Rugby Special
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''Rugby Special'' was the main
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
highlights programme on the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
in the UK. The show ran from 1966 and past presenters included David Vine, Keith Macklin, Cliff Morgan,
Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is a British Rock music, rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough. Known for his distinctive voice and his slide guitar playing, Rea has recorded twenty-five studio albums, ...
,
Nigel Starmer-Smith Nigel Starmer-Smith (born 25 December 1944) is a British retired international rugby union player, British rugby journalist and commentator. He was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford and University College, Oxford. After university, ...
, Bill Beaumont and John Inverdale. The main commentators were Bill McLaren, Cliff Morgan,
Nigel Starmer-Smith Nigel Starmer-Smith (born 25 December 1944) is a British retired international rugby union player, British rugby journalist and commentator. He was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford and University College, Oxford. After university, ...
, David Parry-Jones, Martyn Williams, Lynn Davies, Jim Neilly and Eddie Butler.


History

For more than 30 years the programme broadcast highlights of several rugby union matches played that weekend. Broadcast at the weekend on
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...
, it moved between Saturdays and Sundays until the 1988-89 season when it settled into a Sunday early-evening slot. From the start of the 1994/95 season, the programme was contracted out to an independent production company
Chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...
after 28 years as an in-house BBC production. John Inverdale replaced Chris Rea as host at this time. The programme ended its original run in 1997 after losing the rights to cover English domestic games, then known as the Allied Dunbar Premiership, to Channel 5, who showed highlights on a programme titled ''Rugby Express''. After one season, the rights to the English Premiership again moved to
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
who showed highlights on Saturday mornings in a programme titled ''Inside Rugby''. The programme returned on late Thursday nights in 2002 but was discontinued in 2005, when it was a highlights programme of Autumn internationals and Six Nations with studio guests and an audience of fans from the Six Nations. But when the Premiership highlights rights were regained from the 2001–02 season highlights were shown on ''Sunday Grandstand''. ''Rugby Special'' returned to the BBC on 7 February 2016, covering the highlights of Six Nations. The programme returned in 2023 again covering highlights of the Six Nations.


Scheduling

*1966–1976, 1980–1981, 1984–1985: Saturday nights *1976–1980, 1981–1984, 1985–1988: Sunday afternoons *1988–1997: Sunday early evenings *2002–2005: Thursday late nights


Regional opt out versions

From the 1986–87 season, BBC2 Wales, BBC2 Scotland and
BBC Two Northern Ireland BBC Two Northern Ireland is a Northern Irish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland as a variation of the BBC Two network. It is broadcast via digital terrestrial transmitters and from the SES Astra 2E satell ...
started their own regional versions. These programmes went out at the same time as the main version broadcast in England from London. The BBC2 England version would still show one or two club games from Wales and Scotland as a second or third match.


Wales

Previously, Wales Rugby Union highlights had been broadcast on BBC1 Wales on Sunday Afternoons under the ''Sports Line-Up'' title, and later as ''Weekend Rugby Union'' with David Parry-Jones as presenter and commentator. He would carry on as presenter when Martyn Williams took over the commentator role with
Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...
as co-commentator. When the Rugby Union highlights moved to BBC2 Wales, it became known as ''Rugby Special Wales'' with David Parry-Jones and Martyn Williams continuing in the roles in the first season. For 1987/88, Alan Wilkins became the presenter though he would also deputise as a commentator when Martyn Williams wasn't available with Martyn Williams as the main commentator and
Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...
in the commentary box until the end of the 1988–89 season. Lynn Davies took over as commentator from the 1989–90 season and carried on until 1995, again with
Phil Bennett Philip Bennett (24 October 1948 – 12 June 2022) was a Welsh rugby union player who played as a fly-half for Llanelli RFC and the Wales national rugby union team, Wales national team. He began his career in 1966, and a year later he had taken ...
as co-commentator when it would become '' Scrum V'' where he would continue as commentator until 1998 when Huw Llywelyn Davies would take over the English Language commentator role for a short time before returning to his Welsh Language commentator role on S4C.


Scotland

The Scottish programme went out as ''Rugby Special from Scotland'' with Bill Johnstone presenting in the late 1980s until the mid-1990s, when the programme was now aired under the '' Sportscene'' banner as ''Sportscene Rugby Special'' and at this point the presenters was Mark Souster until he was replaced by Jill Douglas in the late 1990s and in the programme's final year, former rugby player John Beattie took over hosting duties with Gary Parker co-hosting with John around the early 2000s. The commentator for all live matches and highlights was Bill McLaren.


Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland version mostly covered matches involving
Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...
and was a co-production with
RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
due to the fact that Rugby Union in Ireland is governed on a United Ireland basis under the
Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...
banner. The commentators were Jim Neilly and Fergus Slattery.


Theme music

In the early seventies, the theme tune was "Spinball" by Paddy Kingsland but this was later replaced by "Holy Mackerel" by
The Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...
' drummer,
Brian Bennett Brian Laurence Bennett (born 9 February 1940) is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band memb ...
which was replaced for one season 1988–89 by the Kenny G version of " What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" from the 1986 Duotones album replaced from 1989–90 to 1993–94 by a specially commissioned theme.


References

{{Reflist


External links


Rugby union (BBC)
BBC Two original programming Rugby union in England Rugby union in Ireland Rugby union in Scotland Rugby union in Wales Rugby union in Italy Rugby union in France 1966 British television series debuts 1960s British sports television series 1970s British sports television series 1980s British sports television series 1990s British sports television series 2000s British sports television series 2010s British sports television series 2020s British sports television series BBC Sport Rugby union on television