1985: BEEB MAGAZINE ISSUES 19-20

From 1985: the June issues of BEEB magazine, the BBC's not-long-of-this-earth rival to LOOK-IN.

Only two issues in June?

Yup, without warning publisher Polystyle pulled the plug after only twenty weeks on the shelves, presumably having been underwhelmed by the early circulation figures and concerned that sales would only slump further over the long summer with more outdoor distractions, and less top-notch telly, available to kids. 

There's already a sense, just by looking at the last few covers, that the editor was trying to move away from a heavily reliance on BBC properties (many of which had already gone on summer hiatus) to the more rock solid, year round, appeal of pop people. 

But it just didn't work out...

1985: BEEB ISSUES 15-18

From May 1985: the BBC's BEEB weekly issues 15-18, including the infamous must-have-seemed-a-good-idea-at-the-time Gary Glitter cover...

1985: BEEB 10 - 14

From April 1985: A bumper month of BEEB magazines, just as the TV schedules transition from the autumn/ winter season to the "that'll do" summer makeweights.

The Star Age connection is, of course, Peter (Chief Scout) Duncan... who undertook the ultimate dare in FLASH GORDON.

1985: BEEB ISSUES 6 - 9

From 1985: the March cover dated issues of Polystyle's Look-In pretender BEEB.

It's another motley crew of cover stars with Carty, Cheggers, a dog and the self-proclaimed Son of God (and ardent fan of 'V').

It's little wonder that the early circulation figures were somewhat - ahem - soft.

1985: BEEB MAGAZINE 1-5

From January and February 1985: the first five issues of the ill-fated BBC kids weekly BEEB.

This was a belated pretender to the LOOK-IN crown: a me-too title that attempted to leverage the might of the BBC schedules to create a viable rival. It didn't quite go to plan.

Unlike LOOK-IN, published by ITV Publications and a spin-off from TV TIMES, Beeb didn't have the advantage of being inside the BBC tent or the muscle of a best-selling listings magazine to back it up. It was a licensing deal between BBC Enterprises and Polystyle, the struggling erstwhile publishers of TV COMIC and COUNTDOWN.

Beeb tried to be all things to all readers and managed to miss the mark. It felt curiously old-fashioned and lacked the sense of dynamism of its rival. The range of covers in the first month demonstrate this: a dull mix of BLUE PETER dressing up games (of the sort that could only excite Biddy Baxter and the BBC Goveners) and layouts reminiscent of teen girl mags. Hardly something to get young boys buying.

The adventure strips were covered off with adaptations of Glen Larson's AUTOMAN (a short-lived show that had more impact on the BBC ONE schedules than it did in the States) and THE TRIPODS (a more dynamic take on the plodding TV show, apparently from the pen of Pat Mills). DOCTOR WHO was off limits because of the Marvel deal and its tenuous future in the minds of BBC management. Drippy zoo vet drama ONE BY ONE offered neutral territory for boys and girls underwhelmed by action. GRANGE HILL, late of IPC's standalone magazine and SCHOOL FUN, was a predictable choice. Gag strips were supplied by the TBE FAMILY NESS and, on loan from NUTTY, BANANAMAN.

As the cover of the first issue suggests, the feature pages were populated by tie-ins with various other BBC shows including the reliable page-fillers BLUE PETER and SATURDAY SUPERSTORE.

The masthead was rather cleverly in the style of the current BBC logo, although it was far from ubiquitous on-screen and in print compared with modern iterations.

The Beeb name (derived from "Aunty Beeb") was revived during the BBC's early pioneering days on the internet when it was used for the Corporation's commercial website and online activities to keep them distinctly separate from the Public Service licensee-fee funded bits. That overlap and duplication was eventually streamlined away.

Because this wasn't an in-house BBC publication it didn't have automatically access to BBC airtime, an advantage thet LOOK-IN certainly enjoyed. That put it at a commercial disadvantage in the circulation wars. BBC Magazines didn't make the same mistake a few years later when it launched FAST FORWAD, a similar title that borrowed far more from SMASH HITS and the music magazines. That was given what must have amounted to thousands (even millions) of pounds of free airtime by running regular ads in the key 5.35pm junction sandwiched between the official end of CBBC ("except for viewers in Northern Ireland") and the start of the ratings juggernaut that was NEIGHBOURS at its prime.

Copies of this title are surprisingly hard to find, perhaps reflecting the levels of reader indifference back in 1985. I recently came across a complete run... and snapped them up for STARLOGGED.

1985: BEEB MAGAZINE (POLYSTYLE)

From May 1985: A somewhat unfortunate cover (in retrospect) from Polystyle's BEEB.

