A summer music series linking live performances from the era’s biggest pop acts with segments from the Radio 1 Roadshow.
Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell hosts this Saturday evening programme which combines live-in-the-studio music with location reports from the annual Radio 1 Roadshow. Roving reporter John Walters presents his ‘Walters’ Weekend’ feature from various seaside resorts, while other DJs, including Mike Read, Dave Lee Travis, and Simon Bates, host challenges and introduce bands from the roadshow stage. The series featured performances from some of the most prominent acts of the period, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Thompson Twins, Ultravox, Depeche Mode, and The Human League.
This short-lived series was the BBC’s attempt to translate the immense popularity of its Radio 1 Roadshow into a peak-time television format. The programme is a perfect time capsule of early-1980s pop, featuring a line-up of the era’s dominant acts. The presence of John Walters, a presenter more associated with the iconoclastic John Peel shows, provided a wry counterpoint to the more conventional presentation of host Peter Powell, grounding the pop frivolity with a touch of dry humour.
Broadcast: BBC One, 4 Episodes, 28 July 1984 – 1 September 1984
Producer/Director: Peter Hamilton
Assistant Producers: Jonathan Bullen, Alan Wright
Main Cast: Peter Powell (Host), John Walters (Reporter)
Guests Include: Mike Read, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Thompson Twins, Nik Kershaw, Ultravox, Level 42, Nick Heyward, The Human League, Depeche Mode, Heaven 17
