Magic Grandad
Magic Grandad was an educational programme which originally aired on the BBC Two Schools section Watch during 1995. The show saw Magic Grandad, played by Geoffrey Bayldon, take his young grandchildren, played by Kristy Bruce and James Moreno, back in time to see historical events and people such as the Great Fire of London or Florence Nightingale. Cheryl Hall also starred in the show as the children's mother.
The programme was said to make learning about history "fun for youngsters" and was aimed at children aged 4-7 years. During its peak. many schools in England used the show to teach young children about history. Despite its popularity and influence on teaching youngsters, the programme ran for only one series, though it was repeated on TV for a number of years after it ended.
In 2003, a new version featuring a new cast was remade for BBC Two. In the years following the programme, a number of educational items were released in the UK including a CD-ROM entitled Magic Grandad's Seaside Holidays designed for Key Stage 1 pupils to learns about history in the same way the TV show taught them. Written by Susan Bolton, the disc is designed for Infant school teachers to teach pupils during history lessons.[1]
In 2003, a new interactive version of the show was released on CD-ROM. Sticking with the original concept of the TV show before it, it allowed users to travel back in time whilst featuring the interactive elements described as extras. The main difference being that the cast now appeared in digital form.[2][3]