Saturday Banana
Encyclopedia
The Saturday Banana was a Saturday morning children's television show produced by Southern Television
for ITV
and presented by Goodies
star Bill Oddie
. Oddie also wrote and sang the theme tune. The series began on July 8 1978, running through the summer and continuing up to December, with a Christmas Special.
According to a TV Times
interview with presenter Bill Oddie when the show was aired, it was to have been named The Saturday Bonanza, but was renamed due to poor handwriting being mis-read.
Saturday Banana was shown by several ITV stations including Anglia
, Border
, HTV
, LWT
, STV
, Southern , Westward and Yorkshire
. For its first run, the series was available to ITV companies at the same time as the popular Tiswas
, so whether the viewer saw Tiswas or Banana was up to their regional ITV station. For the series' second run in 1979, only Southern and Anglia broadcast the show while most other regions screened Tiswas.
As was a common practice within television at that time, the policy of Southern TV was to wipe any videotape recording of contemporary non-news programming, due to the high cost of videotape. Children's shows were often wiped as it was thought they would have little future value, and consequently little remains of Saturday Banana on broadcast quality
master tape
. However the final episode before Christmas
, 1979 remains in its entirety along with a sequence from 1978 which features Bill talking to George Chakiris, a discussion of fruitbats, some snake and toad sequences and presenter Bill Gamon briefly chatting to then chart toppers Sparks
. A 'chart rundown' is also shown, with clips of the top ten played while the camera pans over the young audience members. A second edition exists in the Wessex Film Archive, in mediocre quality, copied from a domestic video recording.
The robot Metal Mickey
first appeared on the Saturday Banana and went on to star in his own sitcom on London Weekend Television
from 1980 to 1983. Bill Oddie returned to The Goodies.
's Northam, Southampton
studios, with occasional film inserts. The show took over from Our Show, another Saturday morning kids' programme, and Susan Tully
, one of the young hosts of Our Show, came to Southampton and stayed with Banana.
Presenters wore bright yellow T shirts with the Banana logo, and metal circular badges, firstly on yellow backdrops, then mass-produced on red backdrops, were issued to both guests and the child audience chosen from local schools. For the programme, Southern Television built a giant yellow, peeled banana, which they placed in front of their studios, and which often featured in opening titles and in the background of any item where the cameras were taken outside the building. Around six opening title sequences were pre-recorded, backed by Oddie's theme song, including a one-off Christmas Special sequence.
Items featured on the show included a weekly chart rundown, with guest pop groups miming their latest hits, then being interviewed after being forced to slide down half of the main interior set. Children could also write-in with their 'dream activities', which show researchers would attempt to grant. One such feature saw Bill Oddie wrestle a small child in a side-sealed square filled with a foot of mud-coloured 'gunge'.
Saturday Banana featured a version of the children's television game show Runaround
, made famous by comedian host Mike Reid
, later to star in BBC's EastEnders
. But for Banana, one of the programme researchers who doubled as a presenter, Bill Gamon, hosted the madcap quiz.
On one show, West Side Story
star George Chakiris
, then starring in 'Passion of Dracula' in a London production at the Queen's Theatre
, opened the show by being driven, in a horse-drawn hearse, across Northam Bridge
(by the studios), bringing startled drivers to a virtual halt.
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and presented by Goodies
The Goodies
The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
star Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie
William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
. Oddie also wrote and sang the theme tune. The series began on July 8 1978, running through the summer and continuing up to December, with a Christmas Special.
According to a TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
interview with presenter Bill Oddie when the show was aired, it was to have been named The Saturday Bonanza, but was renamed due to poor handwriting being mis-read.
Saturday Banana was shown by several ITV stations including Anglia
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
, Border
Border Television
Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
, HTV
HTV
HTV, now legally known as ITV Wales & West, is the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, which operated from studios in Cardiff and Bristol. The company provided commercial television for the dual-region 'Wales and West' franchise, which it won from TWW in 1968...
, LWT
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
, STV
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
, Southern , Westward and Yorkshire
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
. For its first run, the series was available to ITV companies at the same time as the popular Tiswas
Tiswas
Tiswas was a Saturday morning children's British television series which ran from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982 and was produced for the ITV network by ATV Network Limited....
