Broadcast |
Programme
Details |
Autumn
1968
(date and time unknown)
Granada TV |
New
Faces
The Fivepenny
Piece (under their original name The
Wednesday Folk) appeared on this long-running
discovery programme and not only were the audience
and the viewing public impressed, but their
success on the show led to the group being signed
to the Noel Gay agency, gaining both a new name
and a recording contract with EMI into the bargain.
Some of these events were captured on camera
and broadcast in the BBC TV show The Persuaders
in January 1969 (below). |
28th
January 1969
Tuesday 18:35- (?*)
BBC1
(*length unknown) |
The
Persuaders
Producer: John Gau
Filmed in 1968, but broadcast
in January 1969 (to coincide with the release
of the band's debut single). This was not an
episode of the Tony Curtis / Roger Moore series;
rather a BBC documentary chronicling the band's
rise to fame New Faces and their subsequent
grooming for success. It covered the discovery,
grooming, and launching in the world of entertainment
of a new vocal group. It seems that TV viewers
were invited to vote for the group's new name,
hence The Wednesday Folk became
The Fivepenny Piece. I have
seen reference to a programme called Birth
Of A Group which may be the same programme
or a different one. |
July/August
1971
(date unknown)
Friday 21:20 - 21:50
BBC2 |
Get
The Drift
John Meeks mentioned the
group's appearance on this show on the live
LP On Stage (released in October 1974).
The BBC
Guide To Comedy describes this six-part
series as 'mild and bitter humour from the north
of England' featuring 'monologues, skits and
comical songs', and starring Henry Livings,
Alex Glasgow (composer of Keep Yer
'An On Yer 'Alfpenny), Roy Kinear
and Bernard Cribbins.
The
BBC site makes no mention of Fivepenny Piece
appearing on this show, so I assume they made
an appearance as guest artists on one of the
shows. The shows were broadcast on Friday nights
from 23rd July to 27th August. There was a second
series of the show in 1976, but as this was
after John Meeks' reference to it, we must assume
the first series was the one they appeared in.
John's claim on the On Stage LP is that
they wrote the song Tell Us It Ain't
So for the programme - if so, it seems
an unlikely choice as it isn't a comic song. |
17th February 1973 |
The
Val Doonigan Show
The Fivepenny Piece were guests along with Basil
Brush, Patricia Carroll and Mike Newman |
25th
May 1974
Saturday 21:30-22:00
Granada |
The
Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club
first series, episode 7
Producer: Johnnie Hamp
The
Fivepenny Piece guested on this popular
entertainment series featuring Bernard Manning
and Colin Crompton, among other comedians.
This show also included the US singer Gene
Pitney as star guest, as well as singer
Eve Boswell and pianist Mrs Mills.
Fivepenny Piece performed I Don't Know
If I Wanna Go Home - you can
see the clip on YouTube
(as uploaded by 5PP fan Martin Maguire) |
12th May 1975 |
The David Nixon Show
The Fivepenny Piece were guests along with Great
Kovari, Little and Large and Janet Brown |
4th
January 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
1st
February 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
15th
February 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
29th
February 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
14th
March 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
28th
March 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
11th
April 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
25th
April 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
9th
May 1976 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. They were the musical guest on
every second week; alternating with comedian/singer
Victoria Wood.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
8th
March 1976
Friday 21:00-21:30 BBC2
Repeated on BBC on 21st Decwmber 1977 at 19:05, and 27th June 1977: 23:05
|
The
Camera & The Song
Producer: John Bird
This acclaimed
13 episode series blended documentary programmes
about different parts of the country with appropriate
music from contemporary singers and songwriters.
Some superb artists took part including Alex
Glasgow (in his native Newcastle Upon Tyne);
Jeremy Taylor (with his homage to Blackpool);
as well as Ralph McTell, Max Boyce,
Jake Thackray, Tír na nÓg and Harvey Andrews.
