The Roxy (TV series)

*The Roxy*
The Roxy
Presented by	David Jensen; Kevin Sharkey
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Tyne Tees
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	7 June 1987 –; 5 April 1988

The Roxy is a British music television programme broadcast on the ITV network from June 1987 to April 1988. It was produced by Tyne Tees Television, shortly after its more successful Channel 4 music show, The Tube, was decommissioned.

The show was initially presented by David Jensen and Kevin Sharkey, and its first edition on Tuesday 9 June 1987 began with Erasure performing "Victim of Love". Subtitled as The Network Chart Show, The Roxy was based on the weekly chart compiled for Independent Local Radio and broadcast on Sunday afternoons across ILR stations.

Whereas The Tube featured rock and punk bands and emerging musicians, The Roxy concentrated on the mainstream UK singles chart - and although The Tube won a loyal fanbase and respect from artists, mainstream acts were reluctant to travel to Tyne Tees' Newcastle studios for a three-minute performance when they could appear on the long-established BBC counterpart, Top of the Pops, produced from London.^[1]

The programme also suffered from not having a fixed network timeslot and for a short time, an industrial dispute which affected live studio performances. After just ten months on air, The Roxy aired its final edition on Tuesday 5 April 1988. By this point, some regional stations aired the programme around midnight like TVS and Thames while Anglia, Grampian, Scottish, Yorkshire and UTV opted out entirely.

The demise of The Roxy also signalled the end of major live music TV production at Tyne Tees, which had spanned series such as Alright Now, Razzmatazz and Check it Out. The company also produced coverage of Queen's concerts at Wembley and the Milton Keynes Bowl and co-produced U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky.

References

^ Williams, Steve (August 2006). "It's still Number One, it's..." Off the Telly. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2007.

[1] Williams, Steve (August 2006). "It's still Number One, it's..." Off the Telly. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2007.

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