When most people think back to children's' TV presentation (in the UK), they normally think back to Philip Schofield or Andy Crane, from "Childrens' BBC". Whilst I agree that they were both good presenters, I have to say that the best era of children's TV presentation, was the Stonewall era of "Childrens' ITV", which ran from 1989 - 1991. The BBC's presentation was good, but I always preferred the ITV approach, which was more fun, had special guests, competitions, and really excellent presenters such as Jerry Foulkes, Jeanne Downs, Clive Warren & Scally the dog (he was a puppet!). The Stonewall era of CITV, was very youthful, vibrant, exciting, and a really fresh way of introducing the day's programmes. Foulkes & Scally presented the afternoon slot throughout '89, and also in '89, a summer morning service was provided and presented by both Downs & Warren. When Foulkes left, Downs (with Scally) took over the afternoon slot in January '90. In summer '90, Warren returned on his own to present the morning slot. He also presented several times in the afternoons too in both '89 & '90. Downs & Scally carried on in the afternoons until April '91, when sadly Stonewall's contract ran out. They were replaced by a solo Tommy Boyd, and this wasn't as enjoyable as the Stonewall service, and I stopped watching. Boyd was replaced in '93, when CITV went completely out-of-vision, which was awful. Now, we are in 2007, and CITV's afternoon slot on ITV has disappeared completely! I just thought I'd comment on how the Stonewall era of CITV, was very enjoyable to me, when I was only 12/13 years old and I still remember it fondly now. Sadly, my then ITV region, TSW, used to cut out CITV links, so they could fit in their daily birthdays' slot, (which was called, "Gus Honeybun's Magic Birthdays") and this was very annoying! (The most upsetting time was on 22nd December 1989, when they cut off Foulkes' final link on CITV, and went straight into an advert break & then into Gus!). Still, despite TSW's appalling treatment of CITV, I really enjoyed it back in 1989 - 1991, and I don't think it will ever be bettered. CITV also had some great programmes back then too, such as "Knightmare", "Mike & Angelo", "Fun House" & "Spatz".
I have fond memories of this period of my life and I do wonder what Foulkes, Downs & Warren are doing now? Also, what happened to the Scally puppet?
I have fond memories of this period of my life and I do wonder what Foulkes, Downs & Warren are doing now? Also, what happened to the Scally puppet?
