Highway - Ipswich 1987

This Episode of Highway was broadcast in 1987.

[@christinethornhill]

So THIS was Victoria Woods' favourite opening sequence ! Apparently her Christmas delight . Dear lady is very much missed . She gave such joy and bundles of laughter , I hope she is keeping her present company in stitches .

[@ashens]

The first 4 minutes of this programme are the reason Ipswich will never be granted city status.

[@watch666]

Hey stuart

[@stephenronan7072]

Nowt up with this. Nice bit of bell ringing. Plus rubber duck doing a nice ballad.

[@NerdCubed]

You can't be both a work of art and a city.

[@techtrashing]

Jackie Chan loves that song.

[@benb6671]

We try are best

[@House0fHoot]

Those first few minutes with The Olive Quantrill Singers - rocking Ipswich’s shopping centre - are a fever dream of fun. Loving the outfits AND the marching about with purpose. THANK YOU! 😆

[@jonasgrumby3378]

I thought it was Dawn of the Dead Mall scene.....they look like zombies

[@sedoniadragotta8323]

A trip down memory lane . I remember when tower ramparts first opened and years later The butter market. I now live in wales but ipswich is my home . Brilliant thank you .

[@sapienproductions]

That's brilliant - first 4 minutes, TV gold. Those mostly middle aged 1980s styled ladies wearing their best dresses singing and choreographed walking to show tunes in a shopping centre, flipping awesome.

[@angelaward3455]

Fantastic singing to listen to, and Harry showing you around the town back then. Thank you ❣️😊

[@11carbuff19572011]

Used to love watching Highway when it first came out in the mid 80s. It was not just religion, Sir Harry was undoubtedly informative, being one of the old school of great entertainers we've had since the war. Loved some of the various routines that appeared, including Sir Harry's duet with Roy Castle at Gatwick Airport in 1984, the song was High Hopes, originally a hit in 1959 for Frank Sinatra. Also Leslie Crowther as the Candy Man on the beach at Great Yarmouth in 1985. Great show it was. RIP Sir Harry & friends.

[@marktrevett881]

What an amazing slice of a view of life from 1987 - now sadly no longer. I was 24 in 1987 and you would think a 24 year old back then would look at this and think "Good f****in grief! Get me outta here!" but I didn't - I actually looked at this vid and took comfort from it - you know why? No morons with their heads bowed and their noses in their phones, no morons with headphones wandering around challenging people to their personal space, no cops with full body armour and automatic weapons, no cctv at every lampost, kids holding their parents hands and not misbehaving. Go to any shopping centre now and it's a major ordeal, clocking every group of 'yoofs' to decide if they're gonna bother you or not, checking out every young bloke with a beard and a rucksack, having to put up with constant reminders over the tannoy system to make sure you take your bags with you and to be alert for suspicious 'packages'. Where the hell did it all go wrong? What the hell has happened to this country? :(

[@ragingaspie7464]

I was probably about 4 years old when this was filmed but I remember Ipswich even in the early nineties was a much different place. Everytime I walk past the old Co-Op opposite the Salutation I always remember the old ladies lining up outside to collect their divvies. Not to mention that entire store was amazing. Toy shop, carpets, fragrances, food, clothing... all in one place! It really is a shame how much Ipswich has declined, as has society really. Well, at least we have our memories!

[@leeshenton7738]

Totally agree with you on this.. We are doomed to hell. Ipswich is now a total shit hole.

[@paulmiles9102]

mark i totally agree with you here would love to go back to the 80s fantastic years they were

[@adamwhite3347]

"There is no strength in diversity" MORRISSEY

[@riggs20]

Is this how English malls are? Much cooler than American malls. We hardly ever break out into song over here! 😄

[@rossgardner9412]

Difficult to break into song when you’re busy dodging gunfire though.

[@mazzab1970]

I can see why Victoria Wood liked the first 4 mins of this. I'm pretty sure it inspired some of the musical numbers in her shows: or the staging of Acorn Antiques. :D

[@labradormcgraw]

Never been religious. But I always seemed to watch Highway. Thanks for the memory.

[@greatomega1980]

You don’t need to be religious to know Jesus. Seek Jesus our Lord & Saviour today in prayer and repentance 🙏😊 Please read John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life…. 🙏🙏😊🕊🙌⭐️

[@rosscobb900]

Wow- what a blast from the past. Great to see my old choir there at St Mary le Tower- and most of the members there before I joined. Good old John Cooper!

[@geoffjoffy]

01:31 - All of the women are wearing either skirts or dresses and ladies' shoes. You wouldn't find that today. They'd be in trousers and trainers or men's shoes!! What a wonderful time back then when women looked feminine. Beautiful voices, too. Thanks for uploading this programme.

[@voicevoice2053]

Nice nostalgic look back. From a religious perspective. Ipswich should be proud that its a cosmopolitan town and everyone lives happily together. Its a nice town steeped in history and some fine buildings

[@ab8jeh]

Everyone going on about the first four minutes, but that performance by Seacombe at 15:25 was spell-binding.

[@stevelundgren2850]

This used to be aired at Sunday Mornings on ITV. Ipswich was like a populous city at that time, now it's just like the small town where I live.

