Get Fresh

On the YouTube thread in the Websites section I've posted a couple of clips of Get Fresh, the eighties Saturday morning programme. To avoid derailing that thread still further I thought I'd start a new one here because I'm going to bang on about it some more.

For those too young, Get Fresh ran from 1986 to 1988 and what was fascinating for the telly-mad kid like myself was that, while it was devised and managed by Tyne Tees, the programme travelled around the UK and each individual episode was made by the ITV region they were visiting. This absolutely fascinated me at the time and it was exciting to see Border or Grampian or other lesser-spotted idents at the end of it.

I said in the other thread I'd be fascinated to see an episode guide for the series to see where it went and which companies were most heavily involved. Happily Benriggers did the business by looking through the Times Digital Archive and, combined with Col's trawl of the BFI database, the Glasgow Herald on Google News and the IBA Yearbooks for 1987 and 1988, I would suggest the below is possibly the most complete episode guide for Get Fresh that exists anywhere, with presumably any paperwork flung out by Tyne Tees when they moved offices. This is absolutely not a rota thread, honest.

Series 1 - 1986

3rd May - Windermere (Border)
10th May - Porthcawl (HTV Wales)
17th May - Newcastle (Tyne Tees)
24th May - Glasgow Mayfest (Scottish)
31st May - Carumunnock Highland Games (Grampian)
7th June - Portrush (Ulster)
14th June - Cardiff Castle (HTV Wales)
21st June - Colchester Zoo (Anglia)
28th June - Bath Festival of Steam (HTV West)
5th July - Weymouth (TSW)
12th July - Edinburgh (Scottish)
19th July - Aberdeen (Grampian)
26th July - Norfolk (Anglia)
2nd August - Whitehaven Harbour (Border)
9th August - Perth (Grampian)
16th August - Ashton Court Park, Bristol (HTV West)
23rd August - ?
30th August - Carlisle Castle (Border)
6th September - Beamish Open Air Museum, Newcastle (Tyne Tees)
13th September - Plymouth (TSW)

I wish I still had my copy of the 1987 Look-In Holiday Special because I remember it had a big spread of photos of all the locations in this series. On YouTube there's an episode from Whiitehaven, another Border production, where the weather is absolutely dreadful, which would presumably make it one of the May episodes although I wouldn't put it past Cumbria in August.

Series 2 - 1987

25th April and 2nd May - This series started with two studio-based episodes made by Border, on the same set as the Sunday edition which ran throughout this series, always made by Border
9th May - Sheepmount Athletics track, Carlisle (Border)
16th May - Yeovil (TSW)
23rd May - Duxford Air Museum (Anglia)
30th May - Edinburgh Castle (Scottish)
6th June - Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (Grampian)
13th June - Lakeland Forum, Enniskillen (Ulster)
20th June - Ulster Folk Museum (Ulster)
27th June - New Lanark Old Mill Town (Scottish)
4th July - Cardiff Ice Rink (HTV Wales)
11th July - Plymouth (TSW)
18th July - Newquay (TSW)
25th July - Kelso Agricultural Fair (Border)
1st August - Clydebank (Scottish)
8th August - Northumberland Scout and Guide Camp, Gosforth Park (Tyne Tees)
15th August - Border TV, Carlisle (Border)
22nd August - Norwich (Anglia)
29th August - Bristol (HTV West)

Ulster's contribution to the 1988 IBA Yearbook says they made two episodes of Get Fresh that year, and as the Glasgow Herald specifically bills Enniskillen for 13th June, the second must have been the following week. So we've got all of that series covered. I think TSW made the Yeovil episode, but I wonder if it might have been a HTV West production? I always assumed Border invented Get Fresh because they made it so often, and indeed its actual producers Tyne Tees only contributed one episode this year. I vividly remember Mel and Kim performing Showing Out on an ice rink, presumably the Cardiff episode.

Series 3 - 1988

9th April - Newcastle, Co Down (Ulster)
16th April - Giant's Causeway (Ulster)
23rd April - Maritime Museum, Exeter (TSW)
30th April - Lord Montagu's Transport Museum, Beaulieu (TVS)
7th May - St Austell (TSW)
14th May - Great Yarmouth (Anglia)
21st May - Galloway Games, Stranraer (Border)
28th May - Ferry Meadows Country Park, Peterborough (Anglia)
4th June - Roman fort, South Shields (Tyne Tees)
11th June - Dundee (Grampian)
18th June - Tebay Services (Border)
25th June - Glasgow Show, Bellahouston Park (Scottish)
2nd July - Summerlee Heritage Trust, Coatbridge (Scottish)
9th July - Eden Court Theatre, Inverness (Grampian)
16th July - Glasgow Garden Festival (Scottish)
23rd July - Teignmouth (TSW)
30th July - Douglas Bay, Isle of Man (Border)
6th August - Metrocentre, Gateshead (Tyne Tees)
13th August - Weston-Super-Mare (HTV West)
20th August - Tavistock Meadows (TSW)
27th August - Port Talbot (HTV Wales)

The one series that included an episode made by TVS. Of course Border continued to make the Sunday edition throughout, and Anglia and Channel (who presumably didn't have the resources to make a full episode) contriuted inserts throughout.

I hope you find that interesting. Of course, after Get Fresh ended Ghost Train did the same thing, but I wasn't interested in that because instead of proper events they went to a load of anonymous fields, and it was a dreadful show. I wonder how it all worked out, presumably there was some sort of conference in the spring when all the regions would say what interesting things were coming up in their patch. Some seemed more enthusiastic contributors than others.

I can help again!
17th May 1986: Newcastle
2nd August 1986: Whitehaven Harbour, Cumbria
16th April 1988: The Giant's Causeway, County Antrim

Hooray! I actually do remember torrential rain throughout our holiday in the summer of 1986, and at the Commonwealth Games too, so I'm certainly willing to believe that horrendous Whitehaven episode on YouTube was in August. Duly editing the original post.

Someone on Twitter has reminded me that Mel of Mel and Kim would probably have been too ill to be on Get Fresh in July 1987. I vividly remember Mel and Kim and an ice rink but I'm wondering if they just had kids skating to the record and they weren't there at all.

Bizarrely, I still remember being there and poking around inside the millennium dustbin, including being disappointed that from the back you could see it was a lorry, complete with number plate - even though I was only just 5.

Seems to only have involved the smaller regions. There's no Granada, Yorkshire, Central or LWT, and only one TVS.

The Big Four deliberately didn't take part because one of the main ideas of the programme was that it would provide opportunities for the smaller regions to contribute to the network. And TVS only made one because they were busy doing the Saturday morning programme for the rest of the year in No 73.

Another one found:
10th May 1986: Wales
https://twitter.com/woodg31/status/597438696720355329 (3rd picture)

This really is above and beyond. Thanks again.

The iMDb page lists five "filming locations" for Get Fresh; with Inverness, Teignmouth and Port Talbot matching what we've got:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391604/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt

Also note Belfast, and Swaffham in Norfolk, which aren't on the above list - are there any other sources to confirm these?

Gaz Top mentions Swaffham on his website, in fact. Presumably that's where IMDB got it from. Must be another of the class of 1986, I think, given Anglia's only got one so far.

I'm thrilled this list has created so much excitement. I assumed only I gave a toss.

Speaking of Gareth's website, there's also a reference to Gilbert punching Donny Osmond in Weston-super-Mare.

http://www.garethjones.tv/getfreshb.html

IIRC ... wasn't The Millenium Dustbin named as a result of a competition where viewers chose the name?