Jim'll Fix It, Jackanory and Jonathan Creek

The Best British Dramas and Children’s TV Shows

Nov 8, 2009

A selection of the most important and influential British TV shows beginning with the letter J.

And so it continues. Shows Beginning with the Letter J contains more programmes that people need to know about, that have ushered in a new form of entertainment or have made the most impact in terms of popularity. This one tells the story of Sir Jimmy’s wish granting powers on Jim’ll Fix It, Fry and Laurie adding extra Wodehousian charm to Jeeves and Wooster, the deductive genius Jonathan Creek, kid’s shows on the cheap in Jackanory and a puppet child spy called Joe 90.

A basis format: children (or in rare cases adults) would write a letter to eccentric TV and radio presenter Jimmy Saville asking for a wish to be granted, cue footage of it happening and everyone’s a winner. The popularity of the show allowed it to run for 20 years and made Sir Jim’ll a recognisable face in children’s TV.

Perhaps the famous broadcast was when a group of Cub Scouts wanted to eat in an unusual place. The destination chosen was a rollercoaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, where most of them being covered in food and almost being sick. Still, it made for an amusing couple of minutes.

When it was announced that ITV were producing a comedy drama series based P.G. Wodehouse’s most famous creations who better for the lead roles than Footlights alumni Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie? The plots were lifted straight from the novels and reworked by Clive Exton to fit an hour of television.

The character Jeeves was much older than an early 30s Fry but his acting ability and occasionally sarcastic delivery was enough to prove that he was the correct choice, and Laurie was born to play the idiot socialite Bertie Wooster. The result was a funny and charming series that was one of ITV’s last great swings at comedy.

The original adverts for Jonathan Creek set up ridiculously implausible crimes that were almost impossible to solve, except if you happened to be a magician’s assistant with a brilliantly intuitive mind (played by Alan Davies). And didn't it do well? The series was written entirely by David Renwick, the man behind One Foot In The Grave, and although it turned the detective genre on its head with some genuinely head scratching mysteries it lost some pace after co-star Caroline Quentin left in the third year.

The most recent special, The Grinning Man, was a little disappointing but fared much better than the forth series and was enough of a success to be awarded a further feature length episode for Easter 2010.

Jackanory exists for the simple fact that children love stories. And due to budget constraints meaning that live-action dramas were too expensive to produce so we ended up with a bunch of actors reading books for 15 minutes a day. The stripped down nature of the programme is what made it so watchable, where else could you see Bernard Cribbins reading James and the Giant Peach or A Bear Called Paddington read by Thora Hird?

As children’s TV evolved into by the mid-90s action packed cartoons and destructive gameshows fronted by Pat Sharp Jackanory was eventually cancelled. The show was eventually revived 10 years later for the CBBC channel using animated sequences and voice actors along with the solitary reader.

In an age where spies and espionage were all the rage British writer and director Gerry Anderson decided to throw a nine-year-old boy into the mix. By using a special machine that allowed skills to be transferred to the user Joe “Joe 90” McClaine went on to save the world in stories that were more character driven than most of Anderson’s previous work.

Far from the best or most famous of Anderson’s output – no prizes for guessing what takes that accolade – it was still a decent enough series and one of the last times he would use puppets before moving onto live action. Insert your own wooden acting gag here.

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