A one-off concert special celebrating the popular music of the 1980s.
The programme is a live music event hosted by actors Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson. They introduce a line-up of musical artists associated with the 1980s, who perform their well-known hits from the decade for a live audience. The featured performers include Midge Ure, Jennifer Rush, and Chris De Burgh.
This special from Granada was part of a wave of nostalgia programming that became popular in the early 2000s. Its primary draw was not just the music but the deliberate pairing of its hosts. Grantham and Dobson were the definitive television couple of the 1980s as Den and Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Their on-stage reunion was calculated to frame the musical acts within a powerful and specific cultural memory, turning the concert into a broader piece of decade-themed event television. The format itself was a simple presentation of live performances, designed to appeal directly to an audience who had come of age during the period.
Broadcast: ITV – Granada, 1 Episode, 12 June 2004
Director: Tim Van Someren
Producer: Jeff Thacker
Main Cast: Leslie Grantham (Host), Anita Dobson (Host), Midge Ure, Jennifer Rush, Chris De Burgh
