>...and "Stop That Laughing At The Back". Sketch shows performed by kids (probably written by them as well, shown on Children's ITV in the mid/late 80s. Or was it only in the Central area?

I remember YMWLI ( http://uk.imdb.com/Title?0159228 , but not much info )but I never watched as I thought (even then!) that it was downmarket.
>>Also there was that thing "Grange Palace" or "Palace Hill",

Palace Hill - Oh dear. I saw it once or twice.

They were definitely all shown in the Granada region, if that's any help...

The sketches were most likely written by adults. Adults are forever fooled that they are at the respectable and most cathartic end of human growth. Everyone knows children are the funniest people in the world (especially from the pick of those who work on ITV.)

kinder.. were you on one of those shows...?

>kinder.. were you on one of those shows...?

Don't play with me Jon. We all know those who weren't have dearly missed out and will be forever thwarted.

Er... does that mean 'Yes' or 'No'?

I think it's quite obvious it was a no. There is no need to infiltrate the mortification I still feel.

Eh?

As Evelyn Waugh said of Stephen Spender: reading his attempts at English prose is like watching a monkey playing with a Ming vase...

Well I'm glad you can amuse yourself with my self-confessed instability.

You are clearly a man of little compassion.

Oh and my literary skills may equal that of cracked ceramics but at least I don't rely on the sweltered quotes of others to make my points. You are living your life with other mens' ink up you.

I bet Stephen Spender felt worse.

>I bet Stephen Spender felt worse.

I'm sure he would feel very much worse if he knew he was always in your literal posterity.

>Also there was that thing "Grange Palace" or "Palace Hill", whatever it was called, you know what I mean. God, that was rank. But did any of them etc.

I'm sure Palace Hill was a hopeless spin-off from Your Mother Wouldn't Like It, in the same way that... actually I won't say that.

All comedy programmes aimed at kids are unremittingly terrible. The only good one ever was Mud, and only for the bit where the small child ran through the woods singing Pretty Vacant. And that was only because she did it in a completly unaffected manner.

Going back to the original question - to my knowledge only one of that lot who ever appeared in YMWLI went on to do other stuff.

I can't remember his name for the life of me now, but he appeared in YMWLI spin off "Palace Hill" as a 1940's schoolkid who had been transported to the early 90's.
He appeared in the later series of Wizadora, and did some presenting jobs for CITV and was in a whole load of adverts and stuff for them right up until the relaunch.

There was one other good children's sketch show - "Round The Bend". I think Spitting Image had a hand in it somewhere. it was a "TV comic" or some such shit, and had some good moments. Of course, this could just be nostalgia and I may be mortified if I ever see it repeated on Fox Kids or some such channel.

>Going back to the original question - to my knowledge only one of that lot who ever appeared in YMWLI went on to do other stuff.
>
>I can't remember his name for the life of me now, but he appeared in YMWLI spin off "Palace Hill" as a 1940's schoolkid who had been transported to the early 90's.
>He appeared in the later series of Wizadora, and did some presenting jobs for CITV and was in a whole load of adverts and stuff for them right up until the relaunch.
>
>There was one other good children's sketch show - "Round The Bend". I think Spitting Image had a hand in it somewhere. it was a "TV comic" or some such shit, and had some good moments. Of course, this could just be nostalgia and I may be mortified if I ever see it repeated on Fox Kids or some such channel.

>>>>Oh hell, I thought those shows like Emu and that Pink Windmill had been finally forgotten.

YMWLI & Palace Hill were by the same bunch at Central and were transmitted across the network on Children's ITV. They were both equally awful. As for the kids, well, I couldn't honestly care what happened to them.

Round the Bend was by Spitting Image for Yorkshire Television, it was a comic run from a sewer and the principal charachters was a puppet crocodile and puppet rats. As with the other shows it was transmitted across the network on Children's ITV. It was sharper, funnier, a lot closer to playground humour and included parodies and spoofs including *Atombanana* and *False Teeth From Outer Space* and takes on others kids shows. The rumour at the time was that it gained a cult following amongst adults. I'm not too sure if it ran for two or three series, but fairly sure that the original run was between 1989-91.

Was EBC (Emu's Broadcasting Company) any good, then? I remember absolutely loving it, but I was, frankly, a young child.

BTW Round The Bend "boasted" Rory McGrath as script editor. I didn't mind that either (the show, not the choice of script editor).

Don't forget Fast Forward - Nick Wilton's biggest break after In One Ear, alas.

>Don't forget Fast Forward - Nick Wilton's biggest break after In One Ear, alas.

What about Galloping Galaxies? With Kenneth Williams as the computer?

Round about '78 there was a sketch show called "You Must Be Joking". It featured Flintlock, a made for TV (well just for this series really) boy band. Whatever happened to them eh?. The female parts were played by a young Pauline Quirke.

Now I've written this I've got the theme tune buzzing around in my head and shall slowly go insane because of it.

>Round about '78 there was a sketch show called "You Must Be Joking". It featured Flintlock, a made for TV (well just for this series really) boy band. Whatever happened to them eh?. The female parts were played by a young Pauline Quirke.

