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Madonna on Saturday Morning UK KIDS TV 1984


Jamesy

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Can't believe I am only finding out about this 30 years later - but it seems Madonna appeared on a UK live kids TV show in 1984.

"The Saturday Show" - aired on ITV in 1983 and 1984 and was hosted by Tommy Boyd and Isla St. Claire - and this set of photos on the "Rex Features" agency website are credited as being taken on Saturday March 3rd 1984.

The show aired live from Birmingham's "Central TV" studios and so this would also make it Madonna's first trip to that English city (previously it was presumed her first visit there was on the MDNA Tour in 2012!).

Interviewer Tommy Boyd has mentioned his encounter with Madonna a few times later in his career - mentioning that he and Madonna also went out to McDonalds while she was there (!?!?!?).

Now all we have to do is FIND this damned TV appearance.

http://www.rexfeatures.com/set/4121439

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You're not alone there! It started with a pic we all thought was fake, then someone posted a link & OMG!

So if anyone has a business, feel free to register with the site & download the pics for us :)

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I have been trying to find out more about this but it's not proving easy!

I remember Saturday morning kids TV in the UK clearly - was not aware of Madonna at all in early 1984 (wasn't a fan - too young - not even really into pop music) so even if I had seen this I would have no memory of it - but what I remember is that pretty much no-one watched ITV on Saturday mornings.

BBC had the lion's share of the audience through the 80s with "Saturday Superstore" and its successors - especially after ITV cancelled "Tiswas" in 1982.

Also many ITV regions opted out of showing this at all - so it would have had pretty small viewing figures.

What concerns me most is the possibility that this Madonna interview does not exist in any TV archives. Many live TV shows were never recorded by the channels and certainly not archived. Even the BBC don't have lots of their Saturday morning live shows from the 80s and 90s.

Can't even find out where the hell Tommy Boyd is now - seems he was working in radio (including for the BBC) until a few years ago.

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I remember he did an interview on some UK show, he talked about having lunch with Madonna. He actually dissed her saying she didn't have much to say to him during lunch and that she was boring during lunch. Tommy dude, maybe it was you that was boring.

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Shockingly beautiful that day.

I'd love to have been a wee bit older in 1984 to know if I'd have been struck by her if I had seen this.

I got hooked in 1986 and it was actually seeing the Live To Tell video that floored me more than anything. I couldn't get the look of her face out of my head.

There's no-one in pop these days with anywhere near that kind of beauty.

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Shockingly beautiful that day.

I'd love to have been a wee bit older in 1984 to know if I'd have been struck by her if I had seen this.

I got hooked in 1986 and it was actually seeing the Live To Tell video that floored me more than anything. I couldn't get the look of her face out of my head.

There's no-one in pop these days with anywhere near that kind of beauty.

No one even close! They are too concerned with being "pretty" now and it's just boring. Madonna at this time was pretty but had "grit" something the "stars" of today sorely lack.

I didnt get hooked until 1990 but it was this look I became obsessed with. I can remember pausing the LAV video on the part toward the beginning where it just shows the close up of her face for a few seconds. I would just stare at that....lol. Such a unique beauty and in these pics she looks even more gorgeous. Thank you for posting! It's always a treat when completely unknown things from times (we thought) we knew EVERYTHING about come up. Hopefully some footage will follow in the not too distant future. :)

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Shockingly beautiful that day.

I'd love to have been a wee bit older in 1984 to know if I'd have been struck by her if I had seen this.

I got hooked in 1986 and it was actually seeing the Live To Tell video that floored me more than anything. I couldn't get the look of her face out of my head.

There's no-one in pop these days with anywhere near that kind of beauty.

Jamesy, great find. You are always coming up with the goods on your madonna.tv page.

Agree about her impact with her looks as well as her music. She has the most beautiful and unique face. I always notice that when people watch Madonna's video clips, they always comment on just how beautiful she really is.

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Guest Pud Whacker

Can't believe I am only finding out about this 30 years later - but it seems Madonna appeared on a UK live kids TV show in 1984.

"The Saturday Show" - aired on ITV in 1983 and 1984 and was hosted by Tommy Boyd and Isla St. Claire - and this set of photos on the "Rex Features" agency website are credited as being taken on Saturday March 3rd 1984.

The show aired live from Birmingham's "Central TV" studios and so this would also make it Madonna's first trip to that English city (previously it was presumed her first visit there was on the MDNA Tour in 2012!).

