2 October 1976(1976-10-02)– 27 March 1982(1982-03-27)
Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, more commonly known simply as Swap Shop, is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1976 to 27 March 1982. It was groundbreaking in many ways: by broadcasting on Saturday mornings, being live, being three hours in length, and using the phone-in format extensively for the first time on TV.
The show rivalled the growing success of rival broadcaster ITV's Tiswas, though the latter was initially only broadcast in the ATV region in the Midlands and, at the time of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop's inception, had yet to be taken up by other ITV franchises around the country.
Also featured was Posh Paws, a stuffed toy dinosaur. Edmonds once explained that his name was actually spelt "Pohs Paws", because that is Swap Shop backwards.
Another person named was "Eric" (Ilett), the often-referred-to but never-seen technician whose job was to lower a plastic globe containing postcards sent in by viewers as answers to competitions.
The content of the programme included music, visits from public figures, competitions, and cartoons. There was also coverage of news and issues relevant to children, presented by John Craven, building on his profile as the presenter of John Craven's Newsround. [citation needed] Craven had a stuffed toy lamb as an inpromptu sidekick, known simply as "Lamb".[2]
The cornerstone, however, was the "Swaporama" element, hosted by Chegwin, who was very rarely in the studio. An outside broadcast unit would travel to different locations throughout the UK where children could swap their belongings with others. This proved to be one of the most popular aspects of the show, often achieving gatherings of more than 2,000 children.[citation needed]
Generally, the primary purpose of the BBC OB unit was to broadcast a sporting event at that Swaporama venue later that day. This allowed Swap Shop to use the same unit and save programming costs which would otherwise be prohibitive.[citation needed]
Edmonds, Chegwin and Philbin briefly formed a pop group called Brown Sauce in December 1981 and released a single called "I Wanna be a Winner". The song peaked at number 15 in the UK Singles Chart and stayed in the Top 40 for a total of nine weeks.[3]
Telephone number
The telephone number for the show from the second series onward was 01 811 8055.[4][5] The first series had a different number, 01 288 8055, before being changed to the number retained throughout the rest of the show's run, and retained for its successor, Saturday Superstore.[6]
The number was well known and remembered by children[7] and was groundbreaking for the BBC, who previously had received viewer feedback mainly by letter.[8]
History
Swap Shop was a success, attracting substantial ratings not only among its target audience of children, but also students and parents. It ended in 1982, to allow the presenters to move on to other projects, notably Edmonds, who became one of the highest-profile TV presenters in the UK. It was followed by a sequence of similar programmes over the years, including Saturday Superstore, Going Live! and Live & Kicking.
This first ever question for the live audience was, 'Where will the next Olympic games be held (1980)?'. Moscow was the answer.
Spin-off programmes were created to widen the appeal of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop:
On Boxing Day 1976, Swap of the Pops was broadcast on BBC1, featuring pre-recorded performances by pop acts of the era, linked by Noel Edmonds.
The first Swap Shop Star Awards were shown in March 1978, in which special awards ('Erics') were given to sportspeople, actors and other celebrities, as voted for by viewers of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. The programme returned for subsequent editions in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.
A live outside broadcast, Noel Edmonds presents Multi-Coloured Swap Shop's Rock Garden Party, was shown in May 1978 with Edmonds presenting numerous musical acts performing at the Jubilee Gardens on London's South Bank.
The Multi Coloured Music Show was shown on BBC1 on 26 May 1979, a programme similar to Swap of the Pops where Edmonds introduced some of the most popular music from the previous series of Swap Shop.
Swap Shop is poorly represented in the BBC archive. For some time it was believed that either the programmes were never routinely recorded in the first place, or they had been wiped on the orders of the BBC's Archive Selector Adam Lee in 1993. The truth, as related by ex-Blue Peter editor Richard Marson on the archive television forum The Mausoleum Club in 2006, is that almost every edition of Swap Shop was recorded in full every week onto two 90-minute Quad tapes. These tapes were held by the BBC until the late 1980s, at which time the Deputy Head of Children's Television, Roy Thompson, allowed many of them to be wiped and sold to Australia as recycled stock. Although Quad tape was considered obsolete in the UK, Australia was still using it extensively at that time, and as the Swap Shop tapes had no physical splices in them, they were considered ideal for reuse.[9]
As a consequence of this action, many of the clips used in the retrospective It Started With Swap Shop and as extras on some DVD releases of other BBC shows had to be taken from domestic video recordings that had survived in private hands. Amongst the editions wiped were those featuring appearances by Blondie, XTC, Trumpton creator Gordon Murray, and numerous cast and crew members of Doctor Who.
