Nationwide, October 1981 - Full Clip

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I couldn't watch it either on my iPhone through the normal utube page but did manage to watch it on my iphone through an app called mctube in the apple store. I also watched it on my PC later that day. The apple store had an app you could download called mctube that some developer created, it was in the app store for years it allowed you to watch u tube videos but also download them to your iphone cache feature (purpose was to save bandwith and you could watch it offline anytime you wanted while in cache, forever), I had that app for yrs and used it alot, however apple/iphone is so locked down that you can only view it on your phone there is no way to export it to your pc without your phone being jailbroken which mine is not. Recently I believe google made apple remove that app from their app store because of that cache feature (allowing videos to be downloaded to your iphones) so the app got removed and I think it was replaced with a new version minus the cache feature. The weird part is if you still had the old app on your iphone with that feature it remained. I'm assuming apple may remove it from peoples phones with some update in future.

 

[Chris Mills]

The 0.21 sec. clip of this interview on You Tube has been viewed 1,030,848 times. That's amazing. There's a lot of people out there very interested by this.

In the full version of this interview, at the end before showing the video Beechwwood 4-5789, Sue Lawley says that it involves Karen singing a telephone number!!
Wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Beechwood was playing, there was no love lost between Karen & Sue that day.

 

[moog]

Oh, man, I missed it too! Chris- does that mean it's still on your phone?

 

[1979lee]

Yeah I Missed it too. darn it. I'd love to see it.

 

[Nikifor Blavatsky]

This is a 7:36m long version, posted at 07/03:

 

[Dave]

OK, glad to have finally seen this... At least whatever vital features I'm glad to no longer feel I've missed! (Thanks...)


-- Dave

 

[Song4uman]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Song4uman]

I think it is actually back up on you tube

 

[song4u]

This is a 7:36m long version, posted at 07/03:


I guess it just seemed like she was with Tom since 1979.

 

[LondonRobert]

I watched about 5 secs of it and immediately I stopped. From Sue Lawley's ( stroppy woman! ) first comment which contradicted Karen about a 'small vacation', i knew it would irritate me if I watched anymore.
I don't understand why interviewers have to be so forceful, abrupt, unfriendly, accusatory and almost downright rude!
I'm sure if she had been friendly, appreciative, respectful and honoured to interview them, as she should be, then it would have been a much more interesting and 'open' interview. R and K would have felt relaxed and even if areas were 'touched' on the interviewer 'should' easily have realised it was a no go area and moved on to another topic, or had the good manners NOT to ask impertinent and intrusive questions in the first place.
This could have been such a different interview, an appreciative and interesting talk with one of the greatest groups in memory...... Wasted opportunity......

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Wow. Karen and Richard handled that quite well. The interviewer was a little pushy for sure but it got handled. Very interesting and revealing clip.

Ed

P.S.: It's now on my hard drive. Should it disappear again, I am happy to share.

 

[Dave]

Watched the video again... Yes, the interviewer, Sue Lawley, really does have a cold, unfriendly and forceful approach...

No surprise that there were also all those technical goofs, gaffs, guffahs, and even a few groans in the background... Karen & Richard needed those lapses to regain a little more ground on dealing with her, during then...

Still glad I got to see...!


-- Dave

 

[BarryT60]

2:35 - maybe we should take a pass.... Never truer words were spoken... That gal was crude.

 

[cricketer]

Wow! What a find. And presumably this was heavily edited for broadcast, so fascinating to see the whole, slightly uncomfortable, encounter.

I did feel a bit for Karen and Richard as Sue Lawley definitely takes no prisoners in her questioning at the start (although she was known as a fairly no-nonsense journalist so wouldn't have been the type of interviewer to offer superficial questions) and they don't look prepared to deal with the topics raised. What is particularly interesting is whether her line of questioning was just based on lucky guesses or whether she'd had access to some insider information - using the term 'anorexia' straight out is very to the point at a time when people weren't using the term commonly and emphasising the possibility of a 'rift' between them could well have been hinting at Karen's solo album, which wasn't really common knowledge at the time and was something they surely would not have been keen to discuss. It just seems a bit too close to what we now know was going on behind the scenes to be pure coincidence.

