Free preview screening of Citizen Khan in Birmingham

Registration is open for preview screening of Citizen Khan

Series 4 of Citizen Khan starts Friday 30th October 2015. Image Copyright: BBC

A preview screening of two episodes of BBC One’s award winning, primetime sitcom Citizen Khan is to take place in Birmingham city centre on Tuesday 27 October and the BBC is giving local audiences an opportunity to be part of the event.

Birmingham-born Adil Ray (Mr Khan) along with and co-stars Bhavna Limbachia (Alia Khan), Abdullah Afzal (Amjad Malik), Adlyn Ross (Naani) and Krupa Pattani (Shazia Malik) will be in town for the red carpet screening at Cineworld on Broad Street, and audiences will have the chance to join them for a night of comedy.

Details of how to register for tickets for the event are now live via the BBC Shows and Tours website: bbc.co.uk/showsandtours

Now in its fourth series, Citizen Khan is a sitcom set in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham. The show follows the trials and tribulations of larger-than-life self-appointed community leader Mr Khan and his family. The opening episode to be screened at the preview sees the return of comedy legend Peter Bowles (To The Manor Born) return to our screens.

Adil Ray, creator and lead actor in Citizen Khan, said he’s delighted that the screening will be taking place in his home town.

“I’m very much looking forward to celebrating the new series of Citizen Khan with the people of Birmingham. I owe so much to our great city so it’s only right that we share this moment together. Plus Mr Khan needs to shift a few DVDs. He’s currently flogging VHS copies of Crossroads if anyone’s interested?”

Joe Godwin, Director of BBC Birmingham says: “We’re really pleased to be holding the screening of Citizen Khan on its home turf, Birmingham.

“It’s fantastic to have a major BBC One peak time comedy set here and I look forward to watching our city on the big screen alongside our audiences.”

WPC 56 Series 3 Episode 1 Preview Screening

Having received a very kind invite from BBC Birmingham PR a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the preview screening of the first episode of series three of WPC 56 this afternoon at the new Everyman cinema in the Birmingham Mailbox and here is my report (no spoilers) on the event and the episode.

Everyman cinema

Birmingham’s latest cinema experience was hosting today’s event, which was organised by BBC Birmingham Public Relations. I’d seen pictures of the Everyman cinema in the press a few days ago and it looked very impressive and I have to say it didn’t disappoint. I was welcomed by BBC PR (Thanks Bryn George for the invite) and introduced to WPC 56 series producer Mike Hobson before being shown into the screening. I took a seat on one of the very comfortable double sofas, plumped up my cushion and tucked into the complimentary pizza that was waiting on the small round drinks table between the sofas. This was a great cinema experience, and one I’m sure to try again soon.

WPC 56 Series 3 Episode 1 – A Different Beat

The proceedings were kicked off with a short introduction from Joe Godwin, Director of the BBC Academy in Birmingham, who then handed over the introduction of the screening to series producer, Mike Hobson, who wasted no time at all in getting the episode started and we were about to be treated to 45 minutes of brilliant, edgy daytime police drama.

I won’t go into too much detail of the actual plot but I will share a couple of things of interest (no spoilers).

It’s been well documented that WPC Dawson (Jennie Jacques) would not be featured in series three and we would see the arrival of a new WPC (Taylor) played by, the Moseley born, Claudia Jessie so I was interested to see how this change of lead character was handled. The answer to my own query, was that it was done well and quickly.

After a quick recap from series two the opening credits subtly revealed the character change as the silhouetted outline of the WPC in the police line had taken on a new shape.

All open plot threads from series two were cleared up within the first few minutes, covering WPC Dawson’s absence, and we were soon introduced to WPC Taylor, who now wears the WPC 56 badge, and her police family.  The second new character, DI Harry Sawyer (Oliver Rix), was also pretty quick to appear on screen, and his character was soon established in the opening scenes. As the episode progresses we learn that DI Sawyer has a complex family background, that I’m sure will develop nicely over the five episode series.

