Magpie (TV series)
| Magpie | |
|---|---|
The Magpie logo.
|
|
| Genre |
Children's Entertainment |
| Created by | Lewis Rudd Sue Turner |
| Presented by |
Tony Bastable Tommy Boyd Pete Brady Jenny Hanley Douglas Rae Mick Robertson Susan Stranks |
| Theme music composer | Eddie Hardin, Ray Fenwick & Spencer Davis |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lewis Rudd Sue Turner |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Thames Television |
| Distributor | Fremantle Media |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Monaural sound |
| Original release | 30 July 1968 – 6 June 1980 |
Magpie was a British children's television programme shown on ITV from 30 July 1968 to 6 June 1980. It was a magazine format show intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture. The show's creators Lewis Rudd and Sue Turner named the programme Magpie as a reference to the magpie's habit of collecting small items, and because of "mag" being evocative of "magazine", and "pie" being evocative of a collection of ingredients.
The programme, made by Thames Television, was first transmitted on 30 July 1968 which was Thames Television's first day of broadcasting, and was shown weekly until 1969. From that point, until it ended on 6 June 1980, it went out twice a week with approximately 1,000 episodes being made, each 25 minutes in duration. It was not fully networked to all other ITV companies until the autumn of 1969.
The first presenters were the former BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Pete Brady, Susan Stranks and Tony Bastable. Brady left the show in 1972 to be replaced by Douglas Rae, and Bastable also left in 1972 when he was replaced by Mick Robertson. Jenny Hanley replaced Susan Stranks in 1974. This lineup remained until 1977, when Tommy Boyd replaced Rae.
Like Blue Peter, Magpie featured appeals for various causes and charities. Notably, however, it asked for cash donations rather than stamps or secondhand goods, familiar on Blue Peter. The cash totaliser was a long strip of paper which ran out of the studio and along the adjacent corridor walls. Unlike the BBC programme, Magpie was unscripted and the presenters were free to improvise the presentation of the show.
...
Wikipedia