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Tiswas was an anarchic Saturday morning children's British TV show which ran from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982. It was created by ATV continuity announcer Peter Tomlinson (later to become a regular presenter on the show) following a test period in 1973 when he tried out a few competitions and 'daft stuff' between the programmes. It had a fanatical following among students and parents. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ...
Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born 10 October 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster, television presenter and war lord, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. // Tarrant was educated at the Kings School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at...
Sally James (born May 10th 1950) was a presenter on the ITV Saturday morning childrens show Tiswas from 1977 until it ended in 1982. ...
Lenworth George Henry, CBE, better known as Lenny Henry (born 29 August 1958), is an English entertainer. ...
John Gorman was a member of the band Grimms — the G in Gorman providing the G in Grimms — and also of The Scaffold. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ...
Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting...
January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...
See TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band European networks National In much of Europe television broadcasting has historically been state dominated, rather than commercially organised, although commercial stations have grown in number recently. ...
January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
The word 'tiswas' means a state of confusion or commotion, but the show's name 'officially' stood for "Today Is Saturday, Watch And Smile".
Overview Tiswas took the children's Saturday morning television mould and smashed it to bits, with its anarchic nature, although it began life as a 'links' strand between many 'filler' programmes, such as cartoons and old movies. The popularity of the presenters' links soon eclipsed the staple diet of filler. A cartoon is any of several forms of illustrations with varied meanings that evolved from its original meaning. ...
For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as...
It was originally produced as a Midlands region programme by ATV and was first shown on 5 January 1974. Within a couple of years it had been taken up by some other ITV regional companies, and eventually nearly every region broadcast the show, with Channel Television being a notable exception. Most famously hosted by Chris Tarrant between 1974 and 1981, and later Sally James, it also featured the young Lenny Henry and occasionally Jim Davidson together with Bob Carolgees and his puppet, Spit the Dog. John Gorman, former member of 1960s cult band The Scaffold - was also in regular attendance. On the show, Birmingham folk-singer and comedian Jasper Carrott was to introduce the nation to the Dying Fly Dance and also to many local hospital casualty wards as the dance at one point soared high in the RoSPA list of common causes of household injury. Like its cleaner BBC counterpart Multi-Coloured Swap Shop it had a running order but no script (with the exception of some specific sketches). This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ...
Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting...
The current Channel TV ident Channel Television (CTV) is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television (ITV), contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. ...
Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born 10 October 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster, television presenter and war lord, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. // Tarrant was educated at the Kings School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at...
Sally James (born May 10th 1950) was a presenter on the ITV Saturday morning childrens show Tiswas from 1977 until it ended in 1982. ...
Lenworth George Henry, CBE, better known as Lenny Henry (born 29 August 1958), is an English entertainer. ...
Jim Davidson can refer to multiple people: Jim Davidson (comedian), a British comedian. ...
Bob Carolgees (born May 12, 1948 in Birmingham, UK) is a comedy entertainer who used to appear on the childrens TV series Tiswas and later its adult version O.T.T. Carolgees has worked alongside Cilla Black in Surprise, Surprise, and he has entertained the armed forces. ...
John Gorman (born 4 January 1936, in Birkenhead), is an English vocalist and musician. ...
The Scaffold were a trio from Liverpool, England consisting of Mike McGear (Michael McCartney, brother of Paul), Roger McGough and John Gorman. ...
Birmingham (pron. ...
Jasper Carrott OBE (born Robert Davis, March 14, 1945) is an English comedian (declaring himself world famous in Birmingham). // Born in Acocks Green, Birmingham, he was educated at Moseley Grammar School and later attended Aston University in the heart of Birmingham. ...
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is a British charity which aims to promote safety in all fields. ...
The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...
Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, more commonly known simply as Swap Shop, was a childrens television programme that aired on Saturday mornings in the UK on BBC One. ...
The show was a stitch-together of competitions, film clips and pop promos, just about held together by sketches from the cast. The show regularly featured spoofs of BBC children's programming. The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...
A feature of the show was The Cage wherein initially the child audience, and later their fathers, were confined and periodically doused in water (one spin-off of the show was the hit The Bucket of Water Song, performed by the Four Bucketeers), whilst the show was also frequently visited by the Phantom Flan Flinger, who would throw flans around the studio at all and sundry. Both Tarrant and the Flan Flinger would take great delight in trying to 'flan' cameramen who would go to great lengths to avoid being hit. The Four Bucketeers were an ad-hoc music/water-throwing group from the ITV childrens programme Tiswas. ...
