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Probably one of the most stereotypical and token of 1980s BBC Television presenters (mentioned in a nice and positive way, of course), Chris Serle, has died at the age of 81. His manner of TV presenting had made him a stalwart of the BBC and also a familiar face and name on Licence Fee payer's screens. Born in Bristol in 1943, he presented an afternoon programme for many years on the BBC's local radio station in that area, and was still doing it just before local radio stations came online in 2004. Serle was probably best remembered for his Sunday night stint as being one of Esther Rantzen's many "just passing through Nancies" on That's Life! in the early 1980s, partly replacing at least fifty percent of the mid to late 1970s intake of Kieran Prendeville and Glyn Worsnip, before being succeeded himself by either Gavin Campbell or Bill Buckley. He usually sat next to Paul Heiney who has been recently seen associated with ITV 1's Tonight programme, and along with Heiney, they both also took turns to sit in for John Dunn's Radio 2 Drivetime programme in the early to mid 1990s. I used to think that he sounded very much like Jonathan Hewat of Radio 4's Bloopers fame - very similar voice, and also Bristol-based, or have local connections with Bristol.
Despite being such a bellwether BBC TV presenter, he didn't always work for the corporation; he hosted ITV programmes as well. In the autumn of 1987 (when Jeremy Beadle had finished the first series of Chain Letters and was no longer about at 9.25 on a weekday morning), Serle took over the slot as the first presenter of Granada TV's Runway - the quiz show about travelling and general knowledge, and "guess the date of birth of the contestant" until "Twice Daily" Richard Madeley took over and thus Madeley could now boast that he could be seen twice a morning, thanks to his This Morning presenting an hour later as well. I personally felt that the Runway presenting was a surprise as he was more or less a BBC trademark. Also for ITV, he presented Friday Now - the "welcome to the weekend" regional magazine for LWT - I am certain that a clip show such as TV Nightmares or In Bed With MeDinner actually showed Serle getting stuck while getting trough turnstiles on the London Underground but at least Denis Norden didn't get his hands on it.
In 1986, in order to coincide with the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of BBC Television, Serle presented a series of programmes called Windmill which was named after the Windmill Road archive in London where a lot of old BBC TV footage was stored - I think that this is my personal highlight of his TV presenting career. It was a nice, and at times, a very noistalgic series of programmes, nicely-timed for the 50 year anniversary of British television, and I know that a lot of them were seen on BBC 2 on Sunday lunchtimes such as Easter Sunday, and also Bank Holidays in 1986 and 1987, and one or two episodes have been even downloaded to YouTube in the recent past. Each week, Serle investigated clips from old programmes on a certain theme such as holidays; birthdays; the United States; politics; and Christmas which had represented the pilot episode in December 1985, and was repeated exactly a year later. He also presented In At The Deep End about underwater activities - I have a feeling that another That's Life! alumnus was on that one, although he was from a different era to the other presenter. George Layton, perhaps? It rings a bell.
When Anne Robinson was indeed the Weakest Link herself and was on holiday or was unavailable (and breaking from a tradition of anyone with the surname Roibinson or Took from presenting), Serle was a relief presenter on Points of View in the early to mid 1990s. And he was on Sunday mornings, presenting The Computer Programme when BBC BASIC was King, and Fred Harris or Carol Vorderman would have been great understdies for him there. Even I gave him an "honourable mention" last year when I was writing on here about a McVitie's Chocolate Homewheat advert from the mid 1980s in the Adverts section (the one that I thought that Stephanie de Sykes had performed), saying that the father of the children seen in the advert looked a bit like Chris Serle! But then again, most of them did back then, didn't they?
Chris Serle was a presenter of the 80s and he had reached his early 80s. If one had to look back on his career, I would say that Windmill was his best piece of television presenting work. I think that it needs an official repeat, ironically enough.
Despite being such a bellwether BBC TV presenter, he didn't always work for the corporation; he hosted ITV programmes as well. In the autumn of 1987 (when Jeremy Beadle had finished the first series of Chain Letters and was no longer about at 9.25 on a weekday morning), Serle took over the slot as the first presenter of Granada TV's Runway - the quiz show about travelling and general knowledge, and "guess the date of birth of the contestant" until "Twice Daily" Richard Madeley took over and thus Madeley could now boast that he could be seen twice a morning, thanks to his This Morning presenting an hour later as well. I personally felt that the Runway presenting was a surprise as he was more or less a BBC trademark. Also for ITV, he presented Friday Now - the "welcome to the weekend" regional magazine for LWT - I am certain that a clip show such as TV Nightmares or In Bed With MeDinner actually showed Serle getting stuck while getting trough turnstiles on the London Underground but at least Denis Norden didn't get his hands on it.
In 1986, in order to coincide with the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of BBC Television, Serle presented a series of programmes called Windmill which was named after the Windmill Road archive in London where a lot of old BBC TV footage was stored - I think that this is my personal highlight of his TV presenting career. It was a nice, and at times, a very noistalgic series of programmes, nicely-timed for the 50 year anniversary of British television, and I know that a lot of them were seen on BBC 2 on Sunday lunchtimes such as Easter Sunday, and also Bank Holidays in 1986 and 1987, and one or two episodes have been even downloaded to YouTube in the recent past. Each week, Serle investigated clips from old programmes on a certain theme such as holidays; birthdays; the United States; politics; and Christmas which had represented the pilot episode in December 1985, and was repeated exactly a year later. He also presented In At The Deep End about underwater activities - I have a feeling that another That's Life! alumnus was on that one, although he was from a different era to the other presenter. George Layton, perhaps? It rings a bell.
When Anne Robinson was indeed the Weakest Link herself and was on holiday or was unavailable (and breaking from a tradition of anyone with the surname Roibinson or Took from presenting), Serle was a relief presenter on Points of View in the early to mid 1990s. And he was on Sunday mornings, presenting The Computer Programme when BBC BASIC was King, and Fred Harris or Carol Vorderman would have been great understdies for him there. Even I gave him an "honourable mention" last year when I was writing on here about a McVitie's Chocolate Homewheat advert from the mid 1980s in the Adverts section (the one that I thought that Stephanie de Sykes had performed), saying that the father of the children seen in the advert looked a bit like Chris Serle! But then again, most of them did back then, didn't they?
Chris Serle was a presenter of the 80s and he had reached his early 80s. If one had to look back on his career, I would say that Windmill was his best piece of television presenting work. I think that it needs an official repeat, ironically enough.
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