New character introductions and series two housekeeping swiftly out the way we were then left to enjoy the rest of the risqué and gritty subject matter of the first episode, all done in a way that stays just about suitable for a daytime audience of course, although I’m sure some of the ‘Mary Whitehouse brigade’ will find some of the content a little too near the mark for a 2.15pm show, but then they should maybe find something else to watch if they are not happy.

By about halfway through I’d almost forgotten that there were new characters to get used to as they blended into the series so effortlessly it seemed like they had been there all along. WPC Taylor is much feistier than her predecessor Dawson and DI Sawyer is clearly a troubled man with an interesting personal back story. Both these new characters bring a new dimension to the show which I’m sure viewers will warm to very quickly.

The whole cast were superb, from screen newcomer Amy Shepherd, as beauty pageant contestant Helen Reilly, to established actor Brian Capron, as comedian and compare Clifford Starkey, but the standout performance for me was from Susannah Doyle, who played June Sawyer, in a role that was a complete change from the character she played in Drop The Dead Donkey back in the 90s.

There was also a welcome return of a well loved ‘character’, which Liam Jeavons told me afterwards, was the same one we were introduced to in series two, although I wasn’t convinced. If you saw series two you will spot, as I did, the brief reappearance and when I did I found a smile breaking out across my face, as I recalled the series two episode they first appeared in.

Location spotters will no doubt be delighted to see the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley playing yet another starring role in a TV drama as well as an appearance of Château Impney in Droitwich, famously the venue for the wedding reception of Meg & Hugh Mortimer in Crossroads way back in 1975 , and the return of familiar Brinford Station exterior in Margaret Street.

The end of the episode left us all wanting more of this great drama, but, as always, the only disadvantage of these sneak preview screenings is that we now have to wait nearly a week to see how the story progresses when episode two airs.

Cast and Crew Q&A

Following the episode screening we were introduced to new WPC, Claudia Jessie, series creator, Dominique Moloney and series producer, Mike Hobson and the host for the Q&A, BBC Midlands Today’s, Satnam Rana. The initial Q&A saw the cast and crew quizzed by Rana about the change of WPC, the locations used, and the risqué subjects covered, all of which were confidently answered by each guest in turn.

The questions were opened up to the audience and they asked further questions about locations, and story lines and also the use of the Birmingham accent, which Jessie answered brilliantly, giving her Nan the credit for her being able to drop back into a native Birmingham twang for the role.

Rana also revealed that BBC Midlands Today have a WPC 56 feature which they will air on Friday 6th March 2015, featuring a look behind the scenes of making the drama in Birmingham, so make sure you don’t miss that.

Claudia Jessie (WPC Annie Taylor) and Liam Jeavons (PC Tommy Perkins) pose for a quick photo after the screening.

I briefly chatted with both Liam Jeavons (PC Tommy Perkins) and Claudia Jessie (WPC Taylor) as well as writer and creator Dominique Moloney as everyone started to exit the plush new cinema. They spoke about the cast surprise at the subjects covered in the scripts; especially for episodes 4 and 5, the fun they have making the show and the friends they have made while working on it and way the introduction of the new characters was handled to avoid a repeat scenario of the very first episode introductions. They were all happy to chat and spend some time discussing the show and my blog updates, which they all seemed genuine appreciative of, which was really nice to hear.

You can see episode one of WPC 56 series three when it starts at 2.15pm on Monday 9th March 2015 and you can still catch up with Series One and Two on BBC iPlayer if you need a recap before next week.

Thanks to BBC Birmingham PR for the invite and thanks to all those I spoke to for being friendly and appreciative of my promotion for this great show.

If anyone is interested you can enter a free competition to run alongside the new series.
NB: The competition is not organised by the BBC or the programme writers and is not affiliated with the show and is just for fun.

Big Centre TV – More Guests on The David Hamilton Show

Having thoroughly enjoyed watching the first shows of The David Hamilton show being filmed a few weeks ago, I again made the short trip into Walsall to drop in on the latest recording session of the former Radio One DJ’s chat show.

Arriving at the studios just before the scheduled 1pm start I was shown straight into the studio as the recordings were about to start, however, a few minor technical issues with the microphones and cameras and an extended soundcheck from the houseband, The Parnells, meant that recording did not get started for a further hour, still, at least the studio felt a little warmer than the last visit and the audience numbers bettered the seven people that were there two weeks ago, but only just!