Noel Edmonds, Keith Chegwin and John Craven reunited in 1999 for a parody of Swap Shop transmitted at the end of the last ever episode of Noel's House Party. In the skit, Edmonds – playing his "younger self" – wakes up in the Swap Shop studio after supposedly dozing off, and explains to the others that he has just had a horrible dream of him being "trapped in a big house for 8 years", and recounting the events of a typical Noel's House Party episode, and then the three discover that Mr Blobby is also in the studio.
On 20 December 2007, the BBC announced that Swap Shop was returning to BBC Two for a 13-week run.[10] Barney Harwood presented the new show with Basil Brush. The revived show was titled Basil's Swap Shop and lasted for three series.
Noel Edmonds presents Multi-Coloured Swap Shop's Rock Garden Party
Noel Edmonds presents Multi-Coloured Swap Shop's Rock Garden Party was broadcast live on BBC1 at 5pm on Monday 29 May 1978, Spring Bank Holiday Monday in the UK. The title of the programme, as listed on BBC Genome, is different to that which appeared in the programme's opening titles - Multi-Coloured Swap Shop Presents Noel Edmonds Rock Garden Party.
Readers of the Radio Times were informed that there would be entertainment at 'a garden in Central London', however the location remained a mystery prior to broadcast. The open-air concert, presented by Edmonds, was in fact the Jubilee Gardens on London's South Bank, near to the modern-day site of the London Eye.
Performing on stage (though not singing live) were Showaddywaddy, Darts, The Goodies and Patti Boulaye. In between each of the performed songs, young members of the audience were invited on stage to play party games in order to win prizes.
It Started With Swap Shop
A special programme celebrating the 30th anniversary of BBC children's Saturday morning shows was recorded in December 2006. The show, called It Started With Swap Shop, was made by Noel Edmonds' Unique TV company. Highlights of the programme saw the original presenting team reunited, other presenters from its successor shows Saturday Superstore, Going Live! and Live & Kicking make an appearance and celebrity fans came along to 'make a swap'.[11]
The 130-minute programme was recorded in front of a studio audience at BBC Television Centre on 15 December 2006 and was broadcast on BBC Two on Thursday 28 December 2006 at 9.00pm with a shortened repeat (110 minutes) on Sunday 31 December 2006 at 6.10pm, again on BBC Two. The shortened version of the programme was broadcast on BBC Four on 28 May 2007 at 7.00pm as part of the channel's Children's Television on Trial season.
Annuals
Swap Shop was so popular that during its run four annuals were published.[12]
The publishing dates for the books were as follows:
Book 1 – November 1978
Book 2 – September 1979
Book 3 – September 1980
Book 4 – November 1981
The annuals are full of quizzes, funny stories, pop group pictures, knitting patterns plus features on the shows stars.
Each book has presenter photos in which the hosts are seen separately as a comedy character. A memorable example of this is Book 4 which features Noel Edmonds, then in his 30s, as traditional English schoolboy Harry Copter. The character of Harry Copter is referenced throughout the annual, following a humorous split screen interview by Noel on the programme. The fictional character's name is a pun on the host's love of helicopters. This comedic picture of Noel has now made Book 4 extremely collectable.
Out of the 146 episodes that were made in total, 41 survive. These are episode 21 of series 1, episodes 4, 5 and 21 of series 2, episode 24 of series 3, episodes 1, 2, 7, 12, 15, 17, 21 and 25 of series 4, episodes 1, 2, 12, 14 to 18, 21, 23, 25 and 27 of series 5 and episodes 1, 3, 5 to 7, 11, 13, 15 to 17, 19 to 22, 24 and 25 of series 6.[25]
Due to industrial action by the ABS union at the BBC over Thursday 21 and Friday 22 December 1978, the edition which should have aired on Saturday 23 December 1978 was not transmitted. The reason being that the strike was only settled between the union and the BBC at 10.00pm on Friday 22 December 1978, and it was impossible for the live Swap Shop to be up and running in time for the 9.30am start the following morning. Instead BBC One returned to the air after being blacked out for two full days, at 3.00pm on Saturday 23 December 1978. Swap Shop finally returned on Saturday 30 December 1978.
