Jerry Foulkes
Encyclopedia
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He is also an ex-radio disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
and has successfully worked in the UK television industry for many years.
Children's ITV
On Monday 3 April 1989, the contract to produce Children's ITV was taken over by an independent production companyProduction company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
, called Stonewall Productions. Foulkes was hired to present the Children's ITV weekday afternoons service, which he did from Monday 3 April to Friday 22 December 1989. Children's ITV's afternoon service ran from 4:00 to 5:10 pm (Monday–Friday), except on bank holidays. He co-presented Children's ITV with a puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
character called Scally The Dog
Scally The Dog
Scally The Dog was a puppet mongrel dog character, who co-presented Children's ITV afternoons service, from January 1989 - March 1991 in the United Kingdom.-Children's ITV:...
, and they had a catchphrase which was: "We're still here!", which they both often said during their links, referring to them still being on-air at the time.
Competitions
There were several big competitions during Foulkes' time on CITV. One was in conjunction with the programme Streetwise (which was a show all about cycle couriers and starred the then-unknown Andy SerkisAndy Serkis
Andrew Clement G. "Andy" Serkis is an English actor, director and author. He is popularly known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he earned several award nominations, including the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Two Towers...
). Viewers had to design and draw a customised bike of their own, featuring reflective lights and other things, so it could be ridden safely in the dark. The main prizes for the winners were two Muddy Fox mountain bikes, with some special CITV reflective safety jackets and cycle lights as runner-up prizes. This competition was very successful, with over 32,000 entries in total. Another competition was a tie-in with the adventure game-show, Knightmare
Knightmare
Knightmare is an English television program for children, produced by Broadsword Productions for Anglia Television and was broadcast on ITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994...
. Eagle-eyed viewers had to look out for random letters appearing on-screen during Episode 7 of Series 3, which would eventually spell out a word connected with fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
. The actual word was 'Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Great Britain. Sometimes Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are said to be the same weapon, but in most versions they are considered separate. The sword was...
' and the prizes for the lucky winner were a ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
computer system and a copy of the first Knightmare computer game. Hordriss, a character from the show, appeared on CITV to set the competition and Foulkes announced the winner on Friday 8 December 1989, just before Episode 14 of Series 3 of the show.
Special Guests
Many special guests appeared in the studio during Foulkes' time on CITV. Various popstars such as Kylie MinogueKylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989...
, Sonia
Sonia
Sonia may refer to:* Sonia, the allied code name for the Mitsubishi Ki-51, Japanese WW2 era bomber* SONIA, Sterling OverNight Index Average, a financial market rate* Sonia , a 1991 album by Sonia Evans...
, Big Fun, Lisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield is an English singer and songwriter.-Early years:Stansfield was born to Marion and Keith Stansfield in Heywood, Lancashire, in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982...
, The Primitives
The Primitives
The Primitives are a British indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash".-Biography:The Primitives were part of the indie music scene of the mid-1980s alongside bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, the Soup...
and many more all appeared in 1989. Donovan's appearance on CITV was quite memorable, as due to him being stuck in traffic, he was extremely late arriving at the CITV studios in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, only turning up just before the final programme of the day was about to start, which was a repeat of Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969...
. However, the show was started a bit earlier than originally planned and the final CITV link of the day was quite longer than usual, which gave Foulkes and Scally a bit more of air-time to chat to Donovan. Other stars who appeared in 1989 were the late TV presenter and practical joker Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE was an English television presenter, writer and producer. During the 1980s, he was a regular face on British television and in two years appeared 50 weeks of the year. His shows regularly topped the charts beating Coronation Street and EastEnders on one...
and the legendary Australian cartoonist Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, who drew portraits of both Jerry and Scally throughout the links on the day he appeared.
Departure
Foulkes left CITV on 22 December 1989, and on 2 January 1990, fellow CITV presenter Jeanne DownsJeanne Downs
Jeanne Downs is a former presenter of Children's ITV , which is the brand name used for the majority of children's television output on ITV in the United Kingdom...
(who had presented CITV's summer mornings service in '89) took over co-presenting the afternoons with Scally, until 29 March 1991, when Stonewall lost the contract to produce CITV back to Central Television (who had also done it previously from 1983 to 1989). On the first day that Downs took over from Foulkes (on 2 January 1990), they had a mop and a bucket in the studio, with a name tag of Foulkes on it, and during the links both she and Scally made some amusing comments about it.
Gus Honeybun
Gus Honeybun was the station mascot for Westward Television, and later Television South West, from 1961 to 1992. A puppet rabbit, and star of Gus Honeybun's Magic Birthdays, he achieved a longevity for a TV puppet second only to Sooty....
instead), meant that south-west ITV viewers missed out on many of Foulkes' links during 1989, most notably his final day on 22 December 1989, as they opted-out of several links, including the final one, which meant that TSW viewers never got to hear him say "Goodbye" for the last time. After 3 years of doing so, TSW stopped the opt-outs in 1990, but still to this date Foulkes' final CITV link remains unbroadcasted in the south-west ITV region.
Foulkes was one of several former CITV presenters who didn't appear on CITV's 20th Birthday Bash on 3 Jan 2003, although he was briefly mentioned & several clips of him were shown during the show.
