Big Night Out

1 9 6 1 – 1 9 6 3 (UK)
54 x 30/50 minute episodes

This occasional Saturday night variety series from ABC was broadcast in the summer months from seaside theatres around the UK and featured a variety of stars from the various Summer Shows at holiday resorts around the country.

Hosts included Dickie Henderson, Vic Oliver and Paul Andrews accompanied by the Lionel Blair Dancers, The Show Maidens and Bob Sharples with The ABC Television Orchestra

Guests included Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd, Petula Clark, David Nixon, Matt Monro, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Frank Ifield, Dickie Valentine, Russ Conway, Susan Maughan, Bob Monkhouse, Hylda Baker, Adam Faith, Max Wall, Jimmy James, Vera Lynn, Alfred Marks, Bert Weedon, Craig Douglas, Saveen, Ted Ray, Kathy Kirby, The Dallas Boys, and Freddie Mills.

The Beatles appeared on the show on 7 September 1963 and then headlined on 29 February 1964 where they sang five songs.

Some of the theatres which hosted the show were the Orion Theatre, Cleveleys; the Garrick Theatre, Southport; the South Pier, Blackpool; the Spa Theatre, Bridlington; and the Alexandra Gardens Theatre, Weymouth.

When the show returned to the screen on 29 June 1963, Mike and Bernie Winters joined as resident hosts and the broadcasts now had a permanent home at the Didsbury Studio Centre in Manchester. The show moved to the Teddington Studios in Middlesex in 1964.

In July 1964 the show moved to Sunday night and morphed into the weekly show Blackpool Night Out – also hosted by Mike and Bernie and broadcast from the ABC Theatre in Blackpool.