Six-Five Special
Encyclopedia
The Six-Five Special is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll
were in their infancy in Britain.
's first attempt at a rock and roll programme, an innovation and much imitated, even today. It was called Six-Five Special because of the time it was broadcast – it went out live at five past six on Saturday evening. It began immediately after the abolition of the Toddlers' Truce
, which had seen television close between 6 and 7 pm so children could be put to bed.
Jack Good
was the original producer. Josephine Douglas
and (initially) disc jockey Pete Murray were its presenters, with Murray using the catchphrase "Time to jive on the old six five". Its resident band was Don Lang and his Frantic Five. The show opened with film of a steam train accompanied by the programme's theme song, played and sung by the Frantic Five, which began with the words "The Six-Five Special's comin' down the line, The Six-Five Special's right on time ..."
BBC executives originally wanted a magazine format; however, Good wanted a show with music and lots of movement. The original sets were dispensed with and the empty studio space filled with the milling audience and performers. Television at that time was completely live as recording technology was limited, so once the programme started everything ran in an impromptu way. The running order was sketched out on Friday morning, and then only one complete run-through happened immediately before transmission on Saturday evening.
The show was originally scheduled to last just six weeks but, as a result of its popularity, the series became open-ended. The BBC interfered with Good's vision of the show by including educational and information elements, which Good wanted to drop, as they diluted the music. The relationship between Good and the BBC became strained, and he resigned in early 1958.
Good joined the ITV
company ABC to create Oh Boy!, the show he'd wanted to make. It featured non-stop music and lost the public-service-inspired elements as part of its more frenzied pace, trouncing Six-Five Special in the ratings. The BBC
, never keen on the show, took this as vindication and pulled it from the schedules. It was to be half a decade before Top of the Pops
restored BBC coverage of contemporary popular music
in general and "pop
" in particular.
, Jim Dale
, Johnny Dankworth, Terry Dene
, Lonnie Donegan
, Russ Hamilton
, Cleo Laine
, Joan Regan
, Finlay Currie
, Freddie Mills
, Jimmy Lloyd
, Marty Wilde
and Tommy Steele
.
Comedy performers included Trevor Peacock
, who was also a script writer for the show, Spike Milligan
and Bernie Winters
.
Boxer Freddie Mills
was also a regular until 29 March 1958.
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
were in their infancy in Britain.
Description
It was the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's first attempt at a rock and roll programme, an innovation and much imitated, even today. It was called Six-Five Special because of the time it was broadcast – it went out live at five past six on Saturday evening. It began immediately after the abolition of the Toddlers' Truce
Toddlers' Truce
The Toddlers' Truce was a piece of early British television scheduling policy that required transmissions to terminate for an hour each weekday between 6pm and 7pm. This was from the end of Children's TV to the start of the evening schedule, so that young children could be put to bed.-Background:It...
, which had seen television close between 6 and 7 pm so children could be put to bed.
Jack Good
Jack Good (producer)
Jack Good is a pioneering former TV television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons.-Career:...
was the original producer. Josephine Douglas
Josephine Douglas
Josephine Douglas was a British actress, best remembered as the co-producer and co-host of Britain's first pop chart television show, Six-Five Special, during 1957-58....
and (initially) disc jockey Pete Murray were its presenters, with Murray using the catchphrase "Time to jive on the old six five". Its resident band was Don Lang and his Frantic Five. The show opened with film of a steam train accompanied by the programme's theme song, played and sung by the Frantic Five, which began with the words "The Six-Five Special's comin' down the line, The Six-Five Special's right on time ..."
BBC executives originally wanted a magazine format; however, Good wanted a show with music and lots of movement. The original sets were dispensed with and the empty studio space filled with the milling audience and performers. Television at that time was completely live as recording technology was limited, so once the programme started everything ran in an impromptu way. The running order was sketched out on Friday morning, and then only one complete run-through happened immediately before transmission on Saturday evening.
The show was originally scheduled to last just six weeks but, as a result of its popularity, the series became open-ended. The BBC interfered with Good's vision of the show by including educational and information elements, which Good wanted to drop, as they diluted the music. The relationship between Good and the BBC became strained, and he resigned in early 1958.