A custard pie is a pie crust filled with a cooked custard. ...
The logo The original logo features the word "TISWAS" in chunky letters. A later version of this logo featured a circle going round the edge with "Today Is Saturday Watch And Smile" embossed upon it. The classic 'Zig-zag' logo appeared in 1977 designed by Stuart Kettle - this initially featured a mechanical bird flying above it, but later Chris Wroe (who drew all of the classic caricatures of the Tiswas team) replaced this with a drawing of the Phantom Flan Flinger.
Series
Series 1 The first series was intended to be eleven shows, purely acting as links between the usual staple fillers of old movies and cartoons that ATV would transmit on Saturday mornings. Presented by Chris Tarrant and John Asher from just a desk in an empty studio, the pair had to rely on ad-libs and jokes sent in by viewers. Image File history File links Tiswas. ...
Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born 10 October 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster, television presenter and war lord, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. // Tarrant was educated at the Kings School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at...
Due to an industrial dispute by technicians at ATV, this initial run was only nine programmes in all, but was so well received that a second series was commissioned. ATV can refer to: All-terrain vehicle, the a personal recreational vehicle normally consisting of a motorcycle-like engine, four balloon tires and a fiberglass body; a four-wheeler. ...
Billed in TV Times as "Today Is Saturday or the Tis-was Show", the title sequence features both "Today Is Saturday" and the original "Tiswas" chunky letters logo, shown over a background very similar to that of The Golden Shot. The sequence featured clips from various films and Disney cartoons, backed by a funky jazz number known as "Atomic Butterfly" (which also seems to have been used for an HTV Sports Programme in the early 70s). The Golden Shot was a British television game show produced by ATV between 1967 and 1975, based on the German TV show Der goldene Schuss. ...
Series 2 Series 2 of Tiswas began from late 1974, and spanned almost every Saturday in 1975, finishing in early 1976. The presenting team was doubled to four presenters, and these were usually culled from ATV's announcing department. Chris Tarrant and John Asher retained their roles as the main presenters, although John would leave during this series. From the ranks at ATV, other regular presenters were established, notably sports reporter Trevor East (now director of sport at Setanta) and announcer Peter Tomlinson, who later became the voice-over man on Blockbusters. Setanta Sports (pronunciation: ) is an international sports broadcaster, operating 12 channels in 24 countries. ...
A game in progress on the British Bob Holness-hosted version of Blockbusters. ...
Producer Peter Harris would leave the show in the summer to help produce another cult TV success - The Muppet Show, at ATV's London-orientated operation in Elstree. The Muppet Show was a television program featuring a cast of Muppets (diverse hand-operated puppets, typically with oversized eyes and large moving mouths) produced by Jim Henson and his team from 1976 to 1981. ...
Elstree is a small village in Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire on the A5, north of London. ...
Series 3 Running from late 1976 to early 1977, Chris Tarrant, Peter Tomlinson and Trevor East were the main presenters. Almost all these shows were produced by Sid Kilbey. The 2 April 1977 show was a landmark edition, as part of it was broadcast outside the ATV region for the first time, on ITV's Wales and West-of-England region HTV, filling up their 'round-the-regions' compilation of Saturday morning shows 'Ten On Saturday'. is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ...
ITV Wales & West Ltd (formally and more commonly known as HTV) is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England[1]. It is owned by ITV plc. ...
Series 4 This series, running from late 1977 to early 1978, marked an end to the provincial macro-budget shows of the previous shows, as the initial edition of this series began with some significant changes. Sally James was drafted in as the show's first regular female presenter. She had been a Saturday morning show presenter over on Saturday Scene, made by ITV's London weekend region LWT. Comedian Jim Davidson was intended to be a regular presenter, but left after a few shows, although he would return for cameo appearances. Peter Tomlinson was axed as a regular, which came as a surprise to him. Sally James (born May 10th 1950) was a presenter on the ITV Saturday morning childrens show Tiswas from 1977 until it ended in 1982. ...
