CREAMGUIDE: 9th-15th May 2026
Really very squarely built
Hullo there!
Creamguide stops the endless stream of dogs at polling stations on your feed for another round-up of the week’s viewing and listening for your delectation. If you didn’t have the opportunity to vote today, why not exercise your prerogative by sending your views to us via creamguide@tvcream.co.uk?
SATURDAY 9th MAY
BBC2
20.45 Simply Red at the BBC
22.15 40 Years of Simply Red: Holding Back the Years
Funny how Mick Huckmall constantly rubs people up the wrong way, given he has an absolutely impeccable musical pedigree – he’s got bone fide punk credentials as he was present at the Sex Pistols’ legendary Manchester concert, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz, soul and reggae, for the latter even launching his own record label to champion his favourite artists and make dozens of rare recordings available. Seems happy enough to send himself up too with a memorable appearance with Alan Partridge (and Tony Ferrino, not that anyone remembers that) and while he’s not been shy in sharing his political views they don’t seem as objectionable as some of his contemporaries. Maybe it’s just the ruby in the teeth people don’t like. Or maybe it’s because despite his punk roots, his recorded output has always seemed a bit too slick and self-consciously sophisticated and often just plain boring. Still, you can’t argue with the numbers and he’s sold records by the truckload, so reason enough to mark forty years since his first hit with a new compilation followed by a concert from Chile last year.
BBC4
19.00 The Good Old Days
Odd to imagine Edward Woodward treading the boards of the City Varieties in 1976, straight off the back of Callan and The Wicker Man, but he did have a lighter side and enjoyed performing comedy and especially singing, releasing several albums of songs and poetry, so nice to see that showcased here. Another fine dramatic actor alongside him in Larry Grayson – well, he appeared in two episodes of Crossroads – and as much as anyone can bear of Frank Carson.
ITV4
10.30 The Big Match Revisited
Despite what we suggested, turns out it wasn’t Simon Smith commentating for Southern at Southampton but LWT coverage – a rare occasion when they were covering two matches with Brian at West Ham – and Granada’s Gerald Sinstadt commentating, a decade before he’d be covering the Saints regularly when he joined TVS. Feels like this episode is really going to hit the nostalgic sweet spot for those of a certain age as two classic seventies sides in West Ham and Derby stuffed with famous names play out a thriller at Upton Park.
BBC Radio 2
00.00 Andy Kershaw at the BBC
Sad to hear of the death of Andy Kershaw recently. We’re sorry to say he wasn’t one of our favourite broadcasters and while he was renowned for being fiercely independent and always eager to do things his own way, on occasion his stubbornness and opinionated nature came across as just plain rude. He had a bit of a shit life in later years as well, some of it self-inflicted. But certainly he was a breath of fresh air when he began broadcasting, his boundless enthusiasm and irreverent manner bringing Whistle Test kicking and screaming into the eighties (which given they were already halfway through shows how vital his presence was) and his programmes were a vital shop window for thousands of artists that nobody had ever played on British radio before. Various interviews, documentaries and features are included in this tribute, while his final radio home of Radio 3 also pay tribute throughout the weekend.
BBC Radio 4
20.00 In The Psychiatrist’s Chair
In the sixties, Face to Face was considered the most challenging interview of all, but that seemingly paled into insignificance next to In The Psychiatrist’s Chair, which managed to entice a steady stream of famous people to reveal their innermost feelings, many of which they had never revealed before. Seems amazing anyone would have agreed to do it, but that’s seemingly thanks to Professor Anthony Clare, whose gentle but probing manner managed to convince even the most media-trained celeb to let their guard down, often ending in floods of tears. Kirsty Young will play many of those encounters here, some thoughtful, some moving and some, especially in the case of Savile, hugely unsettling.
