. It's a fascinating film, basically concluding that Northern Ireland actually didn't have a music industry at the time and it was all based around a few shops and tiny labels operating out of back bedrooms, and it mentions at one point that it was only the previous year that sales from Northern Ireland were actually included in the charts. It's amazing to think that the bands they feature would have been appearing on national TV while being pretty much completely unknown outside the Greater Belfast area.
There are a few interesting episodes from 1985 which were affected by industrial action. This one features pre-recorded links from Jools and Paula in between various repeated and unseen items...
https://youtu.be/AOW4gepUJ_4
And this one, from two weeks later, as well as Jools being away and Peter Cook standing in for him, is live but there's no lighting in the studio, so while most of it comes from the production office there are a few performances from the pitch black studio, lit by candlelight, which look pretty cool (and whether by luck or by judgement, they're an acapella group)...
https://youtu.be/N51X3zQGZxA
And as I said, we don't have the actual moment where Jools had his moment of madness in a live trailer and got himself suspended for six weeks, but we do have his apology on the programme, 1:08 into this...
https://youtu.be/EUdfLl0CtwQ
As I say on the other thread, that must be now be the most famous TV moment that as yet hasn't surfaced anywhere, I've certainly never seen it. I wonder if anyone else could suggest other famous TV moments that remain equally elusive. Anyway, all very interesting, I think.
https://www.youtube.com/user/davisxl1/videos
Heaven knows how long this is going to stay up for, but it's all absolutely fascinating so far. Jeremy Isaacs always used to say that one of the things he liked best about The Tube is that Tyne Tees didn't devote a studio to it, but seemingly the entire building, and that there was a genuine air of excitement about the whole thing, and that does come over in a lot of it. I know Malcolm Gerrie, the original producer, said that although he thinks it had a special atmosphere coming from Newcastle, he said that it could probably have worked in any city, as long as it was far enough away from London for all the acts to have to make a day of it and not just squeeze it in between two other shows, so it made it special.
Because of that it's very interesting not just as a record of music in the mid-eighties but also of youth culture in general and, yes, there are endless sequences in and around the Tyne Tees building. I remember this episode from 1983 was shown on More4 in 2007 as part of C4's 25th anniversary celebrations, and it was the first one I'd seen in full, rather than clips in compilations that obviously emphasised the performances, and it was really interesting to see it in full...
https://youtu.be/zjqryfsiGj4
The bit that really struck me was the very long feature about the music industry in Northern Ireland, which goes on for about half an hour, very much a programme in its own right. It's a fascinating film, basically concluding that Northern Ireland actually didn't have a music industry at the time and it was all based around a few shops and tiny labels operating out of back bedrooms, and it mentions at one point that it was only the previous year that sales from Northern Ireland were actually included in the charts. It's amazing to think that the bands they feature would have been appearing on national TV while being pretty much completely unknown outside the Greater Belfast area.
There are a few interesting episodes from 1985 which were affected by industrial action. This one features pre-recorded links from Jools and Paula in between various repeated and unseen items...
https://youtu.be/AOW4gepUJ_4
And this one, from two weeks later, as well as Jools being away and Peter Cook standing in for him, is live but there's no lighting in the studio, so while most of it comes from the production office there are a few performances from the pitch black studio, lit by candlelight, which look pretty cool (and whether by luck or by judgement, they're an acapella group)...
https://youtu.be/N51X3zQGZxA
And as I said, we don't have the actual moment where Jools had his moment of madness in a live trailer and got himself suspended for six weeks, but we do have his apology on the programme, 1:08 into this...
https://youtu.be/EUdfLl0CtwQ
As I say on the other thread, that must be now be the most famous TV moment that as yet hasn't surfaced anywhere, I've certainly never seen it. I wonder if anyone else could suggest other famous TV moments that remain equally elusive. Anyway, all very interesting, I think.