London Weekend Television logo, 1978-1996 London Weekend Television Limited (LWT) is the ITV contractor for London, Friday 5:15pm to Monday, 5:59am. ...
Jim Davidson can refer to multiple people: Jim Davidson (comedian), a British comedian. ...
Chris Tarrant was still retained as the anchor presenter, and behind the scenes was annoyed with the changes, particularly the inclusion of a woman as presenter. However, later on he retracted this viewpoint, having witnessed the progress Tiswas made with Sally's contribution.
One significant change never happened thankfully. ATV management were displeased with the visual slapstick element - the hurling of custard pies and water. They believed this was setting a bad example to the young viewers. Newly-drafted producer Glyn Edwards managed to retain this vital, messy element by drawing on his experience as a puppeteer to create a 'villain' character called 'The Phantom Flan Flinger', who would be the black-clad masked nemesis of the presenting team, and the main instigator of pie-throwing chaos.The "phantom" was Ben Mills a taxi driver from Cheswick Green, Solihull.
John Gorman made his debut in this series, but with just four appearances, it would not be until series 5 that he became a regular visitor to the Tiswas studios. Likewise, child performer Paul Hardin would make sporadic appearances.
The show expanded its footprint further outside the midlands. Not only was part of it was regularly shown on HTV's Saturday morning compendium 'Ten On Saturday', but later on in 1977, Anglia and Border would show Tiswas as a full programme. This wouldn't last for long, as Anglia did drop the show a number of times to pick up other regions' Saturday morning shows throughout Tiswas's history. However, other regions would soon latch onto the Tiswas bug. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Border Television (now legally known as ITV Border Ltd) is the ITV franchisee for the border region between England and Scotland (including the south of Scotland, much of Cumbria and, until December 2006, the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed), and also the Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man, owned...
Series 5 This series ran from late 1978 to early 1979. John Gorman became a regular performer from November onwards.
Bob Carolgees made his debut in early 1979, having been told to go on the show by Irish comic Frank Carson. Bob appeared again two weeks later, and Chris was so pleased with his contribution that he decided to make a regular fixture out of Bob. Frank Carson (born November 6, 1926) is an Irish comedian and actor. ...
Lenny Henry made sporadic appearances throughout this series, but was not established as a regular. Child performer Paul Hardin increased his visits to the studios, and could well be considered as a series 5 team member, likewise Sylvester McCoy who performed surreal comic interludes. Lenworth George Henry, CBE, better known as Lenny Henry (born 29 August 1958), is an English entertainer. ...
Sylvester McCoy (born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith August 20, 1943) is a Scottish actor. ...
Series 6 Tiswas returned to the screens in November 1979 for its sixth series, as part of ITV's comeback. (ITV had been off the air across the nation since August due to a massive strike by technicians.) The show was strongly established in many regions for this series, including the London area, which brought its own problems as London-based viewers tended to complain to the Independent Broadcasting Authority about some of the edgier moments the show had. The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 - cable and satellite television were the responsibility of the Cable Authority) and radio broadcasts. ...
With an almost national audience, the show became inclusive of its increased viewership by making a bigger role out of specially invited viewer performances. Many of these were children who sang songs or performed dance routines. Chris Tarrant, now producer as well as presenter, found most of these contributions to be of little value, until he came across a unique act by a five year old boy called Matthew Butler. Encouraged by his Tiswas-obsessed mother, Matthew auditioned for the show wearing a rabbit costume and sang the song 'Bright Eyes' made famous by the animated movie Watership Down, although his own singing ability was rather poor. Chris found this so amusing that he green-lighted him to appear on the following Tiswas, as well as many subsequent editions. Matthew Butler was a child performer on cult Saturday morning kids show Tiswas in 1980 and 1981. ...
Bright Eyes is a song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel. ...
Watership Down is an animated film directed by Martin Rosen and based on the book Watership Down by Richard Adams. ...
Also appearing a number of times in this series was Norman Collier, the Yorkshire comedian best known for his broken microphone routine and chicken impressions. Norman Collier (born 25 December 1925 in Kingston upon Hull, England) is a long-serving comedian. ...
