Birthday Club BC of Anglia Television - 1980 to 2002 - 22 Glorious Years... And A Reunion With Auntie Helen McDermott...

A signed... er.. pawed photo of BC in his late 1980s glory days.

Still staggering - even in black and white - a BC signed pic from 1982.

Happy, happy days of the 1980s! Uncle Michael Speake with BC and Auntie Helen McDermott in the Anglia TV studios in Norwich. BC is undergoing a bit of a spruce-up c.1982/1983 as he had got a bit grubby. Image was very important in those days. Auntie Helen's mascara suffers as a result. 

Uncle Michael, of course, became BC's official biographer in 1986 with the publication of 'BC and the Magic Book'. For some reason the book did not make the top of the year's best seller list, and some of us suspected jealousy and foul play within the ranks of those compiling the list. 

1985, and BC brings a touch of that certain sartorial something to the Birthday Club studio. Not for nothing are the 1980s remembered as the 'Style Decade'.

Boxing Day, 1988, and BC, seen here with a very bright and breezy Uncle Patrick Anthony, is seriously in need of an Alka-Seltzer.

How sad it was that June day in 2002 when it was announced that BC of Anglia Television's Birthday Club was to be retired in July, after twenty-two glorious years with the company. Since his arrival in 1980, he had become a legend in his own tea time. But a discreet online announcement on 22 June 2002 brought an end to those halcyon days:

Anglia spokesman Tom Walshe told the Eastern Daily Press newspaper: 'Anglia has decided that BC will be retired from next month owing to daytime schedule changes. The changes are in line with recently announced plans to give more prominence to regional programmes at peak times, and the time currently devoted to BC's Birthday Club will be allocated to extra regional news.

'BC has had a marvellous run on Anglia for 22 years, and we appreciate that many viewers will be sorry to see him go. But nothing is forever in television.'

Mr Walshe went on: 'Children's ITV has undergone many changes over the past two decades, and it has become increasingly difficult to accommodate BC within the schedule. Requests for birthday greetings have also fallen off markedly in recent times.'

'We can assure all his fans that BC will be given an honourable retirement and we know his memory will live on in the hearts and minds of parents and children all over the East of England.'

Stunned silence reigned across the East of England. Then, of course, came the hot tears, the denial, the relief grief.

A few years later, dear Auntie Helen, Helen McDermott, one of the station's presenters who had had the honour of working with BC right from the start, indeed had helped to draw him to the station in 1980, promising him perks like a limitless supply of lollipops and plenty of presenters to harass assist, sought him out and brought him briefly back to our screens. BC, it turned out, was still living in Norwich. He was living in a secret location because he didn't want to be mobbed. This was very wise. Me and my cousin Brian had been desperate to mob this celebrity of celebrities since 1985, when he was at the peak of his fame. And our desire had in no way lessened over the years.

Auntie Helen takes a puppet replica of BC out to meet a young fan in the 1980s. The real BC, of course, was usually studio-bound because of the ever-present threat of being mobbed - although he did have his own vehicle to attend some public events - BC4U.

BC had put on a bit of weight and Auntie Helen commented on his changed appearance - had he had a facelift, perhaps? But he still had the old magic. 

The reunion ended slightly acrimoniously as Auntie Helen discovered the somewhat fickle nature of our hero. Seems he was not oblivious to the charms of younger TV presenters. But that's what stardom does to people. Or leopards. Or bears. Or whatever he is.

My BC. I made this and based him on the BC who was so familiar to us in the 1980s, using a c.1983 screen capture for the model. From around the late 1980s, BC underwent several cosmetic changes - but denies surgery. If you would like to know how I made him then you are almost as sad as I am. My reasons were simple. I wanted my own BC that I could mob at home.

Anyway, enjoy our original tribute to this star of stars here.

1980-1986: The Adventure Game - Patrick Dowling And "Alice In Wonderland Crossed With Hitchhiker's"

Welcome to Arg! Darong played Moira Stuart, Gandor played Christopher Leaver and Gnoard played Charmian Gradwell.

Ah, what a delight! Without further ado, let's say: "Nepo emases!" Maddie Smith pronounced it so beautifully! In fact, it seemed that Ms Smith might actually be called Ivy P Daid at one point. Christopher Leaver, played by Gandor, suggested the possibility, but, of course, Ivy was actually Chinese Detective actor David Yip - which is self explanatory if you think about it.

