Wow!

WOW! / The Noise

1996 (31st August - 14th December ITV)

with
Simeon Courtie
Sophie Aldred

WOW!

WOW! stood for "Watch Out Weekend!" In as much as it stood for anything.
Presented by ex-Corners and Doctor Who muppet Sophie Aldred and CBBC's Simeon Courtie.
Peter Cocks and Woody Taylor played two tea ladies who'd walk on and do some innuendo-based material, and also would linger behind the presenters when they were doing serious stuff and "pull faces and stuff".
There was also a puppet - Syd the Spider, voiced by Phil Cornwell.
"It ran for about 13 weeks and was crap!" says Keith Musselwhite.
Not so, counters Steve Williams. "Wow! was great, and, until SMTV, was the best thing ITV had done on Saturdays for ages."
He expands: "For the first time in ages, ITV were just doing a straightforward live Saturday show, with guests and kids and cartoons and games. They had some, er, interesting guests - like the Boo Radleys once, performing C'mon Kids (without the line 'f*ck the ones', obviously). By the end of the run it had just turned into Son Of Tiswas, with loads of dirty jokes and pie fights."
The second episode was partly broadcast live from the car park as there was a power cut at Maidstone Studios, so they just had to make it up as they went along - including showing the same Peter Andre video at least twice. "A cracking show, it was," says Steve.
Presenter Simeon Courtie, unsurprisingly, agrees: "It was of course the most inventive thing on ITV since Tiswas, and as word of mouth spread its ratings picked up. On show three (its first up against L&K with Zoe & Jamie) it won only 14% share against the BBCs 65%. Yet by Show 16 it won 35% against their 41%. We were going to smoke those old BBC fuddie duddies! Sadly the desision to axe all live programmes from Saturday mornings had already been taken way back in week 3 or 4 due to cost."
According to Sophie Aldred, "it was cancelled because LWT refused to run trailers for it, as they wanted their show Scratchy & Co to replace it (which it did)."
Or, according to Steve Williams, because "The Noise (at 11am) was doing really badly."
Simeon Courtie, though, tells Satkids that there was slightly more to it: "Sophie's LWT complaint, though valid, isn't really the full story. It was the year ITV won the F1 Grand Prix for '97 onwards and they outbid the BBC by TEN TIMES! The cash had to come from somewhere and the first places to get hit in a cash crisis are religion and kids. Scratchy & Co was pre-recorded in a studio provided FREE by Central (cos they wanted the slot) and cost just a few grand to make. Wow plus The Noise was costing 80K a week. So, sadly, it was all doomed from quite early on. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted, and as I always say to TV anoraks who ask about it's short life - it took SMTV till February to start beating L&K and as our ratings had increased week on week we can only assume that we would have done it too, had we continued beyond Christmas! At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!"
In October 1996, Sophie Aldred rushed straight from that morning's WOW! at the Maidstone studios, to a Doctor Who convention in nearby Ashford. I know, I was there, and my mate took that picture. You can read more about these hilarious goings-on at the SAD Magazine site (here).

The Noise

The Noise was a music-themed companion piece for WOW!, in the way that CD:UK is for SMTV Live!
It was presented by Andi Peters and filled in until The Chart Show at 12:30.
"The only semi-memorable edition was when the Spice Girls gatecrashed (it was 1996, after all)," says Jason Crawley.
Insider Barry Ryan disagrees: "The Noise was memorable for more than just the Spice slags. This was ground-breaking in that the music was really live - NO MIMING was our policy, and if they wouldn't perform live they weren't on. Also the bookings were extreme - we persuaded the Manics - who do not do Sat. am TV - to perform live and be interviewed."
Steve Williams, among others, thinks this isn't such a great claim to fame: "...Barry Ryan's perhaps crowing a bit too much about the Manics performing on the Noise, cos I distinctly remember them performing on Gimme 5 circa 1993. And The Noise was pointless anyway, cos it was immediately followed by The Chart Show."