...Who also did a series for Thames called Pauline's Quirks that I seem to remember wound up a lot of parents at the time. btw Flintlock were virtually a regular fixture of Look In magazine at the time (I was eight, ok?!), which led me to believe that they'd enjoyed several number one records. A subsequent glance at Guinness Hit Singles proved otherwise. (one hit in 1976 - did not exactly set the charts alight).

anyway.

>>Round about '78 there was a sketch show called "You Must Be Joking". It featured Flintlock, a made for TV (well just for this series really) boy band. Whatever happened to them eh?. The female parts were played by a young Pauline Quirke.
>
>...Who also did a series for Thames called Pauline's Quirks that I seem to remember wound up a lot of parents at the time. btw Flintlock were virtually a regular fixture of Look In magazine at the time (I was eight, ok?!), which led me to believe that they'd enjoyed several number one records. A subsequent glance at Guinness Hit Singles proved otherwise. (one hit in 1976 - did not exactly set the charts alight).

One of Flintlock was iin the Tomorrow People. There was a interview with him in a Look In annual - 'It's a Crying Shame Flintlock Can't Jaunt'

>I can't remember his name for the life of me now, but he appeared in YMWLI spin off "Palace Hill" as a 1940's schoolkid who had been transported to the early 90's.
>>He appeared in the later series of Wizadora, and did some presenting jobs for CITV and was in a whole load of adverts and stuff for them right up until the relaunch.

Can't remember his name, but yeah, he was the guy who did the continuity announcement voiceovers on CITV, the only time I think that it wasn't on-screen presenters.

>There was one other good children's sketch show - "Round The Bend". I think Spitting Image had a hand in it somewhere. it was a "TV comic" or some such shit, and had some good moments. Of course, this could just be nostalgia and I may be mortified if I ever see it repeated on Fox Kids or some such channel.

That used to be my second favourite show when I was a kid (fave was Knightmare, by the way)

>>Don't forget Fast Forward - Nick Wilton's biggest break after In One Ear, alas.
>
>What about Galloping Galaxies? With Kenneth Williams as the computer?
>
Yes, remember Fast Forward well, must of been great training for Mr Wilton before he went to Nickelodeon, but Galloping Galaxies only have a hazy memory of it. More info needed please - or was it so bad, it has been forgotten? It is important to remember the dross, just so we don't fool ourselves into getting too nostalgic, or dreaming of golden ages that never were.

Incidentally, my remarks about Emu were aimed at that lousy Pink Windmill series in the 1980's, I was too little to recall EBC on BBCtv. I really did want Grotbags to massacre those irritating tappin'n'singing little stage school brats....There's somebody at the door, oh look, it's a parcel bomb...Still, that was Central's worst contribution to CITV. I also recall at one point, they claimed it was the Children's ITV Workshop, like the real CTW except worse. I suppose this only came about because they ran CITV. Still, at least there was Blockbusters to look forward to at 5.15 p.m. - and yes, I do know Central were responsible for that.
(*What C describes CITV *comedy* by Central in the 1980s?*)

"Round the Bend" was basically a televisual version of the children's comic "Oink!". It had crocodiles and rats in place of pigs because the comic had folded after the idea for the TV show had been drawn up. IIRC, it was largely scripted by Mark Rodgers, Patrick Gallagher, and Tony "Yobs" Husband -- the Oink editorial team.

Patrick Gallagher was, I think, largely responsible for a dire pilot comedy show I had to watch the other night. Called 'Aerial retentive' it was a cheap parody sketch show. The subjects of the parodies were mainly other TV shows. Ho ho... Jerry Springer... he he... GMTV.

Sigh.

Cheerio

Steve

What channel was it on?

There's a new idea for a strand: Sketch ideas that were once clever but are now exhausted:

Newsreaders
Music parodies
Spoof fly-on-the-wall / documentary in general
Parody of existing shows

>What channel was it on?

It's not been transmitted yet. I think it'll be on C4, probably in the 4Later slot - only 15 minutes long.

Another category: parodying groups/pop videos (Aerial Retentive featured a Monkees/Oasis parody - The Mancees).

So, do you have some sort of important job in TV then?

Something I've often wondered: do cameramen / editing people / technical drudges in general ever raise complaints about the quality of the stuff they have to work on, is that more than their jobs are worth?

No I'm nothing important in TV.

Jon done:

>Something I've often wondered: do cameramen / editing people / technical drudges in general ever raise complaints about the quality of the stuff they have to work on, is that more than their jobs are worth?

I would've thought that freelance people would keep their mouths shut and just get on with it, if they had any sense. Staff might get away with it a bit more, but I generally think that it'd be done in a 'constructive criticism' sort of way.

To paraphrase Oliver Postgate (when asked if he made his shows for adults or children), it's the Commissioning Editor that you're really trying to please. 1) Come up with an idea that they'll like. 2) Convince them that it was *their* idea in the first place. 3) Try and make the show with the fraction of the budget you originally asked for. 4) Sit back and watch the Commissioning Editor meddle with the final version, take out numerous of his/her colleagues for expensive lunches and claim credit for the whole thing.

Cheerio

Steve