The Big Time (TV series)

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The Big Time is a British documentary and reality television series made by the BBC, consisting of fifteen original episodes which ran from 1976 to 1980. A revised, extended repeat of episode twelve was broadcast in 1981. Devised and produced by Esther Rantzen, and narrated initially by Rantzen, but later by John Pitman, Paul Heiney and Norma Shepherd, each programme followed a member of the public placed in the limelight as a result of their skill and documenting how they fared. Their progress was filmed and sundry professionals in their fields advised the amateur as they progressed. Some of the exploits included an amateur musician conducting an orchestra at the Fairfield Halls; a housewife becoming a television presenter; a cookery competition winner becoming head chef for the day at The Dorchester hotel and preparing a banquet lunch for former Prime Minister Edward Heath; an amateur wrestler taking on professional John Naylor on a bill at the Albert Hall on 26 March 1980 (the amateur...

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