# Lena (TV series)

Lena was a British television variety series produced by Stewart Morris for the BBC. It was broadcast from 1980 to 1982. It starred teenager Lena Zavaroni and followed her 1979 show, Lena Zavaroni and Music.

## Format

Lena followed a variety format, featuring comedy and music from Lena Zavaroni and her guests. In the first season of the series, introductions were made by Toastmaster Bryn Williams. Lena generally performed one or two song-and-dance numbers in each episode, supported by a dance troupe with choreography by Ludovico Romano. Musical direction was by Arthur GrennSlade, with arrangements by GrennSlade, John Colemen, and Alan Roper. The Kay Garner Singers performed backup singing.

## Episodes
### Series 1 (1980)

| No. overall | No. in season | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | May 21, 1980 (1980-05-21) |
| Lena sings "Happy Together" and "Together We Are Beautiful". Rowan Atkinson walks on dressed as a concert pianist and mimes playing piano. Lena then sings "Elegance" (with a dance interlude) and "Jump Down Jimmy". She introduces harpist Corky Hale and they perform the song "Desperado" then Hale performs a harp solo. Lena closes the show with the song "Singing Splish Splash". |||
| 2 | 2 | June 4, 1980 (1980-06-04) |
| Lena sings "I Wanna Be There On The Opening Night" and "Daydream Believer". Robert White then sings "Younger Than Springtime". Following a dance routine, Lena sings "Longer" and introduces Paul Daniels who performs close-up magic and a sword-though-the-throat illusion with Lena. Lena and her dance troupe end the show with another performance. |||
| 3 | 3 | June 23, 1980 (1980-06-23) |
| Lena sings "Tin Pan Alley" and "I Don't Want to Walk Without You", then introduces Bernie Winters who performs a short comedy routine with Schnorbitz, his St. Bernard dog. Lena and Bernie then sing "Put on A Happy Face" to Schnorbitz. Following a song-and-dance routine (Step In Time), Lena sings "Take That Look Off Your Face" after which she introduces The Three Degrees who perform "Starlight". Lena ends the show with another a song-and-dance routine. |||
| 4 | 4 | June 30, 1980 (1980-06-30) |
| Lena sings "Could It Be Magic" and "I'm a Believer", then introduces Richard Stilgoe who performs a short comedy routine and comedy songs. Following a song-and-dance routine (I Wanna Make The World Laugh), Lena sings "What's Another Year". Fern Kinney performs "I Want You Back". Lena performs a song-and-dance routine (Dance Yourself Dizzy). |||
| 5 | 5 | July 7, 1980 (1980-07-07) |
| Lena sings "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and "Dream a Little Dream of Me", then introduces Janis Ian who sings "Other Side of the Sun". Lena performs a song-and-dance routine (Lazy Bones) then sings "Without You". David Gates performs "Can I Call You". Lena then sings "If a Picture Paints a Thousand Words" while Gates accompanies on guitar. Lena performs a song and dance routine (Jump Shout Boogie). |||
| 6 | 6 | July 13, 1980 (1980-07-13) |
| Lena opened the show singing "Sweet, Sweet Smile" and "The Magic Is You", then introduces The Nolans who sing "Don't Make Waves". Lena performs a song-and-dance routine (But I was Cool), then sings "Even Now". Les Dawson performs a comedy "Sketch with Lena". Lena then performs a song-and-dance routine (Jump Down Jimmy). |||

### Series 2 (1981)

| No. overall | No. in season | Original release date |
| 7 | 1 | April 4, 1981 (1981-04-04) |
| The show opens with a song-and-dance routine (9 to 5). Lena and Rod Hull perform a comedy sketch. Lena sings "Someone I Used to Love" and "It's Only a Paper Moon". The orchestra performs an instrumental piece, and Lena sings "Mississippi Mud". Lulu sings a song. Lena and Lulu sing "Fujiyama Mama", joined by Hull. Lena closes the show with a song-and-dance routine (Don't Stop Me Now). |||
| 8 | 2 | April 15, 1981 (1981-04-15) |
| Special guests Spike Milligan and Sheeba. |||
| 9 | 3 | April 22, 1981 (1981-04-22) |
| Special guests Kiki Dee and Wayne Sleep. |||
| 10 | 4 | April 29, 1981 (1981-04-29) |
| Special guests Little and Large and Gilbert O'Sullivan. |||
| 11 | 5 | May 6, 1981 (1981-05-06) |
| Special guests Norman Collier and Nana Mouskouri. |||
| 12 | 6 | May 13, 1981 (1981-05-13) |
| Special guests Dick Emery and Anne Murray. |||

### Series 3 (1982)

| No. overall | No. in season | Original release date |
| 13 | 1 | 25 May 1982 (1982-05-25) |
| Special guests Grace Kennedy and Brian Marshall. |||
| 14 | 2 | 1 June 1982 (1982-06-01) |
| Special guest Michael Barrymore. |||
| 15 | 3 | 8 June 1982 (1982-06-08) |
| Special guests David Copperfield and Gerard Kenny. |||
| 16 | 4 | 30 November 1982 (1982-11-30) |
| Special guests Frankie Howerd and The Nolans |||
| 17 | 5 | 7 December 1982 (1982-12-07) |
| Special guests Max Bygraves and Randy Crawford. |||
| 18 | 6 | 14 December 1982 (1982-12-14) |
| Special guests Janet Brown and Les Dawson. |||