Stars on Sunday (TV series)

Last updated

Stars on Sunday
Stars on Sunday.png
Stars on Sunday title card
GenreReligious programming
Created by Jess Yates
Presented by Liz Fox (1969–1970)
Jess Yates (1970-1973
Noele Gordon (1972–1978)
Gracie Fields (1970–1979)
Violet Carson (1970–1972)
Harry Secombe (1969–1979)
and others
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producer Jess Yates
Production company Yorkshire Television
Original release
Network ITV
Release17 August 1969 (1969-08-17) 
13 May 1979 (1979-05-13)
Related

Stars on Sunday was a religious request programme produced by Yorkshire Television (YTV) and broadcast on the ITV network between 1969 and 1979. It aired on Sunday early evenings during what was known colloquially as "The God Slot", the time in television schedules set aside for religious broadcasting.

Contents

Origin

Yorkshire Television executive and producer Jess Yates developed Stars on Sunday as a replacement for outgoing show, Choirs on Sunday. The new format was a religious variety show with sets of a house and grounds created in the YTV studios in Leeds. One backdrop was the towering west front of the house; other scenes took place in the grounds, a waterfall and lake, the rose garden, the hall of dreams, a ruined abbey and a paddock. The most substantial set was the Lady Chapel constructed around genuine stained glass windows recovered from St John's Church, Bury, during demolition. Originally the windows had been exhibited at The Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, London. When hosting the show Yates would be seated at an organ in front of the window. He gained the nickname "The Bishop" for his solemn delivery style.

Viewers wrote in to request hymns or Bible readings and these were performed by a series of guest celebrities. [1] [2]

Success and popularity

A key element to the early success of the programme was Yates's ability to persuade UK and international celebrities to appear in the religious show for a small fraction of their normal fee. [1] They were paid the minimum Equity fee of £49. [3]

The programme was reported to have increased its viewing figures from 600,000 to around seven million at the peak of its success, [4] although other reports cite regular audiences of more than 15 million. [3]

Yates's contract with YTV was terminated in 1974 when it was revealed that he had been having an affair with young actress Anita Kay. He was separated from his wife at the time. The programme continued for another five years. [4]

While a "significant" proportion of the inserts recorded for the programme survive, only a handful of complete editions are known to still exist. [5]

Guests

Guest hosts and contributors included: [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer. Yates is best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast. She was subjected to intense media attention and scrutiny, owing to her popularity and her relationships with musicians Bob Geldof and Michael Hutchence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hughie Green</span> English actor and television personality

Hugh Hughes Green OStJ was an English radio and television presenter, game show host and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Yorkshire</span> British TV service for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was primarily the historic county of Yorkshire and parts of neighbouring counties served by the Emley Moor transmitter. Following a reorganisation in 1974 the transmission area was extended to include Lincolnshire, northwestern Norfolk and parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, served by the Belmont transmitter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aled Jones</span> Welsh singer, TV presenter and actor (born 1970)

Aled Jones, is a Welsh singer, radio and television presenter, and actor. As a teenage chorister, he gained widespread fame in 1985 with his recording of "Walking in the Air", which reached the UK top five. Since then he has worked in television with the BBC and ITV, and on radio.

<i>Songs of Praise</i> BBC Television religious programme

Songs of Praise is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK.

Kathryn Apanowicz is a British actress and presenter. Apanowicz grew up in Horsforth, Leeds, with a brother, Stephen. Her father was a Polish RAF pilot in the Second World War. She first became involved with television at the age of eight when she presented a junior-aimed programme on ITV, before joining Calendar and then turning to acting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Cannon</span> English comic and singer (born 1938)

Thomas Derbyshire, known professionally as Tommy Cannon, is an English comic, actor and singer. He is best known as the straight man of the comic double act Cannon and Ball, until Bobby Ball's death in 2020, in TV programmes such as The Cannon and Ball Show.

Mark Preston Curry is an English actor as well as a television and radio presenter. He is best known for his career on the British-television children's show Blue Peter (1986–1989) as a host, as well as his run as host on ITV British gameshow Catchphrase (2002).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reggie Yates</span> British actor and media personality (born 1983)

Reginald Yates is a British writer and director with a career spanning three decades on screen as an actor, television presenter and radio DJ. Yates played Leo Jones in Doctor Who and has worked at the BBC in radio and television–presenting various shows for BBC Radio 1 for a decade as well as hosting the BBC One singing show The Voice UK, hosting the first two series with Holly Willoughby.

Kaye Adams is a Scottish television presenter and journalist. She was an anchor on ITV topical discussion show Loose Women from 1999 to 2006 and again from 2013 and was a regular panellist on Channel 5's daily morning show The Wright Stuff from 2007 until 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redvers Kyle</span> British television presenter

Redvers Buller Kyle was a South African-born British broadcaster, voice over artist, actor and composer, best known for his work on the ITV network in the United Kingdom over forty years.

Junior Showtime was a British variety show for children made by Yorkshire Television and shown on ITV between 1969 and 1974. The series' executive producer was Jess Yates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Morris (TV presenter)</span> British television anchor

Michael Hugh Saunderson Morris was a British television presenter and journalist, best known as a main anchor for TV-am's flagship breakfast television programme Good Morning Britain.

Night Network, Night Time and Night Shift were names given to the overnight schedule of the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the companies broadcasting through the night by the end of 1988. At first, individual companies created their own services; however, before too long, many of the smaller ITV stations began simulcasting or networking services from others.

Jesse Frederick Joseph Yates was a British television presenter and producer. He was the creator, presenter and producer of Yorkshire Television's religious programme Stars on Sunday.

<i>Weekend AM</i> Television series

Weekend AM is an Irish morning television show on Virgin Media One, that was first broadcast as "Saturday AM" on 29 August 2015 at 09:00, with "Sunday AM" beginning the following day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henny Huisman</span> Dutch television presenter

Hendrikus Josephus Huisman is a Dutch television presenter and musician.

Highway was a religious British television series, broadcast from 1983 until 1993. Presented by Harry Secombe, the show was a mixture of hymns and chat from various locations across Britain, produced by their respective regional ITV franchise holders. The programme was administered by Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle upon Tyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jess Robinson</span>

Jess Robinson is an English comedy actress, singer, impressionist, voice artist and comedian.

Gwlad y Gân was a monthly television series that was broadcast on the United Kingdom television network ITV from 1958 to 1964. Featuring traditional Welsh music and song, with costumed performers and choreography, the programme went out on early Sunday evenings.

References

  1. 1 2 "Stars on Sunday". Fansite. Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Stars on Sunday". IMDb. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Hayward, Anthony (12 April 1993). "Obituary: Jess Yates" . www.independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  4. 1 2 Massingberd, Hugh (1998). Daily Telegraph Third Book of Obituaries: Entertainers Vol 3 [Paperback]. Pan Reference. ISBN   978-0330367752.
  5. Stars on Sunday, lostshows.com