Another by-product of Tiswas' increased audience was the merchandise bandwagon - an annual book was established, and there was a tour of universities (recognising their adult and teenaged audience) by the Tiswas team, under the name of The Four Bucketeers, which tied in with their spin-off album on CBS Records. This all was born out of one feature of the sixth series - 'The Bucket Of Water Song', which was such a hit with the viewers that it evolved from an intended one-off to an almost regular part of Tiswas. The Four Bucketeers were an ad-hoc music/water-throwing group from the ITV childrens programme Tiswas. ...
Columbia Records is the oldest continually used brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888. ...
Series 7 By now, the budget for Tiswas was increased by ATV, and Chris Tarrant had more of a role in the show's production than ever before. A proper theme tune was created for the show, and the set was based around ATV cartoonist Chris Wroe's caricatures of the presenting team.
This series can be considered as the definitive series, due to the material drawn from this era that usually gets an airing on documentaries and clips shows when Tiswas is the subject. In addition, the three video compilations that have been released commercially, have been packaged around a seventh series theme, with the bulk of the clips also being from this age.
Midway through this series, Chris Tarrant decided to go out on a high, and make it his final Tiswas series. Also leaving him, on the final edition of series 7, were Bob Carolgees, Lenny Henry and John Gorman. They had decamped to start work on O.T.T., a late night version of Tiswas intended for an adult audience, which would debut in 1982. The only regular Tiswas presenter left was Sally James, who stayed on for series 8. Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born 10 October 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster, television presenter and war lord, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. // Tarrant was educated at the Kings School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at...
A late night adult version of the anarchic ITV childrens show Tiswas. ...
Sally James (born May 10th 1950) was a presenter on the ITV Saturday morning childrens show Tiswas from 1977 until it ended in 1982. ...
Series 8 The last series of Tiswas, beginning in September 1981, and ending in April 1982, had its format tinkered with by ATV management. They believed that the adult audience should be avid viewers of Chris' 'late-night Tiswas', and that Tiswas itself should focus on its child audience. With this well-intended alteration, the magic of Tiswas, with its innuendo and knowing winks to older viewers, was lost.
The new presenting team consisted of Midlands DJ Gordon Astley, former Darts frontman Den Hegarty and comic impressionist Fogwell Flax. Veteran Tiswas presenter Sally James stayed on, but decided to quit towards the series' end. This was likely to be one of the main factors in Central Television's decision not to bring the show back for a ninth series. Currently radio DJ for BBC Southern Counties Radio. ...
Darts were a successful nine-piece British doo-wop revival band at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. ...
Den Hegarty (born Denis Hegarty, 13 September 1954 in Dublin, Ireland) is a rock and roll singer. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Semi-regulars were midget actor David Rappaport who played characters such as 'Green Nigel' (in a pastiche of BBC programme Blue Peter) and the Fonz-like 'Shades', Emil Wolk and puppeteer Trevor James with a giant parrot, presumably in a way to fill the void left by Bob Carolgees. David Rappaport David Stephen Rappaport (November 23, 1951 – May 2, 1990) was a British actor, probably one of the best known dwarf actors in television and film, standing at 3 11. Rappaport was born to a Jewish family in London, and soon developed talents in both music and theatre. ...
Blue Peter is a popular, long-running BBC television programme for children. ...
One Nine for Santa, was released by Fogwell Flax and the Anklebiters and featured on the show during December 1981.
At the end of 1981, there was a restructure of ITV's broadcast franchises and ATV was replaced by Central Television although ATV and Central were, in practice, the same company employing the same people within the same studio building. The first part of the final series was produced by ATV; the second part by Central. Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting...
The decision by TVS, the new ITV station in the south of England, to drop the Central-produced half of the last series in favour of their own Saturday morning show No. 73 saw fans of Tiswas picket outside their Southampton studios. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
No. ...
Southampton is the largest city[1] on the south coast of England. ...
Missing/Existing episodes Tiswas was almost always transmitted live and was only recorded in case of any future IBA investigation (as was standard practice at the time). Accordingly they suffered the same fate as a number of 1970s children's shows in that they would have no further commercial use (the idea of home video entertainment was still in its infancy), and therefore many master tapes were wiped for re-use. As a result very few programmes officially exist in their entirety: Those that were kept were often stored in poor conditions, which led to severe picture deterioration and are no longer of broadcast quality. The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 - cable and satellite television were the responsibility of the Cable Authority) and radio broadcasts. ...
