Grandstand (TV programme)

During the 1950s, sports coverage on television in the United Kingdom gradually expanded. The BBC regularly broadcast sports programmes with an outside studio team, occasionally from two or three separate locations. Production assistant Bryan Cowgill put forward a proposal for a programme lasting three hours; one hour dedicated to major events and two hours showing minor events. Outside Broadcast members held a meeting in April 1958, and Cowgill further detailed his plans taking timing and newer technical facilities into consideration. During the development of the programme, problems arose over the proposed schedule which would result in the programme ending at 4:45pm to allow the recreational programme Children's Hour to broadcast. Paul Fox insisted that the service was broadcast until 5:00pm to ensure a proper results service.[1]

Three weeks before the debut of the programme, sports broadcaster Peter Dimmock favoured naming the show Out and About! with Fox persuading Dimmock to agree on a new name, which was Grandstand. Grandstand launched on 11 October 1958 from Lime Grove Studios with Dimmock as the presenter. Dimmock presented the first two editions and three weeks later, he was replaced by sports commentator David Coleman.[2] In the autumn of 1959, Grandstand was extended by an extra 15 minutes and would finish at 5:00pm every Saturday.[1] According to Richard Haynes in BBC Sport in Black and White, the 1960s saw the Grandstand name "become synonymous with the BBC's coverage of sport" and it "became a trusted vehicle for British viewers to access a variety of sports."[3]

The show was one of the most recognisable on British television, dominating Saturday afternoons on the BBC's main channel and covering nearly every major sporting event in Britain such as the FA Cup Final, Wimbledon, the Grand National and the University Boat Race, as well as major international events like the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and the FIFA World Cup. A Sunday edition, simply named Sunday Grandstand, launched in 1981 and ran on BBC Two. Until 1997, the Sunday edition was only broadcast during the summer months, but from February 1998 Sunday Grandstand aired all year round, incorporating the Ski Sunday and Rugby Special programmes. Grandstand was not shown on 20 May 2000 as no major sporting events broadcast by the BBC were taking place.[4] Also Grandstand did not broadcast when a major national event took place or if Christmas or New Year's Day fell on a Saturday.

From the programme's launch until the lifting of restrictions on broadcasting hours by the Postmaster General in 1972, sports coverage was one of the few programming areas which was exempt from the broadcasting hours restrictions. Originally sporting coverage and outside broadcasts were provided with a separate quota of broadcasting hours per year by the Postmaster General. By the mid 1960s this amounted to 350 hours per year. This meant Grandstand was a key part of the BBC's Saturday afternoon schedules, as the five or so hours the programme was on the air did not count to the overall 50 hour a week restriction on normal broadcasting hours.

Beginning in the early 1980s, a lunchtime news summary provided by BBC News was included in the broadcast, functioning as a sort of programme break between Football Focus and the start of that week's live events. Moira Stuart was a frequent anchor of these summaries.

In October 2001, the head of BBC Sports and Programming Pat Younge announced plans to revamp Grandstand by placing emphasis on showing one particular sport rather than switching back to another every few minutes.[5]

In its final few years, the show was rarely presented from a studio and as such there was no longer a main presenter. The show tended to be broadcast from wherever the main event of the day was taking place. The host would be associated with that feature; for example, Hazel Irvine would host snooker, Sue Barker for tennis, Clare Balding for racing or rugby league, and John Inverdale for rugby union.

The final Saturday edition of Grandstand was broadcast on 27 January 2007, and the last edition of all after 48 years was broadcast the following day, 28 January 2007, a short tribute to the history of the show forming its final feature. Sport still features prominently on the BBC's programme schedules on Saturday afternoon as well as on BBC Red Button, the interactive service available on digital television; Final Score is still shown at the end of the Premier League football games played on Saturday afternoon.[10]

Other occasional hosts were Ronald Allison, Clare Balding, Sue Barker, Barry Davies, Dougie Donnelly, Harry Carpenter, Harry Gration, Tony Gubba, David Icke, John Inverdale, Hazel Irvine, Gary Lineker, Helen Rollason, Ray Stubbs, David Vine, Alan Weeks and Bob Wilson.

The original theme was "News Scoop" by Len Stevens, which was used until 6 November 1971. From 13 November 1971 to 11 October 1975, another tune, composed by Barry Stoller who also composed the Match of the Day theme, was used. The programme's longest running and best known theme, composed for the programme by Keith Mansfield, was first heard at the end of the 11 October 1975 edition (the 1000th edition of Grandstand) and remained until the end of the programme's existence.

• Foinavon winning the 1967 Grand National at odds of 100/1 following a 23rd fence pile up in which every other horse fell or was remounted – the fence was subsequently named in Foinavon's honour.
• Golfer Tony Jacklin hitting the first live televised hole in one in Britain during the Dunlop Masters on 16 September 1967.[11]
• Gareth Edwards scoring one of the most memorable tries in history, in the Barbarians v All Blacks rugby union match at Cardiff Arms Park on 27 January 1973.
• The first known streaker at a major sporting event during an England v France Rugby Union match at Twickenham on 20 April 1974.
• Cambridge sinking in the 1978 University Boat Race and again in 1984, after colliding with a stationary barge.[12][13]
• A fight breaking out on air between staff in the newsroom behind presenter Des Lynam on 1 April 1989. This was later revealed to be an April Fool's Day joke.[14]
• The Hillsborough football ground disaster on 15 April 1989.
• The Grand National on 3 April 1993 being declared void after two false starts – 30 horses ran the race when their jockeys mistakenly assumed the course officials waving red flags were protesters.
• Roland Ratzenberger & Ayrton Senna's fatal accidents during the San Marino Grand Prix on 30 April & 1 May 1994 (Sunday Grandstand).
• Jockey Frankie Dettori winning all seven races on British Champions' Day at Ascot on 28 September 1996.[15]
• The evacuation of Aintree Racecourse on 5 April 1997 due to an IRA bomb threat that caused the cancellation of the Grand National (the race took place two days later).
• The 2006 Grand National would be the final year it was covered by Grandstand - 47 years.

• Wide World of Sports
• Broadcasting of sports events
• Colemanballs
• World of Sport

• Grandstand at IMDb