ITV Telethon

[Spencer]

I also wasn’t aware that Kate Silverton used to work for Tyne Tees

Yes, she began her career at BBC Radio Newcastle, and then moved on to Tyne Tees.

[thegeek]

I don't think we've had this retrospective of '90 yet - it includes a shot of the gallery at the beginning, plus a moment or two of STV's contribution from the car park at Cowcaddens - a bit ambitious given Glasgow's climate. (I remember my mum taking us down there on the Saturday and being slightly underwhelmed that we weren't in a studio.)
https://youtu.be/bJQ0fY_2fLE

[Steve Williams]

That’s how I remember it as well, but looking at that clip from 1999, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before, they did in fact use the actual number of votes in each region rather than a score.

I can see why they stopped that as it was quite hard to keep track of, also due to the big numbers involved, nobody, either the regional presenter or Denise actually ever read the scores out, so going to each region became a bit pointless.

Yes, as you can see they did total number of votes in 1999 but points in 2000. It is all quite exciting in 1999, pleasingly frantic (thanks partly to the ace Disco Cop by Blue Adonis playing throughout) and obviously it all pads the show out a bit. I like in 1999 how Denise pedantically refers to all the regions by their full names - Granada Television, but Meridian Broadcasting - though it gets a bit confusing when the two Carltons aren't differentiated apart from the map.

Yeah a couple of years they used the actual numbers, and then others they used points. Wasn't Jonathan King behind it originally? He'd been on the BBC Eurovision team for several years, certainly he was on 1997's winning delegation - so I'm guessing the ESC style of voting was partly his idea.

Yes, he did devise it, through The Tip Sheet which was the music industry publication he ran. I think it started in their pages, then when he had to, cough, go away, the publication continued with his brother now running it, and it continued back in their pages when ITV dropped it. Incidentally I had a job interview for it circa 2000, and I'm pleased I didn't get it.

He was indeed also responsible for the UK's Eurovision entry between 1995 and 2000. You'd have to say he did a decent job of it, given we won and also we entered Just A Little Bit which obviously didn't win but was an enormous worldwide hit, and Where Are You by Imaani in 1998 performed very credibly as well. It went a bit rubbish towards the end, mind.

[Robertclark125]

How much publicity away from ITV did the 1992 Telethon get, e.g. press advertising? I've seen the two Tyne and Wear Metrocars which carried branding for the 1992 Telethon, but little else.

[nwtv2003]

Neil Miles has uploaded a clip from Telethon 88 today, it’s quite an interesting mish mash of clips of the Telethon itself. Notably the London opts being presented by Emma Freud, Jim Davidson and Danny Baker.

https://youtu.be/ZA9_5ffRJvI

[Ben Shatliff]

Neil Miles has uploaded a clip from Telethon 88 today, it’s quite an interesting mish mash of clips of the Telethon itself. Notably the London opts being presented by Emma Freud, Jim Davidson and Danny Baker.

https://youtu.be/ZA9_5ffRJvI

I remember both 1990 and 1992 Thames Segments were presented by Judith Chalmers and Frank Bough.

[Hatton Cross]

I don't think we've had this retrospective of '90 yet - it includes a shot of the gallery at the beginning, plus a moment or two of STV's contribution from the car park at Cowcaddens - a bit ambitious given Glasgow's climate. (I remember my mum taking us down there on the Saturday and being slightly underwhelmed that we weren't in a studio.)
https://youtu.be/bJQ0fY_2fLE

Couple of questions of the back of this then.
1 - Who was the director for the 'lead off' part of the show. Obviously it would be a LWTP staff director.
2 - I assume that it was crewed on the studio floor and gallery in shifts. What where the length of those? 4 hours, then hotseat change overs in the gallery during a commercial break, and a slightly shorter duration for those on the studio floor?