When I was a kid, my mum allowed me to stay up and watch That's Life on Sunday nights. It was the strangest show on TV, an uncomfortable mix between social justice campaigning and vegetables shaped like penises. Although I was young, I felt a little better when Cyril Fletcher retired and took his awful innuendos with him - the blokes who replaced him were a little less cringe. I suspect I enjoyed staying up late more than I actually enjoyed watching That's Life.
I won't have a word said against Esther Rantzen though. I know she was the butt of many a comedy routine, but she did a lot of good, or tried to anyway. She didn't always succeed, but it's the trying that matters.
Here are some songs in tribute...
Whispering grass, don't tell Therese
Sister Rantzen or Her Majesty's police
I turned on a T.V. station and
Lip-read with the sound turned down
It was Pro-Celeb mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
With Esther Rantzen
Playing the one who's drowned
RIP Esther. She has left her mark.
ReplyDeleteIt was an odd show but back then such prime time shows got 20 million viewers. Programme makers can only dream of such numbers nowadays. She wore those long floaty evening dresses but it was a consumer show with stints from dogs that could say sausages and likeable grannies taste-testing on the streets. Throw in a few humorous songs and poems and it was a hit. Try pitching that nowadays.
Her last big campaign didn't come to pass in time for her but I have a feeling it will eventually happen (if the robots don't do the job first!).
A Friday treat - hearing Frank singing That's Life. Brilliant.