This episode, the first of the series, featured songs of The Fivepenny Piece linked
with beautiful Lancashire brass band music and specially recorded
Fivepenny Piece links. The songs included were Brown Photographs
(a couple of lines of this were sung as links
in between the other songs, in a similar way
to the King Cotton album), Stalybridge
Station, Mountain Climber,
Down Our Street, King
Cotton, Cum To Your Tea,
They Tell Us Owt, Tuppence
Change and Winter Sun.
The Songs of The Fivepenny Piece: Come To Your Tea
Memories - some tears and some laughing. When he comes to tea, it's almost as good as an engagement ring for a Lancashire lass. Lancashire? Yes, but Yorkshire's dun the road, Cheshire across the street and Derbyshire at the bottom of the road.
It was one of the best ways of fusing music and television we have seen. It gave a new dimension to the pop world. (Daily Express 1976)
Mountain Climber was included at the Fivepenny Piece track on the The
Camera & The Song compilation album of the series. |
Saturday
14th August 1976
BBC1
|
Summertime
Special
Seaside
Special was a BBC light entertainment television
program in the 1970s. It was an outside broadcast
and was always filmed in a big top in a British
seaside resort - in this case
Torbay in Devon.
Guests
included Vince Hill, Roger De Courcey and Nookie
the Bear, Patton Brothers, Fivepenny
Piece, Jodie Grey, Alan Stewart, Peters
and Lee, and New Edition.
Does
anyone have any details of what song they sang? |
20th
March 1977 |
That's
Life
The Fivepenny Piece made several appearances
on the popular BBC TV series hosted by Esther
Rantzen. This seems to be from a different
series than the previous series.
Does
anyone have any details of what songs they sang,
etc.? |
11th
April 1977
Monday 22:35-23:25
BBC2 |
Fivepenny Piece & Mike Harding
Produced by Barry Bevins.
A
special 50-minute show recorded at the Poco-a-Poco
Theatre, Stockport. The
Fivepenny Piece were teamed with the then
up-and-coming folk singer/comedian Mike Harding
for this one-off special. The success of this
show led to the following year's series MH
& 5p (see below).
Songs performed: Where There's Muck There's
Brass (5PP), What Is
It All About? (poem) (MH), King
Cotton (5PP), Irwell
Delta Blues (MH), They
Tell Us Owt (5PP), Napoleon's
Retreat From Wigan (MH), Sail
Away, Tin Soldier Friend (5PP), The
Bogey Man (MH), Armchair
Athlete (5PP), A Sailor
Courted A Farmer's Daughter (MH), Watercolour
Morning (5PP), Talking Blackpool
Blues (MH) and Ee By Gum (5PP) |
2nd
June 1977
Thursday
(time unknown)
Granada |
Fivepenny
Piece At The Wheeltappers - A special
25-minute show featuring the band at the
Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club.
A
special 25-minute show
featuring The Fivepenny Piece performing
their songs at the Wheeltappers & Shunters
Social Club, broadcast after the famous
series had finished (it ended in 1976).
Songs performed: Where There's Muck
There's Brass, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10,
Watercolour Morning,
Keep Yer 'And On Yer 'Alfpenny, Our
Bill & The Concrete Mixer and Down
At Our School |
9th
April 1978
Sunday (time unknown)
BBC2 |
Fivepenny
Piece with Mike Harding - Music & Humour
Repeat broadcast of the show from 11th April
1977 (see above for details). |
9th
June 1978
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
MH
& 5p episode 1
Produced by Barry Bevins.
First of a six-part series featuring The
Fivepenny Piece with Mike Harding.
Recorded at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport.
Not sure which episode it was broadcast on, but here is a clip from the show of the band performing Weigh Watchers. |
16th
June 1978
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
MH
& 5p episode 2
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Second of a six-part series featuring The
Fivepenny Piece with Mike Harding.
Recorded at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport. |
23rd
June 1978
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
MH
& 5p episode 3
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Third of a six-part series featuring The
Fivepenny Piece with Mike Harding.
Recorded at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport. |
30th
June 1978
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
MH & 5p episode 4
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Fourth
of a six-part series featuring The Fivepenny
Piece with Mike Harding. Recorded
at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport.