Other TV and radio work
After he graduated from Leicester University in 1983, Foulkes started his media career in radio, working on both BBC Radio LeicesterBBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The station broadcasts from studios in Leicester on 104.9 FM, on DAB, and via the BBC iPlayer.-History:...
and BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Norfolk, broadcasting since 11 September 1980. It broadcasts from the studios of BBC East in The Forum, Norwich on 95.1 FM , 104.4 FM , 95.6 FM , 855 kHz AM/MW , 873 kHz AM/MW BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC Local...
in the 1980s. During his time at BBC Radio Norfolk, amongst other things, he presented an evening show called Nightdrive. After four years there, he left in 1987 to become a video jockey on the newly-launched music channel MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...
. He left MTV in 1989 to join Children's ITV. After he left Children's ITV, he then moved into the world of television production, starting a very long and successful career as a producer & editor.
He joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and worked on many different TV and radio projects, which included programmes for Children's BBC, BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
& BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
. Whilst at Radio 1, he was the producer of the Dave Lee Travis
Dave Lee Travis
Dave Lee Travis , also known professionally as DLT and the Hairy Cornflake, is a British radio presenter, best known for his career on BBC Radio 1.-Early life:...
show. In 1993, he became the producer of the BBC1 daytime show, Good Morning with Anne and Nick
Good Morning with Anne and Nick
Good Morning with Anne and Nick was a BBC1 daytime television show presented by Anne Diamond and Nick Owen, from October 1992 to May 1996. The pair had previously presented TV-am on ITV, but now directly competed with ITV's This Morning....
for 3 years. Also, in 1992 – 93, he returned to presenting on BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 (former)
BBC Radio 5 was a BBC radio network that carried sport, children's and educational programmes.It was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz, and lasted for three years and eight months. The success of BBC Radio 4's coverage of the Gulf War, on a service known as Scud FM,...
, when he co-presented the pop music magazine show On The Level, with the actress & singer Tracy Elster. Also in 1992, he very briefly appeared in an episode of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV series That's Life!
That's Life!
That's Life! was a magazine-style television series on BBC1 between 26 May 1973 and 19 June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen throughout the entire run, with various changes of co-presenters. The show was generally recorded about an hour prior to transmission, which was originally on Saturday...
, in a short featurette about their talent contest winner, Allison Jordan. This also featured a young and then-unknown Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
& Andi Peters
Andi Peters
Andi Eleazu Peters is an English television presenter and television producer.-Education:Peters was educated at Emanuel School, a co-educational independent school in Battersea, in south-west London.-Life and career:...
(the then current Children's BBC presenter) in it too.
Later in 1996, Foulkes moved to Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and was the editor of their long-running TV review show Right To Reply
Right to Reply
Right to Reply was a British television series shown on Channel 4 from 1982 until 2001, which allowed viewers to voice their complaints or concerns about TV programmes...
for three years. In 1997, he was also the editor of another Channel 4 TV review show, the short-lived Nightwatch, which was presented by Pat Kane
Pat Kane
Pat Kane is a Scottish musician, and half of the pop duo Hue and Cry with his younger brother Greg.Independently of Hue & Cry, lead singer Kane writes on politics and culture...
. In 1999, he then returned to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and became a commissioning executive in factual programming for four years. In 2003, he joined talkbackTHAMES
TalkbackTHAMES
Talkback Thames is a British television production company, a division of FremantleMedia . It was formed by the merger of Talkback Productions and Thames Television, the former ITV network franchisee for London on weekdays between 1968 and 1992...
and was the editor of their factual programmes, one of which was the popular Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
show, How Clean Is Your House?
How Clean is Your House?
How Clean Is Your House? was a British entertainment/lifestyle television programme in which expert cleaners Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie visited extremely filthy homes and then cleaned them to perfection...
, which began in 2003. He left there after 2 years in 2005.
Recent work
Foulkes continues to work in the TV industry as a producer/editor & some of his more recent work includes: Fear Of Flying (Channel 4 - 2006), Britain's Dream Homes (BBC TV - 2008), Jimmy's Food Factory (BBC TV - 2009) (which starred the farmer, Jimmy DohertyJimmy Doherty (farmer)
Jimmy Doherty is a Suffolk based farmer and television presenter for the BBC, famous for the show Jimmy's Farm, based around his and his partner Michaela Furney's Essex Pig Company.-Biography:...
) & Cowboy Trap
Cowboy Trap
Cowboy Trap, now known as Cowboy Builders is a daytime British television show on BBC One presented by Clive Holland. It follows homeowners who have had cowboy builders who in some cases have rendered their homes uninhabitable...
(BBC TV - 2010). In January 2010, he became the head of Mentorn Scotland, which is part of the Tinopolis
Tinopolis
Tinopolis plc is a Welsh independent television production company, owned by its senior management and private equity company Vitruvian Partners.Tinopolis produces over 2,500 hours of television annually for more than 200 UK and foreign broadcasters....
group.
Further reading
- Taking the Norfolk Air: BBC Radio Norfolk, the First 25 Years, Grice Chapman Publishing (12 September 2005), ISBN 095457267X
External links
- Jerry Foulkes at the BFI Film & TV DatabaseBFI Film & TV DatabaseThe BFI Film & TV Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media, from the UK...
- Jerry Foulkes' profile at Mentorn Scotland