TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

The first spring/summer replacement for The Tube. The hosts Yvonne French and Graham Fletcher-Cook were invited to appear on the final Tube of the season to promote the show, starting the following week. Fletcher-Cook had previously been a child actor in the late seventies on shows like You Can't Be Serious, and co-hosting Our Show on London Weekend.

Filmed at CTVC Studios in Watford it presented live acts, together with interviews and filmed reports. Pretty standard stuff like The Tube, but without the atmosphere and humour.

The first show kicked off with a strong line-up with The Respond/Style Council Tour live in the studio, plus The Specials in Bristol and The Fun Boy Three.

It was evident the show tended to target existing chart artists rather than break anyone new like the Tube.

In a late 1983 edition of The Tube Gary Crowley claimed that Switch would be back in April 1984. Switch was a worthy summer replacement, but the deliberately low-key presentation style wasn't popular and the producers weren't invited back to tender for a second series.

SWITCH

C4/Silent Partners

25th March 1983 - 2nd September 1983