Brush Shiels performs 'Old Pal' dedicated to his friend Phil Lynott.
Brush Shiels performs an acoustic version of 'Old Pal', a tribute to his friend Phil Lynott, who died on 4 January 1986. In the late 1960s, Phil Lynott and Brusj Shiels played together in Gary Moore's first rock band, Skid Row.
The performance by Brush Shiels concludes a discussion on drug addiction with panellists Dr Meg Patterson, Brenda Lee and David Lee. Brush Shiels dedicates the song to David Lee and Brenda Lee.
This episode of 'Late Late Extra' was broadcast on 6 April 1986. It is a continuation of 'The Late Late Show' broadcast on 04 April 1986. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
The 'Late Late Extra' was a recording of the end of ‘The Late Late Show’, when the programme had come off air, but debate continued in the studio. This taped recording was then broadcast on RTÉ 2 the following night under the title ‘Late Late Extra’.
Gay Byrne, who was the programme producer as well as presenter, often felt that he had to cut short a good discussion on the show when time ran out at the end and that the show would benefit from having the option to keep the cameras rolling and continue with the debate, or wrap things up. However, he did not have permission to develop ‘The Late Late Show’ into an open-ended programme.
When ‘The Late Late Show’ was moved from Friday to Saturday nights, Muiris MacConghail, Controller of Programmes at the time, suggested adding a ‘Late Late Extra’ to each week’s programme. If a good discussion was underway in the studio, and the time came to a close, Gay Byrne would end the programme, and announce that it would be included in the ‘Late Late Extra’. This ‘Extra’ programme was broadcast on a Saturday night, with high viewership figures.
This arrangement ran from 1985 to 1987, when the ‘Late Late Extra’ was discontinued, and ‘The Late Late Show’ was given the option to be open-ended (RTÉ Guide 16 January 1987).