SUNDAY 10th MAY
BBC1
19.00 Bafta Television Awards
We used to say that one of the things we enjoyed most about the Baftas was seeing esoteric fare that played to a small but delighted audience get an outing on primetime BBC1, but everything seems to be esoteric fare that plays to a small audience these days, including much of primetime BBC1. This show can sometimes be a bit of a slog, even when the host is a fine comedian, as is the case this year with Greg Davies, given they have to work to an audience of all their peers with all the seething jealousy that he’s doing it and they’re not, which ensures a somewhat muted atmosphere. But there’s always the obits, and this year the outstanding contribution award to Mary Berry.
BBC4
21.00 Life on Earth
We found out how they did it last week, so reason enough to go and watch the whole thing again. We notice some of the hoopla around David’s centenary has involved some massive viewing figures for this series being thrown around which we’re not sure are very accurate, especially as it was first shown on BBC2, though it did get a pretty swift repeat on BBC1. But however many watched it, they all thought it was absolutely brilliant, and it still is now.
22.00 The Magic of Dance
23.00 Omnibus: Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire
As well as the Attenbroughlia, this channel are also having a brief dance season, including another outing for Margot Fonteyn’s influential series from 1979 and a few things that haven’t been seen for years. Among them is the latter, which you won’t see in Genome as it was actually made as Ginger’s obituary and was shown unbilled in the week of her death in 1995. You may find some of it quite familiar, though, as much of it is taken from the famous series on the history of RKO from the eighties, but still worth a watch.
BBC Radio 2
17.00 Pick of the Pops
We start here in 1980 in the week where the original incarnation of The Human League made their one and only appearance on Top of the Pops, not that it helped the Holiday 80 EP get any higher than number 56. That means we won’t hear them on this show unfortunately, but we will hear them get a mention elsewhere in what’s a pretty ace chart with loads of Look-In pop and about as much jazz funk as we can bear. Should be good fun in the second hour as well as it’s 1990, with a corker for Kylie alongside some top indie dance crossover.
MONDAY 11th MAY
BBC4
19.30 Only Connect
Not something we’d often feature in these pages, though we thought we’d point out that if you’re after a bit of a novelty, this channel is currently repeating the very first series of this show from 2008! We know it’s not quite as old as Face The Music, but the digital SD picture certainly makes it look a bit different from the current show, and it’s all that bit more formal with VCM’s flights of whimsy kept to an absolute minimum. Seems like most of the contestants have since gone on to work on the show since as well.
This week we’re celebrating David Attenborough’s 100th, just after the commemoration for the Queen’s centenary, and there was clearly something in the water in 1926 as there were dozens of distinguished people born that year. Alongside Mel Brooks, Marilyn Monroe, Miles Davis and Jerry Lewis we’ve also got the man who revolutionised sports broadcasting, though was later known for Pringle jumpers and being part of every impressionist’s repertoire. Quite remarkable, it’s...
DAVID COLEMAN
Born in chi-chi Alderley Edge in Cheshire in 1926, before broadcasting on sport David was pretty proficient at competing in it, a very useful athlete who was the only amateur ever to win the Manchester Mile, a big race in its day, in 1949. He might have represented Team GB in the 1952 Olympics but for injury, so instead he approached the Beeb to ask if they needed anyone to help report on it. David’s day job was as a journalist which had led him to become editor of his local paper at the age of 22, and after various freelance jobs he joined the BBC full time in 1954.
After reporting and presenting on various programmes, in 1958 he became the presenter of Grandstand after Peter Dimmock had launched it but only wanted to present the first show. This was a huge step forward in television sports coverage on the Beeb, a marathon weekly show that aimed to rival BBC Radio’s Sports Report as the ultimate sporting destination, reporting on the action from around the world and wherever possible taking it live. This was an enormous undertaking and tested the primitive technology to the absolute limit, and unsurprisingly one that constantly collapsed on air. The audience didn’t mind, though, amazed they were getting anything on screen at all, and David was the perfect anchor, totally unflappable and able to use his encyclopaedic knowledge of sport to fill the gaps.
