The Saturday Banana: Southern Television: November 1978

[supergav67]

Without doubt,the most BORING kids prog EVER.Bills hungover chat at the begining summed it all up.We got it in STVland one summer & I painfully remember the helter skelter in the studio &  Bill wanting to talk about crime & punishment, for ninety minutes! Fortunately the summers were warm then. ,This,the Mersey Pirate,Fun Factory,You got the feeling that if they did well during the summer the never networked TISWAS was outta here! Never happened.Like most things TIS got axed from within!

[cursorminer]

CHOON

[blueturtle01]

I lived in Southampton in the late 70s and loved Saturday Banana and everything else about Southern. Bill Gamon was my drama teacher at school before he left for a job at Southern TV. That's him standing in the brief shot with Bill Oddie near the end as they watch the banana being hoisted.

[converse91970]

@blueturtle01 Any ideas what became of Bill Gamon? I remember him on this show as Bill Oddie's sidekick.

[Feisty1967]

I remember the Saturday Banana, it was shown in the Yorkshire TV region up until Spring 1979, then we had the Mersey Pirate, but following the ITV strike of Aug-Oct of 1979 it was replaced by Tiswas. A far superior programme!! I cheered when we could finally get Tiswas without fuzzy reception from the Midlands ariel!!

[moonboots69]

best thing about this was the theme tune... no wonder Bill is in therapy these days, he's getting flashbacks of his time on this show...

[LeeJTurnock]

Not only have all the tapes been wiped, Bill Oddie has "wiped" most of the memories of this! He says it was an absolute shambles and this clip seems to bear out that opinion nicely!

[hazzardlord]

my grandad is Anthony Howard the Producer and Director of this program :) 

[rubinoos1]

1:40-2:05 Metal Mickey! ^_^

[dalektable]

This isn't the only surviving recording. I guested twice, and was on the show with George Chakiris, and Sparks. I have a 15 minute recording, taken at the time, now transferred to DVD. I did two wildlife slots, one with a gras snake and toad, which tried to escape into the monitor hole, and one with a large fruit bat. All a bit mad, but I WAS only about 17 or 18. Kept my presenter badge and T shirt. Sat next to Susan Tully, opposite Bill. Also did the pilot, with Jon Snow guesting.

[alewisa]

I was on the second ever "episode" of this. Kinson County Primary School were on Runaround. Somewhere my mum has a pic of us on the S.B minibus going to the studios in Southampton. The theme was "bicycyles", and 'Runaround' was won by Paul Gwallow, who 10 years later was stabbed to death by his fiances father, RIP Paul.

[TheWendyboop]

@alewisa ... i went to kinson primary school and also was on this episode.....remember it well and still have Bill Oddies autograph and Melissa Wilkes......Paul Gwallow used to live a few doors down from me, What terrible news.... RIP.....

[alewisa]

@TheWendyboop

Did you have an older brother... ? Wondering who you are, as I knew everyone in your road... and surely you know me...?

[Samsaptaka]

Wow, that brought back some old memories! Thanks for posting it.

[vzd963]

The reason for the wiping of tapes at the time was that the old 2" tapes were incredibly expensive. We're used to cheap VHSs or DVDs now, but a 2" tape had to be used again and again.

[vzd963]

Best "Saturday Banana" moment was when a little girl, reading a cue card, mis-pronounced "Grand Prix" as "grand pricks". When Bill gently corrected her, she said, "No, it says here: grand PRICKS!" to great guffaws.

[LuthansaTerminal]

@vzd963 - That was on 'Our Show' not Saturday Banana

[UPTOWNCLUB]

i dunno

Bill Oddie music

[kitty3309]

The theme song sounds like Eric Cartman singing Taco Kisses XD

[scoterpool]

We got this programme in Scotland, I remember it from when I was a kid, on STV.

[thejeep2000]

As the program is wiped can anyone tell me what games..cartoons...funny moments happened on Saturday Banana being a big Goodies fan

[pawnsacrifice1]

Man I remember this..Southern's attempt at Tiswas...anyone remeber the Mersey Pirate?

