Hey there, a few minor observations about the Get Fresh segment at 17:50. Get Fresh wasn’t actually produced by Tyne-Tees Television, Tyne-Tees simply provided the London office for the independent central unit that administered the show on the behalf of the consortium who made it. The series was in fact made every week in turn by each of the non- big 5 ITV regions, so HTV, West, HTV Wales, TVS, TSW, Anglia, Scottish Television, Grampian Television & Ulster TV, & Border TV. Channel TV also provided inserts for the show. Get Fresh was commissioned when the Big 5 Granada, Yorkshire, Central & Thames each turned down the opportunity to fill the Saturday morning slot having failed to come up with a successful format themselves previously. The magnificent Charlotte Hindle made her TV debut on Get Fresh and later went on to host the 8:15 From Manchester after Get Fresh finished it’s 3 year run (not the other way round). Some of the clips you show aren’t actually from the live Saturday morning Get Fresh show, but from the spin-off Sunday Get Fresh an entirely different pre-recorded show made entirely by Border Television to expand the already successful Get Fresh brand. As far as “Get Fresh not catching on” it was deemed a huge hit by the ITV Network as it often had over 6 million viewers. The producer Michael Forte decided that series should no longer continue when I announced that I was to leave after the 3rd season, as I believed the show had run its course and was starting to repeat items we had done before. I am nevertheless extremely proud of the years I spent making this as you correctly pointed out rather chaotic show, which was entirely unscripted (not just Gilbert’s bits), and truly was all the better for it. Thanks for telling the story of Saturday Morning television (and accidentally some Sunday too along the way) and I hope my contribution here helps fill in some details and complete an accurate telling of the Get Fresh story. Lots more info on my web site www.garethjones.tv Stay Fresh, Gareth Jones
Hi Gareth (though you'll forever be Gaz Top to me!) I think Matthew was trying to put forward that Tyne Tees were the administrative centre for _Get Fresh_ and its successor _Ghost Train,_ he just muddled his words a little. Tyne Tees had a bit of a track record in this field - acting as a central hub between the minor ITV companies and liaising with the network - thanks to their work as the central unit for not only _Get Fresh_ and _Ghost Train,_ but also the religious series _Highway_ which predated _Get Fresh_ by about 2½ years.
Both Get Fresh and Ghost Train had Sunday morning editions. They were produced by Border Television and were entirely studio-based. The clip of the Get Fresh opening in this video is from one such edition. Get Fresh Sunday accompanied series 2 & 3 in 1987 & 1988, while Ghost Train Sunday, which was presented by a young Shauna Lowry as opposed to the regular presenters, accompanied series 2 in 1990.
As ever a superb watch. Re: Trev and Simon not being on Going Live for a year, the reason for it was they were offered a BBC2 series for themselves but it coincided with GL and was time heavy, hence the break. Their show only lasted a series before they returned to GL. They explain further on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast to which they were both on earlier this year.
Andrew O'Connor and Katie Copstick were cast members in the seventh series of _No.73_ (the one after Ethel - Sandi Toksvig - left). They left to work on _On the Waterfront._ Frank Sidebottom also became a regular presence at _No.73_ in its final two series.
Thanks for yet another great documentary. I’m 35 in a month so the first kids Saturday show I remember was Going Live! The show is still my favourite. I did like motormouth tho. In terms of summer replacement I loved ghost train and the 8:15 from Manchester as I really liked the wetter the better. I also liked Get Fresh and the strange Parallel 9. Andrew O’Connor I found funny as a kid for some reason. I hated Live and Kicking with a passion as just seemed a poor man’s Going Live! to me. I quit with the Saturday shows from 94 (bar brief SM:TV watch) as we got cable then so would just watch that instead. Mashed really did look like Top Banana. Got to say Sarah Greene deffo was the first time I thought oh wow girls
Ah, we’re getting more into my era now. I’m glad you covered Ghost Train, because I was in it once but nobody I’ve told that story to has ever remembered the show, even those a bit older than me who would have been slap bang in its target age group (I was only 4 at the time, so that would have been summer ‘88). The perils of being up against Going Live on the other side, I suppose!