Anyway, back to the main story. In the early 1980s, the vast majority of us knew little or nothing of computers. The subject was a closed book to me and my mates down at the local comprehensive school, and my school didn't have a computer at all. Computers were for scientists, Dr Who, the gas and electricity boards, and posh, geeky, nerdy people most of us knew nothing of as the decade swung into action. But the BBC telly series The Adventure Game featured a computer - and the show is a testament to how computer visuals leapt on during the decade, with the boring green-on-black writing of 1980 looking extraordinarily dated alongside the colourful "virtual reality" mazes featured in later years.

Arg was a small planet of little consequence, often visited by time travellers. The Argonds were a race of shape-shifting dragon-like creatures, who often assumed human form so as not to alarm visitors from Earth.

Whilst being a polite race, the Argonds did get a little bit fed up with intrusions from time travelling Earth folk and, having a regrettable sense of humour, would "nick" the essential time lock crystal from space crafts and set travellers a series of puzzles to enable them to get it back. Whilst we're on that subject, how do you work out how many Argonds are round the pond? I used to know, but I've forgotten!

The ruler of Arg was the Rangdo - "Uncle" to some - who started out in human form but didn't like it so metamorphasised into first an aspidistra then a teapot. "Gronda Gronda, Rangdo!"

The Adventure Game was all so beautifully English! I've been evaporated? Oh, bother! I shall just have to walk home, and it's jolly cold tonight! As the '80s continued, the concept really caught on on Arg with the puzzle fests being broadcast to great acclaim on Argo-Vision, and also becoming cult viewing here on planet Earth via the miracle of intergalactic relays. The show's creator, Patrick Dowling, described it as: "Alice In Wonderland crossed with Hitchhiker's," - as in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Dowling had previously been involved in great telly wonders like Vision On, but there is no doubt that The Adventure Game was his crowning glory. He wrote and produced the first two series in 1980 and 1981, and introduced several episodes of the '81 series. He retired in 1982.

The Rangdo's delight was the Vortex - which saw many Arg explorers from Earth evaporated - but devious use of green cheese rolls could thwart (and infuriate) his Highness.

Explorers included Paul Darrow of Blake's 7 fame, Noel Edmonds of Swap Shop, Barbara Lott - Timothy's dreadful mother from Sorry!, and Rubik's Cube adorer David Singmaster. Actress Elizabeth Estensen confounded the wily dragons by having a hand small enough to fit down a narrow glass tube and extract a helpful piece of equipment, Maddie Smith and David Yip came unstuck after the clock quacked, and Bonnie Langford called the Rangdo "Oh Gronda". She was later evaporated.

 Paul Darrow steps it out. Will he be evaporated?

Of course, as Arg-O-Vision became the most popular TV station on that side of the horse head nebular, the Argond presenters of its top-rated show began to show signs of "artistic temperament" in the studio: Charmain Gradwell, played by Gnoard, ordered Angord, played by Angord, very fetching in her 1980s high fashion ra ra skirt and deelyboppers, to keep out of camera range during a session of the Drogna Game in one episode (the Drogna was the Argonds' currency), and Christopher Leaver, played by Gandor, brought Sarah Lam, played by Dorgan, down a peg or too by evaporating her in the 1985-'86 series.

Former children's TV heroine Lesley Judd, obviously thoroughly bored with sticky back plastic on Blue Peter, turned to the bad in The Adventure Game. Having been a contestant in one show in 1980, she turned up as a "mole" in the 1981 series - posing as a prisoner of the Argonds, but actually out to deceive and delay her fellow Earth folk and, hopefully, evaporate them. She went up a lot in our estimation during her Adventure Game stint. We never could stick goody-goody, fuddy-duddy old Blue Peter.

 Lesley Judd and friend - "Mole, mole, go to your hole!"

Of course, as Rongad would say, things could seems rather sdrawkcab on Arg, but it was all doog yrev (pronounced "doogy rev"). Nodrap?

After Patrick Dowling retired in 1982, the show's director Ian Oliver took over as producer, and was joined for series four by Christopher Tandy. 

Some episodes of this groundbreaking series were, unbelievably, wiped by the BBC, and, also unbelievably, there has never been an official DVD release of the episodes which do remain. The Adventure Game truly was groundbreaking - being the precursor to such series as The Crystal Maze and Knightmare. The 1980 series somehow grabbed my attention ( I was then a hairy, disgruntled teen with absolutely no computer savvy), and the following three series were required viewing. In 1980, when The Adventure Game began, I believed that computers were for eggheads. By 1986, when The Adventure Game ended, I thought they were a passing fad. How wrong I was! But the series, a wonderful combination of wacky problems, sci-fi and whimsy, remains one of my favourites - not just of the 1980s, but of all time. 