[@kevinfowkes2327]

Sunday evenings, 5pm or thereabouts, the so-called "God Slot".

[@AlbinotheLightning77]

I wish i waaborbin the 1980s i live here6in Ipswich and i was born in 2005

[@andymerrett]

The "people who need people" song reminds me of Joey in Friends doing the speech about giving and receiving. How many times can we cram the word "people" into that song as much as possible?

[@rossgardner9412]

Sunday night TV is the best TV.

[@paul9868]

He talks about the Town Hall and it shows the old Post Office building. The Town Hall is on the other side of the road lol. Can't be bothered to watch the rest of the video if he can't get that right!

[@christineknight932]

chrissy I was the first female security officer at tower ramparts.Now live in weymouth dorset.great memories of the centre where i worked .Thanks for being able to see the video.

[@margaret9780]

Tower Ramparts has been 'done up' recently and is now 'Sailmakers' for some reason.

[@97channel]

The Grattan catalogue had never done so much trade on dresses and skirt outfits.

[@ianrhodes6928]

Once you censor all the gore, 'Dawn Of The Dead' is a very different film.

[@jonasgrumby3378]

I get the reference....LOL.....

[@mmmdananananone]

Ha ha! Imagining Charlie Williams looking at it and saying to Harry Secombe "It's Fat City, brother! How we gonna work it?"

[@taobot8]

I credit watching shows like this in the 80s for making me the proud atheist I am today.

[@mikemanners1069]

You are basing your acceptance or rejection of The Deity based on a cringe worthy TV programme?

[@taobot8]

@@mikemanners1069 No, I was joking. I'm an atheist today simply because I've not seen convincing evidence to suggest there is a god. This program was delightfully moribund though.

[@mikemanners1069]

@@taobot8 Cringe worthy to be sure....especially the Mall scene...

[@Narmatonia]

As someone who lives in Ipswich it's weird seeing the town centre like that

[@riggs20]

Does it look the same? Minus the singing ladies of course. 😉

[@ShaunStephens777]

I know. It’s more lively then what Ipswich is like today

[@Narmatonia]

@@riggs20 Pretty much entirely pedestrianised, plus the singing ladies wouldn’t last 5 minutes with the people roaming the streets these days

[@danbrown67]

It wasn't the Town Hall, it was the Post Office back then.

[@ShaunStephens777]

Wow so much has changed in Ipswich. Today is half empty, but I wish it could grow again YMCA is a good organisation, helping others who need it. And yes I work for the YMCA.

[@paulconnelly4285]

Was this first ever flash mob performance?

[@minimaxi802]

The theme tune sounds similar to Blockbusters.

[@bluesmobilehire4053]

Thought that was Kenny Rogers singing

[@adrianandlaura]

Subtitles at 7:41 “People, who eat people” - it gives this programme a whole new spin...

[@andymerrett]

We're children eating other children! :)

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

It was sometime around 1987 that they began seriously pedestrianising town and got rid of the Cornhill bus terminus. If you go into the Town Hall today on the ground floor there's a photo from 1987 when it was all still in use. And in the old days it was a total free-for-all. Just drive up Carr Street or Westgate Street and park where you like. To be fair my own hometown was like that up until the 2000s or so.

[@spoombung]

I don't want to die in Ipswich. Come to think of it...I didn't want to live there either.

[@danwoodhouse9290]

i dont remember 30 women performing in a shopping centre on Songs of praise thats why highway ruled

[@davidklaehn2938]

Ipswich. Good for shopping. Hope the city gets going again it was good in the years. Good bands, where have they all gone??.

[@zero15388]

I don't know what the fuck is going on but it's amazing

[@FrogmortonHotchkiss]

10:19 I thought this was a still, but it's live footage of an elderly couple taking advantage of all the shopping centre has to offer.

[@ShireWitch]

I had to go and look....Thanks for the laugh :-)

[@riggs20]

As soon as I read this comment, I looked up... and there they were! I had to watch it like 3 times before I saw the woman's mouth move ever so slightly. I totally thought it was a still or mannequins.

[@swifty8503]

ah memories, Sunday evenings and doing horrible homework for horrible school next day

[@Polemicist0]

If you were unfortunate enough to visit Ipswich Town, now, you would most definitely not actually recognise the once beautiful place from this 1987 Highway television episode. For the main county town of Suffolk have, most regrettably, over the past five years, now become both completely infested and saturated with foreign-born immigrants from either Middle Eastern (arabic) or sub-Saharan African countries.

[@mrdrgonzo]

Eh, did he just say children eating other children? At 7:56?

[@marktrevett881]

DG TV - I hope so? heh!

[@TheAmishGamer]

Welcome to Suffolk.

[@riggs20]

Why, yes! Yes he did. 😆

[@bluesmobilehire4053]

Lol that's what I thought!!

[@mightymeerkat3128]

'In a way, the people of Ipswich are a barometer of Britain's success'. We, as a nation, are fucked. (Source: used to live there)

[@harrydiplock6915]

I feel like I need to remake this segment, explaining that god clearly had everything to do with the general downfall of Ipswich.

