The Saturday Banana - Bill Oddie - my memories
For several hours on Saturday mornings between 1978 and 1979, former Goodie and now Springwatch presenter Bill Oddie hosted The Saturday Banana - another of those kids saturday morning shows unique to the UK that you can add alongside: Swap Shop, Saturday Superstore, Tiswas, The Mersey Pirate, Get set for summer, TX< Get Fresh and Going Live.
Watch Saturday Banana clip on YouTube
There have been so many but few seem to remember this show - live from Southern Television's studios in Southampton, it didn't air in all ITV regions.
Popular myth suggests that the original name for the show was to be The Saturday Bonanza - but for a typo, and misunderstanding from a Southern Televisionn secreetary, we wouldn't have had the hilarious fruit oriented fun.
Oddie sat at a desk in front of a huge, and partially peeled, upright banana that had steps going up the left hand side and a slide down the right. More on this in a bit ... it was at one end of what looked like a massive aircraft hanger of a studio.
Comedy robot Metal Mickey sat at one side of Oddie's desk - Bill would occasionally refer to him. EastEnders Michelle Fowler, Susan Tully, formerly of Our Show fame at that stage, was an occasional co-presenter.
Bill was the linkman between cartoons and various studio based features and interviews.
Probably the most famous feature of the show was its own version of the then very popular kids quiz Runaround - usually seen at teatime hosted by another EastEnder and comedian Mike Reid. 10 kids would be asked a multiple choice question with three answers appearing on the screens. After the presenter shouted "Go" or "g-g-g-go", the kids would run full pelt to position themselves next to their preferred answer. "Runaround .... NOW" invited them kids to change their mind by jumping ship to a different answer. The bright kids could tactically run towards the wrong answer then jump to the right answer later.
If you got the wrong answer, you would go to the sin bin. On the Saturday Banana, the sin bin was at the top of the aforementioned giant banana behind Oddie's desk. The kids would run up the steps and stay at the top of the banana = you could see them through a barred window. Then when it was time for them to rejoin the game, they'd slide down the right hand side and get back to their position.
If you got a question right, I think you'd get an orange ball to put in your perspex tube. If you were the ONLY person to get it right, I seem to recall that you'd get a yellow banana to put in your tube - unlike the weekday version of Runaround where you'd get a yellow ball. Well, it worked something like that.
Now. I seem to remember that Oddie himself presnted the Saturday version of the game but another internet site suggests that it was someone else. I vaguely recall that on one episode of the show they invited a Southern Television exec on to discuss whether or not it was too much to have Runaround on telly in its two different forms twice a week. "Is it too much?" And of course the answer was no.
The Saturday Banana did several features out in the car park area. Do I recall them making snowmen one week? An army tank coming in to show kids what being in da army is like? A band playing out there?
On BBC1 at the same time, Swap Shop was at its strongest; I was mainly a Swappy viewer, though actually the Saturday Banana was probably better on reflection.
One week Swap Shop was rudely taken off air due to a strike at the BBC; it was off for several weeks in fact, replaced by a cartoon lineup. SoChannel surfing I saw Oddie mentioning that Swap Shop was off air so they'd stolen one of their staff. Noel Edmonds-like, he shouted for "Eric!!!!" towards the ceiling. And whaddya know, the spherical perspex bubble that Swap Shop fans knew so well, was lowered down, full of viewers letters. Cheeky but funny!
What else do I remember? Not a lot. I recall that Christopher Reeve's 'Superman' movie was very big around this time ...and they had 'Supernana' fly down from the ceiling.
I seem to remember someone called Clark Kent was interivewed d on the show. He wasn't Superman's alter ego, it was a rock star or something. Still no idea who it was. He put a greenn see-through bag on his head which became part of the title sequence after that - don't do this at home, kids.
Do I remember The Smurfs visiting the studio perhaps? Another website I read suggests they did a live linkup with Capital Radio one week. Who with I wonder - Michael Aspel
was big on 194 at that time, I think.
