Colour My World: The Tony Hatch Story - Episode 1

Bill Kenwright presents the first of three programmes looking at the life and music of the head chorister who went on to become one of Britain's leading composers, songwriters, arrangers and producers. Downtown, I Couldn't Live Without Your Love. Don't Sleep In The Subway, Joanna, Crossroads, Sportsnight and Neighbours are just a few of the songs and compositions of Tony Hatch who celebrated his 70th birthday in June 2009 and who was hugely instrumental in the careers of Petula Clark and The Searchers. The series includes an exclusive contribution from Tony, who talks about his life in music. The first Tony Hatch composition to be recorded, Crazy Bells, was by the young Gerry Dorsey - soon to become Engelbert Humperdinck. When Tony joined Pye Records, the label put him on a retainer until his discharge from National Service. This enabled him, uniquely, to work part time during his three years in the Army where he produced and arranged music for the Band of the Coldstream Guards. As a staff producer at Pye during the early 1960s Tony worked with and produced artists as diverse as Mark Wynter and Julie Grant, as well as comedy stars like Benny Hill and Tony Hancock. As his reputation grew he was also asked to write for and produce several American artists such as Connie Francis, Keely Smith and Bobby Rydell. In 1963, Tony brought The Searchers to Pye, producing their first hit, Sweets For My Sweet, writing their second, Sugar and Spice and remaining as their producer for the next few years. It was also at Pye that he began a remarkable musical partnership. After assisting on the recording of Sailor by Petula Clark, Tony became her regular producer. Travelling to New York in 1964, he was inspired to write Downtown and the rest is history. Petula's recording of the song made her an international star and a string of consecutive hits followed, written firstly by Tony and later in collaboration with Jackie Trent, who he married in 1967. Their musical partnership continued with several hits for Petula, as well as Joanna, a hit for Scott Walker in 1968. In 1964, Tony was asked to write a television theme for a new soap opera and Crossroads became one of his best known works, later being reworked by Paul McCartney. He went on to write several successful TV themes including Man Alive, Sportsnight, The Champions and, of course, Emmerdale. Together with Jackie, Tony wrote his most famous TV composition - the theme tune for Australian TV soap, Neighbours. During the 1970s he and Jackie moved into the world of musical theatre, writing the music and lyrics for The Card, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, and Rock Nativity. It was also in the 1970s that Tony earned himself the reputation as "The Hatchet Man", for the blunt way in which he assessed the contestants on the talent show New Faces - a forerunner to the style of Simon Cowell. In the first of three programmes, Bill Kenwright traces Tony Hatch's early years from the 12 year old hooked on the light orchestras of Mantovani and Stanley Black, to the international success of Downtown. The programme includes an exclusive contribution from Tony and we hear from some of the people involved in those early years including John McNally of The Searchers. He talks about the moment when Brian Epstein didn't sign the band and they thought they'd missed the boat, until Tony Hatch arrived in Liverpool and signed them up. Fellow Searcher, Frank Allen talks about the impact that Tony's involvement had on the band's career and Petula Clark recalls the moment when she first heard the amazing piano intro to Downtown.