Rock Follies (together with its sequel, Rock Follies of ’77) is a musical drama that was shown on British television in the 1970s. The storyline follows the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the Little Ladies, as they struggle for recognition and success. The series was made on a small budget for Thames Television, with a style inspired by fringe theatre. It was based on an original idea by Annabel Leventon, Diane Langton and Gaye Brown. The fictional band was portrayed by session musicians as well as the three lead actresses (Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington) who proved they could sing; the spin-off album of music from the series entered the UK Albums Chart at number one (exceptionally rare at that time). The songs were written by Andy Mackay, a founder member of Roxy Music. Lyrics and screenplay were written by Howard Schuman.
The second series, Rock Follies of ’77, was a continuation of the first. Industrial action during May of that year at ITV, the commercial channel that aired the show, caused the last few episodes to be postponed until November. The second series pushed the style further in an experimental direction: where the first series had a lot of dialogue and “offstage” scenes, the second focused more on the music and fantasy sequences, with additional songs and musical interludes used to move the plot forward rather than relying on dialogue as the first had done. More sophisticated video effects were also used.
The show was a pioneer in that it was one of the first musical dramas in serial form and also featured all original songs and music. It was also unusual in portraying strong female central characters, and having an overtly feminist message. Some commentators have also pointed out that its format very much anticipates the age of the music video and MTV, being made at a time when the music video itself was in its infancy. The first series won a BAFTA award in 1977 for Best Drama Series; Julie Covington was nominated for best actress, and Rod Stratfold and Alex Clarke were nominated for best design. The second series was nominated for seven BAFTA awards, winning two; for best lighting effects and for best camerawork in 1978.
The series first appeared in the United States in late 1976, when several episodes from series one were shown on New York City’s WOR-TV as part of a “Thames on 9” programming week. Soon afterwards, the first series was shown in the United States on public television and rapidly became a hit, especially in large metropolitan centres like New York and San Francisco. However, the second series was felt to be too “raunchy” for the sensibilities of a public television audience, especially as the first had received a lot of complaints from the public in areas outside the larger cities for its frank portrayal of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. As a result, the second series was not shown on US television until 12 years later.
Two albums of songs from the series were released. The first, named after the series, (1976), was released on Island Records in the UK and on Atlantic Records in the US in 1976. The second, covering the second series, was released on Polydor in both countries. Both albums were re-released on Virgin Records in 2000. The TV series is also available as a two-disc DVD set. The singles “Glenn Miller is Missing”, “Sugar Mountain” (both on Island Records in 1976); and “O.K.?” (on Polydor Records in 1977) were released. The last of these became a hit and reached number 10 on the UK Singles chart. In addition, the second album reached No.13. Speaking in 1991, the three stars commented on the gruelling schedule while working on the series. They stated that for each episode they had to learn a minimum of five songs, as well as perform the dance routines and learn the script itself in a short period of time. Owing to this pressure, they were reluctant to do a third series, although they did say that they would like to do another series at that time, 15 years after the first. Covington said that they were paid £225 per episode.
