Jim'll Fix It

Jim'll Fix It
1986 series titles
Created by	Roger Ordish Jimmy Savile
Starring	Jimmy Savile (1975–1994; 1995; 2007) Shane Richie (2011)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	20 1 (revival)
No. of episodes	286
Production
Running time	35 min.
Release
Original network	BBC One UKTV Gold (2007 revival)

Jim'll Fix It was a long-running British television show, broadcast by the BBC between May 1975 and June 1994. It was devised and presented by Jimmy Savile and produced by Roger Ordish and encouraged children to write in to have their wishes granted.

The show was hosted by Savile, who would "fix it" for the wishes of several viewers (usually children) to come true each week. The producer throughout the show's run was Roger Ordish, always referred to by Savile as "Doctor Magic". The standard format was that the viewer's letter, which described their wish, would be shown on the screen and read out aloud, initially by Savile, but in later series by the viewer himself as a voice-over. Savile would then introduce the Fix, which would either have been pre-filmed on location or take place "live" in the studio. At the end, the viewer would join Savile to be congratulated and presented with a large medal with the words "Jim Fixed It For Me" engraved on it. Occasionally, other people featured in the "Fix It" (actors from well known series, for example), might also give the viewer an extra gift somehow relating to the Fix. Savile himself played no part in the filming or recording of the "fix-its", unless specifically requested as part of the letter writer's wish. Some children apparently thought that Savile's first name was "Jim'll", so some letters shown on the programme started "Dear Jim'll".

Early series saw Savile distributing medals from a "magic chair" which concealed the medals in a variety of compartments. The "magic chair" was invented by Tony Novissimo and was built for the BBC by him at his workshops in Shepherd's Bush. The chair had first appeared on Savile's earlier Saturday night TV series, Clunk, Click. The chair was later replaced by a new computer-controlled robotic "magic chair", the brainchild of Kevin Warwick, built for the BBC by his team at the University of Reading. The arm for the chair was an RTX, designed by Roy Levell at Universal Machine Intelligence in Wandsworth around 1985.

Internally, the BBC were concerned that the show was providing excessive product placement for corporations. Eighteen years after the show ceased airing, allegations of child sex abuse were made against Savile (who by then had died), including claims that special episodes of Jim'll Fix It were devised by Savile in order to gain access to victims.

In 1976 Muhammad Ali was on a world tour to promote his book, The Greatest. Landing in London, catching the BBC by surprise, and with no time to bring the thousands of hopeful letter writers to a meeting with the legend, the TV company nipped next door "borrowing" three schoolboy boxers from the school (Christopher Wren). Vince, Andly and Nigel were whisked off to meet Ali.