I was pleased to find the same friendly and relaxed atmosphere of a few weeks ago but this time with some improved general organisation around the studio floor as the crew were clearly settling into their new roles. It was a real shame that a small number of technical issues interrupted the proceedings, creating a few stuttering starts, resets and retakes, as this clearly took the edge off what would otherwise have been a more confident and assured production.  That said, the crew and production team worked tirelessly to resolve the issues and managed the get another two shows recorded and ready for editing.

There were a few familiar faces from the first shows on set today, including John Henshall, who was again capturing the proceedings on camera and using his years of experience to provide ad-hoc support to the younger members of the crew.

Show One 

David Hamilton appears to pray to the TV production Gods for an end to the initial technical problems.

Show host, David Hamilton, this week wearing a more conservative dark grey suit and pink tie, strode confidently onto the set to open the proceedings by introducing another medley of TV themes, again expertly played by The Parnells. Hamilton invited future TV viewers to send e-mails, tweets or post on Facebook the names of the themes, to addresses that will obviously appear on screen when the show goes out.

The first guest was auctioneer and valuer Mark Hannam, who also appears on the BBC2 show Flog It. Hannam, from Fieldings Auctioneers Ltd in Stourbridge, spoke about how his much younger self became interested in collectables and how he has built up his 25 years of experience in fine art and antiques. We also heard about how the internet has helped increase auction sales and how the online bidding process works for live auctions, where, as Hannam explained, the charisma and passion of the auctioneer alone can increase a selling price for an item.

Being a DJ, Hamilton soon highlighted Hannam’s specialism in music, of the mechanical kind, and they discussed the value of music boxes from Victorian days before chatting about the challenge and competition element of the Flog It show and how his involvement in the programme had come about. Finally we heard about his greatest and favourite find, an abandoned lead statue, and how he had used his vast experience to identify the makers, Bromsgrove Guild, as the same craftsmen that had made the cast iron gates of Buckingham Palace.

Stephanie de Sykes on The David Hamilton Show

The second guest was singer/songwriter Stephanie De Sykes, who had a huge UK hit with Born With A Smile On My Face in July 1974. The conversation naturally started with this number two hit single and its appearance in the ATV soap, Crossroads. The initial discussion points covered the reasons why the song failed to reach the top of the charts, including the obvious George McCrae hit Rock Your Baby, and Holly Brown, the Crossroads character played by de Sykes, that had performed the song in the soap. The character of Holly Brown reappeared again at the 1975 wedding of Meg and Hugh Mortimer when she performed the number 17 hit We’ll Find Our Day (in a sequence filmed at Chateau Impney in Droitwich) which de Sykes also recalled during the discussion. Both songs and a third track, It’s Been A Long, Long Day, also featured in the wedding episode were written by the TV theme tune king Simon May.

The conversation then moved onto song writing and the two Eurovision songs that de Sykes had co-written with her then partner Stuart Slater. The first song, The Bad Old Days by Co-Co (featuring future Eurovision winner Cheryl Baker), did not fair well in the 1978 contest and finished 11th of 20 songs, making it the worst performance from a UK entry at that time. Undeterred the song writing duo returned to the contest in 1980 with, Love Enough For Two by Prima Donna (featuring another future Crossroads singer, Kate Robbins). The song finished a respectable third in the contest won by Ireland’s Johnny Logan’s with What’s Another Year. 

Another talking point of local interest was the ATV start-up song Odyssey which de Sykes performed with backing group Rain. For those too young to remember the days when TV was not a 24 hour machine, it will come as a surprise to find that channels actually shut down for the evening before restarting again the following morning. The accompanying video clip for the channel start-up song was fondly recalled by de Sykes as showing off the best the Midlands region had to offer, mixing countryside and cityscapes during the four minute track.

I felt the interview ended on a slightly awkward note with Hamilton questioning de Sykes about her nine year relationship with TV star Angus Deayton. Fidgeting a little in her seat she seemed a little uncomfortable speaking about their bitter break up and the host did not press this line of enquiry that much further.

