17 January 2020 (2020-01-17) – 5 March 2021 (2021-03-05)
Crackerjack is a British children's television series which was initially aired on the BBC Television Service between 14 September 1955 and 21 December 1984 (with no series in 1971).[3] The series was a variety show featuring comedy sketches, singers and quizzes, broadcast live with an audience.[4]
Crackerjack returned in 2020. It was hosted by Sam & Mark, with an exclamation mark added to its original title, and aired on CBBC from 17 January. The second revived series aired from December 2020 to March 2021.[5]
Performers who appeared as singers/dancers, assisting the host with games, included Sally Ann Triplett (Series 26), Leigh Miles (Series 26–27), Julie Dorne-Brown (Series 27–28), Sara Hollamby (Series 28–29), Ling Tai (Series 29), Jillian Comber and Pip Hinton.
Format
The shows were frantic, being broadcast live in front of an audience largely of children, originally at the King's Theatre[6] 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 (since renamed the Shepherd's 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. The whole audience would shout "Crackerjack!" whenever anybody said the word.[7]
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 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 II, who visited the programme, was presented with Crackerjack pencils for her children Prince Charles and Princess Anne.[3]
During the early 1970s, high-profile pop guests included The Sweet, Mud, Gary Glitter and, on more than one occasion, Slade.
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. The gunge was always given a name relating to a random theme or to the celebrity guest (Howling Wind for Ian McCaskill, for example).
The format of the final Series 27-29 was revived in all but name by Francis in 1987 for Border Television series Crush A Grape. Francis also toured a live version of his era's format for some time after the BBC cancellation, initially under the Crackerjack name but later as The All Star Laughter Show.
Transmissions
Original
Series
Start date
End date
Episodes
Host
1
14 September 1955
28 March 1956
15
Eamonn Andrews
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
Leslie Crowther
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
Michael Aspel
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
Ed Stewart
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
Stu Francis
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. All of the Ed Stewart (Series 19–24) and Stu Francis (Series 25–29) periods remain.[1]