The 50 greatest children's TV Shows of all time
RT’s stellar panel of experts have cast their votes for shows from Blue Peter to Clangers – but who came out on top?
10. Crackerjack
1955–1984, BBC
It’s Friday, it’s five to five, which could only mean one thing for young viewers tuning in for competitions, comedy, catchphrases and semi-controlled chaos. During its 30-year run, presenters ranged from Max Bygraves to Basil Brush, Eamonn Andrews to Ed Stewart. Little and Large and the Krankies provided the funnies and Stu Francis gamely crushed a grape, but all played second fiddle to the show’s crown jewel, the much-coveted propelling pencil handed out to runners-up of Double or Drop.
9. Play School
1964–1988, BBC
In a world of simple pleasures for pre-schoolers, toys Humpty, Hamble and co played host to presenters who danced, pranced and painted a lot. Highlights included a film excursion through the round, square or arch window — often to a biscuit factory, a waste-disposal unit or somewhere equally glam. Back in the studio, it was time for a story after checking the big clock, which once went on strike as two BBC unions fought over whose job it was to turn the hands.
8. Going Live!
1987–1993, BBC
For six years from 1987, no pop star’s Saturday morning was complete without sitting on the sofa, fielding questions from a live audience, just one part of a packed magazine show that included comic duo Trevor and Simon, “chef” Emma Forbes, fashionista Annabel Giles, agony uncle Phillip Hodson and, at the helm, Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene — all of whom were effortlessly upstaged by Gordon the Gopher squeaking his way to cult status.
7. Live & Kicking
1993–2001, BBC
Like its preceding Saturday morning magazine shows, this featured a familiar mix of celebrity interviews, phone-ins, competitions, cartoons, comedy and capers, elevated by the chemistry between original hosts Emma Forbes and Andi Peters, and then Zoë Ball and Jamie Theakston, who earned a Bafta for their farewell episode. L&K highlights included the video review slot, Hit, Miss or Maybe, resident leprechaun puppets Sage and Onion, and later appearances by a certain Mr Blobby.
6. Vision On
1964–1976, BBC
For 12 years, this Bafta-winning programme drew a huge audience while maintaining its primary commitment to include deaf children. Embracing visual action over text or speech, presenters Pat Keysell and Tony Hart showcased art, animation, clowning, impressive stunts and the miming magic of a future Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy. Taking its title from the sign in TV studios, Vision On proved it was possible to be sensible and silly, anarchic and inclusive — a triumph of the creative imagination.
5. Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
1976–1982, BBC
There is possibly no stronger image to epitomise children’s TV, or perhaps the entire late 1970s, than that of a bouffant, be-jumpered Noel Edmonds smiling into his red telephone, talking to a small child who wanted to shift her Kerplunk. For 146 episodes, Noel and cohorts Maggie Philbin, John Craven and the irrepressible Keith Chegwin presided over competitions, prize picks, maverick mascots and celebrity slots to create the template for youthful viewing. Will we ever see its like again? Answers on a postcard…
4. Tiswas
1974–1982, ITV
This influential TV landmark started out as a series of links between other children’s programmes but soon eclipsed them as millions tuned in for seemingly spontaneous mayhem. Armed with a running order but no script, presenters including Chris Tarrant and Sally James simply channelled the energy of a studio full of overexcited children, throwing buckets of water over parents, spoofing other TV shows and failing to dodge custard pies, while Lenny Henry built a career on impersonating Trevor McDonald.
3. Newsround
1972–present, BBC
There have been 30 presenters of this pioneering news programme in its 45-year run. For many, however, it will always belong to its first host, John Craven, and not just because it was known as John Craven’s Newsround for its first 17 years. Newsround has broadcast continuously since 1972 and, although Craven left in 1989, it has seamlessly adapted to the digital, multi-platform age. The show received widespread praise for its coverage of the 2017 Manchester bombing, when it once again walked the tightrope of enlightening young viewers without patronising them.
2. Grange Hill
1978–2008, BBC
When Phil Redmond first devised a drama set in a north London comprehensive, he couldn’t have guessed it would become a cultural reference point for a generation. Celebrated for its gritty portrayal of school life, the show made heroes of pupils Tucker, Trisha and Roland, and balanced serious issues with lighter moments. Landmark plotlines included Zammo’s drug addiction, heralding the Just Say No campaign, and, memorably, Gonch and Hollo making off with Mr Bronson’s hairpiece.
1. Blue Peter
1958–present, BBC
Six decades after Owen Reed, then the BBC’s head of children’s TV, first spied the blue and white flag hoisted by a ship as it set sail and decided he had found the name for the a new TV programme that was meant to be a voyage of discovery for the nation’s kids, everyone has a favourite Blue Peter memory.
Whether it’s John Noakes dropping his trousers to reveal his bobsleigh bruises — and his wife’s underwear (he had, according to his own account, put on her pants by mistake having dressed in the dark) — or, Noakes again, clambering up Nelson’s Column wearing nothing for protection but a combat jacket and a pair of flares, or Valerie Singleton working her way through the national supply of sticky-back plastic or, most memorably, an incontinent elephant called Lulu.
At its peak, the show notched up eight million viewers an episode and received 1,000 letters a day from viewers, most of them after that most precious of small screen prizes, the Blue Peter badge. Of which there are, in fact, six types, from blue to gold (the highest award reserved for acts of remarkable courage — or for being David Beckham, JK Rowling or the Queen).
The world’s longest-running children’s TV show — the 60th anniversary falls on 16 October 2018 — may no longer own the ratings, but its cultural significance remains unchallenged.
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