Look-In

Look-in

1977 cover of Look-in featuring The Bionic Woman, painted by Arnaldo Putzu
Categories	Children, teenagers
Frequency	Weekly
First issue	9 January 1971
Final issue	12 March 1994
Country	United Kingdom

Look-in was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior TVTimes". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994. Briefly in 1985 a BBC-based rival appeared called BEEB; another was launched in 1989, Fast Forward, which went on to outsell Look-in.

Look-in had interviews, crosswords and competitions, and it had pictures and pin-ups of TV stars and pop idols of the time. Its main feature however was the many comic strips of the favourite children's television programmes, all of which were being shown on the ITV network at the time.

When the magazine began publication, it was edited by Alan Fennell and the strips were written by Angus Allan. Fennell left in 1975, and the art editor, Colin Shelborn, took over as editor. The covers in the 1970s were paintings by Arnaldo Putzu, an Italian working in London who had created many cinema posters in the 1960s, including designs for the Carry On films. His Look-in covers were mostly painted using acrylics.

Introduced mainly as a vehicle for children to find out what was on ITV, it included highlight listings for each ITV region, of programmes likely to appeal to its target market, but Look-in also spotlighted popular children's topics and pastimes of the day. Skateboarding, BMX and YoYoing were all featured in the magazine. Although primarily a television magazine, it also often featured articles on sport such as On The Ball with Brian Moore, as well as science articles written by Peter Fairley. DJ Ed Stewart became a regular face in Look-in, appearing in the first issue in a feature about a day in his life, he was later given his own pages called 'Stewpot's Newsdesk' which ran until 1980. Alan Fennell who edited Look-in wrote episodes for most of Gerry Anderson's series.