The Encyclopaedia of Classic Saturday Night Telly

by Jack Kibble-White, Steve Williams

Reminisce about the shows you loved with this hilarious guide to the nation's best-loved telly programmes. Saturday night is the happiest night of the week. Most of us have fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of the telly with our family crowding out the sofa behind us. Dad is making half-hearted derisory remarks at the presenter on the screen, and brothers and sisters are becoming excited at the prospect of a famous person getting gunged. Meanwhile, Mum's just enjoying some honest-to-goodness, clean entertainment. As for you, there's no school tomorrow, you're allowed to stay up late, and a whole feast of treats is about to unfold on the box -what could be betterIn this witty and nostalgic romp through the highlights and lowlights of Saturday night telly, Jack Kibble-White and Steve Williams remind us of the great, the iconic, the hilarious and the just plain embarrassing moments that have made Saturday night television so entertaining. With a foreword from Jeremy Beadle and a comprehensive list of classic comedy, drama, entertainment, game shows and people shows, this is a must-read for true TV buffs and the perfect gift for nostalgia fans.

359 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 2007

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you fondly remember the likes of the "Generation Game" (Bruce Forsyth and Larry Grayson eras, rather than Jim Davidson), "3-2-1" and so on, and were born in the mid-late 1960s or early 1970s you'll love this book. Perfect for dipping into for a quick burst of nostalgia, the book entertainingly describes pretty much every Saturday night TV show from the 1960s to the present day and is a hugely enjoyable read. Buy it in conjunction with the "TV Cream Toys" and "TV Cream" books and you'll be in flashback heaven. Massively enjoyable.

[Tim Worthington · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey through the razzle-dazzling world of Saturday Night TV, from the thrills and spills of late fifties talents shows to the thrills and spills of the modern day, erm talent shows. Of course, there's more to Saturday Night TV than that; within the schedules you'll find shows as diverse as Robin Of Sherwood, 3-2-1, The Generation Game, Gladiators, Noel's House Party, Game For A Laugh, Doctor Who, The Paul Daniels Magic Show and the downright bewildering Trick Or Treat (and, erm, Jim'll Fix It), and within these pages you'll find them all covered in detail and with sometimes surprising assessments of whether the shows themselves were actually any good or not. The entertaining story of the highest concept, lowest common denominator shows in the history of TV. Oh and Parky.

[Rachel Collins-Lister · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book documents Saturday nights on British TV - from the horrors of Jim'll Fix It, the Black and White Minstrel Show and the gruesome Edmonds Trilogy (though there's no entry about the horrific Hit The Road, a '90s BBC1 show beginning with a silent S) to the great shows such as The Two Ronnies and Bob's Full House. Remarkably they manage to go through the entry about Gladiators without mentioning the legendary Jet.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another reliable edition from the TV Cream stable, this does exactly what it says - detailing Saturday night TV shows with a mini-essay or review. Some programmes were long-running, some were just for a few episodes, but all are dealt with thoroughly enough for the reader to remember them (bizarrely, the ones I’d forgotten were from the 90s/00s but, I suppose, by then I’d moved out of the demographic of watchers by then). A real treat and a wonderful trip down memory lane, I highly recommend this.