Jackanory
Jackanory | |
---|---|
Genre | Children's television |
Created by | Joy Whitby |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 3640 (2330 missing) |
Production | |
Running time | 15 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC1 (1965–96) CBBC (2006) |
Release | 13 December 1965 24 March 1996 | –
Related | |
Jackanory Playhouse Jackanory Junior |
Jackanory is a
The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett and broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show was briefly revived on 27 November 2006 for two one-off stories. The format was revived as Jackanory Junior, airing on CBeebies between 2007 and 2009.
The show's format, which varied little over the decades, featured an actor reading from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair.[2] From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially commissioned still drawing, often by Quentin Blake. In 1983, Malou Bonicos was commissioned to provide illustrations for one Jackanory story. Usually a single book would occupy five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday.
A spin-off series was Jackanory Playhouse (1972–85), which was a series of thirty-minute dramatisations. These included a dramatisation by Philip Glassborow of the comical A. A. Milne story "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh".
Coverage of the live broadcast of the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 was interrupted so Jackanory could be shown.[3]
Title
The show's title comes from an old English nursery rhyme:
I'll tell you a story
About Jack a Nory,
And now my story's begun;
I'll tell you another
Of Jack and his brother,
And now my story is done.[4]
The rhyme was first recorded in the publication The Top Book of All, for little Masters and Misses, which appeared about 1760.[4]
Revival
In November 2006 Jackanory briefly returned with comedian
Both stories were released in their entirety on DVD later that year, with added bonus features (galleries with images from the stories and a behind-the-scenes film for Muddle Earth).
While no further stories were made, Muddle Earth would be adapted for television again a few years later.
Jackanory Junior
A version of Jackanory for younger children—called Jackanory Junior—was shown on CBeebies between 2007 and 2009.[7] The CBeebies Bedtime Stories strand continues the tradition of well-known actors and personalities reading stories directly to camera.[8]
Stories
See List of Jackanory episodes for the stories broadcast from 13 December 1965 to 9 March 1984.
Subsequent stories included:
- The Lightkeepers (1983), read by Andrew Burt
- The Dangerous Journey (1983), read by Andrew Burt
- The Wheel on the School, written by Meindert DeJong, read by Peter Settelen
- Arabel's Tree House, written by Joan Aiken, read by Bernard Cribbins
- The Hundred and One Dalmatians, written by Dodie Smith, read by Sarah Greene
- Matilda, written by Roald Dahl, read by Victoria Wood
List of readers
- Joss Ackland (5 programmes reading Danny, the Champion of the World)
- Tom Baker
- Floella Benjamin
- Alan Bennett
- George Benson
- Ed Bishop
- James Bolam
- Helena Bonham Carter (5 programmes reading Philippa Pearce's The Way to Sattin Shore stories)
- Richard Briers
- Kathy Burke
- Andrew Burt
- Earl Cameron
- Brian Cant
- Prince Charles (now Charles III, reading his own book, The Old Man of Lochnagar)
- Matthew Corbett
- Bernard Cribbins (114 programmes)
- Peter Davison
- Angus Deayton
- Judi Dench
- Denholm Elliott
- Rupert Everett
- Harry Fowler
- Edward Fox
- Jan Francis
- Clement Freud
- Ann George
- John Grant (55 programmes reading his Littlenose stories)
- Joyce Grenfell
- Susan Hampshire
- Sheila Hancock
- Susanne Hart
- Lenny Henry
- John Hurt
- Wendy Hiller
- Michael Hordern
- Jeremy Irons
- Martin Jarvis
- Stratford Johns
- Freddie Jones
- James Robertson Justice
- Penelope Keith
- Ben Kingsley (The Magician of Samarkand)
- Roy Kinnear
- Rosalind Knight
- Raymond Leppard
- Arthur Lowe
- Joanna Lumley
- Sylvester McCoy
- Geraldine McEwan
- Paul McGann
- Ian McKellen
- Art Malik
- Alfred Marks
- Alex Marshall (1969–1974)
- Trevor Martin
- Rik Mayall (reading George's Marvellous Medicine)
- George Melly
- Paul Merton
- Spike Milligan
- Hayley Mills
- Lee Montague
- Patrick Moore
- Liam Neeson
- Michael Palin
- Jon Pertwee
- Alison Prince
- Ted Ray
- Miranda Richardson
- Alan Rickman
- Bob Roberts
- Tony Robinson
- Gordon Rollings
- Patsy Rowlands
- Willie Rushton
- Margaret Rutherford
- Prunella Scales
- John Sessions
- Elaine Smith
- Maggie Smith
- Patrick Stewart
- John Stride[9]
- Elaine Stritch
- Mollie Sugden
- H. E. Todd
- Patrick Troughton
- Ann Way
- Mary Webster
- Billie Whitelaw
- Kenneth Williams (69 programmes)
- Victoria Wood (reading the Ten in a Bed story and Matilda by Roald Dahl)
- Wendy Wood (Auntie Gwen)
Cultural influence
Philip Glenister, in character as Gene Hunt, made an appearance on Jackanory as the guest reader in the Ashes to Ashes series 2 finale, set in 1982, which Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) imagines being transmitted to her television set.[10]
"Jackanory, jackanory" said by someone in the sing-song tones of the theme tune indicates that they think that someone else is making up or "stretching" a story, i.e. lying.[11]
In 2013 the UK TV Network Dave launched Crackanory as an adult version of Jackanory. Each Crackanory episode features two 15-minute tales narrated by contemporary comedians and actors, containing a mix of live-action and animation as per the original.[12]
References
- ^ McKay, Sinclair (9 December 2015). "Why children – and actors – loved Jackanory". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
- ISBN 1903111277.
- ^ Times, AUTHOR: Radio. "In place of the advertised programme…". Transdiffusion. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
- ^ a b I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), p. 233.
- ^ a b "BBC NEWS - Entertainment - Jackanory to return with Kingsley". bbc.co.uk. 26 July 2006.
- ^ "Nick Willing". IMDb.
- ^ "BBC - Press Office - Who's reading the story on Jackanory?". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "CBeebies Bedtime Stories". bbc.co.uk. 7 January 2018.
- .
- ^ Jackanory With Gene Hunt. YouTube. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015.
- ISBN 0-304-35167-9
- ^ Powder Blue Internet Business Solutions. "Crackanory". chortle.co.uk.
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External links
- British Film Institute Screen Online analysis and listings (incomplete)
- Jackanory at IMDb
- Stop Messin' About: The Kenneth Williams Website via archive.org
- New Chapter Opening for Jackanory: BBC News report
- Jackanory at bbc.co.uk
- The new Jackanory at CBBC