[@AdjustableSquelch]

@2:38 watch the woman in glasses almost slip over...

[@MrDannyDetail]

I was just going to comment the same thing! From the way she is walking I got the feeling she wasn't used to wearing high heels.

[@AdjustableSquelch]

very probably and not on a slippery floor lol. mind you on xmas day this year my friend almost face-planted walking out to the car to go to the xmas meal. again so rarely wears high heels these days...

[@givemethevalium]

She looks like Keith Lemon as Mel B

[@MrDannyDetail]

She reminds me more of Celia Imrie's character, Philippa, on dinnerladies, it wouldn't surprise me if this lady was one of Victoria's inspirations for the look of that character (and I swear Celia even does the same sligthly awkward walking when she's being Philippa too).

[@docbreaknik]

i typed 'get way high in ipswich' into google and this came up?

[@JamieBarton1984]

Made it as far as Harry Hill's show this evening...

[@tim01473]

Such a great place that’s had its Heart ripped out buy the local councils who have inadvertently smothered its history buy over subscribed social seeking behaviour! thank you!

[@himynameisdani]

Someone needs to check this man’s browser history

[@riggs20]

I didn't realize The Body Shop had been around so long. 7:08

[@stevelambe6963]

This is why southern television lost its franchise

[@msimpson7910]

Bit harsh. Being Ipswich, that had Anglia's grubby fingerprints all over it

[@mpwheatley]

And anyway Southern's franshise ended in 1982, five years before this show aired..

[@stevelambe6963]

Yes of course you're right.

[@marktrevett881]

Steve Lambe - if you look very carefully at the very beginning, you'll see it was a generic ITV production, not from one particular ITV region like Southern television, though I can see why you'd think that because the animated opening graphics does appear to show something very similar to the Southern television logo with a cross in a circle. Good spot though :)

[@iwithoutam9391]

@@marktrevett881 This particular edition of the programme was produced by Anglia Television, as indicated at the very end.

[@adamcrane3571]

Hello

[@zarthbacon]

When Britain really was still Britain. Before it became Britanistan.

[@charlesedwards4160]

You need lots of hot spicy curry shoving into you.

[@bearr3096]

Britanistan? Love it when racists can't even spell

[@SuffolkArtists]

Aw Catherine Happy memories of TFL :)

[@andymerrett]

A very young Georgie Glen there.

[@Polemicist0]

Do you think that those late 1980s / early 1990s nylon leisurewear shell suits will ever make a fashion comeback? I sincerely hope not, as they were, apparently, made out of highly inflammable material.🔥

[@michaelritchie2968]

Why do the 80s always look so 80s?

[@desperatemohammedantheworl5833]

Can someone post a copy with fixed non-painful audio. Mind you, who am I to ask?

[@mistofoles]

Was Harry singing live when this was filmed ? I suspect not..

[@docschlocks]

Stepford wives the musical

[@MarlboroughBlenheim1]

Good god this is scary.

[@christineknight932]

harsh comment,but your entitled to your opinion,for what it was worth

[@rollacoastaride1937]

I used to watch this every week and still can't work out how I ended up meeting loads of stoners, junkies, crack heads and dealers?

[@rollacoastaride1937]

@Reinhard Heydrich nowt

[@Tmuk2]

Bearded fella in the shellsuit at 7:30... wow...

[@maninthewilderness5795]

I am I out of place to say the segment where all those ladies march in lock step through the Shopping Mall is creepy as heck? If I saw that while I was shopping I would wonder what in the world is going on....

[@asl19999]

That is Steve Wilson from Prisoner Cell Block H

[@MrDannyDetail]

Yes it's very creepy/strange. I feel like they decided that they wanted to do the choreography a certain way first, regardless of the distances involved, then the groups of ladies had to basically speed walk the longer distances to make it work. I suppose though that if they had done it without all being step they would have had hold ups in some places, and maybe slight collisions between ladies who were too focused on their singing :-D

[@adamcrane7732]

Good morning

[@janwoods3723]

Hell fire Ashley seabourne I didnt know you were in this

[@aerial558]

How things have changed with shopping and shops? Thanks for online retailing and all those lazy and bored house wives😂

[@carolesmith197]

Fun to watch, shame I can't speak the language here now.

[@bluesmobilehire4053]

That guy with the tash running the drama work shop where he says right what happens next? I would say the wheelchair person gets a shot gun out and says give me all her money SLAG! Then takes Harry Hostage. Why is he singing so loud in a workshop? Bet someone said ere mate turn it down! No one flinched did they? !!

[@thealbagalavanter9986]

I think he might have recorded the audio in a recording studio

[@adrianmadden]

Now I've watched it, I will never be able to unwatch it. I now want to pour petrol all over myself and set myself in fire.

[@Leon-Noir]

Wypipo 😂

[@Polemicist0]

This utterly cringeworthy episode of Highway is, just, so incredibly Alan Partridge-esque. No doubt that both Steve Coogan and Armando Iannucci must have undoubtedly watched quite a few episodes of Anglia Television's utterly awful Highway show as an immensely rich source for good comic material. Aha