Dr Who In The 1980s: Unsettled Times For A Time Lord

In 1980, Tom Baker relinquished his role as Dr Who, although his final episode did not appear on screen until March 1981.

Interviewed in the Daily Mirror on November 5th, 1980, Tom said: 

"Finishing with Dr Who is a great emotional jolt after playing it so long, but we need these emotional jolts in our lives, they are good for us.

"The Doctor has made me quite well off and believe me there was no row with the BBC. It was strictly my decision. I have had offers from America and hopefully my next project after finishing the present 'Dr Who' series will be a 'Sherlock Holmes' film.

'The Hound of the Baskervilles', with me playing Sherlock. I like that kind of role.

"There is so much nastiness in the world, so much violence and horror I want to keep away from it, bury myself in make-believe. I don't want the horrible realities. That's why I liked 'Dr Who'. It was all fun, fun, fun."

The last Tom Baker era episode of "Dr Who" appeared on our screens on 21/3/1981.
 

WHOZAT! PETER PLAYS A SPACESHOT

From the Sun, 16/4/1981

Hats off to actor Peter Davison. He's out to prove what a big hit he will be as the new 'Dr Who'.

Peter produced a whopping new space shot yesterday as he warmed up for his new role.

He will be wearing the cricket gear when the intrepid Doctor starts a new series next January. 
 
And Peter, who first shot to fame in "All Creatures Great And Small", wants to be able to bat his way out of bother.

Chances are he won't be caught out too often. Peter, who is the youngest ever Dr Who, is a keen cricketer already.

From the Daily Mirror, 11/1/1984: 

The new Doctor Who stepped out of his Tardis yesterday looking like a walking jumble sale.

He was wearing an outfit described by the TV show's producer John Nathan-Turner as "totally tasteless."

The Doctor, alias actor Colin Baker, sported a coat of many colours and fabrics, yellow-and-black striped trousers, a floppy green polka-dot bow tie and green shoes with red spats.

Colin, who takes over as Dr Who No 6 from Peter Davison in March, said in London:
 
 "The Doctor is not a human, so he doesn't follow human trends. Hence the costume.

"Actually, I think it's smashing."

The 1980s were unsettled times for Dr Who, and the original series finally ended in 1989 with Silvester McCoy at the helm as the decade's third new Doctor.

More '80s Actual Dr Who material coming soon.

More 1980s TV Ads: "We Hope It's Chips, It's Chips!"

Ah, the bliss that was '80s TV adverts! Remember Jenny Logan and the Shake n' Vac ad? (Also remember Jenny answering questions from'80s Actual blog readers on the subject to celebrate the campaign's 30th anniversary in 2010? Look here). And what about the ecstasy and the agony of completing a Rubik's Cube and then discovering...

What about the lovely Beattie (Maureen Lipman) - "An ology?!!" - and dear Su Pollard and the singing donkeys ("Ooo makes a lovely cuppa...")?

Adverts sure stir up memories, especially when they're as memorable as these!

Ah, who could forget this one: "Will it be chips or jacket spuds? Will it be salad or frozen peas?"

Enjoy all the above mentioned and more by the miracle of YouTube below!

Post Box: Coronation Street: Renee and Alf Roberts - When Lorries Attack...

Renee (Madge Hindle): Beware of the lorries!

A lovely e-mail from Wendy, who says:

I've been watching episodes of Coronation Street from 1980 and I've reached July, which contains the death of corner shop keeper Renee Bradshaw/Roberts. She's killed by a speeding lorry after stalling her husband's car in a country lane. It seems bizarre to me that Alf, her hubby, was almost killed by a lorry crashing into the Rovers Return pub the year before. It's almost like lorries were out to get Mr and Mrs Roberts!

Lol - I remember it all well, but can't say the strangeness of it registered until you mentioned it! It is most peculiar! Renee (Madge Hindle) had reigned at the Corner Shop for four years, marrying Alf (Bryan Mosley) halfway through. The production team decided that the marriage was boring and as producer Bill Podmore had always seen Alf as a Mr Green, the grocer, it meant Renee had to go. A great shame because I was very fond of the character (although I agree with the then production team that the marriage was monotonous!). The trouble was, Madge Hindle was (and I'm sure is) a brilliant character actress and she invested Renee, the astute businesswoman, with a likeable warmth and faint air of daffiness which made me miss her presence in the show a great deal.

