GAVE US WEEKEND LAUGHS
SATURDAY SUPERSTORE FULLY BOOKED MULTI-COLOURED SWAP SHOP As Ant and Dec bring back SM:TV, we look at golden years of Saturday morning kids’ telly
BBC, 1995-99 MADE in Glasgow by BBC Scotland, this was a summertime replacement for Live & Kicking. Zoe Ball and Grant Stott were the first to share presenting duties. The set was a hotel, with a talking cow called Morag as the receptionist.
BBC, 1982-87 WHEN Noel Edmonds departed, Keith Chegwin and John Craven stayed on with Sarah Greene and Mike Read to front a new-look show, left. It had a talent contest, Search for a Superstar, and kept the Swap Shop phone line. Mrs Thatcher was on the show in the run-up to the 1987 election and was harangued by a female viewer about nuclear war.
BBC, 2001-05 A GIMMICKY BBC reprise of the ITV favourite saw the presenters on one level, guest artists on the next and a house band on the third. There was a weekly themed karaoke contest, with guests singing along to current hits. Initial presenters Dani Behr and Joe Mace were eventually replaced by Fearne Cotton and Simon Grant.
BBC, 1976-82 NOEL Edmonds hosted three hours of phone-ins, music and actual swapping every Saturday morning. Posh Paws, a stuffed dinosaur, was his regular sidekick. Keith Chegwin, pictured left with Noel, travelled around the country, fronting an outside broadcast where kids from Inverness to Bristol could exchange their space hoppers for Slade albums. John Craven, then the presenter of Newsround, popped up with current affairs relevant to the young audience.
THIRTY years after they got their big break in Byker Grove, Ant and Dec are bringing back SM:TV for a special anniversary show.
The kids’ show ran on Saturday mornings from 1998 to 2003 and was a mixture of cartoons, pop music and spoof segments.
“Chums” was their take on Friends, made with co-presenter Cat Deeley. Wonkey Donkey was a weekly quiz, where contestants had to work out the rhyming answer to
BY ANNA BURNSIDE anna.burnside@reachplc.com a picture clue. The two-hour show was filmed live with a studio audience and celebrity guests appeared in Chums.
The anniversary special will feature famous pranks, no doubt including the time Dec pretended to be ill while opening letters for the postbag segment on April Fool’s Day 2000.
He keeled over and producers switched to a cartoon. After the ad break, he revealed the truth.
ITV, 1982-84 THE original host, wrestler Big Daddy, pulled out weeks before transmission and co-presenter, Scot Isla St Clair, had the floor to herself. Ex-Magpie host Tommy Boyd, left with Isla, and Jeremy Beadle also helped out. The second series had a strong tech theme, including an interactive game called Up For Grabs that viewers played via their home computers.