The interview does make you feel so sad for Karen though - looking very drawn and having to talk not just about her physical problems but also about a marriage that was in the process of falling apart.

Thanks so much for posting the interview.I do remember watching it on BBC1 "Nationwide" at the time and feeling somewhat unimpressed-I never really liked Sue Lawley but if memory serves : for the first time ever I wasn`t totally impressed with either Karen or Richard during the broadcast interview.......I just didn`t feel that they seem particularly interested or "something" was wrong.
Obviously I can now see what that "something" was.....Clearly I had no idea at the time that Karen or Richard had any problems in their lives whatsoever........I must say I thought it was very professional of them to carry on.
Could you imagine any of todays so called "stars" with all their attendent P.R people putting up with the intrusive and unpleasant questioning!

I can assure you Ms Lawley has been just as unpleasant on other occasions throughout her career in the UK although in fairness she is held in fairly high esteem by certain journalists of my acquaintance.

cricketer

 

[Someday]

Interesting to hear the comment about the new album (MIA) - "we're already working on another one". I wonder if this was actually true and whether Karen had any real input into what eventually became Voice of the Heart. Perhaps by late 1981 they were BOTH already selecting outtakes from MIA to be re-worked? And were the Spring 1982 tracks actually intended for the new album? ...

 

[A&M Retro]

'Now' and 'You're Enough' were recorded for the upcoming album that would have been released in early summer 1983 in anticipation of a summer tour of the U.S. Several tunes were already 'in the can' from the MIA sessions that were to be included in the new album.

Lastly, Carpenters were scheduled to perform at Starlight Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, in the summer of 1983. I knew a promoter from the theater who shared that info with me after the fact. I don't believe an actual date was scheduled, but Starlight was on their agenda.

 

[Must Hear This Album]

I guess I’ll cast the dissenting opinion, here: I think the interviewer asked exactly the right questions (certainly she asked the questions that would have been on my mind at the time, had I been a fan older than 10 years-old in 1981). Relatedly, I saw a Good Morning America interview with Joan Lunden from around the same time, and maybe I’m reading into their facial expressions, but Lunden and her co-host, David Hartman (who closed the interview segment), seemed alarmed and even saddened at Karen’s sickly appearance, yet, not a word about it (who knows, perhaps something was said after the cameras stopped rolling...).

In fact, I suspect that too many people, who were either close to Karen or who worked with Karen, like journalists, tip-toed around the massive elephant in the room - her heartbreakingly skeletal frame. I often wonder what might have happened had folks been more adamant about talking with her about her health, even if she denied it repeatedly, even if it made for awkward moments. I wonder if Karen might be alive today had folks been less worried about being polite and more concerned about having those difficult conversations and helping her.

To be sure, I’m making HUGE assumptions and there are volumes I don’t know regarding the disease and these types of conversations that may or may not have happened, but all of this is to suggest that I don’t think Sue Lawley was out of line; she was just doing her job as a journalist.

 

[LondonRobert]

I tend to disagree with you really, I think if Karen's family and friends and doctors couldn't make a difference, I doubt a reporter she had just met and probably wouldn't meet again, could make a difference.
I also imagine that the interview was supposedly based around the new album and their music, rather than one about health issues and personal matters. I'd be surprised if they would have taken part in the interview , had they known what it would be like beforehand.

 

[Chris Mills]

Carpenters PR team in the UK were always very careful to make sure that when Karen & Richard were interviewed at the BBC, it would take place with someone who liked them, Ray Moore, Tony Blackburn, Noel Edmunds. They always avoided people like Michael Parkinson, who was always very polite, but would never shy away from confrontation, his interview with Meg Ryan is really uncomfortable to watch, but very interesting.

Someone must have realised before the interview with Sue Lawley, that Karen & Richard would not get an easy ride during this particular encounter, Sue Lawley had her own agenda, and wasn't going to toe the line and help promote MIA, she had done her homework and wanted some answers.

Such a pity Parkinson never had Karen & Richard on his show, would have made the interview with Sue Lawley feel like a walk in park.

