THREE episodes from early Eighties regional music show Look! Hear! have been returned to the BBC archives.
Look! Hear! Three episodes featuring bands such as The Beat have been returned to the BBC.
Look! Hear! was a teen-orientated music show that screened on BBC Midlands between 1977 -81. Along with reports on what was hot in the worlds of entertainment and fashion, Look! Hear! featured a number of influential bands.
The three returned episode are from the eight-part 1980 series and fill the only archive gap in the programme’s entire run. They were loaned to BBC producer and Doctor Who Restoration Team member Paul Vanezis by former Look! Hear! presenter John Holmes, who co-hosted with fellow Radio Wolverhampton DJs Ann Butler, Liz Cotton and Chris Phipps, and punk-pop icon Toyah Wilcox.
The recovered episodes feature important groups from the 2-Tone, melodic rock and heavy metal movements. Details are as follows:
| Episode No. | Date | Featuring/Tracks |
|---|---|---|
| Four | 29/01/1980 | Diamond Head (‘Streets of Gold’, ‘Helpless’)
The Selecter (‘Three Minute Hero’, ‘Every Day’, ‘Too Much Pressure’) |
| Five | 05/02/1980 | Delegation (‘Heartache #9′, ‘You and I’)
The Beat (‘Big Shot’, ‘Mirror in the Bathroom’; ‘Ranking Full Stop’) |
| Seven | 26/02/1980 | Magnum (‘If I Could Live Forever’, ‘Invasion’, ‘Changes’)
The Swinging Cats (‘Never on a Sunday’, ‘Away’) |
The recordings were made directly from the quad TX masters before the tapes were wiped and are, according to Paul Vanezis writing on the Missing Episodes forum, “in very good playable condition on VHS”. They have now been transferred onto high-quality video.
Here are two performances by Diamond Head from the recovered episode four:
Well done. As you know my Dad lost his copies, as we recorded over them a kids. Can’t wait to see them and show his Grand kids. Well done
Any idea how to get hold of copies?
I was in the audience for the ‘swinging cats’ episode and I also remember climbing up on stage during ‘too much pressure’ – would love to see myself back then.
Hi,
I think the best way to obtain a copy is contacting the BBC. It does, however, seems Contributor Access doesn’t cover members of the audience, unless they made a “significant” contribution to the show, so I can’t guarantee it will work.
Sorry I can’t be more helpful.
Anyone manage to get hold of any of the above??!! if so, please let me know!!! thanks
I think it was on an episode of this that my band Fáshiön (the first version of the band) appeared – it was at Pebble Mill in 1978 I think or early ’79 – Toyah was host and the theme was fashion designers from the B’Ham College of Art showing their work. There’s no known video of Fáshiön the original line-up – if anyone could find a recording of this it would make my … well more than my day, practically my life! Do you have any ideas who I could contact at BBC or elsewhere please to try and track down a copy of that show? Thanks – Luke Sky – (former frontman original Fáshiön band)