However, some did survive; many viewers made their own recordings and in many cases these are the only existing copies of the programmes. Also members of the production team and performers on the show would record their appearances, leading to many episodes existing in private hands. In 2006, ITV began a search for many missing ITV programmes, including Tiswas, for their forthcoming "Raiders Of The Lost Archive" project. Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Their website reveals that only the following is known to officially exist:
Complete Programmes: Show 60 (30/8/75), 4 from 1978, 2 from 1979, 2 from 1980, 5 from 1981 and 9 from 1982.
Incomplete Sections Only: Show 151 (10/12/77), 1x1978 show and 2x1979 shows.
TiswasOnline has an in-depth episode guide for the whole series, detailing where an episode is known to exist, whether as a private home recording or in the official archive. ITV has confirmed to TiswasOnline that many more programme elements (other than those listed above) do exist, but as yet these have not been fully catalogued. This may include insert material such as animations and graphics or filmed clips. Furthermore, the new Tiswas revival programme (see below) may result in numerous further programmes being unearthed.
After Tiswas
The replacement Central's management brought in a new morning show, Big Daddy's Saturday Show (shortened to The Saturday Show on transmission, after Big Daddy was unable to appear - although he did appear in the unscreened pilot). It was fronted by Isla St Clair, folksinger and former co-host of The Generation Game on BBC TV and Tommy Boyd, former co-presenter of ITV's Magpie. Shirley Crabtree, better known as Big Daddy (November 30, 1930 – December 2, 1997) was an English professional wrestler. ...
Big Daddy can refer to: Comic character in Buster (comic) Illustrator and Kustom Kulture pioneer Ed Big Daddy Roth. ...
Isla St Clair (born 2 May 1952) is a Scottish singer, actress and former game show assistant. ...
The Generation Game is a British game show produced by the BBC in which four teams of two (usually people from the same family, but different generations) compete to win prizes. ...
Timothy Leslie Boyd (born December 14, 1952), better known as Tommy Boyd, is a radio presenter and former childrens television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex. ...
Magpie is a town located in Chestnut Cove. ...
O.T.T. In 1982 Tarrant, Carolgees, Gorman, Randolph Sutherland and Henry hosted a late-night show - with the up and coming comics Alexei Sayle and Helen Atkinson-Wood called O.T.T. (standing for "Over the Top") which was effectively an "adult" version of Tiswas - in other words, it attempted to be just as anarchic, but with swearing and occasional topless women. It was not such a success and is today chiefly remembered for the naked 'Balloon Dance' performed by The Greatest Show on Legs, including comedian Malcolm Hardee. A second attempt at the O.T.T. format a year later, Saturday Stayback, was also unsuccessful. Alexei David Sayle (b. ...
Helen Atkinson-Wood (born 14 March 1955 in Cheadle Hulme) is an English actress and comedian. ...
A late night adult version of the anarchic ITV childrens show Tiswas. ...
Malcolm Hardee (born Lewisham, London, 5th January 1950 - died London, 31st January 2005) was an anarchic British comedian, author, club proprietor and compere. ...
Saturday Stayback Saturday Stayback was a late night comedy show based in a pub. Although intended as some sort of sequel to 'O.T.T.', this differed quite a lot as it was all recorded rather than the live chaos of its predecessor. It was mainly comedy sketches, with some live music acts - usually Thin Lizzy and Roy Wood. This had a lot less controversy than 'O.T.T.', and introduced new talent such as Phil Cool and Tony Slattery. It lasted only six episodes. Chris Tarrant and Bob Carolgees were the only ex-Tiswas personnel regularly seen on screen, and John Gorman helped out on writing duty. Saturday Stayback was a late night comedy show made in 1983 made by Central Television, starring Chris Tarrant. ...
Thin Lizzy are a hard rock band who formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1969. ...
Roy Adrian Wood (sometimes erroneously thought to be born as Ulysses Adrian Wood, from a offhand interview comment in the 1960s) (born 8 November 1946 in Birmingham), is a songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. ...
Phil Cool is a British comedian from Chorley noted for his impressions. ...
Anthony Declan James Slattery (born 9 November 1959) is a British actor and comedian. ...
Tiswas Reunion A definitive line-up of Tiswas presenters regrouped for a resurrection of Tiswas on the ITV Telethon of 1988. This took place in LWT's South Bank studios in London, culminating in an outside performance of The Bucket Of Water Song. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...
