WH
The pilot with Carol Thatcher etc was quite different in style and was called That Nice Mrs Merton. It was broadcast more than a year before the first series.
The first episode of the actual series had Jilly Goolden, Cynthia Payne, Dave Lee Travis and Arthur Tomlinson (UFO expert).
Perhaps, as with most first comedy series, it was filmed out of sequence.
Whataday
Founding member
According to Wiki the Debbie McGee episode was the first episode of the first series but a pilot episode was broadcast beforehand with Carol Thatcher, Mark Porter and Terry Christian.
The pilot with Carol Thatcher etc was quite different in style and was called That Nice Mrs Merton. It was broadcast more than a year before the first series.
The first episode of the actual series had Jilly Goolden, Cynthia Payne, Dave Lee Travis and Arthur Tomlinson (UFO expert).
Perhaps, as with most first comedy series, it was filmed out of sequence.
BA
Not sure if this has been posted yet - the Yorkshire Television pilot "Mrs Murton's Nightcap" [sic], complete with VT clock
Interesting points:
She is credited as "Caroline A'Herne"
Martin Kelner is credited as a co-writer
The Body Shop animal testing quandary is put to a Body Shop Assistant Manager
Interesting points:
She is credited as "Caroline A'Herne"
Martin Kelner is credited as a co-writer
The Body Shop animal testing quandary is put to a Body Shop Assistant Manager
Last edited by bilky asko on 1 August 2016 1:42am - 2 times in total
BA
Was that line reused for both The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family?
I don't think it was, but it was put to the audience as a dilemma when the series was produced (in the episode where she interviews Barbara Windsor, just before the interview itself).
The Body Shop animal testing quandary is put to a Body Shop Assistant Manager
Was that line reused for both The Mrs Merton Show and The Royle Family?
I don't think it was, but it was put to the audience as a dilemma when the series was produced (in the episode where she interviews Barbara Windsor, just before the interview itself).
SP
Mrs Merton's first appearances were on Martin Kelner's radio shows, which may explain his involvement.
Was YTV Meadowhall an in-joke in the credits?
Was YTV Meadowhall an in-joke in the credits?
IT
No, there was an actual TV studio at the shopping centre. YTV's Sheffield opt came from there.
JA
RE: YTV Meadowhall: there was an in house TV station in the Meadowhall shopping centre for a time in Sheffield, with a studio setup in the food court. When it wasn't active or playing anything promotional of interest, it relayed YTV.
Having gone back there recently, the video wall it was broadcast on has been removed, and the whole area has been reworked to remove the studio space - it was never large, and it was mostly roving crews. I do remember Gaynor Barnes being involved in it a lot at one point.
They did use it as the location for filming that pilot though, there's no injoke at all.
Having gone back there recently, the video wall it was broadcast on has been removed, and the whole area has been reworked to remove the studio space - it was never large, and it was mostly roving crews. I do remember Gaynor Barnes being involved in it a lot at one point.
They did use it as the location for filming that pilot though, there's no injoke at all.
JA
The video wall was there until not that long ago really, I think it was only around 2010/2011 they got rid of it, which disapointed me! I've been going to Meadowhall since the mid-90s though, and I don't remember them ever simulasting YTV, so that must have stopped early on. They used to run all sorts, not just promotional stuff but music videos and cartoons and stuff too.
SP
Interesting, thanks for that. I never knew about that studio, I thought the Calendar South opts came from the city centre premises next to the big roundabout?
There's an interesting article from Martin Kelner talking about that pilot in the YEP - http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/martin-kelner-the-day-i-first-met-mrs-merton-1-7996629
There's an interesting article from Martin Kelner talking about that pilot in the YEP - http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/analysis/martin-kelner-the-day-i-first-met-mrs-merton-1-7996629
IT
This was the time when regions became Very local, just before the ITC franchise round, so two YTV studios in Sheffield for the new sub-region wasn't unfeasible. It was around this time that Anglia got many micro studios around East Anglia, and Abingdon got Central news South.