| Crackerjack | |
| A CBBC Show | |
 | |
| Genre | Game show |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of Series | 29 |
| No. of Episodes | 451 |
| Run Time | Unknown |
| Network | CBBC |
| Duration | Original series: 14 Sep 1955 – 21 Dec 1984 Revived series: 17 Jan 2020 – 5 Mar 2021 |
Crackerjack is a children's television show which was originally broadcasted almost yearly from 1955 to 1984. In 2019 it returned and is currently airing on CBBC.
The series was always filmed in front of a live audience, originally in the King's Theatre until 1963, when production moved to Shepherds Bush Empire. The format included competitive games, a music spot, a comedy double act and a finale involving a short comic play based on contemporary music.
One of the games was a quiz called "Double or Drop", where each of three contestants was given a prize to hold for each question answered correctly, but given a cabbage if they were incorrect. They were out of the game if they dropped any of the items awarded or received a third cabbage. While the winner took their pick from the basked of toys, every runner up won a marble-propelling pencil as a prize, which soon became a very desirable item. In 1982, in a bid to boost falling ratings, Crackerjack introduced gunge into its games and a new game called Take A Chance. In this game a pair of celebrities, one female and one male, teamed up against the then host Stu Francis in a quickfire questionnaire. A wrong answer or the opponent answering first would lead to Francis or the guest being covered in gunge.
In 1984, the original Crackerjack was cancelled at the same time as many other long running series during an overhaul of the BBC's Children department, which would see it rebranded as CBBC.
External Links[]
- Crackerjack on Wikipedia.
- Crackerjack on Gameshow wiki