In researching this famous cellar club, it has been said by some that a television film crew was seen at Iron Door. Up until recently, however, the details of this event were sketchy. As time goes by, and as the nostalgia takes over some events loom larger than life. Moreover, still others may not have happened at all. So what is all this talk about filming at The Door then?

One of the great joys of having a historical site such as this, is the opportunity to reach those who have experienced the Iron Door first hand. David Boyce of The Roadrunners has kindly sent in his memories of the television pilot "Scaffold Cellar." In addition to validating the claims that just such an event took place at the Iron Door, he is able to provide us with some interesting details and a timeframe surrounding this historic moment. David writes

"The Iron Door wasn't really our scene as its regulars were a bit older and a bit rougher than our two fan bases "teenage office workers" at The Cavern and 'the arty crowd' up at Hope Hall.

I think that our only appearance there was not a public gig, but a recording of a pilot for a TV series "The Scaffold Cellar". This was before The Scaffold did music and was a to be a spin off from a late night comedy / chat/ music show called "Gazette" which Roy Bottomly, Tom Brennan and Lloyd Shirley had produced on Saturdays for ABC-TV in Manchester. The series never happened. They were using the Iron Door rather than Hope Hall because it was larger and a better lay-out for the cameras.

The other artists in the pilot were The Scaffold, a female actress comedian whose name I can't remember and The Vernons Girls. The Roadrunners were to be the house-band with our own spot as well as backing Roger McGough on some of his poetry-blues stuff and taking part in some of the sketches.

It must have been early 1964 as Dave Percy was still with the group. Dave Berry who was in the invited audience had recently had a hit with "Little Things" and I think he joined in the finale, inevitably an "all-star jam" of Mojo. An interesting footnote is that instead of going with "Scaffold Cellar" the Bottomly, Brennan, Shirley partnership went on to create Britains first nationwide American style chat-show 'The Eammon Andrews Show'."

Thanks goes out to The Roadrunners and to David Boyce who was drumming for the group at the time. David makes comment on the patrons being "a bit older and a bit rougher." This is a topic that will be explored further in future articles on the site.