Liverpool born Thelma McGough had been in and around Granada Television for many years partly through her husband the Liverpool poet Roger McGough and later through her relationship with Tony Wilson.

She had made a few programmes for Granada as a freelancer and had applied for a number of jobs as a researcher. On her third attempt she was finally offered a job though not before she had had to reproach Mike Scott who thought that she was too old. Thelma initially went to work in the new Liverpool office alongside Chris Pye.

Prior to her Granada days Thelma had been a girlfriend of both Paul McCartney and John Lennon. When Lennon was killed Thelma put together a number of interviews but always felt that Granada missed a trick by not interviewing her who had been closer to the Beatles than almost anyone.

She later worked on a range of Granada programmes such as the Krypton Factor, Take the Stage and Under Fives although she did manage to escape working on Down To Earth. Her fondest moment was doing an interview with Bill Shankly.

After Granada Thelma went to London Weekend Television to work on Surprise, Surprise. She also produced Blind Date and won a BAFTA with friend Cilla Black, a friend from her Liverpool Cavern days.