[kenfig]

More like their attempt at Swap Shop

[LuthansaTerminal]

Is it a myth or am I righ in thinking that it was originally going to be called 'Saturday Bonanza'... but there was a mis-spelling?

[bug187]

I have a paperweight thing from this show... didnt realise how old it was.. not sure if it was a prize or just some form of promotion.

[daviddunninguk]

i remember that huge banana from when i was a kid in Southampton too . Thats what is so good about youtube ..always something popping up to remind you about things . My first TV appearence was in that studio as an extra on Midnight is a Place , a victorian drama now lost forever i think . And that clip also reminded me that there were two level crossings and a railway running running thru that car park !

[JAYROX1969]

Brilliant, i remember this so well, thanks for posting!!!!

[BarneyWobba]

Now, Meridian hold the franchise for the ITV region. Sadly, the accountants and shreholders run the show now, and all they ever do now is the regional news, with a few programmes bought in by indie companys like Topical TV. It's all about profit now, not quality TV. Staff numbers have dropped from 2500 odd plus freelancers in TVS's day, to about 100 or so with Meridian.

[TheMeakers]

Sad isn't it. I was at a Southern do a few weeks' ago :)

[bluesbrother37]

Have all the episodes been wiped?

[Rassilon72]

@TheMeakers I'd love to hear what Southern Television was like to work for, and were they really as bitter about TVS taking over as I have read? A golden age of ITV that we will never get back again. Such a shame.

[LeDodger1]

@BarneyWobba I worked at Southern TV at this time, a lot of dross was churned out at times....this one was not STV's finest hour [can't think what was though!]

[BarneyWobba]

I was in the audience of this show most weekends, and took my school along as bums on seats on Saturday. My mum Jill was one of the production assistants.

After Southern lost the ITV franchise, TVS took over and continued to keep up national ITV Saturday kids TV coverage with No.73. I often sat in the studio watching it be made whilst waiting for mum to take me to lunch for a cheese burger after work :)

Fond memories...

[AidanLunn]

"National". I think the only nationwide coverage this got was in the Southern. LWT and Anglia regions. I think the others just went for ATV's TISWAS.

[portmeirionman]

As a kid, I was on Saturday Banana (well, in the audience), my school mates dad worked for Southern TV. A lady producer came over to our group just before transmission and asked if any of us were Kevin the juggler they had booked. Another friend with me pretended to be him and was taken outside for the live broadcast.

[portmeirionman]

When Bill Odie passed from the studio to the live OB, I couldn't believe my mate was there being introduced as Kevin the juggler (my friend is called Vincent). When directed to juggle, he just threw all the balls in the air and they went everywhere. It was broadcast live. I still laugh about it today. They realised what he had done and refused to let him back into the studio.

[dunkiep]

Now that would make a good story for a best man at his wedding!!!

[Harry75]

A pedantic correction: while this was on a break from the Goodies, it was NOT before Bill got in to birdwatching, as this interest of his predated the Goodies, he got in to that as a boy.

[artvandelay1]

Never ever seen this before (we got Tiswas up our way) Fascinating stuff, along with a typically funky Oddie composition! Thanks!

[tsangari]

That's got to be TV's biggest cock-up, literally!!!!

With the help of that noose, the whole country witnessed a giant willy on kids TV, suspended outsude Southern TV, not a banana!

[AidanLunn]

"whole country"? Well, Anglia, London Weekend and Southern viewers did.

[bluesbrother37]

It was no TISWAS!

[bluesbrother37]

Actually i retract that statement, in my region we had this before TISWAS and Bill Oddie was one of my heroes from the GOODIES!

[623058]

Wrong Southern DID in fact broadcast Tiswas in 1977! from October - November, although it was only 6 episodes.

[bidanton]

I too remember The Saturday Banana.

It was a Saturday morning children's show made by Southern TV and shown on the ITV network.

It was presented by Bill Oddie, taking time off from

[bidanton]

The Goodies and before he got into birdwatching!

[AidanLunn]

It wasn't broadcast on the "ITV network". Just on Southern, Anglia and LWT

[dunkiep]

I live in Granada land, and am SURE I saw this at least once or twice. By the way, did anyone else have the reaction: "Oh my god, a giant cock is being floated in front of a television studio during a live kids' TV broadcast".