 

[Mark-T]

I much prefer the kinder, gentler interview style for artists who remained fairly without controversy. Why not save the hard nose stuff for the politicians who deserve to be held accountable for their actions?

 

[Nikifor Blavatsky]

Watched the video again... Yes, the interviewer, Sue Lawley, really does have a cold, unfriendly and forceful approach...

She was a journalist interviewing them, not a fan, lol. Giving out interviews is not a damnation as much as being famous, you can always choose not to, see John Lennon.

 

[newvillefan]

Sue Lawley had her own agenda, and wasn't going to toe the line and help promote MIA, she had done her homework and wanted some answers.

There's part of me that thinks she was only doing what every good journalist would do - getting some answers and to the heart of what they believe viewers will find an interesting story.

Tony Blackburn and co were mostly fluffy TV presenters (Top Of The Pops) and radio DJs in their time, rather than hard nosed journalists, which is why Richard and Karen always got a softer ride with them. I mean - compare the Sue Lawley with this (albeit short) snippet with Noel Edmonds, there's not much comparison.



Slightly off topic, but when ABBA appeared twice on the The Late, Late Breakfast Show in late 1982, they got the same fluffy treatment from Noel (and Agnetha a kiss right on the lips during their entrance!) and suffered a pointless series of banale questions in the latter segment a few weeks later.

 

[goodjeans]

I thought that I was the #1 fan and knew everything back in the day. I knew virtually nothing as it turned out. When Carpenters appeared on the Merv Griffin show a crowd of us watched in the community center at my University. I remember my friend Janet saying that there was something wrong with Karen but I did not see it. I thought that she looked great. I am glad that Lawley asked those questions. I wish that more people had invaded Karen's privacy and continually put her on the edge. Perhaps relentless questioning could have saved her. It seems as though her friends and family tried their hardest but could not break through. Karen loved being in the public eye and "her career was her life". Maybe 'the public eye', the ones who relentlessly teased and mocked her throughout her career could have stepped up and saved her.

 

[Chris Mills]

I know this is going off the subject, but here is a clip from the interview with Parkinson & Meg Ryan...... would have been great if Karen & Richard had been interviewed by Parky.

 

[byline]

I thought that I was the #1 fan and knew everything back in the day. I knew virtually nothing as it turned out. When Carpenters appeared on the Merv Griffin show a crowd of us watched in the community center at my University. I remember my friend Janet saying that there was something wrong with Karen but I did not see it. I thought that she looked great. I am glad that Lawley asked those questions. I wish that more people had invaded Karen's privacy and continually put her on the edge. Perhaps relentless questioning could have saved her. It seems as though her friends and family tried their hardest but could not break through. Karen loved being in the public eye and "her career was her life". Maybe 'the public eye', the ones who relentlessly teased and mocked her throughout her career could have stepped up and saved her.

I was like your friend Janet, in that I felt something was wrong, but I just couldn't pinpoint what it was. I just remember thinking to myself, "She looks old ... as in, older than her years." And, of course, premature aging is one of the side-effects of prolonged starvation. In hindsight, it's easy to see this now, but we have to put things in context. Back then, everyone was trying to be thin ... and most stars were. Heck, Richard was too thin (but for different reasons). Karen attempted to mask her emaciated frame with layers of clothing, but it still showed in her face, which she could not hide.

As for this interview with Sue Lawley, I'm glad that we have it because it's probably the closest thing we have, in the video medium, of emotionally honest reactions from the two of them (even if the words they're saying aren't completely honest). Their eyes and body language speak volumes. I think Richard was just trying to protect his sister, and Karen was in complete and utter denial about her illness publicly (though not, as we now know, privately). So they were not going to talk about these things, even though Sue Lawley kept pressing on and trying to coax it out of them. She was just doing her job, as a journalist, and it's clear to me she had done her homework and knew something about what was going on behind the scenes. Even though I wish she had left well enough alone after the first take, I think she felt certain she would be the first one to get past that façade, and so you can see that she's a woman on a mission, doing everything she can to reach her goal. But I don't think she anticipated Karen's will, or the desperate need of someone with an eating disorder to maintain control and keep it all to him-/herself.