Did you know that Madge's daughter, Charlotte Hindle, was a friend and companion to Gilbert the alien in children's series Get Fresh and Gilbert's Fridge?

The 1980s TV Revolution

From the "Daily Mirror", December 19, 1980

Back in 1980, things were very different on the TV front. We had three TV channels - ITV and BBC's 1 and 2.

BBC 2 was definitely "minority taste" as far as working class oiks like me were concerned.

Video technology had been around for yonks, but domestic video recorders for only a few years. They were hugely expensive, only 5% of UK homes had them in 1980. TV games, a more recent arrival, were also the province of the fortunate few.

As the Mirror article tells us:

The only big change in the 70s was that more families bought colour sets.

In my family's home in the early 1980s, there was a black and white TV with the horizontal hold so "gone" people on screen looked like eggs on legs. The plastic wood effect was peeling from the outer casing. We had rented a colour set around 1978 (colour had arrived in 1967, on BBC 2), but couldn't afford to keep feeding the meter.

Nobody I knew had a TV in the kitchen or the bedroom.

The 1980s saw a real revolution in our homes as far as TV was concerned. In 1980, the IBA's latest franchise allocations for the ITV companies led to the disappearance of familiar regional companies Southern and Westward and the arrival of TVS and TSW. Sir Lew Grade's ATV acquired a new board and Central took over in the Midlands. The changes took effect in 1982.

The Mirror articles featured here, all from 19 December 1980, buzz with excitement over future telly-related pleasures - and paint a fascinating picture of the franchise allocations procedures, Lady Plowden and the IBA.

The bosses battle for your TV...

FUTURE

Video, computers and satellites

However much secrecy surrounds the battle for new ITV franchises, one thing is certain. They will all have to take part in a great technological leap-forward in the 1980s.

The only big change in the 70s was that more families bought colour sets.

Now there are video games and computers, video-text and video cassette recorders which can be plugged into home TV sets.

Within five years programmes will be beamed worldwide from satellites.

Pay TV, video disc-players, as well as the new ITV Channel Four and breakfast viewing will all be with us.

Some experts predict that most homes will have two TVs and some three. The family will split up to see different programmes in separate rooms.

With so many new things about to happen in the TV world it is not surprising that one company, which is in danger of losing its franchise, says it will refuse to hand over its studios and know-how to its successors.

They plan to make and market programmes for the new channels and other outlets the big TV technological revolution is expected to produce.

-

With only 5% of UK households having video recorders in 1980, we find Rumbelows offering an incentive to buy one in this newspaper advertisement from December that year.

By 1980 standards £449.99 was a lot of dosh - and not many people could afford it. Similarly, a lot of people were not keen to make the financial commitment to rent a video. There was a recession on.

The 1981 Royal Wedding caused an upsurge in video sales and rentals. My family rented one in 1983.

And we thought we were very posh.

Hart To Hart

The idea behind Hart To Hart was once described as a "'spin on the Thin Man films".

There are similarities: like Nick and Nora Charles, Jonathan and Jennifer Hart were a wealthy, crime solving husband and wife team. Like Nick and Nora Charles, Jonathan and Jennifer Hart had a dog.

But Jonathan and Jennifer Hart also had a friend/servant who was a genuine one-off - Max!

The pilot show made its debut in England on Sunday, 27 January, 1980 - on ITV - the series having begun in America a few months previously. Minus the famous "'cause when they met it was murder" catchphrase, which came a little later (in the first season Max said: "I look after both of them which ain't easy - 'cause their hobby is murder!"), the other ingredients were all present and correct. The fabulously wealthy Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner), his wife Jennifer (Stefanie Powers), their faithful servant and old pal Max (Lionel Stander), and Freeway, the dog, solved crimes week after week.

TV was more of an event in those days, with only three channels, and most of us looked forward to the feature-length pilot episode. Hart To Hart began at 9.15 pm, breaked for fifteen minutes of news at 10.15, and then continued until 11.15.

In my ITV region it was followed by a dreary programme called A Question Of Sex, in which Clive James and Anna Raeburn debated whether women are more emotional than men, then, just after midnight, it was Closedown. Those were very different days.

Hart To Hart was an instant hit here. The final episodes were filmed in America in 1984.

