Sunday Night at the London Palladium

Overview

Sunday Night at the London Palladium was a British television variety show produced by ATV for the ITV network, originally running from 1955 to 1967, with a brief revival in 1973 and 1974. The London Palladium is a theatre in London's West End. The regular hosts of the Palladium show were Tommy Trinder, Bruce Forsyth, Don Arrol, Norman Vaughan, Jimmy Tarbuck and Jim Dale. Other guest comperes were: Hughie Green, Alfred Marks, Robert Morley, Arthur Haynes, Dickie Henderson, Dave Allen, Des O'Connor, Bob Monkhouse and Roger Moore. The first ever show was compered by Tommy Trinder with Gracie Fields and Guy Mitchell being the night's big guests. The programme was one of ITV's most watched, reaching its biggest audience in January 1960 while Bruce Forsyth was the host, in an edition featuring Cliff Richard and The Shadows, watched by more than 20 million people. However according to the book Television's Greatest Hits written and researched by Paul Gambaccini and Rod Taylor the biggest viewing audience was 9.7 million in 1964. This was on Sunday 19 April when Bruce Forsyth introduced The Bachelors, Hope and Keen and Frank Ifield with the Pamela Devis Dancers.