TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
Directed by Mike Mansfield the show was hosted by Radio Luxembourg DJ Don Moss accompanied
each week by a guest co-
Mansfield wasted no time in putting a new show together after the failure of Countdown.
Talking to Disc Weekly before Countdown had even finished transmission he said of
the new show "It will be pure pop with live artists and no comperes. The budget will
be about the same for 'Countdown' -
Each week a pop star would go on location to ask members of the public which songs they would like to see performed on the show, then they would cut back to the studio to see the song performed. Each show would follow one theme, for example one show followed Adam Faith on a journey to Amsterdam, taking in requests from his taxi diver, the cabin crew and fellow passengers. Talking to Disc at the time of the show's first broadcast Mansfield said "It's a family show. Of all the pop shows on TV it should reflect the most popular tastes." Disc would later refer to the show as "a visual Family Favourites."
After the first two Saturday evening shows it was moved to a regular spot on Tuesday evenings at 7.00 pm. It was networked on ITV from 9th May onwards, hoping to draw viewers away from the likes of Dee Time.
It must have been reasonably well regarded in the business judging by the acts that appeared, and in June 1967 a Southern TV spokesman told Disc "The show figures in four regions of TAM's top ten this week and due to its popularity, it will almost certainly be back in the autumn." However, despite a good prime time placement it was dropped after the one series.
According to a report in the NME in August 1967 Southern TV did not rule out the
possibility of the show's return at the beginning of 1968, albeit after a short run
of yet another one of Southern's Mansfield produced shows, New Release. Mike Mansfield
confirmed the show's return for a new series talking to Disc in September saying
"There may be some small changes, but basically the format of the show will be the
same" but in the end it only resulted in a one-
AS YOU LIKE IT
Southern
2nd April 1966, 14th June 1966, 1st October 1966 -