SWAP SHOP

The archetypal Saturday morning kids TV show that is remembered with nostalgia
and cringeness. Producer Rosemary Gill conceived the programme around the idea of
'swapping' as a way of attracting the kids. Following on from the previous year's Z Shed,
the show was initially built solely around loveable Radio One DJ Noel Edmonds sat in a studio.

When it became apparent that this was too claustrophobic for three hours, the outside
broadcasts were introduced. These used the BBC's O/B teams, who were already out and
about ready to cover the footie, and were a stroke of genius.

Keith Chegwin, the cheeky chappie wrote to the BBC at the age of 19 begging for a job
and the rest was history. Never mind his later slip from grace - the divorce, descent into
alcoholism, endless wilderness years and showing his cock on Channel 5 - with Swap Shop
and Cheggers Plays Pop, Keith was a true seventies icon. And for all his faults, the job of
standing in the wind and rain at Milton Keynes for three hours was ideally suited to his
ever-cheery disposition, as it is twenty years later on It's A Knockout. 

Providing the intellectual weight was John Craven, fresh from his Newsround - Swap Shop
being his Saturday job, arf. Lastly, Maggie Philbin was added later as a helper for Cheggers.

Source material: Satkids website