Good joined the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
company ABC to create Oh Boy!, the show he'd wanted to make. It featured non-stop music and lost the public-service-inspired elements as part of its more frenzied pace, trouncing Six-Five Special in the ratings. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, never keen on the show, took this as vindication and pulled it from the schedules. It was to be half a decade before Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
restored BBC coverage of contemporary popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
in general and "pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
" in particular.
Artists
Among the artists on the show were Petula ClarkPetula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Jim Dale
Jim Dale
Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
, Johnny Dankworth, Terry Dene
Terry Dene
Terry Dene is a former British pop singer popular in the late 1950s. He achieved three Top Twenty hits between June 1957 and May 1958.-Career:...
, Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
, Russ Hamilton
Russ Hamilton
Russ Hamilton was the 1994 World Series of Poker main event champion. He defeated Hugh Vincent in heads-up play to win $1 million in first-prize money, as well as his body weight in silver. Following his World Series win, Hamilton served as a consultant for Ultimate Bet, an online poker server...
, Cleo Laine
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
, Joan Regan
Joan Regan
Joan Regan is a traditional pop music singer from the UK, popular during the 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...
, Finlay Currie
Finlay Currie
Finlay Jefferson Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen and television.Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1878. His acting career began on the stage. He and his wife Maude Courtney did a song and dance act in the US in the 1890s. He made his first film in 1931...
, Freddie Mills
Freddie Mills
Freddie Mills, was an English boxer, who was the world light heavyweight boxing champion from 1948 to 1950. He was born in Poole, England.- Early life :...
, Jimmy Lloyd
Jimmy Lloyd
James Lloyd , is a British former boxer. Representing the United Kingdom, Lloyd was the Welterweight bronze medalist at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, losing in the semfinals to Nino Benvenuti of Italy. Lloyd was also the ABA Light middleweight champion in 1962.- External links :...
, Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde
Marty Wilde is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, and is the father of pop singers Ricky Wilde, Kim Wilde and Roxanne Wilde.-Career:Wilde was performing under the name Reg Patterson at London's Condor Club in...
and Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele
Tommy Steele OBE , is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock and roll star.-Singer:...
.
Comedy performers included Trevor Peacock
Trevor Peacock
Trevor Peacock is an English stage and television character actor. He was born in Tottenham, London, the son of Alexandria and Victor Edward Peacock.-Television and Film Career:...
, who was also a script writer for the show, Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
and Bernie Winters
Bernie Winters
Bernie Winters was an English comedian and the comic relief of the double act, Mike and Bernie Winters with his brother, Mike. He later performed solo, often with the aid of his St...
.
Boxer Freddie Mills
Freddie Mills
Freddie Mills, was an English boxer, who was the world light heavyweight boxing champion from 1948 to 1950. He was born in Poole, England.- Early life :...
was also a regular until 29 March 1958.
See also
- American BandstandAmerican BandstandAmerican Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
, US show from same era - Juke Box JuryJuke Box JuryJuke Box Jury was a musical panel show which originally ran on BBC Television from 1 June 1959 until December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series....
- Ready Steady Go!Ready Steady Go!Ready Steady Go! or simply RSG! was one of the UK's first rock/pop music TV programmes. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan was assisted by record producer/talent manager Vicki Wickham, who became the producer. It was broadcast from August 1963 until December 1966...
- The TubeThe Tube (TV series)The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
- Later with Jools HollandLater with Jools HollandLater... with Jools Holland is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jools Holland. A spin-off of The Late Show, it has been running in short series since 1992 and is a part of BBC Two's late-night line-up, usually at around 11pm to 12 midnight...
External links
- Six Five Special at Whirligig TV.
- Six-Five Special (1957–58) British Film Institute history
- Six-Five Special MSN Movies entry
- Billy Fury.com has a section on Jack Good and the making of the Six Five Special. Accessed October 2008
- "Six-Five Special" Clips at You Tube
- Britain in a Box: 5 March 2008 (BBC Radio 4 programme)