While "Going Live!" ruled the airwaves on Saturday Morning during winter seasons in the late 80s, it took two separate series to fill in the summer holidays. In 1988 and 1989 the first half was filled by the comedy/variety show 'On The Waterfront' (filmed in Liverpool) and the remaining weeks by this show, 'UP2U' (live from the center of Manchester). The program seemed to be so hastily put together that for the entire first series they had a very minimalistic set consisting of a white background and some giant letters and numbers (two U's, a P and a 2). Though over the course of a couple of weeks, a lot of junk was added in the form of toys lying about and whatever the guests would bring along.
The centerpiece of the set was some sort of computer console with a big square TV screen that was for some ominous reason called the 'Doomsday book'. This came in handy as each week at least one of the three presenters (Jenni Powell, Tony Dortie and Anthea Turner) was out reporting from location as a 'Roving Eye'. During the second series they even ventured all the way to Central Park, NY, NY where Jenni interviewed Bob from Sesame street and to Australia where they talked to Transvision Vamp's Wendy James. Also in 1989, the stark white set was replaced by a 'newspaper' office manned by several teenagers in order to keep that weeks studio bound presenters company (for it seemed like most of the time only one of the three would be manning home base).
As for the trio, Jenni Powell had a voice that sounded like she was still ten years old, Tony Dortie later turned up hosting 'Top of the Pops' and Anthea Turner wowed little boys by showing her belly button during the second series. Still, UP2U was inexplicably connected to it's summer lead in On the Waterfront, and when that show wrapped after two seasons, UP2U also got the ax. In fact, while the last episodes of UP were being broadcast live on Saturdays, bits and pieces of 'On the W' were already being repeated on Friday afternoons as 'On the Waterfront Revisited'.
However there is one 8 second clip from the show that can readily be found all over Youtube and other parts of the internet. It features Anthea sitting on the back of a truck when a stunt motorcycle roars out of it, seems to graze her and sets her hair and part of her clothes on fire. I guess that's why they called that computer console the Doomsday book. The clip looks a lot worse than it turned out to be, as she came away unhurt and is still working in television to this day. But for some reason people have taken to disliking miss Turner in recent years, making the 'exploding TV presenter' clip even more popular today than it ever was.
7 out of 10
The centerpiece of the set was some sort of computer console with a big square TV screen that was for some ominous reason called the 'Doomsday book'. This came in handy as each week at least one of the three presenters (Jenni Powell, Tony Dortie and Anthea Turner) was out reporting from location as a 'Roving Eye'. During the second series they even ventured all the way to Central Park, NY, NY where Jenni interviewed Bob from Sesame street and to Australia where they talked to Transvision Vamp's Wendy James. Also in 1989, the stark white set was replaced by a 'newspaper' office manned by several teenagers in order to keep that weeks studio bound presenters company (for it seemed like most of the time only one of the three would be manning home base).
As for the trio, Jenni Powell had a voice that sounded like she was still ten years old, Tony Dortie later turned up hosting 'Top of the Pops' and Anthea Turner wowed little boys by showing her belly button during the second series. Still, UP2U was inexplicably connected to it's summer lead in On the Waterfront, and when that show wrapped after two seasons, UP2U also got the ax. In fact, while the last episodes of UP were being broadcast live on Saturdays, bits and pieces of 'On the W' were already being repeated on Friday afternoons as 'On the Waterfront Revisited'.
However there is one 8 second clip from the show that can readily be found all over Youtube and other parts of the internet. It features Anthea sitting on the back of a truck when a stunt motorcycle roars out of it, seems to graze her and sets her hair and part of her clothes on fire. I guess that's why they called that computer console the Doomsday book. The clip looks a lot worse than it turned out to be, as she came away unhurt and is still working in television to this day. But for some reason people have taken to disliking miss Turner in recent years, making the 'exploding TV presenter' clip even more popular today than it ever was.
7 out of 10