David Hamilton meets Andy Park AKA Mr Christmas

Guest three required a quick redressing of the set, so out came the crackers, tinsel and Christmas hats, which were all carefully placed to welcome Andy Park, the self-appointed Mr Christmas. Bouncing onto the set Park (or should I call him Christmas – I’m not sure) was full of energy and joined Hamilton on the set to perform a short boogie to the Christmas entrance music supplied by The Parnells. Dressed in a Christmas tie and hat and sporting a spring of mistletoe on his jacket lapel; Park was every inch the eccentric you’d expect from a man that has celebrated Christmas every single day since July 1993, and as the conversation progressed he confirmed this was the actual case.

The electrician explained how he has mince pies for breakfast and turkey for dinner before settling down to watch the Queen’s Christmas Day message, on tape obviously, but at 3pm prompt and of course with a tipple of sherry, every single day of the year. He explained that it started in July 1993 when he felt quite sad and decided to cheer himself up by getting out his Christmas decorations and cooking himself a Christmas dinner. It cheered him up so much that he’s now done it daily for nearly 23 years. He even writes himself Christmas cards and posts them through his own door, he has no other option as who else would be sending him Christmas cards in the middle of August?

He lovingly spoke about his pet turkey, who he has named Tinsel, quoted some ridiculously large numbers when talking about how many sprouts and mince pies he has eaten during his daily celebrations and detailed the response he got from Buckingham Place to his kind invite offering Her Majesty The Queen the use of  his home in Melksham, Wiltshire to record her annual Christmas message.

I must admit that whilst he was entertaining, mainly due to his quirky and cheery persona, I was struggling to find a connection that placed him on this particular show. Just as I was about to give up all hope of working it out, the missing link was finally revealed. It transpired that Hamilton, along with fellow DJ Mike Read and Slade guitarist Dave Hill, had visited Mr Christmas at his home to record a video to a novelty Christmas charity song under the name of the Shooting Stars. The 2009 song, My Christmas Card To You raised money for the Shooting Stars Children’s Hospice but failed to make the UK Top 40 charts.

The show ended as the final interview had begun, with Hamilton and Park jiving away as The Parnells played them out.

Show Two

David Hamilton awaits the start of Show Two

After a short break and a quick change of suit and tie, David Hamilton was back and introducing another Parnells medley of TV theme tunes, but this time they were all aimed at a younger audience. Amongst the many tunes played I did catch a familiar burst of the Roobarb and Custard theme, and again the viewers were invited to send in their own guesses to the shows themes that were included (So those that have read this in advance will now have a slight advantage).

The TV themes played were a link to the first guest of the second show, former television producer and director, Clive Doig.

Doig explained his TV career with the BBC started in the fifties and that by 1963 he’d work his way up to the role of vision mixer on a new show called Dr Who. No one knew back then that the show would be the huge success we know it for today but the nation quickly took to the sci-fi series and Doig was right there at its inception.

David Hamilton interviews Clive Doig

He explained that after that he’d progressed into the children TV section of the BBC and he directed the Vision On series with Tony Hart. He spoke about producing the shows The Deceivers and Eureka, both collaborations with Jeremy Beadle and spoke about how his friend was often misunderstood due to the ‘prank’ style shows where he made his name. He went on to explain his ‘repertory company’ approach to his TV shows and named a few of the regular actors and actresses he’d regularly worked with on a number of shows, one of which we would meet later in the show.

He described in detail the now legendary Beadle’s About alien spacecraft stunt, that he devised, was meticulously created and set up to fool the ‘victim’ but also carefully planned to protect and care for the ‘victim’ to ensure she was not affected by the scale of extraterrestrial events. Once the show aired, it made a farmer’s wife, Janet Elford, the talk of the nation after she had sung and offered a cup of tea to the alien life form that had emerged from the spacecraft that has crash landed on their land.

Former Bond Girl, Madeline Smith

As the final guest of the day shimmied seductively across the studio to join Hamilton, The Parnells belted out the James Bond theme and the audience were about to be find ourselves in the presence of a genuine, bona fide, Bond girl.

