Junior Showtime
| Junior Showtime | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Variety show |
| Presented by | Bobby Bennett |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production company(s) | Yorkshire Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 1969 – 1974 |
Junior Showtime was a British variety show for children made by Yorkshire Television and shown on ITV between 1969 and 1974. The series' executive producer was Jess Yates.[1]
Presented by Bobby Bennett from the Leeds City Varieties theatre, the show consisted of song and dance routines in the music hall style similar to the adult BBC show The Good Old Days. Several regular performers would go on to stardom in Britain including Joe Longthorne, Pauline Quirke, Kathryn Apanowicz, Bonnie Langford, Janet Kay, Mark Curry, Lisa Stansfield and Malandra Burrows, later of Emmerdale. One of the regulars was Glynn Poole of the Poole Family, winners of Opportunity Knocks. The show also featured the return of the 1930s music hall character Old Mother Riley, played by Roy Rolland.[2]
In a 2001 poll by Channel 4 to find the 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows Junior Showtime was at number 99. However Jeff Evans, the author of The Penguin TV Companion has also identified it as being amongst the twenty worst shows of all time.[3] The overwhelming majority of the episodes have not survived (see Wiping); only three programmes are believed to still exist.[4]
References
- ↑ Jeff Evans The Penguin TV Companion, London: Penguin, 2006, p.455
- ↑ Rolland's Obituary in The Independent - 26 August 1997
- ↑ Adam Sherwin "Do not adjust your set - these really are the worst shows on TV", The Times, 24 October 2006
- ↑ Junior Showtime, lostshows.com