"Although the idea was to go out live from real nightclubs in the middle of the night, for some reason we did a pilot at 2pm on a Saturday at Mr Smith's in Warrington. The dancers made the turntables jump. The cameramen wanted the lights up full and complained it was too loud. Michaela and I had no idea what the other was saying. To say it was a disaster is an understatement."
"When the series went out for real, we were beamed live at 1am via satellite. But Granada decided it was too expensive, so we'd tape it, the tapes would be biked back to Granada, and it would be broadcast an hour later. At one point it was so cold driving over the Peak District, the tapes had to be thawed out with a hairdryer."
Stock Aitken Waterman achieved major pop success, prompting a meeting with Granada Television to propose a nightclub-based late-night show. A co-presenter, Michaela Strachan, was chosen and a pilot was filmed at 2pm in a Warrington club, which proved chaotic: dancers disrupted equipment, cameramen demanded full lighting, and presenters struggled to hear each other. Despite the disastrous pilot, Granada commissioned a series. The show was intended to be live at 1am but was taped and couriered back due to cost. Cold conditions occasionally froze tapes, requiring thawing with a hairdryer. The audience consisted of regular punters and live, candid interactions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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