[seamanrob]

lol. it definitely looks like a big cock being lifted away at the end of the clip

[623058]

at least Half of itv got this,

Scottish tv,

borders tv,

yorkshire tv

also broadcast the show, Granada did not unless it was for a couple of weeks in december 1979

[RebelVoDKa]

We certainly got it in the Thames/LWT region as well.

[anthonythirteen]

@AidanLunn Did it replace Tiswas? Or did it cover the sumer period when the latter was off-screen?

[arthurvasey]

@anthonythirteen Southern had it running until Xmas (head of kids' TV Lewis Rudd couldn't stand Tiswas and created this instead) - by Autumn, Tiswas was back - but Southern kept the Banana running - some regions opted out to accommodate Tiswas or LWT's Our Show - others stuck with the Banana - some regions up to 1981 still had their own variant on either Tiswas or the Banana - a fairly madcap parochial show with presenters culled from the local ILR stations, some of which linked around ...

[arthurvasey]

... regular programmes, old films and American imports - some regions even had the duty announcer doing the same thing - I lived in the Tyne Tees region at the time and we had that - old films (war films, usually). Spare a thought for TSW - their predecessors Westward allowed them access to Tiswas - once they took over, they tried to pass off Survival and University Challenge as kids' programmes! Tyne Tees, incidentally, allowed us access to Tiswas for its final series in 1981/2!

[arthurvasey]

We in the Tyne Tees region were denied access to Saturday Banana, Our Show, The Mersey Pirate, Fun Factory and, other than the final series, Tiswas. Tyne Tees felt that old films were more suitable for kids - I mean really old films - often black-and-white ones!

[quercous]

I used to go and watch on a saturday in the studio at Southampton. metal Micky gave me the creeps then and still to this day.

[doctorbuzzard10]

i remember driving past that banana as i used to live in southampton as a kid. its one of my first memories, not surprising really - a 40ft banana in a car park.

dont really remember the programme itself. i like the title music though, sounds like ian dury or something!

[yellowbelly06]

This was a very brave show. Apart from mentioning their main rivals (Swap Shop) and its presenter (Noel Edmonds) it also dangled what resembled a huge penis outside their studios, live on a children's show. And they said Southern was a conservative company!

[HappyTheHobo13]

Sadly, Metal Mickey was not sold off for scrap, but instead span off into his own show (1980-83) which was - despite Irene Handl's best efforts - surely one of the most annoying children's sitcom ever.

[admiralhanson]

But where is he now ? ;-)

[stgxf04]

Looking back now it seems quite ordinary. But at the time it was very 'cool' Southern telly was always behind the big three ITV companies. But Southern took pride in it's National output, specialising in Childrens TV - which it did extremely well, and most were Networked. poor old Southern, the Southampton Studio building now idle. Long live the Southern Star, if only on YouTube!

[yellowbelly06]

Big three? I always thought it was the big five. In order, Thames, Granada, ATV, London Weekend and Yorkshire. Between them they controlled ITV and allocated production responsibilities.

To their credit Southern had a very strong show in children's programming but they could never break the power of the big five. TVS had better luck but never quite made it.

[brybish]

this takes me back i just started working for southern in october and yes there was the strike, but hey this was the eighties.

thirteen of the best years of my life working in that building.with great people and making good programs.

[petermax1981]

I never expected to see this on Youtube, I mean how many people had VCR's thirty years ago? Is this really the only surviving Saturday Banana clip?

[yellowbelly06]

Saturday Banana, as a contemporary show, was probably wiped after transmission as was ITV policy at that time. What would have been saved would have been anything recorded on film (ie opening titles).

Story goes that the show was originally titled Saturady Bonanza but a typing error named it Saturday Banana. Nice, but not true. The show itself spawned too other shows, Metal Mickey and Runaround.

[623058]

But it never come back did it, for many views outside Southern, most places never took, and also the Great ITV strike took 3 months of it.

[ChucklesWickedly]

Ah, good old Metal Micky. But what's up with Bill Oddie and all his confusion?