''Scratchy & Co.'' Was a British children's entertainment show that aired 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 ...

on Saturday mornings from 6 May 1995 to 25 April 1998.

Premise

''Scratchy & Co.'' starred Elliot Henderson-Boyle as "Reg" and

Mark Speight Mark Warwick Fordham Speight (6 August 1965 – 7 April 2008) was an English television presenter and host of children's art programme ''SMart''. Speight was born in Seisdon, Staffordshire, and left school at 16 to become a cartoonist. He t ...

as "Scratchy". Other characters included Annabel and a Scottish girl, both played by comedian and impressionist

Ronni Ancona Veronica "Ronni" Jane Ancona (born 4 July 1966)''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' is a British actress, comedian, impressionist and writer best known for ''The Big Impression'', which she co-wrote and starred in and ...

. The main gimmick of the show was that the cast wore "solid rubber wigs" and eccentric jackets. A stylistic similarity might be noted between this approach and ''

Max Headroom Max Headroom is a fictional artificial intelligence (AI) character portrayed by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, ...

''. This format only lasted for its first series. Later series introduced other characters such as Sedgely the penguin and Fathead the football. From the second series, the show moved away from the original ''Max Headroom''-esque style, into a studio where Scratchy (now minus the rubber wig) sat behind a desk, with Reg behind a window. At this point, guests were invited into the studio and interviewed. However, most of the characters which had been introduced earlier were dropped.

Gail Porter Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971) is a Scottish television personality, former model and actress. She started her television career in children's TV, before branching out into modelling and presenting mainstream TV. In the 1990s, she famously po ...

was a frequent guest presenter in the third and fourth series. The show was nominated for a BAFTA. It was axed after the fourth series in 1998 as part of a revamp of CITV's Saturday morning line-up which took effect that autumn with the launch of ''

SMTV Live ''SMTV Live'' (an abbreviation of ''Saturday Morning Television Live'', and also stylised as ''SM: LIVE'') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to o ...

'' and '' CD:UK''.

Transmission guide

References

External links

''Scratchy & Co.''
on Paul Morris' SatKids {{DEFAULTSORT:Scratchy and Co. 1990s British children's television series 1995 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings British television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows ITV children's television shows Max Headroom Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Central Independent Television