''Junior Showtime'' was a British

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

for children made by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

and shown on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

between 1969 and 1974. The series' executive producer was

Jess Yates Jesse Frederick Joseph Yates (20 December 1918 – 9 April 1993) was an English television presenter and producer. He was the creator, presenter and producer of Yorkshire Television's religious programme ''Stars on Sunday''. He was born in Tyld ...

. Jeff Evans ''The Penguin TV Companion'', London: Penguin, 2006, p. 455 Presented by Bobby Bennett from the

Leeds City Varieties The Leeds City Varieties is a Grade II* listed music hall in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. History Leeds City Varieties was built in 1865 as an adjunct to the White Swan Inn in Swan Street by architect George Smith for Charles Thornton. Alon ...

theatre, the show consisted of song and dance routines in the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

style. Several regular performers later developed successful careers in Britain as adults, including

Joe Longthorne Joseph Patrick Daniel Longthorne (31 May 1955 – 3 August 2019) was an English singer and Impressionist (entertainment), impressionist. He performed on stage and television, and released three music recording sales certification, platinum al ...

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen ( Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is an English actress who has played Sharon Theodopolopodous in the long-running comedy series '' Birds of a Feather'' (1988–1999, 2014–2017). For this role, she won the 1990 British Comed ...

Kathryn Apanowicz Kathryn Apanowicz ( ; born 3 June 1960, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire), is a British actress and presenter. Apanowicz grew up in Horsforth, Leeds, with a brother, Stephen. Her father was a Polish RAF pilot in the Second World War. She fir ...

Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette "Bonnie" Langford (born 22 July 1964) is an English actress, dancer and singer. She came to prominence as a child star in the 1970s, when she had a notable role in the TV series ''Just William''. In the 1980s, she played c ...

Janet Kay Janet Kay Bogle (born 17 January 1958) is an English actor and vocalist, best known for her 1979 lovers rock hit "Silly Games". Biography Janet Kay Bogle was born in Willesden, North West London. She was discovered singing impromptu at a rehea ...

, Mark Curry,

Lisa Stansfield Lisa Jane Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition ''Search for a Star''. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first ...

Perry Cree Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermentation (food), fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcesters ...

, and

Malandra Burrows Malandra Elizabeth Burrows (born 4 November 1965) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her long-running role as Kathy Glover in ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale''. Early life Burrows' first name, Malandra, is a portmanteau of her pa ...

. One of the regulars was Glynn Poole of the Poole Family, winners of '' Opportunity Knocks''. The show also featured the return of the 1930s music hall character

Old Mother Riley Old Mother Riley is a fictional character portrayed from about 1934 to 1954 by Arthur Lucan and from 1954 to the 1980s by Roy Rolland as part of a British music hall act. Old Mother Riley (full comedy name: Daphne Bluebell Snowdrop Riley) is an I ...

, played by

Roy Rolland Roy Rolland (29 June 1921 – 16 August 1997) was an English comedian and stage actor who was the understudy for Arthur Lucan as Old Mother Riley and who took over the role following the death of Lucan in 1954, playing it until about 1977. Biog ...

.Rolland's Obituary
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' - 26 August 1997 In a 2001 poll by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

to find the "100 Greatest Kids' TV shows" ''Junior Showtime'' was at number 99. However Jeff Evans, the author of ''The Penguin TV Companion'' has also identified it as being amongst the twenty worst shows of all time.Adam Sherwi
"Do not adjust your set - these really are the worst shows on TV"
''The Times'', 24 October 2006 Almost all of the 190 episodes broadcast have not survived (see

Wiping Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

); only three programmes are believed to still exist.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0266158, title=Junior Showtime 1969 British television series debuts 1974 British television series endings 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series British variety television shows ITV children's television shows Television series by Yorkshire Television Television series by ITV Studios English-language television shows