From the Vaults: The Tube... where it all began
Sharing her back catalogue of memories of iconic 1980s music show, The Tube and other telly treasures, this week, Sam Wonfor is rewinding her vast VHS collection to the start
So far in this series, we’ve been to 1985 with Fats Domino; caught up with Tina Turner in 1983; been to Paris with Wham!; taken a once around the many McCartney encounters; and served up memories of some Fine Young Cannibals as I continue to work my way through the (unfinished) list of 40 memorable moments I started with my Dad (and director of The Tube) Geoff Wonfor to mark the 40th anniversary of its first episode on November 5, 1982.
Although I agree it’s a bit late to quote Julie Andrews when we’re this far in, I am going to go back to the very beginning of the groundbreaking music show… and even a bit further.
Let’s start in the kitchen of our old house in Hillhead Parkway, Chapel House. (It’s a very good place to start.)
While last night’s telly might be a subject you’d expect to hear talked about at your average breakfast table, in our house, it was often telly which hadn’t been made yet which was top of the bacon and eggs agenda.
In 1982, it was the exciting - some might even say terrifying - prospect of delivering a new kind of show for a new kind of channel.
A bit of background.
Note: From the Vaults: The Wonfors feature series began during Cultured. North East’s time as the arts and culture section of regional subscription platform, The QT in 2024.
Mum (Andrea Wonfor) was head of the children’s department at Tyne Tees (which included youth - ‘yoof’ - programming) and had been getting some industry attention with producer, Malcolm Gerrie, for a strong commitment to making ambitious series like magazine and music shows, Check It Out and Alright Now from the City Road studios in Newcastle.
When the advent of an alternative new fourth channel* edged into view they went off to London to confidently present their proposal for Jamming, a music/magazine series comprising six half hours, which would be recorded in Tyne Tees’ new Studio Five.
*I think we can all agree, the name they decided on was possibly the least alternative option on the channel-naming table.
Mike Bolland - the new channel’s ‘youth controller’ - wasn’t blown away.
“I really liked Andrea and her producer Malcolm Gerrie. I greatly admired the shows they made for ITV, but Jamming didn’t excite me,” he wrote in a piece for The Independent in 2016.
But rather than send them back to Newcastle empty handed, he sent them on their way with a cup which was running over. And a couple of overflowing saucepans to boot.
He wanted 20 live episodes, not six recorded ones… meanwhile he more than tripled the running time of each episode to 1hr and 45 mins.
Every week. For 20 weeks.
I mean, I’m sure they styled it out in the room, but I’ll bet there was some trouser-troubling chatter on that train journey home.
Back to the chatter around our kitchen table (presumably during the weeks after that meeting) which was focused on what to call the show, since Jamming hadn’t set the world - or even Mr Bolland’s imagination - alight.
Having sensibly sidestepped Dad’s suggestion, The New Blue Toot Exam (in cheeky homage to The Old Grey Whistle Test) The Tube was settled upon, broadly because:
It’s a slang term for the telly;
The new Studio Five literally had a tube-like tunnel leading into it; and
(as my Mum put it) ‘It’s a bit sexy’.
By the time November came around, the full team was in place, including new young scamps, Jools Holland (best known for playing the keyboards in Squeeze) and Paula Yates (best known for taking polaroids of rock stars in their underpants).
In an interview for Maria Malone’s book, The Tube Exposed, Mum recalled: “They did the most appalling audition - it was all over the place - but there was something in the chemistry and we just liked it.”
They were joined on the presenting team by five ‘unknowns’ including Muriel Gray and Nick Laird-Clowes the latter of whom went on to front band Dream Academy, a band best known for their hit Life in a Northern Town, (I’m pretty sure my Dad directed the video for it - see below), which was sampled to international smash hit effect in 1997 by Dario G.
The story goes that George O’Dowd was offered one of the presenter jobs too, but opted to crack on with another project he and his bandmates were calling Culture Club…he was back ripping up studio five as Boy George a few months later.
But let’s return to The Tube’s grand unveiling during the first week of Channel Four.
While 105 minutes of live television is not to be sniffed at, according to Gary Natrass, who was then a still-wet-behind-the-ears sound engineer, the crew took it in their stride.
“We were used to it, you know, it was like, you know, there’s a couple of bands, then there’s a link, then there’s an interview and then another band… of course it was 1hr 45mins, but we’d been doing Friday Live for ages, which was two hours.
“Granted it was mainly chat and debate, but at the end of each series, there was music and entertainment, so the skills and experience were there. We just had to do it every week!” added Gary, who stayed with the show until it finished in 1987, ending up as one of the senior members of the crew.
As setting out stalls go, episode one offered quite the first impression.
Once Jools and his sparkler had informed the tuned in audience that they were going to be seeing something which would be filed in the ‘annals of television history’ the novel roving cameras quickly found Sunderland punk rockers, The Toy Dolls in Studio Five reception to kick things off.
Having appeared on both Check It Out and Alright Now, the band were well known in the North East and were the first of many up-and-coming bands to be given a national platform on The Tube.
Not that they made the most of it, if you listen to founding - and still - lead singer, Michael ‘Olga’ Algar who was kind enough to chat to me in 2024.
“We sucked! big time, nerves, and breaking a guitar string! Only bad memories to be honest, professional team though at the Tube and It was great to have live LIVE bands on, finally.”
Once they’d wrapped up their performance of She Goes To Finos (before dashing off quickly to try and forget their ‘dreadful performance’) the nation was introduced to Paula - utterly resplendent in a pink netting creation with matching mic ribbon, pulling back the sliding door to Studio five, and announcing her impending journey into motherhood.
‘For the next five months, you’re going to be able to see live music, interviews… my stomach getting bigger week by week… things that have never before been seen on a live TV show,” she said.
Cut to Muriel who is about to invite herself into the dressing room of The Jam as they prepared for what was to be their final ever TV performance…. an hour or so later when they closed the show.
Yep, that’s right folks, we’re only five minutes into episode one.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to give a line by line account (you can watch it for yourself).
But here’s a whistlestop once around the rest of what the viewing public had to look forward to.
The Who’s Pete Townshend’s new video and accompanying interview;
A film on dance troupe Dance D’Afrique
Duran Duran’s latest music video, Rio;
Paula interviewing Sting and asking him why he’s always getting his kit off;
A quirky film with Jools and Paula in LA;
Heaven 17 performing in the studio;
Performance poet Mark Miwurdz sprinkled throughout;
Archive footage of The Who performing Summertime Blues at Woodstock;
Extracts of songs from new bands, Fatal Charm from Nottingham; Pictures in a Dark Room from Stourport; and Negatives in Colour from Scunthorpe;
Glasgow band Set The Tone performing Rap Your Love
And a blistering final (EVER) set from The Jam who performed tracks including Town Called Malice, Ghosts, In The Crowd, Move On Up and Beat Surrender to a packed crowd (but not too packed, we don’t want any retrospective fire regulations violations tabled).
Add in some general chaos and Geordie spirit and what a glorious eighties melting pot you have there.
I can’t begin to imagine the sense of relief and achievement the whole production team felt when the final credits rolled… I was certainly proud as punch while watching it.
And then they got to do it all again for the next 19 Fridays. And the five years that followed.