''The Paper Lads'' is a

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

produced by

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...

and broadcast nationally from 1977 to 1979. It was set in the northern industrial city of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, although much of the series was filmed in Gateshead, and recounted the adventures of a group of

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

delivery boys and a girl. There were two series made, each of seven episodes. William Corlett's four scripts for the series won him the Writer's Guild Award for Best Children's Writer.William Corlett, ''The Door in The Tree'', Pocket Books, page 298. The signature tune of the series, "Back Home Once Again", was performed by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

, and it appears (re-recorded) as a full-length song on their 1978 album ''

A Song for All Seasons ''A Song for All Seasons'' is the eighth studio album by the English progressive rock band Renaissance, released in 1978. It marked the return of electric guitars to the band's music after several years of absence. " Northern Lights" from the ...

''. The full series was released on DVD by Network in July 2013. Two novels by William Humble based on the series were released by children's paperback publisher

Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, established in 1973 by Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd, a paperback publishing company. The imprint was established as a children's imprint to complement the adult Tandem imprint, and became wel ...

References

External links

* 1977 British television series debuts 1979 British television series endings 1970s British children's television series English-language television shows ITV children's television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Tyne Tees Television Television shows set in Newcastle upon Tyne Television shows set in Tyne and Wear {{UK-tv-prog-stub