Interviewer Tommy Boyd has mentioned his encounter with Madonna a few times later in his career - mentioning that he and Madonna also went out to McDonalds while she was there (!?!?!?).

Now all we have to do is FIND this damned TV appearance.

http://www.rexfeatures.com/set/4121439

15x388.jpg

29m6u8h.jpg

21doprd.jpg

:clap: :clap: :clap:

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A fan called Michael Lopez found another interesting tidbit and posted it on my Facebook page today.

It's a comment from the producer of the show written on a forum in 2007:

"She was interviewed by Tommy Boyd in our 'In2View' pop chat segment. It was her first UK TV appearance (plugging her video) but she wasn't actually performing - which I guess she did on The Tube. It was a live transmission and we'd forgotten to specify that blue jeans wouldn't work against our blue chromakey background so there were technical issues that our engineers were grappling with during the sequence. Ace music researcher Garry Rice fixed us the up with this 'breaking act' and the studio director was either Bob Cousins or Mike Holgate. My memory ain't that good! I produced it - that much I do remember."

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It's amazing to me how relatively few of these early TV appearances are out there, particularly European ones. 82-84 was maybe the most TV promo M ever did, and so much of what we have is either incomplete, poor quality, or practically unseen like this one.

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Like Jamesy said - ITV/Central would have probably wiped the tapes (which was standard practice then I believe), which is why we haven't seen even a few seconds of this appearance pop up on a clip show or something over the years.

The interviewer Tommy Boyd later revealed that he took her to McDonalds but I can't seem to find anything else about this appearance.

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I LOVE IT - this is awesome...yes, wish we could find the video. Never saw that sweater outside of the photoshoot, she looked beautiful too, natch!

Can't believe I am only finding out about this 30 years later - but it seems Madonna appeared on a UK live kids TV show in 1984.

"The Saturday Show" - aired on ITV in 1983 and 1984 and was hosted by Tommy Boyd and Isla St. Claire - and this set of photos on the "Rex Features" agency website are credited as being taken on Saturday March 3rd 1984.

The show aired live from Birmingham's "Central TV" studios and so this would also make it Madonna's first trip to that English city (previously it was presumed her first visit there was on the MDNA Tour in 2012!).

Interviewer Tommy Boyd has mentioned his encounter with Madonna a few times later in his career - mentioning that he and Madonna also went out to McDonalds while she was there (!?!?!?).

Now all we have to do is FIND this damned TV appearance.

http://www.rexfeatures.com/set/4121439

15x388.jpg

29m6u8h.jpg

21doprd.jpg

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MIND BLOWN. Those of us of a certain age grew up watching these Saturday morning trashfests with *insert 80s popstar here* guesting each week. Never, ever did I think Madonna had done one, and such an obscure show as well! It's almost certainly wiped/not even taped. ITV would have utilised the footage for sure over the years. Oh and how utterly fed up (yet fabulously gorgeous) does she look?



21doprd.jpg

I fucking love this. It's like a movie still or something!

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We have got to get this show !!! Damn

God how I'd love to have HQ full length videos of all her band performances (even pre Barbone) and all her 1982/1983/1984 track dates, including of course Roxy and Uncle Sam. HQ and the entire thing, it would be, it would be so nice. I know it's asking too much when we are not even granted access to a full VT recording in HQ nor a BAT/RIT dvd

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Am loving this news! Why O why choose ITV over BBC Saturday TV - so many more people would of seen this or possibly videoed this had it been on the BBC, somebody out there must have a copy in an old VHS collection - we need to get hunting

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Furthermore if speculation is correct then it was pre recorded in Jan 84 during her UK promo visit and then shown in March for Lucky Star promotion! So it must be archived somewhere at ITV Central

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She spent a lot of time in England from early 83-84 by her own admission. Her first interviews with the music papers were from March 83. Everybody (and Angel) were NME singles of the week. She hung out with Boy George, hence their feud when he became a superstar before her.

She supported The Smiths (who have many children's TV appearances, oddly for such an adult band) at Danceteria New Years Eve.

There's also the legendary Camden Palace showcase gig with live vocals. It's embarrassing that she was the only artist to mime in the history of The Tube.

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Am loving this news! Why O why choose ITV over BBC Saturday TV - so many more people would of seen this or possibly videoed this had it been on the BBC, somebody out there must have a copy in an old VHS collection - we need to get hunting

Agreed!

