''Wide Awake Club'' (often abbreviated to ''WAC'') is a

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

that was broadcast in the United Kingdom on the

breakfast television Breakfast television (Europe and Australia) or morning show (Canada and the United States) is a type of news broadcasting, news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts Live television, live in the morning (typically broadcast pro ...

channel

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

between 1984 and 1989.

History

''Wide Awake Club'' started on Saturday 13 October 1984, broadcasting for an hour each Saturday morning at 8.30 am as TV-am's flagship kids series. It replaced two separate shows, '' Data Run'' and ''SPLAT'' which had been created by Ragdoll's Anne Wood then as Head of Children's Programmes. The change to ''Wide Awake Club'' was part of cost cutting by management and was devised by producer Nick Wilson. ''WAC'' was presented by

Timmy Mallett Timmy Mallett (born 18 October 1955) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, author and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses and shirts, and a giant pink foam mallet (known as "Mallett's Mallet"), as we ...

, Arabella Warner and James Baker, with

Tommy Boyd Timothy Leslie "Tommy" Boyd (born 14 December 1952) is a British television and radio presenter. He gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as host of the children's television programmes ''Magpie'', '' Wide Awake Club'', and ''The Saturday ...

joining in February 1985 and

Michaela Strachan Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan (, born 7 April 1966) is an English television presenter and singer. After beginning her career in theatre, she ventured into presenting and fronted the children's television shows '' Wide Awake Club'' (1986–1989 ...

in August 1986 – all newcomers to television, except Boyd who had previously presented ''

Magpie Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent c ...

'' and Mallett who had presented the ''

Oxford Road Show ''Oxford Road Show'' is a music show that aired on BBC2 from 16 January 1981 to 29 March 1985. It was broadcast from the BBC's New Broadcasting House in Oxford Road, Manchester. The show featured live music, pop music news and competitions and ...

''. The live programme combined comedy, games, celebrity guests, competitions and viewer interaction. There were also more educational features, including visiting experts such as

Carol Vorderman Carol Jean Vorderman (born 24 December 1960) is a Welsh broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Her media career began when she joined the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'', appearing with Richard Whiteley from 1982 until his death in 2005, ...

for the science slot, and attempts to explain historical and contemporary events like the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. A spelling contest, 'Bonk’n’Boob' was praised by teachers for encouraging children to learn to spell properly. The show also launched the career of

Mike Myers Michael John Myers, (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood W ...

, later a major Hollywood star, who made guest appearances with

Neil Mullarkey Neil Mullarkey is an English actor, writer and comedian. Early life and education From 1972 to 1979, Mullarkey was educated at Kingston Grammar School, an independent school for boys (now coeducational), in Kingston upon Thames, followed by R ...

on the show for a brief time, parodying the show's title in his segment "Sound Asleep Club", in which he sported

pyjamas Pajamas (American English) or pyjamas (Commonwealth English), sometimes colloquially shortened to PJs, jammies, jim-jams, or in South Asia, night suits, are several related types of clothing worn as nightwear or while lounging. Pajamas are s ...

and a "bed-head" hairstyle. His roles included making earrings out of spoons, tape and string, as well as making a glass of water in a cookery section. When ''Wide Awake Club'' returned after its summer break on Saturday, 14 September 1985, the series was extended to broadcast for almost two hours from 7.30 am until 9.25 am. The programme was so successful that it launched two spin-offs: ''

Wacaday ''Wacaday'' is a children's television series in the United Kingdom that ran in TV-am's school-holidays slot from October 1985 until 1992, in an 8:50-9:25 a.m. slot, and was hosted by Timmy Mallett. History ''Wacaday'' was introduced wh ...

'', a programme for holiday mornings presented solely by Timmy Mallett (joined by Terry a puppet during its first series and Michaela Strachan for later editions) that became even more successful than its parent, and ''WAC Extra'', a Sunday morning version of the show. Both ''Wide Awake Club'' and ''Wacaday'' introduced the ''Wacawave'', done by making a 'w', by putting one's thumbs together, and waving. Meanwhile, ''Wide Awake Club'' continued for many years with only minor changes to the format until 9 September 1989 when it was relaunched as ''WAC '90'', broadcast from

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

's studios in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

(as opposed to TV-am's in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

). However, the ''Wide Awake Club'' franchise continued as ''Wacaday'' until TV-am lost its franchise in 1992.

Programming

*'' Jem'' (1987–late 80's) * ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...

'' -

References

External links

Page at Timmy Mallett's website
{{UK Breakfast TV 1980s British children's television series 1984 British television series debuts 1989 British television series endings Breakfast television in the United Kingdom British children's television series TV-am original programming British English-language television shows