{{unreferenced, date=February 2021 ''Rugby Special'' was the main

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

programme on the BBC in the UK. The show ran from 1966 and past presenters included David Vine,

Keith Macklin Keith Macklin (19 January 1931 – 1 August 2009) was a British journalist, author, broadcaster and sports commentator. He began his career with the BBC in the north of England, where he commentated on rugby league for the North of England Home ...

Cliff Morgan Clifford Isaac Morgan, (7 April 1930 – 29 August 2013) was a Welsh rugby union player who played for Cardiff RFC and earned 29 caps for Wales between 1951 and 1958. After his playing career ended, Morgan made a successful career in broadca ...

Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues singer and guitarist from Middlesbrough. A "gravel-voiced guitar stalwart" known for his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty five solo albums, two of which t ...

Nigel Starmer-Smith Nigel Starmer-Smith (born 25 December 1944, Cheltenham) is a former international rugby union player, British rugby journalist and commentator. He was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford and University College, Oxford. After universit ...

, Bill Beaumont and John Inverdale. The main commentators were

Bill McLaren William Pollock McLaren (16 October 1923 – 19 January 2010) was a Scottish rugby union commentator, teacher, journalist and one time rugby player. Known as 'the voice of rugby', he retired from commentating in 2002. Renowned throughout th ...

, David Parry-Jones, Martyn Williams, Lynn Davies,

Jim Neilly James Bernard Neilly is a BBC broadcaster and sports commentator from Northern Ireland. He grew up in Merville Garden Village, Whitehouse, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Formerly a teacher of science in the Belfast Boys' Model School, Neilly ...

and Eddie Butler In the early seventies, the theme tune was "Spinball" by Paddy Kingsland but this was later replaced by "Holy Mackerel" by

The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

' drummer,

Brian Bennett Brian Laurence Bennett, (born 9 February 1940) is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band me ...

which was replaced for one season 1988–89 by the

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...

version of "

What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" is a 1968 song that was a 1969 hit single by Jr. Walker & the All Stars. The single was one of Jr. Walker's most successful releases, becoming a hit on both the R&B and pop singles charts. "What Does It Tak ...

" from the 1986

Duotones ''Duotones'' is the fourth studio album by American saxophonist Kenny G, released on September 29, 1986 by Arista Records. It features one of Kenny G's best-known songs, " Songbird", which reached number four on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ...

album replaced from 1989–90 to 1993–94 by a specially commissioned theme. From 1994-95 the programme was contracted out to an independent production company

Chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

after 28 years as an in-house BBC production. The programme ended its original run in 1997 after losing the rights to cover English domestic games, the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

and England home tests to SKY and Welsh domestic matches to HTV/

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

the

involvement was controversial as

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

was providing much of

's Welsh Language sports coverage under the

BBC Cymru BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is b ...

brand and was along with ''

Ski Sunday ''Ski Sunday'' is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot. It began in 1978, and is currently presented by Ed Leig ...

'' merged into ''

Sunday Grandstand ''Grandstand'' was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside ''BBC Sports Personality of the Year''. The last editions of ''Grandstand'' were broadcas ...

'' in November 1997 when ''Sunday Grandstand'' became a year-round programme the first edition of the all year round ''Sunday Grandstand'' on 16 November 1997 featured live coverage of Wales v Tonga. Though in 1992 and 1993 the programme was integrated into special editions of ''Sunday Grandstand'' featuring the

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

South African Grand Prix The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Richard "Dick" Seaman, Ri ...

and

European Grand Prix The European Grand Prix (also known as the Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One event that was introduced during the mid-1980s and was held every year from to , except in . During these years, the European Grand Prix was held in a count ...

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

. The programme returned on late Thursday nights in 2002 but was discontinued in 2005, when it was a highlights programme of

Autumn internationals The autumn internationals, November internationals, end-of-year tests, and spring internationals/tour for Australia and New Zealand, are men's rugby union Test matches that are contested around November each year. It is organised by World Rugby. T ...

and Six Nations with studio guests and an audience of fans from the Six Nations. But when the Premiership highlights rights were regained from the 2001–02 season highlights were shown on ''Sunday Grandstand''. Also from the 1999-2000-2002-2003 seasons the

was regained though it was covered by the BBC in the 1996–97 season which was the only season in the original 1966–97 run that the BBC covered the competition

Scheduling

:1966–1976 Saturday Nights :1976–1980 Sunday Afternoons :1980–1981 Saturday Nights :1981–1984 Sunday Afternoons :1984–1985 Saturday Nights :1985–1988 Sunday Afternoons :1988–1997 Sunday Early Evenings :2002–2005 Thursday Late Nights

Regional opt out versions

From the 1986–87 season

BBC2 Wales BBC Two Wales is the national variation of BBC Two for BBC Cymru Wales. It is broadcast from Central Square in Cardiff with live continuity provided by a team of announcer/directors. The channel opts out from the main BBC Two schedule. From 5 ...

along with

BBC2 Scotland BBC Two Scotland ( gd, BBC Dhà Alba) was the national variation of BBC Two for BBC Scotland. It was broadcast via digital television and was the sister Scottish channel of BBC One Scotland and Gaelic-language BBC Alba. Unlike BBC One Scotland, w ...

and

BBC Two Northern Ireland BBC Two Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann a Dó) is the Northern Irish variation of BBC Two operated by BBC Northern Ireland. It is broadcast via digital terrestrial transmitters and from the SES Astra 2E satellite (transponder 4 ...

started their own regional versions to cover their own matches to go out at the same time as the main version broadcast in England from London the main BBC2 England version would often show one or two of these games mostly club games from Wales and Scotland as a second and third match. While the Scottish opt-out went out under the Sportscene banner as Sportscene Rugby Special the presenter was

Jill Douglas Jill Alison Douglas (born December 1969), also known as Jill Douglas Hogg, is a Scottish sports presenter, who appears on ITV, BBC and BT Sport. She grew up in Bonchester Bridge in the Scottish Borders. She was educated at Jedburgh Grammar Sch ...

the commentator was

. In Wales Rugby Union highlights until 1986 went out on

BBC1 Wales BBC One Wales is a Welsh television channel owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Re ...

on Sunday Afternoons under the Sports Line-Up title later on as Weekend Rugby Union with David Parry-Jones as presenter and commentator but later he would carry on as presenter but Martyn Williams would take over the commentator role with

Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...

as co-commentator but from the 1986–87 season the Rugby Union highlights would move to BBC2 Wales and become Rugby Special Wales with David Parry-Jones and Martyn Williams continuing in the roles in the first season while from the 1987-88 season Alan Wilkins became the presenter though he would also deputise as a commentator when Martyn Williams wasn't available with Martyn Williams as the main commentator and

in the commentary box until the end of the 1988–89 season Lynn Davies taking over as commentator from the 1989-90 season and carried on until 1995 again with

as co-commentator when it would become

Scrum V ''Scrum V'' (pronounced ''Scrum Five'') is the brand used by BBC Cymru Wales for its rugby union programming. The brand extends to BBC Wales' live coverage, ''Scrum V Live'', highlights and discussion programmes, radio discussion and website. T ...

where he would continue as commentator until 1998 when Huw Llywelyn Davies would take over the English Language commentator role for a short time before returning to his Welsh Language commentator role on S4C. In Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland version though mostly covering matches involving

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of ...

was a co-production with RTE due to the fact that Rugby Union in Ireland is governed on a United Ireland basis under the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

banner and the commentators were

and Fergus Slattery ''Rugby Special'' returned to the BBC on 7 February 2016, covering the highlights of Six Nations.

External links

Rugby union (BBC)
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