One mystery remains. Whilst the Harts' bedroom was regularly featured in the show, Max did not appear to have one and it was a standing joke on the set that he slept standing up!

1981: Margaret Thatcher Says "Yes" To "Yes Minister"...

The comedy series Yes, Minister began in 1980, and had soon attracted friends in high places...

From the Daily Mirror, 30/3/1981:

It's party time at the House of Commons tonight.

And it's not a political one, either.

The Speaker, the Rt. Hon. Mr George Thomas MP, is having a dinner and his guests of honour are the gang of three from "Yes, Minister" (BBC2, 9pm).

Jim Hacker MP (Paul Eddington), Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) and Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds) will all be sipping cocktails in a state room directly below Big Ben.

The Speaker is a fan of the show and so, too, is Mrs Thatcher, who likes to record it on video to watch in the small hours of the morning.

In tonight's episode the Minister decides to curry favour with the electorate by going on a publicity tour of a farm run for children. Chaos results.

The dinner date was arranged when the three stars of the show went to watch a parliamentary session in the public gallery at the Commons recently.

Their appearance almost brought the business of the House to a halt, with MPs and actors gawping at each other.

Paul Eddington says: "We went to the Commons to get the flavour of the place, and I must say we had a very enjoyable time. There was a lot of sniggering and nudging when we were spotted."

Although "Yes, Minister" has received the best TV comedy award, there will not be a new series for some time.

The writers, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, are too busy working on other projects to get together before the summer of 1982.

So it looks as if Mrs Thatcher will have to be satisfied with repeats.

Emmerdale Farm - Amos Does Himself A Mischief, Crossroads - David And Barbara Get Married, Coronation Street - Hilda And Eddie Sing Carols...

Rita Fairclough (Barbara Knox) gives husband Len (Peter Adamson) a right lambasting before walking out on him in 1980.

What were UK soap operas like in the early '80s?

Well, we had Crossroads, Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm. The farming saga (as it was then) would not be networked - shown on the same day and at the same time - until January 1988. We also had a couple of new soaps - Take The High Road took us to Scotland - to the village of Glendarroch; Together was set in a block of flats in the south of England. In 1981, we gained English-speaking Welsh soap Taff Acre.

Both Taff Acre and Together were short-lived.

Those were the days before the shock of the new in the soap world - the arrivals of Brookside (1982) and EastEnders (1985). Life in soap land was a lot slower than it is today...

What were the early months of 1980 like in Beckindale, the original name of the village now called Emmerdale? Well, the start of a new decade should have brought smiles to a few of the characters.

Let's time-warp back and pop up to Home Farm to see Judy Westrop (Jane Cussons). Good old Judy's having a fag and saying: "I'm angry - and I'm enjoying it!"

Oh dear...

And Matt Skilbeck (Frederick Pyne) is at the hospital where there's bad news from the doctor: "I'm sorry, Mr Skilbeck, there's no choice. Your wife's condition is critical. We must operate now."

Oh no! But surely there's better news at The Woolpack? After all, Amos Brearly (Ronald Magill) is sure to want to start the new decade on a positive note...

Oh 'eck! Steady on, Amos - you'll do yourself a mischief!

"ARRRGGHHH!!!"

Too late!

Oh, well... much better news - Clive Hornby made his first appearance as Jack Sugden on 19 February 1980 - and Joe (Frazer Hines) greeted him: "Welcome back to Emmerdale, big brother!"

And a bit later there was a new woman at Annie's Aga - just temporary of course... but, hang on, doesn't she look familiar? Good grief, it's Pam St Clement, later Pat of EastEnders, getting an early taste of soap life as Mrs Eckersley in March 1980.

And Grandad Sam Pearson (Toke Townley) caught a big smelly fish whilst on holiday in Ireland: "I'm goin' to 'ave it stuffed, and it's goin' in a glass case over't mantelpiece," said Grandad.

Yeuk!

Funny old year. Funny old start to a new decade...

However, villagers and viewers alike were delighted to meet the new Dolly Skilbeck, now played by Jean Rogers. The new Dolly made her screen debut on 1 April, 1980.

Thanks to our sister blog, the Beckindale Bugle, for our Emmerdale Farm pics and insights.

It was decreed in 1979 that the weekly number of Crossroads episodes broadcast should be cut from four to three in 1980. The IBA was unhappy with the standards of the show.

In the story-line, 1980 got off to a cracking start nonetheless with Rosemary Hunter (Janet Hargreaves) shooting her ex-husband, David (Ronald Allen) in the motel office. David survived and went on to marry his new love, novelist Barbara Brady (Sue Lloyd).