‘On The Waterfront’ was ace!! Their dub of ‘The Flashing Blade’ was comedy gold. ‘Get Fresh’ was where I saw my first clip of of Star Trek:TNG. Complete with an interview with Sir Patrick.
Jake Abraham is a pretty successful actor these days - I think a lot of people will know him from being one of the two Scousers in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Why I don't remember Caroline Marshall I have no idea. Very much got that "Friend's trendy older sister who you secretly fancy" thing going on.
When On The Waterfront launched, I remember a feature about the new BBC Liverpool studio in Radio Times. I wonder if any other shows were ever made there...?
My Dad (64) remembers the Very Good Car bit on On the Waterfront. Being an OG thunderbirds fan he thought it was hilarious. I was 4 so have no memory of it. Does anybody know if it exists properly anywhere?
Absolutely fascinating, as ever. And although my era was very much the 70s/early 80s, it seems I continued to watch Sat AM telly throughout the decade, on and off - but only on ITV. I can recall pretty much every ITV show covered, but Saturday Superstore and (especially) Going Live always felt middle class and squeaky clean when I was a teen; my recollections of them are so fleeting, I suspect many of them come from various nostalgic clips shows. And I never found Trevor and Simon funny, so there (although I was probably too old by then).
26:51 - Belinda Carlisle. Not many will understand I feel compelled to point that out, but whenever I see Ms. Carlisle I am bound to point her out. That's a BC segment I don't have in my archive, need to look that one up! :P Edit - what a treat, another bit at 27:52
I noticed Tyne Tees were latecomers to the whole Saturday morning scene, holding out the longest. I get a feeling they felt guilty and were making up for lost time by making Get Fresh and Ghost Train. I can vaguely remember Gilbert the Alien, but I was only 5. A few episodes of Get Fresh were made by Border, with locations in the region including Whitehaven Harbour, Lake Windermere, Carlisle Castle, and for some mad reason, Killington Lake Services on the M6.
@treffynnon19 Thanks for the info, I knew they'd have something else on. Sadly, there's nothing of Lyn's Look-In on RU-vid or on TV Brain. The chances of it surviving are slim, as a lot of local programming from that era was either binned or never recorded by Tyne Tees. They put out an appeal in the 90s asking if anyone had taped any regional shows from that era.
Stuart Kenny - Get Fresh, Ghost Train et al were quite often filmed at motorway service stations. Must have been something to do with cheapness/ease of access etc.
@treffynnon19 STOP PRESS!! As well as Lyn's Look-In, Tyne Tees had ANOTHER Saturday morning show. Saturday Shake-Up, which had games, music and magic. Here's a listing for their Christmas edition from December 20th 1980, and it features the LAST person you'd EVER book for a kiddies show!! twitter.com/garyrodger/status/1055186894017966080?s=19 Oh, and Kaleidoscope confirmed that some of Saturday Shake-Up exists, including Chubby's Christmas appearance!! 😜
Hazy memories mushing shows together in my mind made me incorrectly think I had watched the Superstore, but I stand corrected, because the graphics I remembered were actually from The 8.15. The final form of Motormouth was my earliest ITV SatAM memory, largely because of Mouse Trap. No memory of Buchanan being on it at all, Crane and Roslin, yes. I also remember not understanding why the bloke from Going Live had ripped off Jason Donovan. Out, damn Schofield! You'll never be my Joseph! Ghost Train I also remember, solely for Nobby the Sheep.
@@applemask And that really is a 13-year-old Michael McIntyre in the studio audience. Obviously it rubbed off on him, so whenever anyone calls him "fucking crap", he just adds another figure to his earnings.
The entire persona/epitome of, 'It's Wicked', was the BBC trying way too hard to be, 'hip', 'kewl', and, 'down with da kidz.' The presenters didn't help any. Again, their enthusiasm was, let's say, 'painted on', where they tried to be, 'with it', and use various vernacular that was considered the, 'in thing', for the time, but it became tiresome, very quickly. Fortunately for me, at least, I'd just about grown out of Saturday morning kids TV, by then.
