A Little Bit of Stone reporter and huge Tiswas fan Andy MacDonald went along to the 40th anniversary celebrations last weekend of the madcap Saturday morning show. Here’s his report…
From the mid-‘70s to the last show in ’82, Tiswas (do you remember what it stood for? Answer below!) ruled supreme as THE Saturday morning show, enjoyed by kids and adults alike.
It made household names of the likes of Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Bob Carolgees (not forgetting Spit the dog) and Lenny Henry. Pop stars of the era, and basically anyone who was anyone, appeared on the show, and got mercilessly gunged and viciously pied from sneaky ambushes courtesy of the dastardly Phantom Flan Flinger!
All this plus the cage, Compost Corner (“COMPOST CORNER!!!”), Flan Your Folks, Trevor McDoughnut, Algernon with his condensed milk sandwiches (OOOOOOOOOOOKAAAAAAAAYYYYY!), Smello, Houdi Elbow…and we bloomin’ loved it, couldn’t get enough of the messy madcap mirth and mayhem from ATV Land! Indeed, some of you who are as old as me may recall when Chris and the posse dropped by at the Stone Festival circa ’79-’80.
For my birthday in August, I decided to pay fitting tribute by hosting a Tiswas themed party, with all manner of very silly messy games – in addition to the newsdesk and weather report, we had the Egyptian mummy loo roll game, pass the pie and hard boiled egg Russian Roulette, amongst others! Imagine my utter astonishment when the Tiswas Online YouTube channel and Facebook page picked up on a video I had posted online and shared it, and consequently helped it amass hundreds of views! I joined the Facebook page, and it was from that I was made aware of a 40th anniversary bash to celebrate the show, being held at a top secret location in Birmingham (Apres), so got my invite application in quick. Lo and behold, it was approved, yay! I ordered my exclusive commemorative souvenir T-shirt and made my Tiswas cap (thanks Panda Press) pronto!
Details were kept under wraps, but the promo pics promised very special guests. I’ve met a number of very affable celebrities, including my beloved Bucks Fizz (who appeared on the show performing Shaking Your Pies Up!) and Sean Wilson, Corrie’s Martin Platt (he makes cheese now, that’s showbiz!), but was in total awe at being in the same room and sharing the same air as my childhood telly icons, completely starstruck!
Chris Tarrant, the lovely and gorgeous (still) Sally James, Bob Carolgees (sadly no Spit), John ‘Scaffold’ Gorman, the slightly scary Den Hegarty (remember Darts?) and Matt Lewis, the Bright Eyes bunny (https://youtu.be/RCVtU3lxM9M) were all there. Lenny Henry and Sylvester McCoy were otherwise engaged. Shame the legendary Frank Carson‘s no longer with us, he’d have loved it. It was indeed a cracker!
Naturellement, the fiendish Phantom Flan Flinger put in an appearance, just as everyone was posing for pics for the Central News team! The eagle-eyed amongst you may have caught a fleeting blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpse of me during the report shown on yesterday’s edition of the bulletin.
The team were more than happy to pose for pics, and chat and reminisce with fans. Classic clips from the show were shown on big screens in the background – McDoughnut meets McDonald! – there was even a raucous rendition of the Bucket of Water song to round off the afternoon!
(Tiswas stood for Today Is Saturday, Watch And Smile, incidentally. If you’re too young to remember Tiswas, just think Dick ‘n’ Dom in Da Bungalow, only sillier and messier!) Flantastic fun!
Pete Thomas from Tiswas Online, who organised the event; Chris Tarrant; Sally James; Bob Carolgees; Den Hegarty; John Gorman; Matt Lewis the Bright Eyes bunny, now a firefighter in Penkridge!
The Phantom Flan Flinger strikes! No one was safe!
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