A young Kev auditioned for a TV show. But which one?

Yes, that is me in the back row in the gold lame tie, but what TV show were we all auditioning for, and which two of this lot got the gig?

I threw that question out there on Facebook. Here are some of the replies that came back.

Lew Stringer Kids from Fame? Hunger Games?
David Leach The Double Deckers
Stu Munro The Red Hand Gang?
Mark Ashley TV show: Jim 'll fix it
Who got the gig: the unlucky ones...
Shaquille S Le Vesconte Metal Mickey? Ashley Knight and Lucinda Bateson?
Ade Brown I see Strawberry Switchblade also applied. And 2 of Depeche Mode. And Ray Parker Jr.
But it was clearly an audition to present Central Television's answer to The Tube. Paul Coia and Steve Lamacq?
Peter Crocker Junior Showtime. Glyn Poole and Bonnie Langford.
Gordon Rennie The Kids From Lame?
Is that Howard Jones in the row just in front of you?
Felicity Harper Why don't you...?
Toby Longworth No limit?
Bruce Dessau Ewen Bremner & Gordon Ramsay (both in the back row with you?)
Alistair McGown Blockbusters?
David Brunt Crimewatch?
David French Noel's House Party. You were all auditioning to play Mr Blobby.
David Brunt Bodger and Badger
David French The Banana Splits for Hanna-Barbera.
Richard Cray I think it's the guy roughly in the centre with the white t-shirt who looks a bit like David Easter and the guy second from right in the front row who looks a bit like Kelly Temple. And I'm going for something on CITV (or a predecessor thereof)...something like Magpie or CBTV, but not Magpie or CBTV.
(I'm nowhere near, right?)
Becky Armstrong The Word...?



Kev Sutherland You lot are lovely, and only one of you's got it half right. I'll happily leave you guessing if you want. The winning candidates were Michel Cremona and Nick Laird-Clowes, if that helps.
Gordon Rennie The woman in the front row, next to the black guy with the shades......is she actually someone's mum who blagged in pretending to be her own daughter?
Mikal Dyas The girl middle right with massive hair looks familiar.
Louisa Gummer The Tube then!
Simon Spencer Not The Tube, I made the shortlist for that gig




Kev Sutherland It was, as a few of you have guessed, The Tube. There was an advert in the NME and, I think, Smash Hits asking "Are you the face for the space?". We sent off photos and, I think, cassette recordings (I doubt I sent a VHS, though it wouldn't have been impossible as I was at art college by then) and were summoned to a hall somewhere in London (I didn't know London at all at the time so have no memory where it was. A church hall of some sort.) I don't think we knew the name of the show yet when we were doing these auditions, which mostly involved sitting round in discussion groups talking about pop music and fashion. I recall Magenta Devine being there, though she's not in this group shot. There were other auditions in Manchester and Glasgow, from which they found Mark Miwurdz and Muriel Grey. Jools Holland and Paula Yates weren't part of this process, obviously. The auditions were to find the lower rank of presenters. It was June or July 1982.
Simon Spencer And Newcastle.
Louisa Gummer It would be really interesting to know what happened to all those fresh faced optimistic youngsters - perfect twitter material!
Melanie Berman I was at Sunderland poly at the time of the Tube and successfully auditioned to be a regular weekly audience member/dancer/person to stand next to the stars for a couple of years. It was fab to walk straight in past the queue to get in and to see loads of bands for free! 😀

Comic Art Masterclasses coming up:

Mar 18 - Prema Arts, Gloucestershire

April 5 - Rickmansworth Library

May 7 - Dorchester Festival

Jun 4 - Martlets Hall Burgess Hill

2017 TOUR
Feb 15 - Buxton Pavilion Arts Centre Studio 
Feb 17 & 18 6.50pm - Kayal, Leicester Comedy Fest
March 9 - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
March 15 & 16 - Dram! Glasgow Com Fest
March 23 - The Bill Murray, London
Apr 1 - Rotherham Comedy Festival
Apr 6 - Victoria Theatre Halifax
Apr 8 - Rondo Bath
Apr 13 - Hexham Queen's Hall
Apr 22 - Swindon Arts
Apr 27 - Stroud Subscription Rooms
Apr 28 - Merlin Theatre Frome
Apr 29 - Perth Concert Hall
May 1 - Chiddingstone Castle Kent
May 5 - Artrix Bromsgrove
May 6 - Stafford Gatehouse
May 13 (4.30pm) & May 14 (5.30pm) Komedia Brighton
May 19 - Carriageworks Leeds
May 26 - Aberdeen May Fest
June 2 - Eden Ct Inverness
June 15 - Crescent Arts, Belfast
June 17 - Dalkey Festival, Dublin
June 23 - Hertford Comedy Festival
June 24 - Ludlow Fringe