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ITV Telethon

Should it come back? (June 2003)

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MO
Moz
Who'd present a 21st century version?

I reckon Davina could pull it off.
CO
Colm
Mauritius:
"I may be wrong but I think it was the only time that "ITV" actually ever made a programme as I am fairly certain the end cap said:

"An Independent Television Production""


You're right.

"Also I think its probably the only time that ALL the ITV regions used some form of ITV branding during the regional service???"

AFAIK, right again; in my experience it was unusual seeing the ITV Telethon logo on screen beside the Ulster Television logo.

As for a Telethon website, I remember Richard Bell's TV Zone, which is now defunct, had a Telethon section with screen grabs from UTV's coverage; I think Round the Regions, also defunct, was planning a Telethon section but it never got off the ground.
JC
Jason C
Unfortunately, I know rather more about this particular event than is healthy as I researched it for a college project I did a few years back...

Quote:
Micheal Aspel did about 18 hours on live tv didn't he?


Twenty seven in total without a wink of sleep; in 1988, sleep deprivation affected him to such a degree that at one point he thought the show was recorded rather than live and said something to that effect on air.

Quote:
Raised a lot of money for charity too, which was obviously the idea...


£60m across the three events, although I'm quite sure that ITV actually created the Telethon more to get audiences for themselves than money for charities.

Quote:
In particular I remember that the London opts came from Thames even though the Telethon actually happened at the weekend (ie LWT time).


Indeed, because LWT had their hands full with running the national show - it was particularly fun when all the regions were shown in turn just to see which of them were running their opts from huge elaborate sets in halls and which had to make do with a small sparsely decorated studio.

Quote:
Well the ITV Year of Promise didn't do very well


...because it was a poorly conceived, half arsed pile of rubbish.

Quote:
Great show, and why on earth they axed it, I'll never know.


A key factor in why it was axed was because it wasn't very popular with some of the people it was trying to help; a lot of the serious charity films shown during the event were made in a very sappy and sentimental way - to gnaw at people's consciences as much as possible - and this angered disabled rights groups who thought that they were being patronised by the way these films were portraying them.

So much so that in 1992, a thousand disabled activists protested against the event outside the London Studios and during the show itself, a couple of them ran from the audience to take issue with Aspel himself; rather than risk further bad publicity, ITV used the £9m shortfall that year to claim that people were fed up of giving money to the event and scrapped it.


Another aspect of the show was its blatant commercialism; hundreds of companies got their logos on screen as much as possible when giving their cheques - with some on the national show even sticking stickers with their logos on to the front of Aspel's desk - while the likes Pepsi Cola put their logo'd paper cups next to every telephonist in the phone centres shown on screen.

It was a very kitsch show though - you just have to remember the mawkish grand finale of every ITV star singing an equally mawkish song on stage as an example of that.
:-(
A former member
Just found this on TV-Ark:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/january/main/telethon90-1.jpg

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/january/main/telethon90-3.jpg

And there is a video too:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/january/main/itvtelethon90.rm

Micheal Aspel presented the show for 27 hours!!!!
BR
Brekkie
How many Telethons were there exactly, and how long did they last?

I remember a couple of them from around 1990 and they were very good.

Comic Relief goes from strength to strength and usually provides a very good night's entertainment, but I think Children In Need is becoming very stale now and needs a few major changes (it could get at least one new host this year - the BBC won't want the stars of Five hosting it!)
CW
cwathen Founding member
Quote:
How many Telethons were there exactly, and how long did they last?

I remember a couple of them from around 1990 and they were very good.

There were 3, in 1988, 1990 and 1992.
:-(
A former member
DJ
DJGM
Moz posted:

Who'd present a 21st century version?

I reckon Davina could pull it off.


I reckon Davina would put people off Telethons altogether! 27 hours of Davina McGob? I've nothing personal
against Davina, given the right sort of show to host, she's actually quite good, Don't Try This At Home being
a prime example, and in a limited sense, Big Brother. But, IMO, she'd become unbearable after about an
hour or so on a live 27 hour telethon event. If Johnny Vaughan wasn't exclusively contracted to the BBC
he'd be an ideal choice as host. Or failing that, Angus Deayton would also be a good choice.
AN
Andrew Founding member
Or Ant and Dec maybe, they'd mention Tyne Tees at least and get a cheer, just like when they do Record of the year
LC
Lewis c
It'd be nice to see all the regions doing their bit again .
AN
Andrew Founding member
Lewis c posted:
It'd be nice to see all the regions doing their bit again .

They've even axed most of that on the BBC. Remember the long opt outs there used to be on Children in Need
TV
tvmercia Founding member
here are some videos of telethon 1992. notice the little furry sticky thing which was supposed to be the mascot. mind you - the one i was given in real life didn't have any headphones on - i don't think ive ever really quite got over that.

as has been said earlier - the tune was v catchy - and having all the logos form the ITV logo is rather nifty

]TELETHON 92 - OPENING TITLES

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/centraltelethon10.jpg

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/centraltelethon2.jpg

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/centraltelethon11.jpg

and heres the video of the opening to the central telethon. all rather grand and amazing. at first it seems the cards forming the central logo are in the wrong place - but i think its because they couldn't get a wide enough shot and it seems to be some-what stretched.

]CENTRAL TELETHON 92 - OPENING SEQUENCE

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/centraltelethon4.jpg

and then there are the anti-telethon protesters who run on stage while clare raynor is talking to aspel. how rude of them!

i love the way she says "heavens" "oh dear - we've got some cross people" "all right darling" "she's a cross girl". and then the spotty teenager goes running up the stairs to claire raynor *gasp* - so michael aspel cuts away to a patronising 'disabled people are helpless' type VT .... exactly what the girl was protesting about Laughing

mind you - i wish i had claire raynor digging for eggs with a JCB on tape! what fab television that must have been.

]ANTI CLAIRE RAYNOR PROTESTERS

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/upload/centraltelethon12.jpg

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