Sue Lloyd had made her debut in the show the year before and revealed in her 1998 autobiography that she had had doubts about going into Crossroads:

The first time I was offered a role in Crossroads, I must admit my initial reaction was to be a bit sniffy about it. The soap was renowned for its wobbly scenery, bizarre sory lines and regular slaughtering by the critics. Why would I, just back from filming The Pink Panther with Peter Sellers in the South of France, and about to embark on the comedy The Upchat Line with John Alderton, want to get involved in a project like that? Besides, I was too busy.

'If they want you,' advised my agent, 'they'll come back.'

He was right. About a year later they called again. They were looking for an actress to play a slightly mysterious, classy lady named Barbara Brady. She was to arrive at the Crossroads Motel, apparently to take a post as a sort of upmarket housekeeper, but in reality she was an author researching material for a new book.

David and Barbara were two of the show's most popular characters until they were axed in 1985.

The Ogdens had been Corrie favourites since the mid-1960s. In December 1981, Daily Mirror TV critic Hilary Kingsley issued a plea to the Street's writers to stop Hilda (Jean Alexander) singing!

Her carol duet with Eddie Yeats (Geoffrey Hughes) had not been appreciated.

Originally a petty crook and lovable layabout, Eddie got a job as a binman in 1980 and moved in with the Ogdens at No 13.

The early '80s were the final on-screen era for a number of the Street's original characters - Annie Walker (Doris Speed), Ena Sharples (Violet Carson), Albert Tatlock (Jack Howarth) and Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) all made their final appearances in the first half of the decade.

By mid-1984, Ken Barlow (William Roache) was the only remaining member of the cast who had appeared in the first episode, broadcast on 9 December 1960.

1980: Pam St Clement, Pat Of EastEnders, Cuts Her Soap Teeth In Emmerdale Farm...

Pam St Clement, the wonderful Pat Wicks/Butcher/Evans in EastEnders since 1986, once played a Mrs Eckersley in Emmerdale Farm. Making her debut in episode 561 on 10 March 1980, she appeared in the Yorkshire farming saga for five episodes, bowing out in episode 565 on 25 March 1980.

Mrs Eckersley was a Beckindale local, and was called into help at Emmerdale Farm when Annie Sugden (Sheila Mercier) and her father, Sam Pearson (Toke Townley), went on a competition-won holiday to Ireland.

She was a capable woman, well able to step into Annie's shoes at the Aga.

Mrs Eckersley's family consisted of her husband, Harold (Roger Hammond), and teenage daughter, Esmarelda (Debbie Farrington). Esmarelda had written a book and was distressed when her manuscript was rejected by the publishers she'd sent it to.

The newly returned (and recast) Jack Sugden (Clive Hornby), himself a published author, helped Esmarelda through her disappointment.

Locals though they were supposed to be, once this story-line was complete, the Eckersleys were never seen or heard of in the show again.

Crossroads: Benny Hawkins' 1980s - The Birdie Dance, ESP, A Haunting...

1980 provided some real treats for all the family...

When Benny wasn't working at the Crossroads Motel Garage, nipping into the Tiswas studio next door, fetching a spanner and vanishing for months on end, or appearing in panto, he was making records like this.

It was all too, too tragic.

Paul Henry recalled a story about the 1982 Falklands War in a 1990s Crossroads anniversary TV programme. UK armed forces had apparently nicknamed the Falkland Islanders "Bennys". When Top Brass got to hear about it, an order went out that this offensive practise must stop immediately.

So, the soldiers re-nicknamed the Islanders "Stills".

When one of the soldiers was asked why, he replied, "Because they're still Bennys!"

Charming, what?!

Christmas 1981 - and Benny joins in that year's big dance craze at the Staff Christmas Party. Yep, It's The Birdie Dance...



Poor old Benny - after all his past traumas, the 1980s were turning weird on him. First there were the bizarre glimmerings of ESP, then a more down-to-earth encounter with a King's Oak hooligan, and finally the death of his elderly landlady, Mrs Price in 1983. And Benny KNEW something was going to happen before she died. Now, with Benny alone in the old guest house, the strange noises begin - and then the lights go out...

Legend has it that Benny, last spotted on-screen just before Christmas 1987 and then never seen or mentioned again (the show ended in April 1988), finally disappeared up a Christmas tree.