But I think it's safe to assume her people likely fought tooth and nail to get her on the BBC "Saturday Superstore" or whatever at the time.

This ITV show was the consolation prize for getting your music promoted, not even aired in every region - but it was the best they could get at the time given her status as a "new act"!

Also agree that it seems VERY UNLIKELY that this exists in official TV archives. Definitely clips would have been used here and there in all kinds of shows since that time if it did!

However - what I do know - is that these things usually have a habit of turning up. Often in the unlikeliest of places and when we least expect.

Some people did have VCRs in 1984 and someone will have taped this show for some other reason back then - and they'll find it and we will see it sometime. That's me being positive! :-)

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TV archiving quite fascinates me. Even today the BBC officially state that they DO NOT archive most of their live News Channel output! If you get interviewed live at the scene of a minor incident or with regards something of little importance - they say they won't have it in their archives!

I am always on the hunt for old VHS tapes that Madonna fans made - particularly in the 80s. And it's remarkable some of the things I keep finding!!

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Very interesting what you are saying about the tapes Jamesy. I have to dig out old beta tapes ( how embarrassing ) of Countdown that I used to make and MTV Australia when it was new and Richard Wilkins was on it. So much Madonna stuff was on those shows. I still want to see if anyone has the phone call Molly made to Madonna when he let her know Like a Virgin had gone number 1 and she was so excited on the phone with him. I remember it as I was such a huge fan. When you think of all the shows she would have been interviewed and performed on from so many countries in the world, so many hidden gems would show up.

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This topic has just reminded me...

Not related to TV archiving per se, but the BBC recently launched The Genome Project, where they've scanned every single issue of the Radio Times from the 1920s. A quick search for Madonna brings up some interesting stuff...

+ Apparently she was scheduled to present an Academy Award in 1987 and this was in the Radio Times that week so either it was a mistake or she was going to appear and then pulled out.

+ Then there's some interesting sounding Madonna-related documentaries that aired over the years on the BBC such as 'Brass Tracks: I Wanna Be Like Madonna' (1987, BBC Two), 'Madonna - An Appreciation by Paul Gambaccini' (1992, Radio 1), and 'That Thing' (2000, BBC Two - a documentary about Madonna's marriage that was directed by Guy Ritchie himself :laugh: WTF?). Surely the last one's a misprint?!

+ Plus look at her IMPACT during her 1991 peak - these are the listings for all the BBC shows she was discussed/featured on. :wow:

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This topic has just reminded me...

Not related to TV archiving per se, but the BBC recently launched The Genome Project, where they've scanned every single issue of the Radio Times from the 1920s. A quick search for Madonna brings up some interesting stuff...

+ Apparently she was scheduled to present an Academy Award in 1987 and this was in the Radio Times that week so either it was a mistake or she was going to appear and then pulled out.

Didn't know about that project! Brilliant!!

As for the 1987 Oscars - I've mentioned this before - always intrigued me...

I noticed that the BBC archives still list Madonna as a presenter at the 1987 Academy Awards - even though I know she wasn't there. Some online searching found a couple of USA newspaper reports at the time which say that Madonna was indeed scheduled to appear.

Fast forward to 2014 and I recently got my hands on an edition of "Entertainment Tonight" (US TV) from 1987 where their main headline piece was "the story behind Madonna and her Oscars appearance"!!!

According to them the Academy announced Madonna as a presenter in one of their official press releases for the awards in early 1987. Liz Rosenberg told ET that the Academy did this without Madonna's agreement and without confirmation that she could do it. They had to retract when Madonna said she couldn't schedule it in. And that's all there seems to be to it.

I found it fascinating that Madonna might have appeared that year. In March 1987 she had that lovely short dark hair that we can see in the "La Isla Bonita" video and she was like MEGA MEGA STAR. Would have been just incredible to have seen her on worldwide TV like that just a few months before all the Who's That Girl stuff!!

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Like Jamesy said - ITV/Central would have probably wiped the tapes (which was standard practice then I believe), which is why we haven't seen even a few seconds of this appearance pop up on a clip show or something over the years.

The interviewer Tommy Boyd later revealed that he took her to McDonalds but I can't seem to find anything else about this appearance.

It's usually stuff from up till the early 70s that's wiped, they started preserving the archives thereafter - all The Smiths kids TV shows are extant, someone must have this! Perhaps Record Collector could do it in their Goldmine feature.

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