In his early days at the Beeb he wasn’t just broadcasting on sport, and in 1959 he joined the reporting team on the General Election. Helming Grandstand every week for the previous twelve months meant a complicated and never-ending live programme was meat and drink to David, and his ability to flannel at great length was put to great use as he watched the results flood in to the Press Association.
Grandstand was a production of the Beeb’s Sport and Outside Broadcasts department, and those last three words were pretty important as they didn’t just cover sport but anything else that might be happening out and about, from Trooping the Colour to the Apollo missions, and if it happened on a Saturday afternoon it would be on Grandstand. Hence in 1964 David eschewed Lime Grove one week for Heathrow to witness The Beatles return from their triumphant tour of America, an occasion covered with all the pomp and ceremony of a state visit, which in many ways it was, we suppose.
In those days a sports presenter really had to have their wits about them, and David often wasn’t just anchoring the programmes but also commentating, and those who were about at the time suggest he was pretty much producing and directing them as well, ensuring everyone else aimed for the same high standards he was by making sure his opinion was heard. A famous clip of him berating his production team (“You’ve got a bloody zoom there!”) does not make for edifying listening and he did have a reputation in the industry for being a fearsome character. Indeed, his opposite number Brian Moore, a thoughtful and good-natured gentleman who was not in the business of falling out with people, didn’t relish their encounters on Cup Final Day and while he admired his work considered him rude and arrogant, and couldn’t imagine working for such a taskmaster. That said, many people did work with him for many years and once they had his trust and he knew they were as committed as he was, he was a generous and supportive colleague. Hard to justify such unpleasant behaviour, though David was the one who was left high and dry on air when there were cock-ups, although he’s able to laugh it off up there when the attempt to use an action replay machine on TV for the first time goes a bit wrong.
David gave up the weekly grind on Grandstand in 1968, handing over to Frank Bough, though he still returned for the big occasions like the Grand National and the Cup Final. By now the most famous sports presenter in Britain, he had the rare honour of a sports presenter of being billed in the title of a sports show – something that didn’t even happen at the height of the cult of Des Lynam – when he started presenting Sportsnight with Coleman. Blessed with one of the all-time great theme tunes, the programme would go on to run for nearly thirty years, and while it was mostly watched for its highlights, especially its football coverage, especially in the early days there was just as much talk, debate, reportage and interview as there was sporting action. This really played to David’s strengths and the years he presented it saw it almost become part of showbiz, with two memorable competitions, to discover the nation’s most tuneful supporters in the Kop Choir contest and the commentators’ competition with a job covering Mexico 70 up for grabs.
Although David covered numerous sports with great distinction, his two main pursuits were football and athletics. He was the voice of athletics for some forty years and the soundtrack to every big race. Of course, he didn’t always have a lot of time during these events, and in 1968 he famously spoke at 200 words per minute while he watched David Hemery win gold for GB – although that race did also lead to one of his most famous Colemanballs when he dismissed the race for bronze only for it to be another Brit, much to his embarrassment. But few could stay as coherent and as eloquent in ten seconds of frenzied excitement, and like the great athletes David could go from nought to sixty in a millisecond, setting the scene with his hushed and reverent “The Olympic 100m final” before leaping into action.
Freed from his Saturday afternoons in the studio, David also expanded his horizons in football, commentating on a match most weeks and, from 1967, presenting Match of the Day. David had started his football commentary career earlier in the decade, but became more prominent as the sixties came on, and his more excitable style was a real contrast to the somewhat starchy and old-fashioned Kenneth Wolsteholme, who was gradually eased out. On his departure in 1971 David became the BBC’s principal football commentator, getting all the big games and renowned for one of the simplest but most recognisable catchphrases on TV as he greeted the opening goal with a simple but strident “one-nil!”.
David did some memorable Cup Finals in the seventies, including Sunderland’s famous giant-killing in 1973 and Liverpool’s rout of Newcastle the following year (“Goals pay the rent, and Keegan does his share!”). But he didn’t do as many Cup Finals as you might remember, as in the seventies he found himself off-air for extended periods. Clearly aware of his value to the BBC, on a couple of occasions he was happy to wind down his contract and not sign a new one if he didn’t think it was right, and in 1977 he was absent for an entire year due to a contractual impasse which got so rancorous it ended up in court. Eventually it was all sorted out and he returned in triumph, back on the Cup Final and getting all the big games in the 1978 World Cup.
