Crackers for nostalgia

WHAT on earth is the point of bringing back CRACKERJACK! (CBBC, 6pm), the kids’ TV favourite that’s been missing presumed dead since the mid-Eighties?

That was the question I was asked on a radio show the other day. Not because they held me responsible for its revival, but because I was taking part in one of those heated mid-morning debates that radio stations like to have on a quiet news day.

Another TV critic (yes, it turns out there are others, who’d have thought it?) had already been handed the easy-peasy role in this discussion – that of droning on about Crackerjack’s reboot being a pointless and desperate idea on the part of the BBC.

So my job was to argue the opposite, to say: “Well, yes, maybe, you dreary man, but where’s the harm?”

Which, funnily enough, I found fairly easy, because that’s how I feel. Hosted by Sam and Mark (that’s Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes, the ex-Pop Idol pair from many yonks ago who wisely reinvented themselves as children’s presenters), in many ways it’s uncannily true to the spirit of the original, or at least the incarnation I remember, when Leslie Crowther was the host.

It’s got silly games, silly stunts, silly sketches etc. It even does that quaint thing where the audience must immediately yell back: “Crackerjack!” whenever they hear one of the stars utter the show’s name.

Oh, and it’s got clowns.Yes, actual clowns. Shoving custard pies in people’s faces. Seriously.

All that, plus original Crackerjack regulars Stu Francis, Bernie Clifton, Jan Hunt, Don Maclean and Basil Brush (who hasn’t aged a bit), albeit just dropping by to say hello, in a respectful nod to the show’s heritage that will have gone way over the heads of most of the studio audience.

So yes, it’s almost ridiculously old-fashioned.And I think that’s why I am happy to defend it.

I like the fact it’s not trying to be remotely cool or cutting-edge. I like its refreshing lack of cynicism. It remembers that modern-day kids, while undoubtedly more sophisticated than those of previous generations, still have a healthy appetite for down-to-earth daftness.

But ultimately I suspect it’s targeting the grown-ups. It wants parents, or more likely grandparents, to sit down with the kids and share the experience, and not be confronted with anything too alienating.

In that respect, all it’s got wrong is the time slot. I realise a 6pm start means more grown-ups will be back from work, but come on, some traditions are sacrosanct: “It’s Friday, it’s five to five, and it’s…Cra-cker-jaaaack!”