Lift Off with Ayshea
Encyclopedia
"Lift Off with Ayshea" is a British TV show, produced by Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 network, which ran for 144 editions spanning eight series, between November 1969 and December 1974.

Originally entitled "Lift Off", the show was aired in the children's programming schedule, but was seen by many as ITV's junior answer to the BBC's Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

. Ayshea Brough (aka Ayesha) was one of the first women of Asian heritage to front a TV series on British TV, initially co-hosting the show with Graham Bonney and later singer Wally Whyton
Wally Whyton
Wallace Victor "Wally" Whyton was a British musician, songwriter and radio and TV personality.Born in London, England, Whyton grew up listening to jazz, blues and folk music, and learned to play first the piano, then trombone, and finally guitar...

. The series was produced by Muriel Young
Muriel Young
Muriel Young was a British television continuity announcer, presenter and producer.-Early life:...

, who went on to produce Clapperboard
Clapperboard (TV series)
Clapperboard was the name of a 1970s children's television programme, hosted by Chris Kelly which covered the cinema. The show was made by Granada Television for the ITV network, and lasted 254 episodes. It was produced by Muriel Young and was broadcast between April 1972 and January 1982. Young...

, Shang-A-Lang
Shang-a-Lang (TV series)
Shang-a-Lang was a children's pop music TV series starring the Scottish band, the Bay City Rollers. It was produced in Manchester by Granada Television for the ITV network and ran for one 20-week series in 1975....

and Get It Together
Get It Together (TV series)
Get It Together was a long-running British children's Television series, produced by Granada Television for the UK ITV network between 1977 and 1981...

for ITV Granada.

The premise of the show was to showcase music requested by viewer's writing in to the series. The requests were interspersed with performances of either new releases or current hits. Generally, only two or three guest acts would appear each week; the majority of the songs were performed by Ayshea herself or would be played into the studio and a dance troupe would choreograph the track. The main dance ensemble were known as 'The Feet'; identical twin sisters Teresa & Lesley Scoble, who were concurrently appearing in the ITV children's drama Timeslip
Timeslip
Timeslip is a British children's science fiction television series made by ATV for the ITV network and broadcast between 1970 and 1971. The series centres around two children, Simon Randall and Liz Skinner who discover the existence of a strange anomaly, known as the “Time Barrier”, that enables...

 throughout the 1970 run. For one series, a resident band known as 'The Pattern' sang selected tracks each week. Series 5 featured Guy Lutman, Lynn Garner and Chris Marlow as the resident singers. Later series featured the puppets Ollie Beak and Fred Barker as co-hosts.

During the series' run, Ayshea contributed a column to the magazines Look-In and Disco 45. She also teamed up with Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...

 to record his composition Farewell, which was released as a single and used as the show's theme tune. Wood's band Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...

 often appeared on the series and Brough appeared on Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

, backing Wizzard on several occasions. When performing with Wizzard, Wood often sported a white star with the initial 'A' in the centre of his forehead, while Brough wore the same make-up featuring a 'W'. This led to some media speculation that the two were involved in an unconfirmed relationship, with many reports claiming they were engaged. Although the track failed to chart, Ayshea performed the song on the rival Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

 on BBC1.

Of the 144 episodes made, it is only confirmed that two have survived in the ITV archives.

Series 1: November 5, 1969 - January 28, 1970. 13 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: Long John Baldry
Long John Baldry
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s. He enjoyed pop success in the UK where Let the Heartaches Begin reached No...

, Lou Christie
Lou Christie
Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco , known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s , including his 1966 smash, "Lightnin' Strikes" and his incredible 3 octave vocal range.-Biography:Sacco was born in Glenwillard,...

 and Millie Small.


Series 2: October 7, 1970 - December 30, 1970. 13 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.-Career:They formed as Brian Poole and the Tremoloes influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets...

, Mike D'Abo
Mike d'Abo
Michael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...

, Roger Whitaker, Julie Felix
Julie Felix
Julie Ann Felix is a folk rock recording artist, who was notably produced by Mickie Most on his RAK Records label.-Career:...

, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

, Pickettywitch
Pickettywitch
Pickettywitch was a British pop group. Fronted by singer Polly Brown , the group became best known for its hit single, "That Same Old Feeling", which was written by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod...

, Dana
Dana Rosemary Scallon
Dana Rosemary Scallon , known in her singing career simply as Dana, is an Irish singer and former Member of the European Parliament ....

, Labi Siffre
Labi Siffre
Labi Siffre is a British poet, songwriter, musician and singer most widely known as the writer and singer of " So Strong", "It Must Be Love" and "I Got The", the sampled rhythm track which provides the basis for a number of well-known hip hop tracks such as Eminem’s breakthrough hit single, "My...

, Ken Dodd
Ken Dodd
Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE is a British comedian and singer songwriter, famous for his frizzy hair or “fluff dom” and buck teeth or “denchers”, his favourite cleaner, the feather duster and his greeting "How tickled I am!", as well as his send-off “Lots and Lots of Happiness!”...

, The New Seekers
The New Seekers
The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music had rock as well as folk influences...

, The Sweet & Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...

.


Series 3: August 10, 1971 - January 12, 1972. 23 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: The Sweet, Ken Dodd
Ken Dodd
Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE is a British comedian and singer songwriter, famous for his frizzy hair or “fluff dom” and buck teeth or “denchers”, his favourite cleaner, the feather duster and his greeting "How tickled I am!", as well as his send-off “Lots and Lots of Happiness!”...

, The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.-Career:They formed as Brian Poole and the Tremoloes influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets...

, The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....

, The Marmalade, The New Seekers
The New Seekers
The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music had rock as well as folk influences...

, Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....

, Vanity Fare
Vanity Fare
Vanity Fare were a UK pop/rock group formed in 1966, best remembered for their million selling song, "Hitchin' a Ride," which became a worldwide hit in 1970.-Career:...

, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

, Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...

, Tony Christie
Tony Christie
Tony Christie is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his track, "Is This The Way To Amarillo", a double UK chart success.-Career:Tony Christie has sold over 10 million albums Worldwide...

, Charlie Drake
Charlie Drake
Charlie Drake was an English comedian, actor, writer and singer.With his small stature , curly red hair and liking for slapstick he was a popular comedian with children in his early years, becoming nationally-known for his "Hello, my darlings" catchphrase...

 & Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan
Gilbert O'Sullivan is an Irish-English singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again ", "Clair" and "Get Down". The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No...

.


Series 4: (Renamed: Lift Off with Ayshea). April 12, 1972 - July 5, 1972. 13 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone is an English pop singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group The Zombies, and for his participation on various albums with The Alan Parsons Project.-Biography:...

, The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....

, Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...

, Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...

, Jack Wild
Jack Wild
Jack Wild was a British actor who is best remembered for his performances in both stage and screen productions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, and Oliver Reed. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16 for the role of the...

, The Bay City Rollers, Peter Noone
Peter Noone
Peter Noone is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actor, best known as "Herman" of the successful 1960s rock group Herman's Hermits.-Early life:...

, The Barron Knights, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 & Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...

.


Series 5: October 11, 1972 - January 3, 1973. 14 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...

, Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...

, The Fortunes
The Fortunes
The Fortunes are an English harmony beat group. Formed in Birmingham, The Fortunes first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US and UK Top 10s...

, Middle of the Road, Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...

, The Sweet & Lieutenant Pigeon.


Series 6: April 27, 1973 - June 29, 1973. 10 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...

, Roger Whitaker, 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...

, Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...

, Vanity Fare
Vanity Fare
Vanity Fare were a UK pop/rock group formed in 1966, best remembered for their million selling song, "Hitchin' a Ride," which became a worldwide hit in 1970.-Career:...

 & Wayne Fontana
Wayne Fontana
Wayne Fontana is an English pop singer. In 1962, he formed his backing group, the Mindbenders and got a recording contract.-Biography:...

.


Series 7: October 17, 1973 - January 9, 1974. 13 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

No information is currently known about the series' guests.


Series 8: July 1, 1974 - December 17, 1974. 44 episodes.

Directors: Dave Warwick & Baz Taylor.

Guests included: Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...

, The Flirtations, The Scaffold
The Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear , Roger McGough and John Gorman.-Career:...

, The Settlers
The Settlers
The Settlers is a slow-paced simulation computer game by German developer Blue Byte Software, first released in 1993 for Commodore Amiga and in 1994 for the PC...

, Mud
Mud (band)
Mud were an English glam rock band, formed in February 1968, best remembered for their single "Tiger Feet", which was the UK's best-selling single of 1974...

, Paper Lace
Paper Lace
Paper Lace are a Nottingham based pop group, formed in 1969. They are known to Americans as a one-hit wonder; however, in the UK they were a "classic two and a half hit wonder".-History:...

, The Glitter Band
The Glitter Band
The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glittermen on the first four hit singles by Gary Glitter from 1972 to 1973. The...

, Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...

, The Wombles
The Wombles
The Wombles are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures that live in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Wombles were created by author Elisabeth Beresford, originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968...

, Stephanie de Sykes
Stephanie de Sykes
Stephanie de Sykes is a British singer, and was once a girlfriend of Angus Deayton.-Biography:She attended Brays Grove School in Harlow, Essex; she returned to the school for a final reunion in June 2008 as guest of honour. She had a hit in 1974 with the Simon May penned "Born With a Smile on My...

, Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy
Showaddywaddy are a 1970s pop group from Leicester, England. They specialised in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, and dressed as Teddy Boys.-History:...

, Limme & The Family Cooking, Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee
Kiki Dee is an English singer with a career spanning more than 40 years....

, Polly Brown
Polly Brown
Polly Brown is an English singer. A member of Pickettywitch and Sweet Dreams - and with each group lead singer on a Top Ten hit, respectively "That Same Old Feeling" and "Honey Honey" - Brown had an international solo hit in 1975 with "Up in a Puff of Smoke".-Biography:Brown recorded with...

, David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...

 & Barry Blue
Barry Blue
Barry Blue is a singer / producer / songwriter from the United Kingdom. He is best known for his hit songs, "Dancin' " , which he co-wrote with Lynsey de Paul, and "Do You Wanna Dance" .At 14 he signed to record producer Norrie Paramor whose erstwhile assistant was one Tim Rice - the producer of...

.


Episodes numbered 86-108 are unaccounted for in any known broadcast details. They may form a longer series 6 or are a stand alone season between series 6 and 7.

The show was replaced by a similar format series Shang-A-Lang
Shang-a-Lang (TV series)
Shang-a-Lang was a children's pop music TV series starring the Scottish band, the Bay City Rollers. It was produced in Manchester by Granada Television for the ITV network and ran for one 20-week series in 1975....

, hosted by The Bay City Rollers, which in turn was replaced by Get It Together
Get It Together (TV series)
Get It Together was a long-running British children's Television series, produced by Granada Television for the UK ITV network between 1977 and 1981...

hosted by Roy North
Roy North
Roy North is an English actor and television presenter, who played Mr Roy in Basil Brush.He attended Hull Grammar School and is a Hull City fan, and occasionally he would wear a Hull City shirt on the television...

, Linda Fletcher and later Megg Nichol; all produced by Muriel Young.
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