They managed to avoid mentioning me in any capacity whatsoever.

Interesting that a rerecorded version of Keep On Dancing (legally, technically, not allowed at the time) was featured through the show. Essentially the Rollers story was about producers and writers JK, Bill and Phil and Phil Wainman, along with a gifted and enthusiastic manager, Tam Paton. The lads involved, like One Direction, had a small part in the campaign based on marketing.

No mention of JK's involvement with Clive Davis and how/why they broke in America - perhaps they didn't know about that.

Interesting how The Ramones were influenced by the Rollers - and by JK's first hit with them (which was a cover of a US hit by the Gentrys!).

JK's trick of MILK not alcohol (not a gimmick in my case) was adopted by Tam for the Rollers image - and I have press clippings to prove it.

Amused when Bill says "there was only Beatles and Rollers mania". He forgets the Monkees hysteria, let alone Take That, NSync, Backstreet Boys, One Direction - hey those of us who are slightly older (I think Bill is older than me) have seen this trick work many times. It almost happened for me again with Sons of Admirals/Alex Day.

Osmondmania?

All these 'manias'....hard for somebody my age (51) to really appreciate these events,and to put them into historical perspective.

I doubt if more modern bands like Take Twat,No direction etc got anywhere close to the numbers involved with Beatles/Rollers....a look at the units you alone shifted with yourself/your acts Mr King.... I do wonder what would have happened if you had not been around to gift them their first hit?...By having a genuine top ten hit they had proven they had what it took....without that would Bell have made their great efforts to propel them to stardom?..
....They were not by any means the 'finished article' in 1971......line up changes and image/promotion were needed to get to that level.....would they have been done without 'Keep on Dancing' reaching number 9?...and of course who was the top record producer in 1971?........not the answer 'MOST' people would expect Mr King.

There was mass hysteria for One Direction, Take That, Duran etc, however it was never dubbed a mania like the Beatles and the Rollers.

Unlike many documentaries these days, I sensed a 'positive' agenda was the intention given there have been a couple of 'negative' shows made about the Rollers & their demise - hence the lack of stuff on Tam Paton's negative tactics, Derek's latter-day stitch-up and the ongoing bad blood between Les & Eric.
To be fair, they glossed over all the singles made with Nobby Clark - I'd have mentioned that after JK, Keep On Dancing & the flop follow-up We Can Make Music, they went to the tried & tested Howard Blaikley team who produced the very DDDBM&T Manana, and from there onto Bill Martin & Phil Coulter (who also wrote & produced DDDBM&T). As they were basically faces for whatever producers they were working with at the time, it seems common sense to see that they didn't break through until they harnessed a proper image of their own.

Les McKeown was my first teen crush

I was always worried by his clear wisdom teeth problems which appear to have gotten worse with age.

The Rollers were very much a product designed to make young teen girls fall in love with a group of young men in their late teens and early twenties, who would of course be prosecuted if they reciprocated the desires of their fans.

I produced them knowing full well that one REAL hit and they would sell millions on the back of being young and attractive to teenage girls (I always thought they were rather plain young men; Tam was a potato farmer and had very little knowledge of male beauty). I was apparently wrong. They flopped with their following releases (We Can Make Music was a great song) so I dropped them. Tam pleaded with me, when I formed UK Records, to take the band from Bell. I refused. I was, as usual, way ahead of the rest. It took two further years before they broke in the way I thought they would.

JK2006 wrote:
I produced them knowing full well that one REAL hit and they would sell millions on the back of being young and attractive to teenage girls (I always thought they were rather plain young men; Tam was a potato farmer and had very little knowledge of male beauty). I was apparently wrong. They flopped with their following releases (We Can Make Music was a great song) so I dropped them. Tam pleaded with me, when I formed UK Records, to take the band from Bell. I refused. I was, as usual, way ahead of the rest. It took two further years before they broke in the way I thought they would.

When you worked with them they didn't have Les or Woody or were probably were the most attractive to teenage girls

No I think I just was too far in advance; the time was right two years later. It was always so for me; sometimes many years later the time is right.