TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

It took several months for the BBC TV producers to re-hire David Jacobs, having failed to find him a suitable follow-up project after Juke Box Jury had ground to a halt in late 1967. In the meantime Jacobs had headed north to Newcastle to host the Tuesday night David Jacobs Show for Tyne Tees, although it was not shown nationally. As soon as his commitment was through, with the final show broadcast 27th June 1968 he was back at Television Centre.

Melody Maker announced the show in late June "Young and new pop talent will find an outlet on the new David Jacobs TV series for BBC1 which kicks off a weekly run from Wednesday July 10." Michael Aspel would also host a similar sounding "Monday Show" from July 8th.

Broadcast from 6.00 - 6.40 pm it was a once a week series, and was probably aimed at Simon Dee's audience... probably. Dee had his show cut from two a week to one and with Dee moved to Saturday it left a mid-week gap, and it was felt that maybe Jacobs would be a more appropriate filler. The show was to be directed by James Moir, the voice announcing each week's Top Of The Pops and would have a dance troupe led by choreographer Molly Molloy. The show would also have a regular singer, Deena Webster, then plugging her new Parlophone LP.

Other musical guests included Sammy Davis Jr, Topol, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (Vivian Stanshall's burping had to be censored, so presumably they performed The Canyons Of Your Mind), O C Smith, The Casuals, Herman’s Hermits, Gerry Marsden, Paul Jones among others. Like Dee's show sometimes the running order wouldn't be confirmed until after newspapers had gone to print, so it's difficult to find a list of who appeared.

It remained at its scheduled time slot throughout the show's run. The fact that the show never really courted controversy like his fellow host Simon Dee, or even ask occasionally awkward questions like Eamonn Andrews, guaranteed that the show would be compared, contrasted and forgotten.

THE WEDNESDAY SHOW

BBC1

10th July 1968 - 18th December 1968