Produced by Barry Bevins. |
7th
July 1978
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
MH
& 5p episode 5
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Fifth of a six-part series featuring The
Fivepenny Piece with Mike Harding.
Recorded at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport. |
14th
July 1978
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
MH
& 5p episode 6
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Last of a six-part series featuring The Fivepenny
Piece with Mike Harding. Recorded
at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport.
The success of this series
led to The Fivepenny Piece and Mike
Harding each being given their own separate
BBC TV series (see below for details of the
Fivepenny Piece series). |
23rd
August 1978
BBC2 |
Rhythm
On 2 featuring Fivepenny Piece with
guests The Oldham Tinkers
Director: Rick Gardner
In
concert performance by Fivepenny Piece and The
Oldham Tinkers. Recorded at Bredbury Hall, Stockport.
The
songs performed were as follows: I'm Henpecked
(5PP), Stalybridge Station (5PP), Cum
To Your Tea (5PP), City of Manchester
(5PP), John Willie's Ferret (OT), Oldham's Burning
Sands (OT), Brown Photographs (5PP),
Our Sarah's Getten A Chap (5PP) and Lancashire,
My Lancashire (5PP) |
23rd
December 1978
Saturday 21:10-21:50
BBC2 |
Christmas
With Mike Harding & The Fivepenny Piece
Produced by Barry Bevins.
40-minute Christmas special programme
which once again teamed The Fivepenny Piece
with comedian/folk singer Mike Harding.
Recorded at the Poco-a-Poco Theatre, Stockport. |
4th
May 1979
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
The Fivepenny Piece Show episode 1
Produced by Barry Bevins.
First of a series of four programmes featuring
The Fivepenny Piece, with a different
guest artist each week. This
week's guest artist was London folk singer/comedian
Derek Brimstone. |
11th
May 1979
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
The
Fivepenny Piece Show episode 2
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Second of a series of four programmes featuring
The Fivepenny Piece, with a different
guest artist each week. This
week's guest artist was explosive comic Blaster
Bates. |
18th
May 1979
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
The
Fivepenny Piece Show episode 3
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Third of a series of four programmes featuring
The Fivepenny Piece, with a different
guest artist each week. This
week's guest artist was Lancashire folk singer/comedian
Bernard Wrigley (who later joined the
band in 1995).
In a conversation with Paul Gunningham, Bernard
claims to have sang two songs on the show -
Vasectomy and Nelly
The Elephant; however his own
website now claims that he sang Buggerlugs
Loves Sugarbunny (freshly written) [as seen on YouTube], Nelly The Elephant
and The Girl From Ipanema
before joining The Fivepenny Piece for a rendition
of Big Jim. |
25th
May 1979
Friday 21:00-21:30
BBC2 |
The
Fivepenny Piece Show episode 4
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Last of a series of four programmes featuring
The Fivepenny Piece, with a different
guest artist each week. This
week's guest artist was Bristolian folk singer/comedian
Fred Wedlock. |
14 Sep 1980
repeated on BBC 2, at 2.10pm on 29 July 1981 |
A
Musical Railway Celebration
Produced by Barry Bevins.
Musical Arranger: Pete Lingwood
A celebration
of the 150th anniversary of the first steam
hauled passenger service in the world, between
Manchester and Liverpool, with music and some
history as the train travels along the 32 miles
of track to Liverpool.
Synopsis: "A little over 150 years ago, on 15 September 1830, a single gunshot sent eight trains off on a 30-mile journey from Liverpool to Manchester. This was opening day for the world's first passenger rail service.
Popular group
Fivepenny Piece joined autumn celebrations at the oldest surviving passenger railway station - the Manchester Terminus of Stephenson's Great Railway Experiment.
Colin Welland tells the story and Fivepenny Piece sing the songs to celebrate The Birth of the Railway Age."
Fivepenny
Piece credited with 'music performance' and
'music arrangement'. Not sure if this was a live
performance or just provision of the soundtrack. "Unofficial sixth member of the band", Phil Barlow was credited with 'drums' on the show. |