And as part of his new deal, David also became the new presenter of A Question of Sport. This had been running since 1970 with David Vine in the chair, but when the other David took over in 1979 the series was taken to new heights as a family favourite and a regular ratings winner, famously by royal appointment. Despite his forbidding reputation, David loved doing this show and one of the big ideas he introduced behind the scenes was getting everyone on the team, from the guests to the researchers, to sit down and have Sunday lunch together before the show so everyone relaxed and felt a part of it. The imperial phase was in the mid-eighties with Bill and Emlyn as captains when all the memorable aspects were present and correct, including where David would stop the quiz for a bit to grill the guests on their upcoming events, his endless pauses before he revealed the answers (as memorably parodied by Fry and Laurie) and the one minute round with the “these three sportspeople share their names with Welsh towns/breeds of dog/types of fungal infection” question where one team member would be assigned to shout out names for the rest of the round.
Despite his triumphant return, David only commentated on one more Cup Final, in 1978, and did his last live match the following year. While he would still do the odd game for Match of the Day, an otherwise run-of-the-mill League Cup tie at Old Trafford on a Wednesday night in October 1981 was the last time he’d ever commentate on football, and nobody really knew why he decided to jack it in given his ability and reputation. He was doing some more presenting work, having returned to the Grandstand seat on a regular basis in 1979, as well as Question of Sport of course, although seemingly one other reason was that he was getting a bit disillusioned with hooliganism and after seeing one particularly unpleasant fight outside a ground he decided that was it for him. Hence in the 1982 World Cup he wasn’t in Spain but back in Shepherd’s Bush anchoring the coverage, backed by one of the great World Cup themes.
And in the early eighties, with Frank Bough en route to Breakfast Time, David was back as the regular presenter of Grandstand. Technology had moved on somewhat in the decade or so since he last did it regularly, but it was still an absolute brute of a programme with live footage coming in from all over the world and results needing to be checked and double checked. Later in 1984 the arrival of computer graphics would revolutionise the coverage but up there we’re still carrying on with manual graphics – the score draw counter clearly being someone pulling a bit of paper – and telephone reports, and David frantically holding it all together.
Although a serious figure off camera, David did have a sense of humour, enjoying the sillier questions on Question of Sport, and being amused by his Spitting Image puppet. Indeed David was a regular on the show, not least to him being so easy to impersonate, and for a while every impressionists’ routine wouldn’t be complete without them sticking their finger in their ear and saying “eeeeextraordinary!”. Actually David once said he was the only person to appear in the top ten ratings for the Beeb and ITV at the same time, with Question of Sport and Spitting Image, which is a nice line, albeit clearly balls because by that regard you can count everyone on the bloody news. But he was clearly very proud of it, is the point.
With the rise of Des Lynam, David gave up his Grandstand seat again in 1984 and from then on was rarely seen in vision as he concentrated on commentary, most obviously on his first love of athletics but occasional other events too, going to the Winter Olympics to commentate on bobsleigh as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The one presenting job he continued with was A Question of Sport, and he was still doing it in the mid-nineties, although by this point he’d missed a few episodes due to ill health – on one occasion with Bill Beaumont standing in, who was not a particularly natural presenter – and decided to finally step down in 1997.
Now in his seventies, he continued with his athletics commentary, although sadly his age was starting to catch up with him and towards the end he wasn’t as fluent or as sharp as he used to be, and would increasingly serve as a linkman while other people did the big races. Nevertheless he still felt he had plenty to offer, but the Beeb thought differently and decided the 2000 Olympics would be his swansong and they wouldn’t be renewing his contract. This was much to his dismay so he simply went home after the Games and his departure went unmarked as he refused to participate in anything on or off-screen (turning down a tribute night as “not even my wife wants to spend An Evening with David Coleman!”), a sad ending to an incredible career. A quite remarkable one, you might say.
