Telltale (Rainbow)

Telltale (Rainbow)

Telltale were a group of six musicians who regularly appeared on the first series of the British TV series Rainbow in 1972.

Telltale began with Tim Thomas and Hugh Portnow who were working with the Freehold Theatre Company. In 1970, Tim concentrated on forming a group of musicians and actors, and Hugh joined him a year later. Hugh Fraser, Chris Ashley and Fluff Joinson joined later, with the final member Ted Richards joining the group in the summer of 1972.

The three members of Portnow, Fraser and Thomas also wrote the theme tune to Rainbow. The group recorded a total of 14 songs for the show, including "Shapes", and "Walk in the country".

The band feature on a vinyl LP album released by MFP in 1973 called Rainbow (catalogue number MFP50087), which occasionally surfaces on sites such as eBay.

After series two of the show, Telltale were replaced with singing trio Charmian, Karl and Julian (Charmian Dore, Karl Johnson and Julian Littman) in 1974. And that trio were then replaced with Rod, Jane and Matthew, the precursors to Rod, Jane and Roger and the more familiar Rod, Jane and Freddy.