1980: A Shooting At The Crossroads Motel

We all remember the shooting of JR Ewing in 1980 - it shook soap fans across the world. But, at the Crossroads Motel, David Hunter's ex-wife, Rosemary (played by Janet Hargreaves), was the first soap character of 1980 to pull a trigger. It shook... er... several soap fans across England.

Motel owner Meg Mortimer (Noele Gordon) was about to announce the engagement of her business partner David Hunter to novelist Barbara Brady at a party to celebrate the occasion. Rosemary, in the past known for her neurotic tendencies, had begun to behave strangely.

American psychiatrist, Lloyd Munroe (Alan Gifford), an old friend of Meg's, told Rosemary off, pointing out to her that she'd been: "...threatening me - and David and Barbara - with threats of suicide."

Lloyd was doing his best to help, but was trying to convince Rosemary that she didn't love David, she actually hated him, really the right thing to do?

Particularly as it seemed that Rosemary may have stolen a gun, and Lloyd was fully aware of that fact?

Everybody, including Rosemary's daughter-in-law Diane Hunter (Sue Hanson), was in a state of high tension and the night of David and Barbara's engagement party saw an anxious discussion in the reception area at the motel.

Old favourite Tish Hope (Joy Andrews) was larding it up behind the reception desk, and tried to speak sense to Rosemary, but Rosemary hung up on her.

Something horrible was about to happen.

Rosemary left the engagement party before Meg made the happy announcement. David (Ronald Allen) and Barbara (Sue Lloyd) were overjoyed, but there was an underlying anxiety about Rosemary.

Rosemary gave waitress Glenda Brownlow (Lynette McMorrough) a note for David - requesting his presence in the motel office...

When he arrived she asked him to say that he loved her, and turned quite sarky when he refused...

Suddenly, Rosemary pulled out A GUN!!

"David... say it... tell me you love me... SAY IT!" she whined menacingly. When he refused, she shot him.

Of course, all was well. David was discovered by Meg and made a full recovery, Rosemary underwent psychiatric treatment and was never seen again, and that was that.

According to legend, the reason for David's somewhat informal attire at his engagement party had its roots in a behind-the-scenes mishap. When Janet Hargreaves first pulled the trigger of the gun, it didn't go off. But Ronald Allen had already broken the bag of stage blood, ruining the suit he was wearing.

It seems that the Crossroads wardrobe allowance could not run to another suit!

Dallas 1980: Who Shot JR?

That mean ole JR Ewing (played magnificently by Larry Hagman) really stole the show in Dallas. S'wellin', Bar-bee and the poison dwarf simply never got a look in. T'weren't fair. But then who said life is fair, darlin'?

Fledgling soap Dallas, which had begun as a mini-series in 1978, suddenly peaked in 1980. In a sudden change of plan when two extra episodes were required, Dallas executives decided that JR was going to be shot for the end of season cliffhanger, and the identity of the person behind the gun was going to remain a mystery until the next season's episodes began.

The shooting episode was to be screened in England on 26 May, and by then interest was at fever pitch...

Daily Mirror, 26/5/1980:

Smooth-talking DJ Terry Wogan was almost speechless yesterday after being named a suspect in the JR shooting.

Terry, as every radio listener knows, simply hates the Mr Nasty of BBC TV's "Dallas" series.

And as "Dallas" fever swept the country over the weekend bookies started laying odds that it is Terry's finger on the trigger when JR gets his comeuppance in tonight's programme.

Hot favourite to do what millions of viewers have been itching to do is Lusty Dusty at 2-1. He's the ex-lover of JR's wife, Sue Ellen, and was believed to have died in an air crash.

Sue Ellen is a good tip at 3-1. Kristin, a former mistress, is a 4-1 shot.

A business rival of JR's - Cliff Barnes - is 7-1.

JR's brother, Bobby, is at 10-1. Lucy Ewing, Pam Ewing and Miss Ellie all 12-1. Jock Ewing and Vaughn Leland are 14-1.

And Terry? He's a rank outsider... at 1,000-1.

An estimated eighteen million viewers will see the man-they-love-to-hate gunned down and critically wounded by an unseen attacker tonight.

But even the scriptwriters haven't decided on the culprit - and filming on the next series doesn't begin until next month.

Inside the same newspaper was this article by Hilary Kingsley:

At last, nasty old JR gets his comeuppance. He is shot tonight and his face twists with astonishment.

But save those cheers. JR, played with such magnificent malice by Larry Hagman in "Dallas" (BBC-1, 8.10) lives to smirk his way through a new series in the autumn.