Ministry of Mayhem In late 2005, ITV's Saturday morning show Ministry of Mayhem had a special edition featuring presenters from past Saturday morning shows, including Tiswas. Representing Tiswas was Sally James, although Chris Tarrant did a video link-up for a brief interview of the show. Out of the cult Saturday morning shows that were focused on, Tiswas was significantly the most prominent, with many clips shown from it, and even a re-enactment of two Tiswas staples - the Cage and the 'Pass The Pie' game. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Ministry of Mayhem was a CITV show which broadcast on ITV1 from January 2004. ...
Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born 10 October 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster, television presenter and war lord, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. // Tarrant was educated at the Kings School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at...
Tiswas on Dick and Dom in da Bungalow In December 2005, BBC Saturday morning show Dick and Dom in da Bungalow featured a thirty year old man singing 'Bright Eyes' with his friends as part of a talent spot. This person was Matthew Lewis, formerly known as Matthew Butler, who performed his unique rendition of the song back in 1980 on Tiswas when he was aged five. Presenters Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood took the opportunity to praise Matthew, as they are fans of Tiswas, and also to dispel recent tabloid rumours of Dick and Dom resurrecting Tiswas on ITV. However, Wood did present one episode of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow wearing a Tiswas T-shirt. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Dick (left) and Dom (right) Dick and Dom in da Bungalow was an Award winning CBBC childrens television series presented by Richard McCourt (Dick) and Dominic Wood (Dom). In the final series, Series 5, five children and one celebrity guest (known as Bungalow Heads) came to stay the weekend...
Matthew Butler was a child performer on cult Saturday morning kids show Tiswas in 1980 and 1981. ...
Richard McCourt was born on 12 August 1976, in Sheffield, United Kingdom. ...
Dominic Simon Wood (often referred to as Dom) (born January 3, 1978 in Devon, England) is a British childrens entertainer, television presenter and magician, best known as one half of the CBBC double act Dick and Dom. ...
Tiswas Reunited – The 2007 Special A new programme was broadcast by ITV1 on 16 June 2007, it started with the traditional ATV logo and jingle. This programme had been delayed from May in order to allow for an extended transmission slot[1]. Celebrities and 'old Tiswas mates' alike joined in the fun. In an interview publicising this, Chris Tarrant put out an appeal to the public to submit any surviving video footage of the series to be included in the new programme. [2] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
ITV1 is the name, in England, Wales and the Scottish borders, for a terrestrial, free-to-air television channel, broadcast in the United Kingdom by the ITV network. ...
is the 167th day of the year (168th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Christopher John Tarrant OBE (born 10 October 1946, Reading, Berkshire) is an English radio broadcaster, television presenter and war lord, now best known for hosting the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. // Tarrant was educated at the Kings School, Worcester (1960-4) where he excelled at...
A DVD release of the show, featuring an extended edition plus a documentary on the history of Tiswas will be released later in June.
From the official press release:
For one night only, ITV1 brings you TiSWAS REUNITED, a one-off special reuniting the stars of the iconic groundbreaking children’s show TiSWAS. With a wealth of clips and reminiscences from the many stars who appeared on the series, the team will recreate the chaos and mayhem of those heady days of the show that broke the mould. TiSWAS REUNITED is new and exclusive to ITV1, spring 2007. ITV1 is the name, in England, Wales and the Scottish borders, for a terrestrial, free-to-air television channel, broadcast in the United Kingdom by the ITV network. ...
ITV1 is the name, in England, Wales and the Scottish borders, for a terrestrial, free-to-air television channel, broadcast in the United Kingdom by the ITV network. ...
Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...
The producers of the programme looked for people who were involved in the original show, whether they were in the audience, appeared as a guest, won a competition ("pulled up by the ears") or in any other capacity. The TiswasOnline website helped with these searches (and numerous other aspects of the new programme), and people could submit their details directly to the production team and apply to be in the cage.
A couple of new logos for the programme were produced. The first is as shown here, the other shows the Tiswas 'zig-zag' logo flanked by the familiar classic caracatures of Sally (on the left) and Chris (on the right), topped off by the word "Reunited" across the centre as if it has been 'Rubber stamped'. This article is about vulcanized rubber stamps. ...
