TV

Lift Off with Ayshea

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"Lift Off with Ayshea" is a British TV show, produced by Granada Television for the ITV network, which ran for 144 editions spanning eight series, between November 1969 and December 1974. Preceded by the show Discotheque, the replacement was originally entitled "Lift Off" and 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. Ayshea Brough had appeared on the earlier Discotheque in March 1969 and 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. The series was produced by Muriel Young, who went on to produce Clapperboard, Shang-A-Lang and Get It Together for ITV Granada. The premise of the show was to showcase music requested by viewers 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 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.