Alfred J Kipper
Saturday 13th October 2012 3:37pm [Edited]
Aldershot
8,312 posts
Quote: Pingl @ October 13 2012, 3:23 PM BST
I think that is a fair comment, but the way Thames treated him was despicable.
I don't know if it was THAT bad overall. They seemed to panic at the eleventh hour after a new head had arrived and many other shows on other channels like Miss World, the TBAWMS and Russ Abbot's Madhouse had already gone. Those were nervous days for TV channels worrying about their image in a changing world.
And they'd employed him right through the 70s IIRC. The BBC would have ditched him long before, I reckon. He got paid more at ITV, the show got him the US syndication rights which gave him a new lease of life and lots more money. It never killed him off, he had a great late comeback right up till he died.
I think the thing that made it seem harsh treatment was the 'lad himself' buying a flat opposite the studios and not seeing that his time was up. The council preserved that huge tree in Teddington he chased Hill's Angels round. The hundreds of new flats had to be built around it.