TUESDAY 12th MAY
BBC1
20.00 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final
As we always say, we enjoy Eurovision on the Saturday night but never really feel the need to engage with it much away from that, including the semi-finals. This year a few nations have gone further and are not engaging with it at all, the event’s strenuous attempts to appear completely apolitical seemingly just irritating more people, so it’s a slightly downsized event in Vienna. It’s still a right epic, mind, with still the requirement to narrow down the field before the main event, and while the UK will be performing (though not in competition) and voting on the other semi on Thursday, there’s British interest in this one with Boy George representing San Marino.
WEDNESDAY 13th MAY
BBC4
22.00 Roy Clarke Remembers... A Foreign Field
21.15 A Foreign Field
Sir Roy Clarke since he recorded this, of course, and nine to see him still about at the grand old age of 96. While we’re currently celebrating half a century of Open All Hours, one of the many, many sitcoms he wrote, it’s worth remembering that when he had the chance he could be a fine writer of drama as well. This was his finest hour and a half, a bittersweet tale of veterans returning to Normandy fifty years on, and blessed with a first rate cast including Alec Guinness and Lauren Bacall.
THURSDAY 14th MAY
BBC4
20.00 Morecambe and Wise: The Lost Tape
Another of the class of 1926, Eric would have been a hundred today and what better way to celebrate than with the first screening for over half a century of a long-wiped show that has recently been rediscovered by Film is Fabulous, the organisation that recently brought us the two missing Who episodes. This is from their first Beeb series in 1968, so it’s Sid and Dick still writing the scripts and it’s not quite the Eric and Ern we know and love, while some of the musical interludes in these shows can knock the enthusiasm out of even the most nostalgic viewer, although one of them is from The Paper Dolls and we’ve been pleased to see Susie Mathis on the promotional trail for it.
FRIDAY 15th MAY
BBC4
19.00 Top of the Pops
Wonder if among all the anecdotes he wheels out about hanging out with Elvis and the like, Tom Jones ever reminisces about the time he went to a provincial nightclub in Nottingham (the distinctive décor once more revealing the pre-recorded performances). The tour’s now over and so we’re back in Elstree for the first time for eight weeks, and we remember assuming that they’d take the opportunity while they were away to revamp the studio and maybe start broadcasting in widescreen, as it was now one of the few shows on BBC1 that wasn’t, but while they might have been doing something behind the scenes on air it looks exactly the same. Some of it literally, because there’s a couple of repeats from the roadshow, while in the studio B*Witched’s streak of number ones is over.
19.30 Top of the Pops
Then in a truncated episode to remove R Kelly we’ve got the latest incarnation of Eternal, now down to just two members, as well as another band that was just as ruthless in dispatching personnel in Destiny’s Child. This is the period where everyone was trying to do something suitably grandiose for the new millennium, hence Net Aid last week and another appeal in Children’s Promise next week, though Will Smith here is nicking the entire thousand years for his own use.
19.55 Top of the Pops
Then we’re in 1985, which as ever means endless video clips and stopping and starting, although this is one of the last shows that was longer than half an hour – ‘stEnders had already started, but Pops was on after it for the first six months and Tomorrow’s World was still only 25 minutes, so there was still a bit of flexibility – so there’s the chance for a fair few performances as well. Highlight is a Kim Wilde song you don’t hear much but we really like.
20.30 Top of the Pops
And then we head back just twelve months, but a pretty different and we would say substantially better show, without the ten million clips of videos, the nasty rearrangement of Yellow Pearl and the ugly sets and graphics, and better yet with the Rhythm Pals in fine form. Highlight is this show’s attempt to liven up the awful video for Automatic by The Pointer Sisters with some additional and hugely memorable studio business, followed by one of the greatest bits of Peel and Jensen banter.
And that’s that!
But Creamguide cannot be stopped and will be back next week.