1981: West Lancashire television stars

By Gemma Jaleel on Dec 18, 08 10:21 AM

WEST Lancashire people were appearing on our national television screens in the early months of 1981.

In January Parbold ventriloquist and actor Dawson Chance started his own television show called "Take A Chance".

Dawson's partners on the show included a bull and a donkey in a kilt and was proving a big hit with children all over the country.

He also did quite a bit of acting during the series, which was filmed in London before a live studio audience. That summer Dawson appeared in a variety show in Eastbourne.

Family Fortunes was an extremely popular show at the time and grandmother Doris Couch, of Blakehall, Skelmersdale, took her family along to see if they could win big. In the rehearsal they clocked up an impressive £700 total, but sadly when it came the show could only manage £260.

Doris was joined on the show by her daughter Jean, who lived in Ludlow Drive, Ormskirk, her son Ron and her grandsons Michael and Mark.

At the time Doris said: "I was not really nervous although I suppose everybody gets the collywobbles in a case like that.

"We come from a theatrical background - my daughter Jean is in the Derby player - so maybe we are used to an audience."