''Jossy's Giants'' is a children's footballing comedy drama that ran on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

between 1986 and 1987. The show's plot centred on a boys' football team, the Glipton Grasshoppers, and their enthusiastic

Geordie Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitute ...

manager Joswell 'Jossy' Blair. The show was written by darts commentator and television personality

Sid Waddell Sid Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed the 'Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada, Yorkshire, BBC and Sky Sports ...

, himself a native of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is a ...

. Ten episodes were made. The producer and director Edward Pugh later became an executive producer and ran the Children's Programmes Department at BBC Manchester. The theme music was written by Mike Amatt. Football scenes were shot at a since demolished Oldham Town FC site off Middleton Road, Chadderton, exterior scenes were shot in and around Stalybridge, and the studio material was shot at BBC Oxford Road.

Stars

Many of the child actors from the series have since left acting, although Jim Barclay, who played Jossy Blair, has appeared on ''

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'' and ''

Blessed Blessed may refer to: * The state of having received a blessing * Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified Film and television * ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatura ...

''. Julian Walsh, who played Harvey, has appeared in '' Sorted'' and ''

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''. Walsh was also the face of the Warburton's Bread TV advertising campaign in 2007.

Julie Foy Julie Foy (born 5 May 1971) is an English actress and producer, best known for '' The Silent Child'' which received critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Julie Foy attended Canon Slade School in Bolton then ...

, who played Tracey Gaunt, went on to appear in ''

Press Gang ''Press Gang'' is a British children's television comedy drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. It was produced by Richmond Film & Television for Central, and screened on the ITV network in i ...

'' and ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

'' and acted on stage and in film. In 2017 Julie was Assistant Producer on the short film The Silent Child which won Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards.

Suzanne Hall Suzanne Hall (born 1972), is an Australian born British actress. Before attending her first secondary school, Worden Sports College in Leyland, she went to Hayward School in Bolton and, at that time lived in Great Lever, but now lives in Smi ...

, who appeared in four episodes as Harvey's girlfriend Opal, went on to appear in ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a da ...

'' .

Cast

Releases

Jossy's Giants was released on DVD in 2018 by Simply Media.

References

{{reflist

External links

Jossy's Giants on IMDB
BBC Television shows Fictional association football television series 1986 British television series debuts 1987 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series