''Oh Boy!'' was the first teenage all-music show on British TV, airing in 1958 and 1959. It was produced by Jack Good for ITV.

Synopsis

Good had previously produced ''

Six-Five Special ''Six-Five Special'' is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain. Description ''Six-Five Special'' was the BBC's first attempt at a rock-and-roll programme. ...

'' for the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

, but wanted to drop the sport and public-service content from this show and concentrate on the music. The BBC would not accept this, so Good resigned.

ABC Weekend TV ABC Television Limited, popularly known as ABC Weekend TV, was a British broadcaster which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of ...

allowed Good to make two pilot all-music shows, which were broadcast on the ITV network, 10.50-11.20pm, on Sunday 15 and Sunday 29 June 1958. These pilots were successful, so the programme was given an ITV slot on Saturday evenings, from 6.00pm – 6.30pm, in direct competition with ''6.5 Special'', but starting slightly earlier. The hosts were Tony Hall, a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

record producer and critic, and Jimmy Henney, and the artists covered a broad spectrum of music including ballads, jazz, skiffle and rock and roll. The show was broadcast live from the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...

. Each week ''Oh Boy!'' featured resident artists plus a selection of special guests. The residents included Cuddly Dudley, who sang on 21 shows,

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

(20 shows), the Drifters (later to become

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...

) (17 shows),

Marty Wilde Marty Wilde, (born Reginald Leonard Smith; 15 April 1939) is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, scoring several 1950s and 1960s hit singles including " E ...

(17 shows) and

the Dallas Boys The Dallas Boys were a five-piece vocal group from Leicester, England who were regular performers on British television in the 1950s and 1960s. They have been described as "Britain's first boy band". History The group formed in Leicester and com ...

(10 shows). Guests included

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known by his stage name Billy Fury, was an English musician. An early star of rock and roll, he spent 332 weeks on the UK singles chart. His hit singles include " Wondrous Place", " H ...

Dickie Pride Dickie Pride (born Richard Charles Kneller; 21 October 1941 – 26 March 1969) was an English singer. He was one of Larry Parnes' stable of pop music stars, who didn't achieve the same successful career as some of his contemporaries. Early li ...

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...

and

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought ...

; with occasional US

stars A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by self-gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night; their immense distances from Earth make them appear as fixed points of ...

, such as the Inkspots,

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

and

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' hit aged 12 i ...

. The solo artists were supported by a specially created house band

Lord Rockingham's XI Lord Rockingham's XI was a group of British session musicians, led by Harry Robinson (1932–1996), who had a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1958 with " Hoots Mon". The group was created to perform as the resident band on the pop ...

, who went on to have hits in their own right, including a No 1 single " Hoots Mon". Performers were also supported by the singing and dancing of the Vernons Girls, the Dallas Boys and Neville Taylor's Cutters. Eight episodes were re-broadcast in the US, but only three of the 38 shows (or 40 shows including the two pilots) still exist. The last of the original shows was broadcast in the UK on 30 May 1959. At the end of that final show, it was announced that the programme was taking a break for the summer but would return on 12 September. However, in the event it was a successor series also produced by Good, '' Boy Meets Girls'' starring Marty Wilde, which began its run on that date. The show was revived in 1979 for the retro rock and roll stars of the day. This time the show included

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although ...

Alvin Stardust Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately ...

, Joe Brown,

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, Mr. Lee Grant,

Freddie 'Fingers' Lee Freddie or Freddy may refer to: Entertainment *Freddy (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1955 to 1980 *Freddie (Cromartie), a character from the Japanese manga series''Cromartie High School'' *Freddie (dance), a short-lived 196 ...

Les Gray Thomas Leslie Gray (9 April 1946 – 21 February 2004) was an English musician best known for his work with glam rock pop band Mud (band), Mud. Gray was also known for his distinctive vocal impersonator, impersonation of Elvis Presley, as well ...

Tim Whitnall Timothy Charles Whitnall (born 27 June 1961) is an English actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is known for playing Angelo in the long-running CITV series ''Mike and Angelo'' and narrating the BBC Children's Television programme ''Teletubbi ...

, Johnny Storm (now performing with the Johnny Storm Band), the Shades and

Fumble A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful h ...

. Joe Brown was the only one of the artists who was performing across the UK in the 1950s to appear on the 1970s ''Oh Boy!'' show. Alvin Stardust first emerged on the 1950s scene as

Shane Fenton and the Fentones Shane Fenton and the Fentones were an English rock and roll group formed in Mansfield in 1960. Shane Fenton, the band's namesake, was actually the stage name of two different musicians; when the first Shane Fenton, actually named Johnny Theakst ...

. The presenter of the show was "GBH", alias of Scottish actor

Billy Hartman Billy Hartman (born 1957) is a Scottish actor, well known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV's ''Emmerdale'' from 1995 until his character was killed off in 2011. Career Together with ''Emmerdale'' co-stars Steve Halliwell and Al ...

. Following the ''Oh Boy!'' TV show, a similar series, ''Let's Rock'', was created also by Good. The shows were broadcast across Europe and in the US in the early 1980s.

Jack Good's ''Oh Boy!'' (album)

Jack Good's ''Oh Boy!'' is a live album made up of tracks by various artists featured on the Oh Boy! TV series. The artists include

the John Barry Seven The John Barry Seven was a band formed by John Barry in 1957, after he abandoned his original career path of arranging for big bands. Origins Barry contacted three musicians with whom he had served in the Army and three local musicians and i ...

, Vince Eager, Cuddly Dudley, Neville Taylor and the Cutters, Peter Elliot and the Vernons Girls. The album was arranged by ''Oh Boy!'' musical director Harry Robinson and recorded by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Norman Newell Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer and lyricist, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicia ...

before a live audience on 19 October 1958, except for Cliff Richard's vocal tracks which were recorded two nights later by EMI's Malcolm Addey and added to the backing tracks recorded at the earlier session. The recordings were made at EMI's

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

References

External links

* * {{Screenonline TV title , 561801
Oh Boy! Episode Guide
1958 British television series debuts 1959 British television series endings 1950s British music television series British English-language television shows ITV (TV network) original programming Pop music television series Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by ABC Weekend TV