This weekly was a belated attempt to get a BBC version of LOOK-IN off the ground, built around BBC talent and any BBC TV show deemed of vague interest to the target audience (hence the choice of deathly dull zoo vet drama ONE BY ONE as one of the strips).

The main differences between the two rivals was that LOOK-IN benefited from being an off-shoot from TV TIMES and therefore owned by the network of ITV local operators. BEEB, on the other hand, was published by Polystyle and not BBC Magazines (the BBC Enterprises offshoot that housed the RADIO TIMES) and therefore more arms length from the corporation. Plus: it tried to be all things to all readers and was pretty dull compared to its main rival and the other adventure weeklies of the time. 

Polystyle had previously published TV COMIC, the long-running weekly which (despite a brief renaissance towards the end) they'd finally crashed into a mountain a year or so earlier.  

LOOK-IN was also able to leverage its ownership to bag regular promo slots across the ITV network and helpful plugs within programmes. BEEB couldn't invade BBC airtime in the same way which left it at a disadvantage. The BBC didn't make the same mistake when it launched FAST FORWARD a few years later, giving the in-house mag copious free airtime (Fast-Fast Forward) in the critical 5.35pm BBC ONE junction sandwiched between the official end of CBBC and the start of NEIGHBOURS (except for viewers in Northern Ireland... who opted away half-way through the final bit of Children's in-vision continuity). 

Launched in late January 1985, it vanished without warning after the 20th issue in early June. 

Other strips included Larson-tastic AUTOMAN, THE TRIPODS (a great deal more exciting than the TV show), BANANAMAN (new strips based on the animated series based on the NUTTY character from rival DC Thompson) and - not for the first or last time - GRANGE HILL. 

1984: THE A-TEAM TV COMIC Advert (Polystyle)

 

Apparently not even the persuasive power of the Big Man himself could save the long-floundering TV COMIC... but at least he tried.

The British perennial (launched in 1951... predating ITV by some four years) had looked unloved since the previous decade but publisher Polystyle had attempted to breath some new life into a tired looking product by snapping-up the rights to Universal shows like TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY and THE A-TEAM.  

Ironically, this full-page prompt (which adorned the back page of 1984's THUNDERBIRDS special) probably stayed on the shelves longer than TV COMIC itself did.  The last issue (1,697) appeared in newsagents in June 1984... and copies of the Special presumably remained on sale into September or later.  

Mister T and co. quickly gravitated to their more obvious home... the pages of LOOK-IN (ITV, of course, enjoyed considerable success with the show so it seems surprising that ITV Publications ever allowed the license to go elsewhere) which didn't stop MARVEL UK churning out two specials (in 1985 and 1986) reprinting the US adaptation of the show. 

Polystyle bounced back, ever so briefly, with BEEB the following January.  Their new weekly tried (and failed) to transplant the LOOK-IN formula to the Corporation's stable of shows and presenters.  Not even the powers of David Icke and the improbable combination of Gary Glitter and Roland off Grange Hill could make that one fly...

1985 - BEEB ISSUE 1 (Polystyle)

BEEB was the blink-and-you-missed-it (beginning in January 1985) attempt by publisher Polystyle (who'd recently put the long-terminal TV COMIC out of its prolonged misery) to build a rival to LOOK-IN by - sensibly enough - pulling together a look-alike built around BBC properties.

Beeb (of course, the nickname for the corporation) ticked all the boxes with gushing TV, sports and music coverage, all pegged (wherever possible) to BBC shows likely to appeal to kids (as the cover below shows, that inevitably included BLUE PETER and SATURDAY SUPERSTORE).  It's sobering to think that Janet Ellis was considered enough of a draw to prominently feature on the first cover.  

The comic strips included THE FAMILY NESS, ONE BY ONE (groan), TRIPODS (notoriously, the show that managed to make the occupation of Earth by giant alien war machines seem dull), BANANAMAN (already appearing in DC Thompson's NUTTY but winning a slot here by virtue of the Goodies-voiced cartoon)  and - from the States - the (only) comic strip adaptation of Glen Larson's short-lived AUTOMAN (somehow overlooked in the merchandise gallery on the recent DVD release).  

Beeb closed - without warning - a few months later.  I thought it lasted a mere 12 weeks although online sources quote twenty.  LOOK-IN, launched back in January 1971, barely noticed and soldiered on until 1994.

The BBC didn't make the same mistake again: its next venture into the teens-and-under market, FAST FORWARD (1989-95) was published in-house by BBC Magazines and benefited (until the rules changed) from heavy on-air promotion (Fast-fast-Forward) in the critical junction between the official end of CBBC and the beginning of NEIGHBOURS.