by
Simon Austin
BBC Radio Sheffield has remade Pulp’s Common People to mark its 50th birthday.
The station first broadcast on November 15th 1967, becoming the second BBC local radio station to launch following BBC Radio Leicester a week earlier.To mark the anniversary, a community choir, made up of singers from across the region, recorded a specially arranged version of the 1990’s Pulp classic.
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Then BBC Radio Sheffield presenters including Toby Foster and Paulette Edwards were joined by around 300 members of the public to film their own version of the music video to accompany the new song.
Filming took place at various locations across South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire including Barnsley Town Hall, Doncaster Market and a sweet shop in Rotherham.
Some scenes were also filmed on a working Sheffield Supertram. People from around the region got involved in the project, including the Lord Mayor of Barnsley, former MP Jeff Ennis, Bernie Clifton and Michael May, a knife maker from Portland Works in Sheffield. There are also special appearances from Harry Gration, Amy Garcia and Paul Hudson from BBC Look North.
The finale to the video was a large crowd scene filmed at The Leadmill in Sheffield city centre featuring more than 200 BBC Radio Sheffield listeners.
The BBC Radio Sheffield/Common People video was unveiled earlier this week at a premiere hosted by breakfast presenter Toby Foster at The Light Cinema. Invited guests including Sir Gary Verity, former MP for Sheffield Central Richard Caborn, the Lord Mayors of Sheffield and Barnsley and the ex-Pulp drummer Nick Banks were treated to a sneak peek of the Common People video together with a behind the scenes film.
Jarvis Cocker, the lead singer with Pulp, was not able to attend the screening but said: “I’m very honoured and excited that a video has been made using a bit of Pulp’s music as the basis for it. I’m wishing Radio Sheffield fifty more years of broadcasting success.”
Katrina Bunker, Managing Editor for BBC Radio Sheffield, added: “It was really important to us that this film was all about local people and that it captured the unique spirit and attitude that we share in this part of the world. I think the finished product shows that beautifully.”