The official Tiswas Reunited 'mini-site' features exclusive material about the making of the programme, as well as blogs by those who took part in the programme itself (guests and residents of the Cage!)
The ITV broadcast referred only briefly to John Asher and Trevor East, the show's original presenters, and omitted to make any reference to the eighth and final series. Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting...
John Mallory Asher (born on 13 January 1971 in Los Angeles, California, USA) is an American actor, director, writer and cinematographer. ...
Merchandise Tiswas was a pioneer for children's television, making its way to shop shelves. Books, t-shirts, a regular magazine, an album, various singles and even a ceramic money box have all been daubed with the Tiswas logo.
Magazine A magazine counterpart was produced with interviews with cast, quizzes and letters. This appeared initially as Tiswas Family Fun Book at the beginning of 1981 and developed into Tiswas Magazine from September 1981 to coincide with the final series.
Annuals Four annual hardbook books were produced in Tiswas's later years. Presenter/performer John Gorman wrote the first three (Published in the Autumn of 1979, 1980, 1981), with Ollie Spencer writing the 1983 edition (prepared Spring 1982 and published Autumn 1982 featuring presenters and characters from the final 1981-82 series). John Gorman was a member of the band Grimms — the G in Gorman providing the G in Grimms — and also of The Scaffold. ...
Video compilations In the early 1990s, three VHS compilations were made available. The majority of Tiswas never survived as recordings, but among collectors, some with the earliest domestic VCRs, and some studio copies of later editions.
These compilations weren't like ordinary editions of Tiswas, in that 'non-original' content such as music videos, film clips and cartoons were stripped out. Original features like competition spots and pop interviews were also excluded, in favour of highlighting the show's legacy to comedy and visual slapstick. The issue of royalty fees may have been a factor in this decision.
Best of the Best Bits The first compilation, lasting about an hour, and purely full of comedy sketches from the show. Some of the most repeated clips from the show have made the grade for this compilation - notably some News Flash sketches with Lenny Henry as Trevor McDoughnut (including one where the target of the spoof - Trevor McDonald - takes over as a surprise) and the 'viewer's letters' clip where Sally James is pied and drenched in semolina, baked beans and custard. Moving slightly away from comedy, the music video for The Four Bucketeers' Bucket Of Water song is included. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...
Sally James (born May 10th 1950) was a presenter on the ITV Saturday morning childrens show Tiswas from 1977 until it ended in 1982. ...
More of the Best Bits The second compilation continued in the same vein as the first. Frank Carson being soaked unexpectedly is a running gag, and there is a full rendition of 'Bright Eyes' from Matthew Butler. A music video for The Four Bucketeers' Water Is Wonderful ends the compilation. Frank Carson (born November 6, 1926) is an Irish comedian and actor. ...
Comedy Capers This was targeted at the stand-up comedy VHS market at the time, and the inlay cover made great mention of comic legends' appearances, such as Spike Milligan, Michael Palin and Bernard Manning. Content-wise, it is very similar to the previous two compilations, with many sketches being performed by the Tiswas team. However, this compilation has no contribution from The Four Bucketeers. Terence Alan Milligan KBE (16 April 1918–27 February 2002), known as Spike Milligan, was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet and playwright. ...
Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. ...
Bernard John Manning (13 August 1930 – 18 June 2007) was an English stand-up comedian. ...
DVD The only Tiswas DVD so far is The Best of Tiswas. Plans for a second volume are pending, based on sales of the first DVD.
Issued in October 2005 by Network DVD, The Best of Tiswas was a straight DVD issuing of the three VHS compilations - Best of the Best Bits, More of the Best Bits and Comedy Capers. Being on DVD format, the incentive over the VHS version is one of picture quality. However due to the rarity of some Tiswas material (many episodes surviving only on off-air recordings) there is some understandably rough-looking footage here and there. Additionally the More of the Best Bits compilation is entirely sourced from a VHS copy as the original VHS release's master tape could not be located in time.
External links - British Film Institute Screen Online listing for Tiswas
- Tiswas Online Recognised by ITV and the members of the original Tiswas team
- TV Cream - Tiswas A brief history and glossary of Tiswas
- Chris Tarrant Fan Site
- Contains a comment on the similarity of the logo for the London 2012 Summer Olympics to Tiswas's logo.
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