Thank Your Lucky Stars (TV series)

Thank Your Lucky Stars
Genre	Music Variety
Presented by	Keith Fordyce Brian Matthew Jim Dale
Judges	Janice Nicholls, Jimmy Savile, Pete Murray, Alan Dell, Sam Costa, Barry Alldis, Kent Walton, Jimmy Young, Don Moss
Country of origin	UK
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	250
Production
Producer(s)	Phillip Jones
Production company(s)	ABC Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	1961 – 1966

Thank Your Lucky Stars was a British television pop music show made by ABC Television, and broadcast on ITV from 1961 to 1966. Of all the show's presenters, Brian Matthew is perhaps the best remembered. He is still broadcasting on radio for the BBC (December 2015). Many of the top bands performed on it, and for millions of British teenagers it was essential viewing. As well as featuring British artists, it often included American guest stars.

It would appear from the surviving footage that the bands mimed their latest 45. Occasionally a band was allowed to do two numbers (possibly the A-side and B-side sides of the latest single), and if you were of a higher status such as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones they would play four numbers.

A typical 1961 programme listing included The Dale Sisters, Adam Faith, John Leyton, The Brook Brothers, Geoff Goddard and Dion.

Audience participation was a strong feature of Thank Your Lucky Stars, and the Spin-a-Disc section, where a guest DJ and three teenagers reviewed three singles, is a very well remembered feature of the show. Generally American singles were reviewed. It was on this section that Janice Nicholls appeared. She was a former office clerk from the English Midlands who became famous for the catchphrase "Oi'll give it foive" which she said with a strong Black Country accent. After she was dropped from the show she trained as a chiropodist and ran a practice in Hednesford in Staffordshire. Billy Butler was another reviewer.

The Beatles second national television performance was on the programme, the first being on Tuesday Rendezvous on 4 December 1962. The first theme song was by Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers and later on "Lunar Walk" by Johnny Hawksworth was used.

The show bowed out on 25 June 1966, after two thousand artists had appeared on it. One of the main reasons was the power of the Musicians' Union in the 1960s and being a largely mimed show, TYLS was a prime target.

Cultural references

The Generation X song "Ready Steady Go!" referenced this show in its lyric: "I'm not in love with Juke Box Jury/I'm not in love with Thank Your Lucky Stars".

External links

• Televisionheaven.co.uk
• Thank Your Lucky Stars on Nostalgia Central
• Thank Your Lucky Stars (1961) at IMDb