1976

JIM'LL FIX IT

BBC1 Transmission (GB): Saturday 28th February 1976, 6.10-6.45pm
Programme Number: LLV1732P

Notes:

Programme presented by Top of the Pops presenter Jimmy Savile, in which he 'fixed it' for children of all ages to have their dreams come true. This edition featured, among other things, Jim fixing it for 20 year old Louis Manning to play an It's A Knockout game with boxing legend Henry Cooper. They have a pillow fight whilst balancing on a plank over a swimming pool. Commentator for the It's A Knockout sequence was Eddie Waring.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

 

THE TWO RONNIES: SERIES 5, EPISODE 7 including 'It's A Wash-Out'

BBC1 Transmission (GB): Saturday 16th October 1976, 8.15-9.00pm
Programme Number: unknown

Notes:

This edition of the popular BBC1 comedy series The Two Ronnies featured a 6 minute 14 seconds spoof sketch of It’s a Knockout renamed ‘It’s a Wash-Out’! Set in the fictional village of Bendover in Buckinghamshire, it shows how the village is chosen to represent Great Britain in the International Final of the programme, being held in Brussels, Belgium. The villagers enter training for the chance of being one of only eight people (four male and four female) to participate. Villagers included Charlie Tickler, the newspaper delivery boy, with his accuracy of delivering newspapers from his bicycle. Five women of the village are seen doing battle in the local Tesco supermarket collecting specified items, catching toilet rolls in their dress hems and balancing cardboard boxes in the car park. Neighbours Mary Upjohn and Janet Sykes participate in a pillow-fight on the garden wall, followed by a game where they try to keep their underwear dry. Bank manager Arthur Wainscot is in training with a new dieting regime from his wife and married couple Mr and Mrs Arnold Beckwith train regularly, limbering up in the bedroom with the village milkman, Roger Allgood. The whole spoof is overplayed with the Domestic It’s A Knockout theme music, Herb Alpert's ‘Bean Bag’. The sketch stars Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett along with supporting artistes.

Made in Colour • This programme exists in the BBC Archives

 

BEHIND THE SCENES: FOUR DAYS IN SOUTHPORT WITH JEUX SANS FRONTIÈRES

BBC1 Transmission (GB): Sunday 19th September 1976, 3.45-4.10pm
Programme Number: LON5010S

Notes:

“In two weeks’ time, the final of this season’s Jeux Sans Frontières will be televised from Blackpool. During last summer’s series, film cameras joined the Outside Broadcast units at Southport for the final four days of ‘organised shambles’. They watched the piecing together of the many parts and the resolution of the endless problems before the show was ready for its 200 million audience in Europe.” (Radio Times magazine)

This behind the scenes look into the organisation of the British heat of the 1975 JSF series was produced by Tony Salmon and narrated by Terry Wogan. It featured footage of teams arriving in Southport, the meetings, rehearsals and other activities which led up to the broadcast. This programme was shown regionally by BBC Wales a week earlier than the London broadcast. Welsh viewers got to see it on Sunday 12th September 1976 between 7.35 and 8.00pm.

The question remains, however, why this film took over a year to be edited and transmitted...

Made in Colour on 16mm Film • This programme exists in the BBC Archives