And of course, the musical Bill Oddie, fresh from having chart hits with The Goodies such as 'The Funky Gibbon' and 'The Mickey Mouse Club' ... well, he sang the theme tune too. "sat sat, saturday banana ...". I believe it may have been released as a single. Very quirky.
Do you remember this show? Can you add anything?
Watch Saturday Banana clip on YouTube
There have been so many but few seem to remember this show - live from Southern Television's studios in Southampton, it didn't air in all ITV regions.
Popular myth suggests that the original name for the show was to be The Saturday Bonanza - but for a typo, and misunderstanding from a Southern Televisionn secreetary, we wouldn't have had the hilarious fruit oriented fun.
Oddie sat at a desk in front of a huge, and partially peeled, upright banana that had steps going up the left hand side and a slide down the right. More on this in a bit ... it was at one end of what looked like a massive aircraft hanger of a studio.
Comedy robot Metal Mickey sat at one side of Oddie's desk - Bill would occasionally refer to him. EastEnders Michelle Fowler, Susan Tully, formerly of Our Show fame at that stage, was an occasional co-presenter.
Bill was the linkman between cartoons and various studio based features and interviews.
Probably the most famous feature of the show was its own version of the then very popular kids quiz Runaround - usually seen at teatime hosted by another EastEnder and comedian Mike Reid. 10 kids would be asked a multiple choice question with three answers appearing on the screens. After the presenter shouted "Go" or "g-g-g-go", the kids would run full pelt to position themselves next to their preferred answer. "Runaround .... NOW" invited them kids to change their mind by jumping ship to a different answer. The bright kids could tactically run towards the wrong answer then jump to the right answer later.
If you got the wrong answer, you would go to the sin bin. On the Saturday Banana, the sin bin was at the top of the aforementioned giant banana behind Oddie's desk. The kids would run up the steps and stay at the top of the banana = you could see them through a barred window. Then when it was time for them to rejoin the game, they'd slide down the right hand side and get back to their position.
If you got a question right, I think you'd get an orange ball to put in your perspex tube. If you were the ONLY person to get it right, I seem to recall that you'd get a yellow banana to put in your tube - unlike the weekday version of Runaround where you'd get a yellow ball. Well, it worked something like that.
Now. I seem to remember that Oddie himself presnted the Saturday version of the game but another internet site suggests that it was someone else. I vaguely recall that on one episode of the show they invited a Southern Television exec on to discuss whether or not it was too much to have Runaround on telly in its two different forms twice a week. "Is it too much?" And of course the answer was no.
The Saturday Banana did several features out in the car park area. Do I recall them making snowmen one week? An army tank coming in to show kids what being in da army is like? A band playing out there?
On BBC1 at the same time, Swap Shop was at its strongest; I was mainly a Swappy viewer, though actually the Saturday Banana was probably better on reflection.
One week Swap Shop was rudely taken off air due to a strike at the BBC; it was off for several weeks in fact, replaced by a cartoon lineup. SoChannel surfing I saw Oddie mentioning that Swap Shop was off air so they'd stolen one of their staff. Noel Edmonds-like, he shouted for "Eric!!!!" towards the ceiling. And whaddya know, the spherical perspex bubble that Swap Shop fans knew so well, was lowered down, full of viewers letters. Cheeky but funny!
What else do I remember? Not a lot. I recall that Christopher Reeve's 'Superman' movie was very big around this time ...and they had 'Supernana' fly down from the ceiling.
I seem to remember someone called Clark Kent was interivewed d on the show. He wasn't Superman's alter ego, it was a rock star or something. Still no idea who it was. He put a greenn see-through bag on his head which became part of the title sequence after that - don't do this at home, kids.
Do I remember The Smurfs visiting the studio perhaps? Another website I read suggests they did a live linkup with Capital Radio one week. Who with I wonder - Michael Aspel
was big on 194 at that time, I think.
And of course, the musical Bill Oddie, fresh from having chart hits with The Goodies such as 'The Funky Gibbon' and 'The Mickey Mouse Club' ... well, he sang the theme tune too. "sat sat, saturday banana ...". I believe it may have been released as a single. Very quirky.
Do you remember this show? Can you add anything?
posted by Damon at 10:53 PM
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