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Look! Hear!

'Look Hear' Badge

Look! Hear! was a regional television music and arts show produced at Pebble Mill in the early 1980s which went out in the Midlands on BBC 1.  The series featured genuinely live popular music performances with a studio audience.  It was presented by Toyah Wilcox plus local radio presenters Ann Butler, Liz Cotton, John Holmes and Chris Phipps, who sat around on odd-looking chairs talking about the arts.

Copies of many studio programmes in the 1970s and 80s were not kept by the BBC; they were seen as disposable. Three episodes of Look!Hear! had been lost, but fortunately presenter John Holmes had kept VHS copies of the shows, and so Paul Vanezis from the BBC was to transfer them, and create copies for the BBC programme library.

Thanks to Ian Collins, VT Editor, who worked on the series, for making the badge available.

11 comments on “Look! Hear!”

  1. Toyah Wilcox – I was her age and I remember I got my hair cut and coloured like hers (an orange and yellow assymetric bob, probably not very flattering). She was a guest on a series I researched for regional TV producer Jim McDougal, called Face to Face (I think), which was half-hour one on one interviews with famous local people. I remember other guests in the series were the reformed bank robber John McVicar and (I think), Isobel Barnett. Can’t remember the interviewer though – Alan?

  2. Thanks for that Jane, it’s really useful to get details of different shows. I wonder if you might like to write a quick blog about some of the shows you remember working on? It would be great if you would. If so please just email me a few sentences to vanessa.jackson@bcu.ac.uk.
    Vanessa

  3. I used to watch Look!Hear! show avidly in my teens and have been trying to hunt down a particular band whose name escapes me : /

    They performed a song with the following snippet of lyrics, delivered staccato style:

    ” I…
    I am…
    I am a…
    I am a spectator in a strange game
    My name is no name (that’s tough!)”

    The chorus was a more melodic “You ask me if I’m a fool..”

    Free 7” singles were offered and I wrote in and got one (a thin white red/pink parallel lined sleeve as I recall) but later traded it for other singles via the school notice board.

    I have hunted high and low via the old Look!Hear! shows on YouTube and rediscovered some great bands – the Dancing Did and Fashion for example – but can find no trace of it anywhere. Any ideas?

    Thanks a million and all best wishes,

    Stephen Mitchell

  6. Dearest Lee Beddow, you’ve made my day! Popped by here again by chance as I continued on the same seemingly Sisyphean quest one more time, but this time Bingo!! I can’t thank you enough – just been listening to it on a loop via the link you shared, gentle nostalgic tears in my eyes : ) Fantastic, thanks so much and all best wishes, Stephen

  7. One of the presenters John Holmes (my Dad) now has uploaded some old spools of some of the bands he interviewed (found in his garage).
    he has an episode of memories of Look Hear (being edited)
    https://www.johnholmes.co.uk
    He has a book out that recalls Look Hear
    I recorded over loads of episodes by accident when I was 14 (remember the old sellotape over the missing tabs on the protected video cassette trick!) Would be really good to see if I can get back any episodes to say sorry!

  9. I worked on one of these shows providing Autocue, and I remember it was a Mod vs Rocker revival theme, the Mods were represented by The Specials, and I can’t rememeber who the Rockers were, but I will always remember they helped me load my van after the show!

  10. My band Diamond Head performed on Look! Hear! in January 1980. Our first time on television. Presented by Chris Phipps and Toyah Wilcox.

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