So whodunnit? No one knows. Not even JR.

A spokesman for Lorimar Productions, where security is almost as tight as at the White House, said: "Only the two writers for the series know who pulled the trigger - even the suspects don't know."

And there's a gang of suspects. They are:

SUE ELLEN (Linda Gray), JR's alcoholic wife, who is probably the favourite.

CLIFF BARNES (Ken Kercheval), JR's life-long enemy.

KRISTIN (Mary Crosby), who screams "I'll kill him" when JR has her arrested on a prostitution charge.

Her fellow blackmailer ALAN BEAM (Randolph Powell).

And, intriguingly, JR's nice but weedy brother BOBBY (Patrick Duffy), who is sickened by his brother's plotting.
 
But my money is firmly on an outsider - the grief-stricken widow of double-crossed businessman Seth Stone.

Finally we got to see the episode. Old JR was working late at the office when he heard a sound... was he alone? Then we saw somebody holding a gun and...

JR fell to the floor and the season ended.

What a great badge!

It soon seemed as though the world and his dog had done the dirty deed.

During the summer of 1980, "WHO SHOT JR?" and "I SHOT JR" T-shirts, stetsons, badges and car stickers abounded.

The aforementioned Terry Wogan, on BBC Radio Two, led the national obsession.

A children's song of the time went: "I'm only a poor little Ewin', JR keeps pickin' on me, the baby's a punk, Sue Ellen's a drunk and Bobby came out of the sea!"

-Patrick Duffy, the actor who played Bobby, had previously found fame as The Man From Atlantis, and the last part of the song was a reference to that.

Then there were "catchy" ditties like the Wurzels' "I hate JR, I'm hanging the sign in the back of my car..."

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Fancier badge - same message!

From the Daily Mirror, 19/11/1980:
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J.R. Ewing, that cunning, conniving TV tycoon, was revealed as just a dummy yesterday.

His spittin' image was proudly unveiled at Madame Tussaud's waxworks in London. And Larry Hagman, who plays the sneaky oilman in "Dallas", was the first to have a look.
 
Hagman (Mark One) recognised the guy on the left immediately, if only by his J.R. stetson.

Like the actor, the waxwork remained tight-lipped about the show's big question: Who shot J.R.? 

But Hagman aims to provide an answer to the BBC's financial problems.

 He will appear on posters promoting TV licence stamps and emphasising the value that viewers get from the Beeb. The caption: "Trust me. Would I steer you wrong?"

 Hagman gave his services free. Don't tell J.R.

So, who did shoot JR?
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 Mary Crosby, daughter of Bing, as Sue Ellen's sister Kristin, was the black hearted hussy.

Years later, Mary told Larry Hagman: "The best feedback I ever got on shooting you [JR] was from this angelic little old English lady, who said: 'Why didn't you shoot lower?'"

Here's JR being very nice to Bobby's secretary in this Dallas picture strip featured in the Sun in April 1981...

But life was very difficult for dedicated businessmen like JR in the 1980s. He couldn't open his mouth without being shot or, as seen here in 1982, being shoved in the Southfork swimming pool.

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Poor man. As sweet as any rampant capitalist, he really didn't deserve the way life treated him.
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Doesn't it make you want to weep?

Dallas fever in novel form - two books published in 1980 and 1981.

The ultimate guide to the Ewings of Southfork Ranch - Laura Van Wormer's epic work told the complete story from 1860-1985. Ms. Van Wormer dedicated it to the memory of Jock Ewing, 1909-1981.

With the 1985 greetings cards from Paper Dreams, Manchester, England, you could say whatever you wanted (just about) with a little help from your favourite Dallas characters. There were many more where these came from. The card above contains the greeting: "Always a winner. Happy birthday".

This was cheering. Whatever your age, the response "Are you? You don't look it! Happy birthday" is bound to bring a smile. In this case is JR saying it to Clayton or vice versa?

"Two Interesting thoughts" - the delectable Sue Ellen and Pam.

"You're not just one year older, you're one year sexier. Happy birthday."

Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) found happiness with Clayton Farlow (Howard Keel) after Jock's death. The card's greeting reads: "You two are perfect together. Happy Anniversary".
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"Do I miss you? Hell yes!" Cliff Barnes had a troubled love life. In fact he had a troubled life.

"I can't get you out of my mind" (Actually, Pammy's mind was rather a strange place. See 1986 for further details!).