, so whether the viewer saw Tiswas or Banana was up to their regional ITV station. For the series' second run in 1979, only Southern and Anglia broadcast the show while most other regions screened Tiswas.
As was a common practice within television at that time, the policy of Southern TV was to wipe any videotape recording of contemporary non-news programming, due to the high cost of videotape. Children's shows were often wiped as it was thought they would have little future value, and consequently little remains of Saturday Banana on broadcast quality
Broadcast quality
Broadcast Quality is an term stemming from quad videotape to denote the quality achieved by professional video cameras and time base correctors used for broadcast television, usually in standard definition...
master tape
2 inch Quadruplex videotape
2-inch quadruplex videotape was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording videotape format. It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by Ampex, an American company based in Redwood City, California...
. However the final episode before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, 1979 remains in its entirety along with a sequence from 1978 which features Bill talking to George Chakiris, a discussion of fruitbats, some snake and toad sequences and presenter Bill Gamon briefly chatting to then chart toppers Sparks
Sparks (band)
Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
. A 'chart rundown' is also shown, with clips of the top ten played while the camera pans over the young audience members. A second edition exists in the Wessex Film Archive, in mediocre quality, copied from a domestic video recording.
The robot Metal Mickey
Metal Mickey
thumb|Metal Mickey, a robot character on UK children's television in the 1980sMetal Mickey was a five-foot-tall fictional robot, which was created, controlled and voiced by Johnny Edward. A modernised vision of a 1950s space toy, Metal Mickey first appeared on British television in the ITV...
first appeared on the Saturday Banana and went on to star in his own sitcom on London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
from 1980 to 1983. Bill Oddie returned to The Goodies.
Features
The programme was broadcast live from Southern TelevisionSouthern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
's Northam, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
studios, with occasional film inserts. The show took over from Our Show, another Saturday morning kids' programme, and Susan Tully
Susan Tully
Susan Tully is an English television producer, director and former actress.Her most prominent television roles to date have been those of single mother Michelle Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders and her pivotal part in early Grange Hill...
, one of the young hosts of Our Show, came to Southampton and stayed with Banana.
Presenters wore bright yellow T shirts with the Banana logo, and metal circular badges, firstly on yellow backdrops, then mass-produced on red backdrops, were issued to both guests and the child audience chosen from local schools. For the programme, Southern Television built a giant yellow, peeled banana, which they placed in front of their studios, and which often featured in opening titles and in the background of any item where the cameras were taken outside the building. Around six opening title sequences were pre-recorded, backed by Oddie's theme song, including a one-off Christmas Special sequence.
Items featured on the show included a weekly chart rundown, with guest pop groups miming their latest hits, then being interviewed after being forced to slide down half of the main interior set. Children could also write-in with their 'dream activities', which show researchers would attempt to grant. One such feature saw Bill Oddie wrestle a small child in a side-sealed square filled with a foot of mud-coloured 'gunge'.
Saturday Banana featured a version of the children's television game show Runaround
Runaround (game show)
Runaround was a children's television game show produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions. The program was hosted by Paul Winchell, airing Saturday mornings on NBC from September 9, 1972 to September 1, 1973...
, made famous by comedian host Mike Reid
Mike Reid (entertainer)
Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...
, later to star in BBC's EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. But for Banana, one of the programme researchers who doubled as a presenter, Bill Gamon, hosted the madcap quiz.
On one show, West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
star George Chakiris
George Chakiris
George Chakiris is an American-Greek dancer, singer and actor.-Early life:Chakiris was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Steven and Zoe Chakiris, immigrants from Greece. Chakiris studied at the American School of Dance....
, then starring in 'Passion of Dracula' in a London production at the Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre
The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
, opened the show by being driven, in a horse-drawn hearse, across Northam Bridge
Northam Bridge
The Northam Bridge is a road bridge across the River Itchen in Southampton, England, linking the suburbs of Northam and Bitterne Manor. The current bridge was the first major prestressed concrete road bridge to be built in the United Kingdom...
(by the studios), bringing startled drivers to a virtual halt.