This short-lived BBC music show aired on Saturday nights from January to March 1959.
Introduced and hosted by radio announcer Gary Marshall, the show replaced the ageing Six-Five Special and was a direct attempt to compete for the teenage demographic against ITV’s massively popular rival music show, Oh Boy!.
The resident house band (Bob Miller and the Millermen) accompanied singers and performers such as Susan Jones, Barry Barnett, Barbara Young, and the vocal group The Polkadots.
Unfortunately, the show lacked the raw rock ‘n’ roll energy of Oh Boy!, which featured big stars like Cliff Richard and Marty Wilde. Conceding defeat, the BBC cancelled Dig This! after only a couple of months.
In April 1959, they replaced it with a new music show called Drumbeat, deliberately moving the time slot to 6:30 PM so it would air after ITV’s show rather than competing with it head-to-head.