Related Research Articles
Noel Ernest Edmonds is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, presenting the breakfast show for almost five years. He has presented various radio shows and light-entertainment television programmes for 50 years, originally working for the BBC, later Sky UK and Channel 4.
Keith Chegwin, also known by the nickname Cheggers, was an English television presenter and actor, appearing in several children's entertainment shows in the 1970s and 1980s, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Cheggers Plays Pop.
The Adventure Game was a game show originally broadcast on UK television channels BBC1 and BBC2 between 24 May 1980 and 18 February 1986. The story in each show was that the two celebrity contestants and a member of the public had travelled by spaceship to the planet Arg. Their overall task varied with each series. For example, the team might be charged with finding a crystal to power their ship to return to Earth. The programme is often considered to have been a forerunner of The Crystal Maze.
Noel's House Party is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 20 March 1999 on BBC One and was broadcast live on Saturday evenings for eight series. The show, once described by a senior corporation executive as "the most important show on the BBC", was cancelled in February 1999 due to declining ratings, although two further compilation specials were shown in March 2000.
Live & Kicking is a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for Going Live!, and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, comedy, competitions and the showing of cartoons. Once Live & Kicking had become established in series two, it reached its height in popularity during series four, when it was presented by Zoe Ball and Jamie Theakston; their final edition won a BAFTA award. After this, the programme's ratings dropped with the launch of SMTV Live on ITV and the show ended in 2001.
Going Live! was a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 26 September 1987 to 17 April 1993. It was presented by Phillip Schofield and Sarah Greene. Other presenters included Trevor and Simon, Annabel Giles, Phillip Hodson, Emma Forbes, Nick Ball, James Hickish and Mark Chase.
This is a list of British television-related events in 1976.
Saturday Superstore is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1982 to 18 April 1987. It was shown on Saturday mornings with presenters including Mike Read, Sarah Greene, Keith Chegwin, and John Craven. The show was very similar to its predecessor Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, which had ended the previous October–March season following its presenter Noel Edmonds moving away from children's TV to present his prime-time Late Late Breakfast Show.
The Late, Late Breakfast Show was a British variety show broadcast live on Saturday evenings from 4 September 1982 to 8 November 1986 on BBC1. It was presented by Noel Edmonds, initially with co-host Leni Harper, and also featured Mike Smith and John Peel. The "Give It a Whirl" segments featured dangerous stunts. Multiple serious injuries resulted from these stunts, including the death of Michael Lush in 1986. The show was cancelled in the aftermath of his death.
The Gublins is a stop-motion children's television show broadcast between 1977 and 1979. It was the final animated series made by British animator Gordon Murray, the creator of Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley and was shown as part of the Saturday morning children's TV show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop on BBC One. Each episode was 5 minutes long with Murray introducing each one directly to camera.
Noel's Christmas Presents is a British television show hosted by Noel Edmonds that was originally broadcast on Christmas Day on BBC1 in 1989. It was a reformatted live television event which Noel Edmonds had previously presented on BBC1 between 1984-1985, known as The Live Live Christmas Breakfast Show, and "Christmas Morning with Noel" between 1986-1988. Noel's Christmas Presents ran on BBC1 from 1989 to 1999 and then on Sky 1 from 23 December 2007 to 23 December 2012, where special Christmas presents were delivered to well-deserving members of the public. Edmonds did not host the final edition in 2012, which was renamed All-Star Christmas Presents and presented by Sally Lindsay.
This is a list of British television related events from 1993.
This is a list of British television related events from 1986.
This is a list of British television related events from 1982.
This is a list of British television related events from 1978.
Brown Sauce was a pop band, made up of presenters from the television programme, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. These were Keith Chegwin, Maggie Philbin and Noel Edmonds. They formed for a one-off single in late 1981 called "I Wanna Be a Winner". After that became a hit, they released another in 1982, "Spring Has Sprung", but failed to make an impact.
John Raymond Craven is an English journalist and television presenter, best known for presenting the BBC programmes Newsround, Countryfile and Beat the Brain.
Rosemary Ffolkes Gill was an English children's television producer connected with Blue Peter, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Saturday Superstore.
This is a timeline of the history of BBC One.
This is a timeline of the history of the broadcasting of children's programmes on BBC Television.
↑ British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). Guinness World Records Limited. 2006. p.82. ISBN1-904994-10-5.
↑ "Calling Up Swap Shop". Saturday Mornings – A celebration of BBC Saturday Morning television since 1976. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
