SOMETHING OF A LUXURY
Growing up as an enthusiastic young angler in the 1970s, such as I was, being able to watch anything fishing related on any of the three TV channels available was regarded as something of a luxury.
From that decade I can remember the two series of ‘The Fishing Race’, a tongue-incheek competition that featured teams of two slugging it out for the world’s smallest trophy, The Golden Maggot. Competing anglers engaged in pranks such as breaking into London Zoo to fish for piranha or attempting to distract their rivals by arranging for a naked blonde to paddle a canoe through their swims.
Then, of course, there was Jack Hargreaves. His classic ‘Out Of Town’ was broadcast between 1963 and 1981, with each episode of this collage of country pursuits starting off with Jack seated in his garden shed, always dressed in outdoor attire. Many of these episodes are available on YouTube and some updated versions are due for release in July.
Video became widely available in the 1980s and many tackle companies and anglers exploited this medium. In 1986, anglers were given a proper treat with the launch of ‘Go Fishing,’ which introduced us to the late, great John Wilson.
This iconic programme ran until 2002, and I made sure that the video was set to record each episode. Many are still stored in a box in my attic. When, in 1993, I was invited to appear with John during filming in Denmark, I thought I had won the lottery.
I’d argue that 1993 was the year that perhaps the most beautifully filmed UK angling programme was produced. That was when ‘A Passion for Angling’, made its debut. A six-part masterpiece filmed by award-winning wildlife documentary cameraman, Hugh Miles, it featured Chris Yates and Bob James fishing for coarse fish. It is as fresh to watch today as it was when first filmed.
Angling TV was all very sedate until a young upstart of a programme burst on to the scene. On September 26, 1993 the first episode of ‘Screaming Reels’ was broadcast. It certainly made for a stark contrast to everything that had gone before it. Nothing short of an angling television revolution, it was a visual cornucopia of all things piscatorial. Like Marmite, you either loved it or you hated it, but many of us watched it.
Initially, I was not a big fan but I would always record each episode, and gradually its fast-flowing, punchy, crazy and absorbing format grew on me.
Even so, it was only when watching many of these episodes years later when they were repeated on digital channels that I really appreciated that ‘Screaming Reels’ was way ahead of its time.
From the very first episode it took aim at what had gone before it. As I said earlier, presenter Nick Fisher pulled the trigger. A quirky East End likely lad character with red hair and turned up jeans, Nick went on to travel the world covering coarse, game and sea angling, often in the same episode.
The first episode featured Nick spinning for pollack in Ireland using a carp rod and barbless hooks. At the time, these hooks were all but unheard of in sea angling. Next we were introduced to the Star Fish, a regular slot that used weird graphics to illustrate the lifecycle of a particular species.
Among pieces with well-known anglers, there was also a slot called ‘Mr Fryer’s Whacky Tackle,’ where viewers got reviews of things like boilie boats. Episode two introduced us to a young Mary Gavin Hughes, then the only female charter skipper in the British Isles. It showed her fishing for rays aboard her charter boat in Clew Bay, Ireland. The episode also included a guide to making pirks from old chrome door handles from scrap cars. Sea angling was well represented throughout that first series, with appearances by Mick Toomer and Alan Yates, with Mike Thrussell making his debut in the second series.
HOW IT HAD ALL BEGUN
I never got to appear on ‘Screaming Reels’, but I did become good friends with Nick, who I took fishing aboard my own boats. I did feature on ‘Dirty Tackle,’ Nick’s popular radio show that he presented at the end of
Sea fishing was well represented in ‘Screaming Reels’. the 1990s on BBC Radio 5. Over the years I have remained in touch with Nick and have fished with him since then, and most recently caught up for lunch, just prior to the coronavirus lockdown, at Seatown, an idyllic hamlet on the Dorset coast.
Sitting in warm spring sunshine while our respective spaniels caused havoc both inside
and outside the pub, I asked Nick how it had all begun?
“My interest in fishing began catching mackerel and cod off a charter boat at Largs near the mouth of the Clyde, but I never fished throughout my teenage years,” he began.
“One morning when I was in my twenties I woke up and found I had an urge to go fishing and I ended up in John Wilson’s tackle shop in Norwich, where I bought a fly-rod,” he continued. “When later I went to Walthamstow reservoir, I had no idea how to use it, and I had to ask someone to show me how to cast.
At the time, Nick’s working life in London was all about selling art-deco furniture in the Portobello Road, but eventually he started writing and began earning a living as a freelance journalist.
“Working, amongst other things, as a television critic, I was also an agony uncle for ‘Just Seventeen,’ a new magazine aimed at girls. This was a big success, which led to the Health Education Authority commissioning me to write a book on safer sex, which I did, but it was immediately withdrawn as it was deemed to be too controversial,” he said. Nick Fisher too controversial? Surely not!
CAREER-CHANGING MOMENT
One day while travelling by train to Manchester to visit the Coronation Street set, Nick had the opportunity to read through a script and it proved a career-changing moment. “I immediately thought, ‘I can do that,’ and subsequently I started writing scripts for various TV programmes,” he said.
One Friday he was chatting with a Channel 4 producer about their respective plans for the weekend, and Nick mentioned that he was going pike fishing. “He really couldn’t understand why anyone would want to spend a whole weekend fishing,” said Nick.
“At the time Channel 4 was well known for commissioning some off-the-wall programmes, such as ‘The Tube’ with Paula Yates, and he asked me to write down some ideas for a programme based around fishing.” He did, the producer liked them and ‘Screaming Reels’ was born.
“At the time I had absolutely no idea what was involved in making and presenting a TV programme, but we just got on with it. From the start we wanted to deliver a show that pushed the boundaries and decided on a magazine-type format covering all aspects of fish, fishing and fishermen,” said Nick.
“Often we would feature celebrities who fished, along with segments on tackle, cooking fish, video reviews and much more. In each episode we used animation and underwater footage, which previously was unheard of in angling programmes,” he added.
From the start the format came under a lot of criticism, accusing ‘Screaming Reels’ of making fun of fishing and not taking the sport seriously.
“At first, I admit this did put me off, but our viewing figures were good, very good in fact, with ‘Screaming Reels’ boasting regular viewing figures between one and one-and-ahalf million per episode. Our show attracted viewers from across the angling community, along with many others who had never fished. The programme succeeded in showing that fishing can be fun and funny, so we stuck with it,” said Nick.
That first series led to a second, then a third, fourth and finally a fifth. “Along the way we had a lot of fun and the show became a big success, but by the end of the fifth series I’d had enough and decided to call it a day,” admitted Nick. The final ‘Screaming Reels’ was broadcast on Channel 4 on July 3, 1998.
Along with his family, Nick relocated to Dorset, where he continues to work, among other things, as a BAFTA-winning scriptwriter. He has worked on a wide range of series including ‘Holby City’, ‘Casualty’, EastEnders’, ‘Crusoe’, ‘Hustle’, ‘Diamond Geezer’ and ‘New Tricks’. Nick also created and wrote the BBC comedy drama ‘Manchild’, the format of which he sold to the USA and Russia.
He’s even had time to write several books, including ‘The River Cottage Sea Fish Handbook’ and ‘Pot Luck’. The latter is a novel based around the Weymouth crab and lobster industry. A big part of Nick’s life continues to revolve around fishing. As soon as possible, I will be driving down to Dorset again to meet up with Nick to go fishing aboard one of his boats. ■