Madeline Smith had been cheerfully chatting to the other guests for much of the afternoon and had already shown that she was a charming and cheerful lady with an interest and plenty of time for everyone she enthusiastically chatted with.

Her joyful charm continued once she sat in the blue chair and she openly discussed her childhood, accompanied with pictures provided by John Hensall and how she started off in acting.

Leaving the obvious Bond discussion for later, Hamilton started with questions about Smith’s early career in Hammer Horror, Carry On Matron and Frankie Howerd. I’m not sure how many clips will be aired on the TV edited version of the interview but in the studio we got to see Smith’s brief scene in Carry On Matron, with Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor (Smith plays Mrs Pullitt in a scene that starts around eight minutes into film) as well as a brief excerpt from the film short The Passionate Pilgrim, Eric Morecambe’s last screen appearance before his death in 1984. We also heard about the shows that Smith had worked on as part of Doig’s repertory company, making a nice and easy link to the previous guest for this particular show.

The conversation moved onto the Two Ronnies serial, Hampton Wick, which Smith revealed was written by Ronnie Barker and not the credited G. Wiley and A Gentleman, and she seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed working with Messrs Barker and Corbett.  A brief section was recorded about the 1972 Lionel Jeffries film, The Amazing Mr Blunden, which starred Diana Dors, but at the time of recording it was unclear if clearance would be obtained to show the clip so that may be cut from the TV show by the time it airs.

Finally we heard about that famous scene from Live And Let Die and the secret of the ‘magnetic watch’ and the zipper on that blue dress, and the three days spent in bed with Roger Moore. I was disappointed that, given the local appeal, the 1974, Birmingham based, Cliff Richard movie Take Me High was not discussed; in which Smith played Cliff’s girlfriend, Vicki. I did speak to Madeline about it briefly afterwards and she told me she had to ‘always tell Cliff off’ during their scenes together, but didn’t elaborate on the exact reasons why.

Madeline Smith was the perfect guest to finish a great days entertainment with and she quite happily stayed around to signed autographs and pose for pictures with the audience. I shall be interested to see how these two shows have been edited when broadcast as all guests had interesting tales to tell but unfortunately some of it will need to be cut to keep within the time allowed, which is a real shame.

Former Bond Girl Madeline Smith happily poses for a photo with me after the show, kindly taken by John Henshall.

 

Finally, I got my own souvenir of the day, thanks to John Henshall who took this picture for me.

The David Hamilton Show will air at 8pm on Tuesday evenings, starting from 3rd March of Big Centre TV, on Freeview channel 8.

The David Hamilton Show – New Recording Date

The new Birmingham and Black Country TV channel, Big Centre TV, has announced the next dates for the recording of The David Hamilton Show in their Walsall studios.  The next shows are being filmed on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd February 2015 at The Goldmine Centre, 14a Lower Hall Lane, Walsall WS1 1RL. Doors open at 1pm, there are no tickets required and it’s free entry.

It’s another eclectic line-up of guests with a wealth of great stories to share about their long careers in entertainment so it should be another interesting set of shows. Confirmed guests for either of these forthcoming recordings include the following;

PJ Proby

The 76 year old American born singer and actor, who now resides in Evesham, Worcestershire, has been in the music business for over 50 years. PJ Proby notched up four UK top ten hits in the mid-1960s with songs such as Hold Me, Maria and Somewhere. He has toured with The Searchers, The Troggs and The Who and was friends with The Beatles, Tom Jones and Elvis Presley.

His career is, however, not short of controversy either. Following his infamous trouser splitting shows in 1965, he was banned by BBC TV and ABC Theatres. He filed for bankruptcy in 1968 having claimed to have spent his fortune on cars, jets, yachts, women and alcohol. In the early 1970s he spent three months in jail for an attempted shooting and in 1978 was fined for attacking his secretary with an axe. When his music career waned he supported himself on social security, emptying dustbins, sweeping up in Tescos, and mucking out stables and picking up the odd royalty cheque. Having suffered four heart attacks on 1992, he’s now put his heavy drinking days behind him and has recently been back on the road on the Sixties Gold tour with The Searchers and Gerry and The Pacemakers.

