Supersonic (TV series)

Last updated

Supersonic was a British television music show, which featured pop music artists of the day, one of the many attempts by ITV to equal the success of the BBC's Top of the Pops . [1] Launched in 1975, the show typically lasted 25 minutes (excluding commercials) and was produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network, running for two years.

The programme was rarely, if ever, seen at the same time in all ITV regions. Although initially planned for LWT's Saturday morning schedule, the first series was broadcast by Anglia, Border, Grampian, Tyne-Tees, Ulster and Yorkshire on Thursdays at 5.20pm from 4 September 1975; ATV transmitted it on Fridays at 5.20pm from 5 September 1975; LWT and Westward showed it at 11.05am from Saturday 6 September 1975; Granada at 5.20pm from Monday 8 September 1975; and Scottish Television started showing it a week later, from Saturday 13 September. [2] The Supersonic Christmas Show 1975 (Series 1, Show 18) was broadcast on 26 December 1975 at 5.30pm in 7 of the ITV regions, and on 27 December 1975 in 3 regions (including LWT). [3] By the beginning of 1976, LWT had moved transmissions to early Saturday evening but this was mainly in London, the other regions continuing to schedule the series at different times or days, or not broadcasting it at all. The programme was devised and created by David Deyong and presented by film and music producer Mike Mansfield and the main theme was composed and sung by Andy Bown.

Although the show featured performers with songs in the music charts, the show, unlike Top of the Pops, was not chart-based. Whilst Top of the Pops ran all year, Supersonic had a limited run with season one consisting of 30 editions and season two consisting of 28.

The show was recorded in front of an audience of teenagers at London Weekend's studios, then known as the South Bank Television Centre and used a style of production in which television cameras were highly visible and areas such as the production gallery were featured. Its producer and director also doubled as host, cueing in performances from the studio gallery instead of presenting conventional links to camera.

The original series had some limited U.S. broadcast syndication at the time. Later, musical performances from this show were repackaged for U.S. television, under the title Twiggy's Jukebox , hosted by model-turned-actor/singer Twiggy, which ran for one season from 1978 to 1979. [4]

In 2019, Elbow frontman Guy Garvey narrated From The Vaults – a six-part series on UK TV channel Sky Arts which featured Supersonic performances from 1975 including the Electric Light Orchestra, Rod Stewart, Status Quo and Roxy Music. [5] The series returned for a second season the following year.

Related Research Articles

<i>Tiswas</i> British childrens television series

Tiswas was a British children's television series that originally aired on Saturday mornings from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982, and was produced for the ITV network by ATV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twiggy</span> British model, actress and singer (born 1949)

Dame Lesley Lawson, widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlton Television</span> ITV weekday service for London

Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Television as a single entity, but the two companies are still separately licensed. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of "ITV Broadcasting Limited". Carlton has been branded on air as "ITV1" since 28 October 2002. Carlton Television Ltd, the original holder of the licence, has since been dissolved. Carlton UK Television Limited however is now known as ITV Consumer Limited and legally operates ITV plc's websites. As Carlton's name has no relation to its region, its on-screen identity has been completely removed. Other regions have kept their original company name as a region name and in their local news name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Weekend Television</span> ITV weekend service for London

London Weekend Television (LWT) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights. From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Carlton Television, the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities.

<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.

The Chart Show is a weekly syndicated music video programme, which ran in the United Kingdom from April 1986 until August 1998, with revivals in 2003 and 2008–2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The London Studios</span> Former television studio complex and ITV headquarters on the South Bank, London, England

The London Studios in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Television. The studios were located in Central London, on the South Bank next to the IBM Building and the Royal National Theatre. The building was set on 2.5 acres of land and was 24 floors high. The London Studios closed on 30 April 2018. Many ITV programmes now come from Television Centre in White City, London.

<i>World of Sport</i> (British TV programme) ITV Saturday afternoon sports show (1965–85)

World of Sport is a British television sport programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 and 28 September 1985 in competition with the BBC's Grandstand. Like Grandstand, the programme ran throughout Saturday afternoon.

Sally James is a British television presenter. She presented the ITV Saturday morning children's show Tiswas from 1977 until it ended in 1982. James's role on the show included conducting the "Almost Legendary Pop Interviews", interviewing musical acts including Elvis Costello, Sting, The Clash, Motörhead, and Kate Bush, and serving as music editor.

Saturday Live is a British television comedy and music show, made by LWT and initially broadcast on Channel 4 from 1985 to 1988, with a brief revival on ITV in 1996. A few one-off editions have also been screened sporadically, including a contribution to the BBC's 1993 Comic Relief telethon. It was based on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live but otherwise had no direct connection to the show.

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.

The Big Match was a British football television programme, screened on ITV between 1968 and 1992.

An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a lighthearted revue/tribute style.

The Saturday Banana is a Saturday morning children's television show produced by Southern Television for ITV and presented by Goodies star Bill Oddie. Oddie also wrote and sang the theme tune. The series began on 8 July 1978, running through the summer and continuing up to December, with a Christmas Special.

<i>The Noise</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

The Noise is a half-hour music magazine broadcast on the ITV network in the autumn of 1996. It aired between 11.00am and 11.30am on Saturdays and sat between WOW! and The Chart Show in the schedule. Like The Chart Show, it was focused on music; however, while The Chart Show was based principally on videos, The Noise featured live in-studio performances, interviews, and features.

This is a list of British television related events from 1993.

<i>CHiPs</i> American television crime drama series (1977–1983)

CHiPs is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The series ran for 139 episodes over six seasons, plus one reunion television film in October 1998.

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster London Weekend Television. It has provided the ITV weekend service for London since 1968.

This is a timeline of television in London.

This is a timeline of the history of regional news on the British television network ITV.

References

  1. Evans, J. (2001). The Penguin TV Companion. Penguin. ISBN   0-140-51467-8.
  2. Television listings from The Times, 04 to 13 Sep 1975, retrieved 22 Sep 2021
  3. Television listings from The Times, 25 to 27 December 1975, retrieved 26 Sep 2021
  4. Craig, R. (2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. ISBN   978-1-4766-6631-0 . Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  5. "Guy Garvey: From the Vaults Season 1". Radio Times . Retrieved 1 June 2021.