BBC Television Service Original Programming Codexery

Juke Box Jury

Celebrity panel judges records as hits or misses.

Broadcast by the BBC, the music panel programme "Juke Box Jury" ran from 1 June 1959 until 27 December 1967.[1] The American television series "Jukebox Jury", which aired from 1953 to 1959, served as the foundation for this programme.[1] On Saturday nights in 1962, the show drew a weekly audience of 12 million.[2]

Quick Facts

Genre
Music
Creator
Peter Potter
Presenter
  • David Jacobs (1959–1967)
  • Noel Edmonds (1979)
  • Jools Holland (1989–1990)
Opening theme
"Hit and Miss" by John Barry
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Channel
  • BBC Television Service (1959–1964)
  • BBC One (1964–1967, 1979)
  • BBC Two (1989–1990)
First aired
1 June 1959

Facts from the source article.

Making and release

Its first airings were on Monday evenings, but due to rapid popularity, it shifted to early Saturday evenings beginning 3 September 1959.[3] Russell Turner was the producer for this series.[3] For the initial 11 episodes, Murray was a weekly fixture, but after that the panel typically changed each week.[4] Two male and two female guests usually constituted the panel.[4]

Actor Eric Sykes was a frequent panellist, and Katie Boyle appeared as a Juror on at least 37 occasions.[4] Two revivals of the programme have occurred: one in 1979 hosted by Noel Edmonds, and another for two seasons from 1989 to 1990 with Jools Holland as presenter.[5]

What the cited sources add

The CTVA account states that the show was devised by Peter Potter and hosted by DJ David Jacobs with his Rock-Ola Tempo II Jukebox and the famous bell and hooter for 'Hit' or 'Miss'.[6] The first six episodes used the theme 'Juke Box Fury' by Ozzie Warlock and The Wizards.[6] Wortman described the DJs who helped make the programme a success: Pete Murray, Alan 'Fluff' Freeman, Jimmy Saville, and David Jacobs.[7] As producer, "I was instrumental in increasing the huge early Saturday evening audiences... by inviting famous names from everywhere," stated Neville Wortman.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Juke Box Jury" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A brief description of Juke Box Jury", bbc.co.uk; "Oddball Game Shows of the 1950s"; Claesson, "The Triumph and Tragedy of Suzanne Alexander", Classic Images, 2025, p. 45 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Juke Box Jury" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mundy, John: "Popular music on screen: from the Hollywood musical to music video" (Manchester University Press, 1999) , pp204-5 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Juke Box Jury" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mundy, John: "Popular music on screen: from the Hollywood musical to music video" (Manchester University Press, 1999) , pp204-5; "Juke Box Jury", The Internet Movie Database (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Juke Box Jury" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "TV | The Official Cilla Black Website", Cillablack.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Juke Box Jury" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Holland, Jools and Vyner, Harriet – Barefaced Lies and Boogie-Woogie Boasts (Penguin UK, 2008) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "CTVA Music - UK Pop Music TV Shows - "Juke Box Jury" (BBC1)(1959-67(1979)(1989-90)", Ctva.biz. facts only, no text reused. ctva.biz
  7. "Sixties City - Neville Wortman - British Television". facts only, no text reused. sixtiescity.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Juke Box Jury (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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