Jess Conrad OBE

The 79 year old actor and singer made his name on ‘Oh Boy’ before being signed to Decca records. He was voted England’s Most Popular Male Singer in 1961 in the NME poll and has toured with rock ‘n’ roll greats such as, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Billy Fury.

In the 1970s and 80s he made the transition from pop star to stage musicals and appeared in the shows Godspell and Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. He has appeared on a number of shows with comedian Jim Davidson and has also joined him on tour in Sinderella as well as appearing in many other regular pantomimes.

His extensive TV & Film career includes roles in Crossroads and Are You Being Served as well as a cameo in The Sex Pistols movie The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. He was awarded an OBE in 2011 for his charity work

Tony Christie

Born in South Yorkshire, 71 year old, Tony Christie is now a resident of Lichfield in Staffordshire.  His 1970s hits included I Did What I Did For Maria, Is This The Way To Amarillo and the theme from the ATV series The Protectors, Avenue and Alleyways.

While his UK hits were mainly confined to the early 1970s, he has sold over 10 million albums worldwide, with huge success in Germany and Europe.  In 1976 he lost out to The Brotherhood of Man in a bid to represent the UK in that year’s Eurovision Song Content, which they went on to win.

He returned to the charts in March 2005 with a re-release of ‘Amarillo’ which was selected as the Comic Relief single following it’s use in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights TV show. Peter Kay was credited on the track but didn’t sing on the release, he did however appear in the songs video. The song topped the UK charts for seven weeks, giving him the biggest hit of his career to date.

In 2011 Tony Christie celebrated 50 years in the music business with a special concert in his adopted hometown of Lichfield.

Jane Rossington

Derby born Jane Rossington, now aged 71, should need no introduction to people of a certain age, especially those from Birmingham. As the character Jill Richardson she famously spoke the opening lines “Crossroads Motel, good evening, Yes, we do, For which night?” and a new TV series was launched. She played the same troubled character for 24 years (albeit under different surnames of Chance and Harvey) which made her a household name and she not only opened the first episode but also spoke the very last words as Crossroads closed it’s doors in 1988.

She was the subject of the final Eamonn Andrews This Is Your Life filmed in 1987 in an episode codenamed Oak, a cloaked reference to the Crossroads series that made her name.

Jane Rossington has been the main patron of the Crossroads Appreciation Society since 1988.

Madeline Smith

65 year old Madeline Smith starred in three Hammer Horror movies in the 1970s with stars such as, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Ingrid Pitt, but also ventured into bawdy comedy with roles in the movies Up Pompeii, Up The Front and Carry On Matron.

Having had a role in the 1971 TV series The Persuaders, with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, she was recommended, by Moore, for a role in the 1973 James Bond movie Live and Let Die where she was, Miss Caruso, the Italian girl in the blue dress who had her zip undone by Bond’s magnetic watch. The following year saw her play Vicki in Cliff Richard’s musical movie Take Me High which was filmed and set in Birmingham.

She appeared in a large number of TV shows in 70s and 80s as well as having a successful stage career.

In the 1980s she featured in the Clive Doig (see next guest) and Jeremy Beadle created show Eureka! before disappearing from TV screens for nearly 15 years. She returned with a brief appearance in TV series Dark Knight in 2000 only to immediately take another extended TV break for a further 11 years. She last seen on our TV screens in a 2011 episode of the BBC Birmingham show Doctors.

Clive Doig

You may know the name but can’t quite place why or where from. Clive Doig began his BBC career working as a vision mixer on the William Hartnell era Doctor Who show in the sixties. He worked his way up through the BBC ranks and was behind shows such as Vision On, Jigsaw, We Are The Champions and Wizbit.

He worked on a number of different shows with the same presenters or actors, including Jeremy Beadle, Sylvester McCoy and Mark Speight. Clive was also behind some successful game shows, including Puzzle Trail, Lucky Numbers, Turnabout and Beat The Teacher.

Here is a BBC video explaining the art of vision mixing on You Tube

The Big Centre TV channel launches on 28th February 2015 on Freeview Channel 8.