Des O’Connor Tonight

A staple of ITV Wednesday night entertainment for years and years, this chat/music/comedy show originally launched on BBC2 in 1977, before Des whipped it over to Thames in 1982. These examples from 1986 boast Mel Brooks and Dame Kiri te Kanowa among their guests. What’s more, Laurie Holloway incorporated Salute to Thames into the start of his Des O’Connor theme tune, so the opening Thames ident plays in with different instruments to those in the standard. These clips were recorded in the Central TV region and include the original continuity announcement from Robin Houston.