Cee Tee Jackson

Never Too Old For Children’s TV.

Growing up in Scotland during The Sixties, watching TV was a much different experience to the magic of streaming and digital services the kids of today benefit from. There was no such thing as colour television, unless in a literal sense you include black and white. There was no such thing as ‘instant’ television. I would come in from playing outside about five to ten minutes before I expected my favourite shows to start, because the television set had to ‘warm up’ first.

The TV screen itself was a mere fraction of what we watch now. Our set was a fourteen inch screen as I recall, so I’d sit, or stretch out on the living room floor, about three feet away from the screen.

Thinking back, it was a thing of beauty, the small screen encased in wood, with just a couple of dials and buttons on show, though the horizontal and vertical hold could be adjusted by a small screw type thing ion the back.

It also gave of a really dusty smell as it warmed up and must surely have been a fire risk as every now and then we’d have to switch it off to let it cool down!

Pic credit: iNews

So what did I watch as a kid?
Pretty much as I watch to this day! Sixty years may have passed, but I still watch my DVDs of the my favourites from back then, including all the Gerry Anderson series like (my favourite) Stingray – I’m sure I wasn’t the only six year old who fancied Marina … or Betty from The Flintstones for that matter. 😉

Batman and The Monkees were staple Saturday evening ‘must watch’ shows. And I couldn’t pick a favourite between The Addams Family and The Munsters.

Just about any cartoons from that time would also be worth calling a game of football early for: all the Hanna Barbera shows were essential watching and of course the Warner Bros ones too.

Away from animation … well, there probably wasn’t much. My parents allowed me to stay up late for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and again, this remains a favourite to this day.

Yellow background with logo of The Man From UNCLE
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.


Heck – this post could go on forever! Suffice to say, I’m still a huge fan of all the shows mentioned – and more.

Present day children’s TV doesn’t enthrall me nearly as much, though I have to say there is one show I’ve downloaded many episodes of – The Animaniacs.

Animaniacs cartoon opening logo. The three Animaniacs in the water tower.
The Animaniacs

But there’s the difference right there – no matter how good it is, because I can access it at a moment’s notice, there’s neither the excitement nor anticipation that results from the once or twice weekly opportunity of watching your favourite show.

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12 comments

  4. We should watch some TV, man. I’ve got Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons running on a loop for a screen saver. Do you remember the great hue and cry when the BBC took Scooby Doo off the air? Every kid in school had a petition and apparently it worked.

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    • I have the DVD box sets of Captain Scarlet; Thunderbirds; Joe 90; Fireball XL5; Stingray and Supercar.
      Still to watch a lot of them, but now I’ve just retired, I plan to sort that out this winter. (I also have loads of cartoons – a couple of feature length Scooby Doo ones amongst them, though I think theyve been banished to the loft by my wife. 😀 )

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  7. I was more into Thunderbirds, but I also enjoyed Swap Shop, Grange Hill, and Whacky Races! Our set could take ages to warm up, and I remember going all modern when we had a switch fitted on the wall, which we used to turn the channels over. My grandmother rented her TV set, which she had to put coins into. Somebody would come around once a week to empty the box where all the coins went.

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  8. Ah – see this is where we differ … though I was late teens / early twenties, I was always firmly on the side of TISWAS and not so much Swap Shop. 😉

    (Aye – a whole new meaning to the expression’ pay as you go ‘ TV. ) 🙂

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