Toilet Roll Race

Back
Toilet Roll Race

Sorry, this film is not available for viewing in your region

Unfortunately, due to copyright permissions we are unable to show this video in your area.

Details

Location

Newtownards

Year

1978

Date

15 June 1978 (Txn date)

Length

03min 01sec

Audio

sound

Format

16mm

colour

Source

Digitised as part of Unlocking Film Heritage

Courtesy

British Film Institute, UTV

Rights Holder

ITV

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

A slice of supermarket mayhem as shoppers clear the aisles and Ulster Television’s toilet roll racers get ready for action.

Join Downtown DJ Big T and UTV’s Leslie Dawes as the toilet roll flows through the aisles of Woolco. When Hugh Jones and Mike Morris came up with a winning formula to encourage shoppers to ditch their baskets and load up a shopping trolley, little did they know that a decade later UTV’s motley crew would hijack these widened gangways. The disjointed rushes create some surreal effects so prepare to enjoy some mental editing to decide who wins this race?
 

Notes

At the dawn of out-of-town shopping this Ards hypermarket was an unlikely trailblazer. Violence discouraged most retailers from investing in Northern Ireland however Woolco’s risk paid off. On its opening day people queued for two hours and were individually searched by the RUC and Army before they could enter the shop and start their spending spree. It may be hard to imagine now however shoppers were dazzled by the scale and bright lights we no longer notice during the weekly shop. Jones and Morris’s recipe was a success, this branch quickly topped the company sales tables and their design was rolled out across the UK becoming the layout we are now familiar with.


Credits

This material is Courtesy of the UTV Archive.

Digitised as part of Unlocking Film Heritage. 

Links

×

Please scroll to review and accept our terms and conditions (last updated on ) before viewing the moving images content.

To remember your terms and conditions acceptance, you can register as a site member or allow cookies on your browser.