Skip to content
Sir Terry Wogan Remembered: 50 Years at the BBC highlights the career of a man who was a national treasure and an icon of broadcasting.
I posted my own tribute back in January when he passed away, so I won’t repeat all that here, but I also got a mention on the radio back in the day, while Mr Wogan was promoting his new book, Banjaxed, published by the company my granddad worked for, following my ongoing treatment as a result of the defective aortic valve with which I was born, eventually culminating in a replacement in 1994, at the age of 22.
This tribute seems a long time coming, but it adds in a brief piece of footage from his memorial service on Tuesday this week, which was held 50 years to the day after he first presented a radio show at the BBC.
I enjoyed the segments of him on the radio or TV – including Eurovision, The Floral Dance, his Wogan chat show (cancelled for Eldorado, even though I did enjoy that soap), including commentary from the man himself but too often, they keep diverting to soundbites from all the usual BBC heads such as Chris Evans, Graham Norton, Jeremy Vine et al, but only around half of alll those featured are telling us interesting things, and the rest are backslapping. Yes, Terry Wogan was one of the best, but as a programme it needs less of them and more Terry.
There’s certainly a few clips I hadn’t seen before, including a show called Disco but, again, it’s a brief few seconds just as he was sat there on-set, and that’s it! I can’t really give this programme a score out of 10 like a drama or comedy, but while it’s worth watching for the man, it does feel like a missed opportunity.
Sir Terry Wogan was a legend, but sadly, this programme is not.
Sir Terry Wogan Remembered: 50 Years at the BBC is available now on BBC iPlayer, up until October 31st, and click on the top image in this review for the full-size version.
Director/Producer: Lucy Kenwright
Executive Producer: Phil Dolling
Editor: Chris Duveen
Narrator: Alexander Armstrong
Participants: Graham Norton, Dermot O’Leary, Len Goodman, Ken Bruce, Alesha Dixon, Rob Brydon, Fearne Cotton
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.