Switch

1 9 8 3 (UK)
24 x 60 minute episodes

The popular music show The Tube could not run for 52 weeks a year, so Channel 4 offered other music show producers the opportunity to fill the gaps when the programme took a break.

The first spring/summer vacation was taken over by a live show called Switch, debuting on Friday 25 March 1983.

It was a very youthful set-up presented by TV newcomer and ex-drama teacher Yvonne French (aged 21) and actor Graham Fletcher-Cook (19), with three music editors – Pedro Romhanyi (18), Pete Edge (21) and Alan Marke (24) – choosing the artists.

The Tube had raced off the blocks by having Paul Weller exclusively announce the demise of The Jam in the first show. Switch clearly hoped for a similar bounce by booking Weller for the first live television appearance of his new band, the Style Council.

Three acts (usually two well-known and one up-and-coming) performed live each week from CTVC’s Watford studios, accompanied by music videos and a 10-minute feature from various cities around the country presented by Mark Issue, a 23-year-old independent magazine editor/publisher from Liverpool who had also worked as a performance artist.

Artists who appeared live in the studio included The Style Council, Fun Boy Three, The Questions, Joboxers, Alison Moyet, Orange Juice, Roman Holiday, The Undertones, Spandau Ballet, UB40, The Beat, Aztec Camera, The B-52s, Mari Wilson, Altered Images, The Bluebells, Nick Heywood, Shalamar, New Edition, The Thompson Twins, Bananarama, Soft Cell, Elvis Costello, Animal Nightlife, Yello, Cabaret Voltaire, The Lotus Eaters, Big Country, Paul Young, The The, Stray Cats, and Special AKA.

The final episode aired on Friday 2 September.

Presenters
Yvonne French
Graham Fletcher-Cook
Mark Issue

Video