By 1985, the BBC decided that music videos were such a good idea that it created a strange programme called The Golden Oldie Picture Show in which hairy Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis introduced new films which had been specially made to accompany famous pop hits from the pre-video years gone by.
Various film directors were commissioned to commit to film the images conjured up for them by songs from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. The series was produced at the BBCs Pebble Mill studio in Birmingham.
In the first series, 36 hits were presented over six weeks, including Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat by The Avons, Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Brian Hyland, Knights in White Satin by The Moody Blues, You Really Got Me by The Kinks, The Beatles‘ Strawberry Fields Forever and Little Red Rooster by The Rolling Stones.
The Amen Corner song, Bend Me Shape Me, was given special treatment by the former “Mr Puniverse” and the UK’s leading female bodybuilder, Caroline Cheshire.
Episodes originally aired on BBC1 at 7.45 pm on Wednesday evenings, debuting on 9 January 1985. The series returned in November 1986 on Monday nights. The final series returned in February 1988, by which time the concept was wearing a little thin.
The theme tune to the series was a version of the Sandy Nelson song Let There Be Drums played by The Nicki North Band.
