Crackerjack

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For other uses, see Crackerjack (disambiguation).

Crackerjack winners receive prizes, late 1950s

Crackerjack was a British children's comedy/variety BBC television series. It started in 1955 (the BBC says 1957 [1]) and ran until 1984. Through its long run it featured Eamonn Andrews, Leslie Crowther, Ed "Stewpot" Stewart, Stu Francis, Peter Glaze, Don Maclean, Michael Aspel, Jan Hunt, The Krankies, Bernie Clifton and Ronnie Corbett amongst many others. Among the women who appeared as singers/dancers, assisting the host with games, were Julie Dorne-Brown (later MTV VJ "Downtown" Julie Brown); Sally Ann Triplett (who as a member of the duo Bardo represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1982); Leigh Miles (also a popular "Hills Angel" in the Benny Hill show); and Sarah Hollamby (now a television news and travel reporter).

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 performed a short comic play, adapting popular songs of the day and incorporating them into the action.

One of the most memorable games was a quiz called "Double or Drop", where each contestant was given a prize to hold for each question answered correctly, but given a cabbage if they answered incorrectly. They were out of the game if they dropped any of the items they were holding.

It was an accepted unwritten rule that whenever a presenter spoke the word 'Crackerjack', the audience would shout "Crack-er-jack!" loudly. This custom has passed into popular culture.

A standard consolation prize to children who appeared on the show was the Crackerjack Pencil (later upgraded to a Crackerjack pen).

The show was introduced with the phrase "It's Friday, it's five o'clock. . . It's Crackerjack!", and sometimes with "It's Friday, it's five to five. . . It's Crackerjack!".

In the mid to late seventies (c.1977) a talent contest element was added to the show. The strand was called "Crackerjack Young Entertainer of The Year" and featured children from throughout the UK who had successfully passed audition stages, get their shot at stardom on the small screen.

In 1982, in a bid to try and boost flagging ratings, Crackerjack introduced gunge into its games and launched a new game called 'Take a Chance' in which the celebrity guests could score extra points for the contestant they had teamed up with. Failure to answer questions correctly led to Stu Francis and/or the celebrity guest being covered in gunge.