Wide Awake Club
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Wide Awake Club (often abbreviated to WAC) was a highly successful children's television series broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV's breakfast franchise TV-am between 1984 and 1989. It was presented by Timmy Mallett, Michaela Strachan, Tommy Boyd, James Baker and Arabella Warner - all newcomers to television, except Boyd who had previously presented Magpie.
Wide Awake Club was broadcast on Saturday mornings. It was devised by producer Nick Wilson to be TV-am's flagship children's programme, replacing Data Run. 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 for the science slot, as well as attempts to explain historical and contemporary events like the Cold War. A spelling contest, 'Bonk and Boob' was praised by teachers for encouraging children to learn to spell properly. The show also launched the career of Mike Myers, who made monthly guest appearances as part of the 'Sound Asleep Club'.
The programme was so successful that it launched two spin-offs: Wacaday, a programme for holiday mornings presented soley by Timmy Mallett that became even more successful than its parent, and WAC Extra, a Sunday morning version of the show.
Meanwhile, Wide Awake Club continued for many years with only minor changes to the format. However, in 1990 it was relauched as WAC '90, a longer programme broadcast from Granada's studios in Manchester (as opposed to TV-am's in London). The programme ran until the end of 1990, when it was replaced by Hey, Hey, it's Saturday!. However, that was not the end of the Wide Awake Club franchise as Wacaday continued until 1992.
See Also
External Links
- Page at Timmy Mallett's website (http://www.brillianttv.co.uk/timmymallett/television-wac.html)
- Page at Watched It! (http://www.cjetech.co.uk/watched_it/wac.html)