Crackerjack! (TV programme)

Crackerjack
Genre	Children's television
Created by	Johnny Haddon Downes
Presented by	Eamonn Andrews (1955–64) Leslie Crowther (1964–68) Michael Aspel (1968–74) Ed Stewart (1975–79) Stu Francis (1980–84) Sam & Mark (2020–)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	29 (original) 1 (revival)
No. of episodes	451 (original) 10 (revival)
Production
Running time	40 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Television Service (1955-84) CBBC (2020–)
Release	Original series: 14 September 1955 (1955-09-14) – 21 December 1984 (1984-12-21) Revived series: 17 January 2020 (2020-01-17) – present

Crackerjack is a British children's television series that aired on the BBC Television Service from 14 September 1955 until 21 December 1984 (except during 1971). The series was a variety show featuring comedy sketches, songs and quizzes, filmed with a live audience.

On 11 February 2019, it was announced that Crackerjack would return in 2020, 35 years after it was last aired. It is now hosted by Sam & Mark and is aired on CBBC since 17 January 2020.

Presenters

Through its long run it featured Eamonn Andrews, Max Bygraves, Leslie Crowther, Ed "Stewpot" Stewart, Joe Baker, Jack Douglas, Stu Francis, Peter Glaze, Don Maclean, Michael Aspel, Christine Holmes, Jacqueline Clarke, Stuart Sherwin, Little and Large, Jan Hunt, The Krankies, Basil Brush, Geoffrey Durham, Bernie Clifton, Rod McLennan and Ronnie Corbett amongst many others.

Among the performers who appeared as singers/dancers, assisting the host with games, were Sally Ann Triplett (Series 26; as a member of the duo Bardo, Sally Ann represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982), Leigh Miles (Series 26–27; Leigh was also a popular "Hills Angel" in The Benny Hill Show), Julie Dorne-Brown (Series 27–28; later MTV VJ "Downtown" Julie Brown), Sara Hollamby (Series 28–29; now a television news and travel reporter), Ling Tai (Series 29), Petula Clark, Jillian Comber and Pip Hinton.

Format

Prizegiving on Crackerjack with Eamonn Andrews c. 1958

The shows were frantic, being broadcast live in front of an audience largely of children, originally at the King's Theatre on Hammersmith Road, London, used by the BBC as the King's Studio for live and recorded broadcasts until 1963, then at the BBC Television Theatre (now the Shepherds Bush Empire). The format of the programme included competitive games for teams of children, a music spot, a comedy double act, and a finale in which the cast performs a short comic play, adapting popular songs of the day and incorporating them into the action.

One of the games was a quiz called "Double or Drop", where each of three contestants was given a prize to hold for each question answered correctly, but given a cabbage if they were incorrect. They were out of the game if they dropped any of the items awarded or received a third cabbage. While the winner took his or her pick from a basket of toys, every runner-up won a much-envied marbled propelling pencil as a prize, which became so popular that in 1961 Queen Elizabeth was presented with Crackerjack pencils for Anne and Charles.

In 1982, in a bid to boost flagging ratings, Crackerjack introduced gunge into its games and launched a new game called 'Take a Chance' in which the celebrity guests - one female, one male - could score extra points for the contestant they teamed up with by competing against Stu Francis in a quickfire question tie. A wrong answer or the opponent answering first would lead to Francis or the celebrity guest being covered in gunge.

Cancellation

Crackerjack was cancelled in 1984 at the same time as many other long-running series, in an overhaul of the BBC Children's department.

In 1987 Stu Francis hosted Crush a Grape on ITV, which followed a similar format to his era of Crackerjack. It lasted for two series.

Transmissions

Original

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	14 September 1955	28 March 1956	15
2	12 September 1956	20 March 1957	14
3	9 October 1957	19 March 1958	12
4	10 September 1958	4 March 1959	13
5	1 October 1959	31 March 1960	14
6	29 September 1960	27 April 1961	16
7	19 October 1961	3 May 1962	15
8	13 September 1962	25 April 1963	17
9	26 September 1963	7 May 1964	17
10	9 October 1964	26 March 1965	23
11	1 October 1965	25 March 1966	26
12	7 October 1966	31 March 1967	26
13	6 October 1967	16 February 1968	20
14	13 September 1968	14 March 1969	26
15	26 September 1969	13 February 1970	19
16	7 January 1972	31 March 1972	13
17	2 February 1973	20 April 1973	12
18	4 January 1974	29 March 1974	13
19	3 January 1975	31 March 1975	13
20	24 December 1975	26 March 1976	14
21	7 January 1977	1 April 1977	13
22	6 January 1978	7 April 1978	14
23	29 September 1978	15 December 1978	12
24	28 September 1979	14 December 1979	13
25	26 September 1980	19 December 1980	13
26	2 October 1981	18 December 1981	12
27	22 October 1982	24 December 1982	10
28	30 September 1983	23 December 1983	13
29	28 September 1984	21 December 1984	13

Only 148 out of 451 episodes from the original 29 series of the show survive in the BBC archives. The earliest episode known to exist is Episode 12 of series 3 with Eamonn Andrews; of his tenure, Episode 16 of Series 6, Episode 2 of Series 7, Episode 3 of Series 8 and Episodes 1 and 17 of Series 9 also survive. None of the Leslie Crowther episodes are known to exist, and two episodes only (Episodes 12-13 of Series 18) of the Michael Aspel period survive. However, all of the Ed Stewart (Series 19-24) and Stu Francis (Series 25-29) periods remain.

Revival

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	17 January 2020	20 March 2020	10
2	TBA	TBA	TBA

External links

• Crackerjack! at BBC Online
• Crackerjack! at IMDb
• Crackerjack at BFI
• Crackerjack! at UKGameshows.com