It has to be pointed out here how amazing bob hope looked at 78!

It's very interesting to see this - and it's a reflection of how big the Two Ronnie's and Last of the Summer wine were back in the day. Historically in this period the Generation game xmas special which was Larry's final show came in the afternoon and was pitched against Dr No - back in 81 it was still fairly early days for Bond films to be shown and they were still quite an event - ITV were still very much in the throws of making the most of the substantial sum they had paid for the exclusive rights to show them . Late evening on the Beeb was generally left to gently fizzle out in readiness for Boxing day the big Xmas day hitters has done their job by that point. The two Ron's went against ITV's new big ticket Game for a laugh - and this was probably Paul Daniels peak period in his TV heyday. Looked at now in retrospect it certainly looks like a rather unremarkable schedule for Xmas evening - but in context of 40 years ago it makes perfect sense.

Fun Fact: The Christmas episode of 'Last Of The Summer Wine' 'Whoops!'.beaten the big film of the season Gone With The Wind in the BBC1 Christmas Schedule ratings.

The BBC were under the impression that ITV would be airing The Morecambe and Wise Show on Christmas night as usual. They didn't want to compete with that and so devised a low key schedule. However they did not know that ITV network had no intention of airing Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day 1981. LWT controlled the networking as that Christmas night was a Friday with LWT in charge. This meant no hope at all of Thames getting Eric and Ernie on prime time Christmas night, and so they shunted the duo to December 23rd 1981. BBC didn't know this, and were a bit shocked at the very last minute decision made just before the Christmas schedules were confirmed.

I would have been 11 and a half, in my first year at senior school and remember that period well.

@Steve-K.G.

Жыл бұрын

Same here. Makes me feel so melancholoy. Hope you've had a good Christmas 🙂

Little Fact = December 23rd 1981 was when ITV aired the 1981 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, which was the first time in their career that their Christmas special was not aired on Christmas Day, due to LWT controlling the Christmas night network programming, as Christmas Day fell on a Friday in 1981.

@stevenoneill7166

5 ай бұрын

johnking5174 with hindsight Thames could've shown Morecambe & Wise's Christmas show at 6 pm as they didn't hand over to LWT until 7 pm. The following Friday - New Year's Day 1982 - the IBA brought the Thames/LWT switchover forward to 5.15 pm as well as transferring the Bluebell Hill transmission area (North Kent) over to TVS

@johnking5174

5 ай бұрын

@@stevenoneill7166 The 6pm Friday slot was never going to happen. Back then pride of place was after 7pm. Eric and Ernie's Christmas shows on the BBC never aired earlier than after 7pm. Times have changed, but then 6pm was the supper slot, where families would be making their Christmas supper and it was always filled with light fluff or movies. Also ad revenue was key, having Eric and Ernie at 8pm brought in key ad revenue benefits. Also, placing it on 23rd December made them squeeze out more ad revenue, as there was one shopping day left to go before Christmas, perfect for advertisers.

Thank you for this of course-interesting to too see this of course!!

That's a very good copy. Well done!! 👏👏

@edstradling

2 жыл бұрын

Could do with re-transferring actually. Contrast is a bit low.

@cylon6

2 жыл бұрын

@@edstradling Seems to be a problem with BBC1 Christmas trails I've seen from 1979-1981 on You Tube. Very annoyed that I never found a 1981 Christmas night line-up clip for my Christmas Ident Calendar. These beauties are rare!

Great clip. From the day I was born!

@LiamWillisFilmmaker

2 жыл бұрын

Happy birthday!

@edstradling

2 жыл бұрын

happy birthday!

@chestnutbloke305

2 жыл бұрын

Happy birthday!

@chrisbenson1656

2 жыл бұрын

@@edstradling thank you - it was just brilliant last week seeing a clip from the day I was born. Keep up the good work!

@Robert_Manners

2 жыл бұрын

@@edstradling I remember the days when you got a happy birthday on the Restoration team forum or RT Forum.

There was a vHS tape I have somewhere with a channel 4 recording of thoughts of chairman Alf,which was a one off,was never put on thoughts of chairman alf dvds,I had transferred to dvd but forget to format.as far as I know it still on the disc,but can't play it.

The computerised BBC One Clock was introduced earlier this month.

Nearly 17m watched Last Of The Summer Wine and Paul Daniels that Christmas Day. The Two Ronnies had 15m.

@ajs41

2 жыл бұрын

How many watched Dallas?

@cylon6

2 жыл бұрын

@@ajs41 Good question. It didn't make the top 20 for the week. Number 20 was another showing of Dr. No on ITV with 13.32m. It'll Be Alright On The Night wiped out Dallas in a head to head at 8.30pm with 15.65m.

@ajs41

2 жыл бұрын

@@cylon6 Thanks for the reply.

The savage bees? Are you trying to give us nightmares.

Yes makes me glad I was only 7 years old so will have probably been in bed 🛏 early and missed all the exciting things to watch ⌚

@angelacooper2661

2 жыл бұрын

I am therefore four years older than you, as I was eleven and in my first year at senior school.

Eve Of Christmas Eve like today.

Wow... that was a pretty weak Christmas night.

@Scatscar1985

2 жыл бұрын

That's indication of how big "Dallas" was; a regular episode stays on Christmas Day. "Loophole" is no one's idea of a big film. (no disrespect to its stars Albert Finney and Martin Sheen)...

@Liofa73

2 жыл бұрын

@@Scatscar1985 - Yup, I had similar thoughts when I was watching it.

@johnking5174

2 жыл бұрын

The BBC were under the impression that ITV would be airing The Morecambe and Wise Show on Christmas night as usual. They didn't want to compete with that and so devised a low key schedule. However they did not know that ITV network had no intention of airing Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day 1981. LWT controlled the networking as that Christmas night was a Friday with LWT in charge. This meant no hope at all of Thames getting Eric and Ernie on prime time Christmas night, and so they shunted the duo to December 23rd 1981. BBC didn't know this, and were a bit shocked at the very last minute decision made just before the Christmas schedules were confirmed.

@alanculbert5146

Жыл бұрын

Not as weak as the utter shite that's on these days!!!!

Wow, what a frighteningly poor line up for Xmas day, and with no streaming services available 😳

@johnking5174

2 жыл бұрын

The word streaming in 1981 meant pouring with water.

@johnking5174

2 жыл бұрын

The BBC were under the impression that ITV would be airing The Morecambe and Wise Show on Christmas night as usual. They didn't want to compete with that and so devised a low key schedule. However they did not know that ITV network had no intention of airing Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day 1981. LWT controlled the networking as that Christmas night was a Friday with LWT in charge. This meant no hope at all of Thames getting Eric and Ernie on prime time Christmas night, and so they shunted the duo to December 23rd 1981. BBC didn't know this, and were a bit shocked at the very last minute decision made just before the Christmas schedules were confirmed.

@cloudfactory2000

Жыл бұрын

Not poor at all. Was typical for the time, and a hell of a lot better than nowadays

Were the BBC even trying? That's a very poor lineup.

@johnking5174

2 жыл бұрын

The BBC were under the impression that ITV would be airing The Morecambe and Wise Show on Christmas night as usual. They didn't want to compete with that and so devised a low key schedule. However they did not know that ITV network had no intention of airing Morecambe and Wise on Christmas Day 1981. LWT controlled the networking as that Christmas night was a Friday with LWT in charge. This meant no hope at all of Thames getting Eric and Ernie on prime time Christmas night, and so they shunted the duo to December 23rd 1981. BBC didn't know this, and were a bit shocked at the very last minute decision made just before the Christmas schedules were confirmed.