'Braden's Week' was a popular Saturday night consumer affairs show. After being seen in a margarine commercial for commercial television, Bernard Braden was fired by the B.B.C., the show handed over to co-presenter Esther Rantzen, and renamed 'That's Life!'.
Bob Wellings ( of 'Nationwide' fame ) and George Layton ( best known as 'Dr.Paul Collier' from I.T.V.'s 'Doctor In Charge' ) sat at her side in its first year. The change was more than just cosmetic; 'Braden's Week' was a serious consumer affairs programme with comedic undertones, whereas 'That's Life' veered more towards the humorous.
Each Sunday, that brass band theme tune heralded a hodge-podge of a show in which newspaper misprints would be read aloud by a dinner-jacketed Cyril Fletcher, companies apologised for their mistakes in the form of over-twee songs, Jake Thackray, Victoria Wood or Richard Stilgoe sang humorous ditties, and there'd be a vox pop sequence in which Esther terrorised shoppers ( one in particular, giggly old age pensioner Annie Mizzen, became a popular character in her own right. One of the first reality T.V. stars? ) Then there was the 'Jobsworth' Award - a gold, peaked cap awarded to sticklers of bureaucratic rules, no matter how foolish. As well as the talking dogs, tap-dancing ducks and beer-loving bats. One well-remembered item concerned a strange animal called a 'Lirpa Loof'. It was a hoax; all one needed to do was reverse the letters of its name to find that out.
Every comedian has a catchphrase; Esther's was her penis-shaped vegetables. All she had to do was hold one up to the camera and the audience had hysterics. But the show had a serious side too. In the mid-80's, it launched a campaign to find an organ donor for a dying little boy named Ben Hardwick. One was found, and Ben duly got his new liver. Sadly, it came too late. Even so, thanks to 'That's Life!', his story touched the nation. Then there was the expose of paedophilia at a boys' private school, which made chilling viewing.
During its twenty years on air, presenters came and went. For my money the best were Kieran Prendiville ( later a script writer ) and Glyn Worsnip ( who died tragically young from a brain disease ). Paul Heiney and Chris Serle also proved popular, going on to front their own show 'In At The Deep End'.
In 1979, Esther launched a short-lived spin-off aimed at children called 'Junior That's Life!'. It was a disaster. Viewers thought the whole show was supposed to be funny, and laughed at the serious bits.
'That's Life' was not without its critics. Some felt it inappropriate to feature real-life tragedies side by side with schoolboy jokes about bums and wee wee. The 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' gang did their usual hostile send-up, with Pamela Stephenson as Esther ( "Sorry said The Gas Board. This has absolutely nothing to do with us!" ). 'Spitting Image' went further, accusing Esther of tastelessly exploiting Ben Hardwick's illness in the name of ratings. The sketch was itself attacked in the popular press. The best spoof was done by L.W.T.'s 'End Of Part One'; entitled 'That's Bernard Braden's Show Really!' it featured Sue Holderness as Rantzen and Denise Coffey as Annie Mizzen!
In 1994, viewers decided they had had enough and so 'That's Life!' was put out to pasture. The entire cast reunited for one final show entitled 'That's Life All Over!". Gone it may be, but its spirit lives on in the form of the B.B.C.'s 'Watchdog' and I.T.V.'s 'House Of Horrors'.
Bob Wellings ( of 'Nationwide' fame ) and George Layton ( best known as 'Dr.Paul Collier' from I.T.V.'s 'Doctor In Charge' ) sat at her side in its first year. The change was more than just cosmetic; 'Braden's Week' was a serious consumer affairs programme with comedic undertones, whereas 'That's Life' veered more towards the humorous.
Each Sunday, that brass band theme tune heralded a hodge-podge of a show in which newspaper misprints would be read aloud by a dinner-jacketed Cyril Fletcher, companies apologised for their mistakes in the form of over-twee songs, Jake Thackray, Victoria Wood or Richard Stilgoe sang humorous ditties, and there'd be a vox pop sequence in which Esther terrorised shoppers ( one in particular, giggly old age pensioner Annie Mizzen, became a popular character in her own right. One of the first reality T.V. stars? ) Then there was the 'Jobsworth' Award - a gold, peaked cap awarded to sticklers of bureaucratic rules, no matter how foolish. As well as the talking dogs, tap-dancing ducks and beer-loving bats. One well-remembered item concerned a strange animal called a 'Lirpa Loof'. It was a hoax; all one needed to do was reverse the letters of its name to find that out.
Every comedian has a catchphrase; Esther's was her penis-shaped vegetables. All she had to do was hold one up to the camera and the audience had hysterics. But the show had a serious side too. In the mid-80's, it launched a campaign to find an organ donor for a dying little boy named Ben Hardwick. One was found, and Ben duly got his new liver. Sadly, it came too late. Even so, thanks to 'That's Life!', his story touched the nation. Then there was the expose of paedophilia at a boys' private school, which made chilling viewing.
During its twenty years on air, presenters came and went. For my money the best were Kieran Prendiville ( later a script writer ) and Glyn Worsnip ( who died tragically young from a brain disease ). Paul Heiney and Chris Serle also proved popular, going on to front their own show 'In At The Deep End'.
In 1979, Esther launched a short-lived spin-off aimed at children called 'Junior That's Life!'. It was a disaster. Viewers thought the whole show was supposed to be funny, and laughed at the serious bits.
'That's Life' was not without its critics. Some felt it inappropriate to feature real-life tragedies side by side with schoolboy jokes about bums and wee wee. The 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' gang did their usual hostile send-up, with Pamela Stephenson as Esther ( "Sorry said The Gas Board. This has absolutely nothing to do with us!" ). 'Spitting Image' went further, accusing Esther of tastelessly exploiting Ben Hardwick's illness in the name of ratings. The sketch was itself attacked in the popular press. The best spoof was done by L.W.T.'s 'End Of Part One'; entitled 'That's Bernard Braden's Show Really!' it featured Sue Holderness as Rantzen and Denise Coffey as Annie Mizzen!
In 1994, viewers decided they had had enough and so 'That's Life!' was put out to pasture. The entire cast reunited for one final show entitled 'That's Life All Over!". Gone it may be, but its spirit lives on in the form of the B.B.C.'s 'Watchdog' and I.T.V.'s 'House Of Horrors'.
