Daphne Shadwell, the pioneering programme-maker and director who provided the title for the iconic 1960s live pop show Ready Steady Go!, has died aged 98. The show, launched on ITV in 1963, captured the spirit of the Swinging Sixties with its catchphrase "The weekend starts here!" Shadwell, one of its studio directors, explained: "Most TV directors counted down 'ten, nine, eight etc.' I was different. I used to end the countdown with, 'Ready, steady, go!'"
Early Career and Ready Steady Go!
The chaotic format of Ready Steady Go! mixed live acts with interviews, featuring teenagers dancing on the disco set and cameras in shot. Its launch presenter, Keith Fordyce, was later joined by miniskirt-wearing Cathy McGowan, whose youthful fashion sense embodied the era's energy. The series ended in 1966, but Shadwell remained at ITV's London weekday franchise holder, Rediffusion, and its successor, Thames Television, for another 25 years.
Children's Television Success
Shadwell worked on a wide range of programmes but found her greatest success as a producer and director of children's shows. One of her first was Five O'Clock Club (1963-66), aimed at under-12s and featuring pop music, quizzes, and hobby items. Hosted by Muriel Young, initially with Howard Williams then Wally Whyton, it also featured the beloved glove puppets Ollie Beak and Fred Barker.
She also directed the anarchic sketch show Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-69), billed as "written for teenagers with adults in mind." Starring Denise Coffey, David Jason, and future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin, along with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the show's madcap humour won an award at the 1968 Prix Jeunesse festival in Munich. However, Shadwell found some of the pre-Python cast challenging. "They wouldn't be directed," she recalled. "Terry would sometimes. Eric Idle wouldn't. I found them very difficult … [and] they felt I was difficult … But it was a shame."
Later Work and Legacy
Shadwell produced and directed The Sooty Show when it moved from the BBC to ITV in 1968, with Harry Corbett operating the bear glove puppet. She recalled Corbett being "locked into Sooty" on and off screen, adding: "He was utterly blinkered. He lived only for that desk, the props, the doll … mayhem used to be going on around him and he never knew." Throughout the 1980s, she directed episodes of the preschool programme Rainbow, featuring puppets Bungle, George, and Zippy.
After Thames lost its ITV franchise in 1992, Shadwell finished her career at Sky, directing the Saturday-morning children's show Fun Factory until it ended in 1994. "It was just my cup of tea because it was just like Rainbow and I understand and like puppeteers very much indeed," she said. "It was like the good old days."
Personal Life
The youngest of four sisters, Daphne was born in Wandsworth, south London, to Mary (nee Winters), a singer, and Charles Shadwell, a musical director who conducted the BBC Variety Orchestra. She began her career as a BBC secretary in 1945, moving to children's TV as a production secretary in 1950. She married John Hamilton, a sound engineer, in 1954, and both moved to Associated-Rediffusion in 1955. John died in 2001. She is survived by a nephew and a niece.
