Matt At The BBC (CD/DVD Set) (PAL/Region 0)

During Matt Monro s remarkable career he made nearly seven hundred television and radio appearances ranging from standard variety fare, talk shows, game shows, duet routines, comedy skits, commercial jingles to programmes he hosted himself. Sadly little of this material exists today with only a handful of appearances stored in dusty archives.

This double disc set features an audio CD the bulk of which was recorded as a transcription tape in 1961 featuring the Ted Heath Orchestra. This tape was never broadcast in the UK and so this release see's these recordings coming to light for the very first time in this country.

The second part of this set is a DVD of some of Matt s finest BBC television performances. Firstly the inclusion of Matt s own television show Matt Sings Monro, a thirty-minute 1974 special, highlighting many of Matt's classics including the massive hits Born Free, Portrait of My Love and Walk Away.

Saturday Night at the Mill gives us nearly twenty minutes of Matt at his best and as well as a plethora of song it allows us access to an in-depth interview showcasing Matt s warm gentle manner and keen sense of humour highlighting what made him such a popular return guest across all media formats.

The inclusion of an extract from the Cilla Black Show in 1972 gives us a rare opportunity of seeing Matt perform Curiouser and Curiouser from the film Alice s Adventures in Wonderland. Another guest on the show, Leslie Crowther, joins together with Cilla and Matt to entertain us with a rendition of the specially written skit Crowther, Monro and Black.

Rounding off this fantastic collection is an appearance from a 1971 Morecambe and Wise Show, which includes the track Thanks. Fans across the world have constantly asked where this is available but Matt never recorded the song. Other than this DVD performance the only other rendition Matt did features in the finale of LWT s Whittaker s World of Music but not as a solo.

This set is a very valuable addition to EMI catalogue of Matt Monro repertoire.