by Will Sirett

Created on: May 16, 2008   Last Updated: April 02, 2011

I remember the classic television shows that aired when I was a child back in the 1970's.

At the weekend I used to creep downstairs so as not to wake my mom and dad and switch on the television. What a feast of televisual entertainment there was. Who could forget the Banana Splits or the Whirly Birds, Casey Jones or the Wonderful World of Disney?

There was one show that aired on a Saturday morning and during the school holidays called The Double Deckers. It was all about some kids that used to get up to all types of mischief, the kids ruled whereas adults always lost out in some way or other. One of the cast members became lead singer for reggae group Aswad.

Who can forget White Horses, Robinson Crusoe, Champion the Wonder Horse or the loveable kangaroo from Australia who, nearly single pawed, used to save people from certain death; ''...what's that Skippy, Jimmy's fell down the mine shaft and broken his leg''.

Another television great is BBC TV's Blue Peter which has been aired since 16th October 1958.

This great programme helped the young kids of the United Kingdom to cook, make things out of sticky back plastic and who can forget the, ''...here's one I made earlier''. The show ran many competitions whose winners usually won a Blue Peter badge amongst other prizes.

The Blue Peter badge was a prized possession. Anyone who was lucky enough to win one could get free entry to all types of locations from fun parks to zoos. They were so sought-after that a scandal erupted a few years ago as they started to appear on eBay going for as much as 30 pounds. This meant that the BBC had to review the site and work with it to spot potential fakes.

There were two shows however that ruled Saturday morning in the UK, Tiswas and Noel Edmonds Multi Coloured Swap Shop. You were either in one camp or the other.

Tiswas was just one mad Saturday morning of dunking people in all sorts of gunge, custard pies and water. Hosted by many but the famous face was Chris Tarrant aided by Sally James what a team they made. Tiswas was, for the kids that watched through its heyday, an institution.

Noel Edmonds show was built on one premise, kids called in to swap their badminton racket for a Scalextric set or many things similar. And it was great telly, not least because I was one of their most avid viewers.

Hosted by the aforementioned Noel Edmonds, a youthful John Craven and assisted if that is the word by Keith Chegwin and Maggie Philbin. I used to sit there from 9:30 every Saturday morning until it finished just before Grandstand.

Yes they just don't seem to make programmes like that anymore, now all sing together, ''Casey Jones steaming and a rolling...''.

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