Ready Steady Go! (or RSG!) was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light entertainment programme different from the low-brow style of light entertainment transmitted by ATV. The programme was produced without scenery or costumes and with a minimum of choreography and make-up. Allan recruited a fellow journalist, Francis Hitching, as producer. Hitching became a major figure in light entertainment in the 1960s. Robert Fleming was the first director, followed by the documentary director Rollo Gamble, then Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Daphne Shadwell and Peter Croft.

The programme was produced by Associated-Rediffusion, the weekday ITV contractor for London, called Rediffusion-London after 1964. The live show was eventually networked nationally. The show gained its highest ratings on 20 March 1964 when it featured the Beatles being interviewed and performing "It Won't Be Long", "You Can't Do That" and "Can't Buy Me Love" – the last being a hit at the time.

In the 1980s Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five acquired the rights to the 1960s UK music show and bought the rights to the surviving recordings.

On 10 January 2018, BMG Rights Management announced that it had acquired the ancillary rights to Ready, Steady, Go!

Description

The show went out early on Friday evenings with the line "The weekend starts here!", and was introduced by the Surfaris' "Wipe Out", later by Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1", then Manfred Mann's "Hubble Bubble (Toil and Trouble)", and finally The Rolling Stones' "Goin' Home". There is also the possibility that The Who's "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" was used as the theme music for a short period. It was more youth-orientated and informal than its BBC rival (from 1964), Top of the Pops. It was notable for featuring the audience as dancers, and for the interaction of artists and audience. Artists appeared on different mini-stages, sometimes on studio gantries and stairs, or on the main floor for solo artists, closely surrounded by the audience. The producers chose the audience in London clubs, picking out the best or the most fashionably dressed dancers. This ensured a hip audience in tune with the artists.

Owing to scheduling of local news in parts of the UK, several ITV regions joined the show part-way through.

Initially, RSG! artists mimed but by late 1964 some performed live and the show switched to all-live performances in April 1965. It was noted for allowing artists to perform the full version of songs rather than short versions demanded by other shows. The programme was never broadcast in the United States, airing in the U.K. in black and white when ABC, CBS and NBC were converting to full colour.

The show was recorded at small studios in Rediffusion's headquarters in Kingsway, London. Although the company had bigger facilities at Wembley in the west of the capital, it was easier to attract stars and audiences to central London. As the studios were compact it was not possible to hide the ever-present cameras. Instead, the cameras, which were large with rotating lens turrets rather than zooms, were sometimes incorporated into the action, including in a Manfred Mann performance of "Machines", which ended with Paul Jones singing crouched on the floor surrounded by cameras.

RSG was originally from Studio 9 in Kingsway when artists mimed; it later moved to Studio 5 at Wembley, enabling artists to perform live. Artists' own recorded backing tracks were not allowed by the Musicians' Union so the whole of Studio 5 (normally divided into 5a and 5b) was used so an orchestra could perform the backing live.

In late 1966, when the "beat boom" was fading, the show was cancelled, despite its popularity. Compilations were broadcast on Channel 4 in the 1990s and VHS videos included a Beatles live special and The Sounds of Motown special edition. In 1989 the show was seen for the first time in the US, on Disney Channel. During that time, Disney was a pay channel aimed at adults at night.

Ready Steady Go was released as a limited edition DVD set by Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment in 2023 (with performances by the Beatles removed due to licensing problems). Copies can be found (at inflated prices) on auction sites.

Origin of "The Weekend Starts Here"

After the recording of the pilot episode on Tuesday 16 July 1963, Keith Fordyce approached a group of Mods who had travelled from Sheffield's King Mojo club and asked 'so you chaps have come all the way from Sheffield on a Tuesday no less. I expect you'll be eager to go home and get back to work, what with the weekend coming up and all.'

John Varney, Sheffield 'Ace Face' replied 'are you kidding mate - the weekend starts here' and the slogan was born. Over the next three years, Pete Stringfellow and the Sheffield Mojo crowd were regulars on the now renamed 'Ready Steady Go'.

Jimi Hendrix made his first television appearance in Britain on RSG! with "Hey Joe", performing live. After this, his club tour sold out and he was added to a nationwide tour by the Walker Brothers.

Dusty Springfield devised and introduced the RSG Motown Special in April 1965, featuring the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, the Miracles and Martha and the Vandellas, which was a VHS video in the 1980s. The Supremes performed their "Stop! In the Name of Love" dance routine for the first time on the show, and The Miracles closed the show with their hit, "Mickey's Monkey".

The Who proved particularly popular, making the most appearances of any artist – a total of 18 between January 1965 and December 1966. The band had an episode to themselves entitled Ready Steady Who, broadcast in October 1966. The band also released an EP of the same name; despite the title all of the tracks were studio recordings which had been made previously. The Walker Brothers were also popular and had a live edition in 1966 but the tape was wiped, although extracts surfaced on YouTube in 2009.

On 20 March 2020, BBC Four broadcast a documentary about Ready Steady Go!, with original clips, plus interviews with Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, Paul Jones, Chris Farlowe, Vicki Wickham, Annie Nightingale and Michael Lindsay Hogg.

References

  • Feature on RSG! from Retrosellers.com With archive pictures.
  • Ready Steady Win
  • The King Mojo Sheffield history of the mojo