BACK ON FAME AS BBC HIT IS GIVEN A REBOOT
touring Europe, Russia and America and had became an established presenter on Scottish TV when she was spotted by the director of The Generation Game.
The show – hosted by Bruce Forsyth and assisted by his second wife Anthea Redfern – had been TV gold and when they quit, bosses were desperate to find new hosts.
Grayson had become a star through the hit comedy talk show Shut That Door! – named after his catchphrase.
And Isla quickly warmed to her job of escorting the contestants on and off and reading “the scores on the doors”, never regarding it as demeaning to women.
She said: “In those days, it wasn’t. I was more like a sidekick. I wasn’t really a hostess because that conjures up images of glamorous women standing with a fridge, like on Sale Of The Century. I wasn’t anything like that.”
By 1981, The Generation Game was being overtaken in the ratings by ITV’s Game For A Laugh. It’s on record that Larry decided to quit while the show was still successful but Isla now thinks otherwise.
She said: “I think he felt he wasn’t being treated correctly by his management. And I reckon he later regretted it. He missed being centre of attention.
“I was fine about it. It had come to its natural end. I couldn’t summonmmon up any more enthusiasm forf theh introduction of marching majorettes.”
She went on to have two children but met Larry in the years leading up to his death in 1995 at the age of 71.
She said: “I always think of him fondly. As years have gone by, I’ve understood him better and it only improves my fondness for him.” Isla now considers herself semiretired. She has released 20 albums in her career and hopes to do another. She has agreed to film an introduction to a documentary about Scottish music but a TV comeback is unlikely.
She hopes that comedians Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins make m a success off theh showh sheh is so synonymous with. It’s exactly 40 years since Isla stood beside Larry in the TV studio to record their first episode.
She said: “I think it’ll be great. People are longing for some good fun that doesn’t involve eating worms or awful revelations about folks’ dirty washing which should’ve been kept indoors. I’ll enjoy it thoroughly.
“But I don’t think about The Generation Game from one year to the next. It was great fun and I enjoyed it. But they weren’t the best years of my life.” The Generation Game is on BBC1 at 8pm tonight. Larry Grayson: Shut That Door! is on ITV3 from 9pm.