Thursday 5 October 2017

805 Aids The Facts


First  viewed  :  27  February  1981

As  part  of  the  government's  drive  to  educate  the  public  about  the  dangers  of  the  AIDS  virus, there  were a  number  of  programmes  on  the  subject  on  both  the  Beeb  and  ITV  on    Friday  27  February  1987.  ITV  had   First  AIDS  or  "AIDS - The  Variety Show"  with  Mike  Smith  introducing  various  pop  stars  and  comedians  to  bleat  on  about  the  subject  for  90  minutes .  I  suspect  a  certain  Chris  Morris  may  have  been  watching  but  we  opted for  Blankety  Blank  and  Dynasty  instead.

The  Beeb  went  for  a  more  succint   10  minute  slot  after  the Nine  O  Clock  News  broadcast  on  both  channels . The  odd  duo  of  Janice  Long  and  Ian  Dury  presented  the  then  known  facts  and  half  way  through  Dury  memorably  demonstrated  how  to  put  a  condom  on  an  erect  penis. It's  not  known  if  notorious  rock  groupie  Cynthia  Plaster  Caster  was  responsible  for  the  model  used  but  if  Dury  was  the,  erm,  model  he had  nothing  about  which  to  be  ashamed. I  remember  Sharon,  the  young  junior  on  our  team,  remarking  how  shocked  she'd  been  to  see  it.

There  was  a  debate  hosted  by  the  dreaded  Robert Kilroy-Silk  on  after  Rockcliffe's  Babies  but  I  went  with  The  Last  Resort  with  Jonathan  Ross  instead.

2 comments:

  1. They showed this to some vacuous 'celebriddy' airheads on that It Was Alright In The 80s series recently. Their reactions ran along the lines of 'is this like, a comedy?' No dears, it was a very serious issue at the time *sighs*

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  2. Indeed so, Mark - I'm just old enough to remember the ads and campaigns to get the feeling that "SEX=DEATH!" - through work experiences, I get the impression people today are a lot more lax about their personal safety in such regards.

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