Lift Off was Granada TV's answer to BBC's Top of the Pop's - A spin off from Granada's pop show Discotheque, but aimed at younger viewers and ran for 5 years from 1969 - 74 originally presented By singer Graham Bonney who was then joined by the lovely Ayshea Brough who became the programmes sole human host and it's probably Ayshea that most people associate with the show. Ayshea was joined by Olly Beak and Fred Barker (Voiced by Basil Brush creator Ivan Owen) It was a low budget show with 2 or 3 name artists in each edition supplemented by a dance troupe initially going under the name of The Ken Martyne Dancers (later known as The Feet) Ayshea herself regularly sang throughout the series. A number of Top artists appeared on the show,notably Slade, The Sweet, Marmalade, Christie, Gene Pitney, The Move, Peter Noone, PIckettywitch, Olivia Newton John and David Bowie famously performing Starman for the first time on TV. Unfortunately most of the show has been wiped with only 3 complete editions and a compilation surviving - That was until this year when UK TV preservation organisation Kaleidoscope managed to recover many performances from home recorded off air broadcasts, with the Bowie appearance rumoured to be amongst them. Hopefully these rare clips will raise the profile and reputation of this important and unfairly forgotten series.
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