''Chock-A-Block'' is a

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early eveni ...

programme, created by Michael Cole and Nick Wilson. It was first shown in 1981 and repeated through to 1989 and shown as part of the children's programme cycle ''

See-Saw A seesaw (also known as a teeter-totter or teeterboard) is a long, narrow board supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both ends; as one end goes up, the other goes down. These are most commonly found a ...

'' (the "new" name for the cycle originally known as ''

Watch with Mother ''Watch with Mother'' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1975, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at pre-school children, a developm ...

''). "Chock-A-Block" was an extremely large yellow computer, modelled to resemble a

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...

of the time; it filled the entire studio and provided the entire backdrop for the show. The presenter of the show played the part of a technician maintaining the computer. There were two presenters,

Fred Harris Fred, Fredric, Fredrick, Frederic, or Frederick Harris may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Fred Harris (presenter) (fl. 1970s–present), British comedian and television presenter * Frederick Harris (conductor) (fl. 2000s–present), American co ...

("Chock-A-

Bloke ''Bloke'' is a slang term for a common man in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The earliest known usage is from the early 19th century, when it was recorded as a London slang term. The word's origin is u ...

") and

Carol Leader Carol Leader (born 10 November 1950 in Colchester, Essex) is a former English theatrical and television actress, and senior psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She played Barbara Charlton in '' Young at Heart'' from 1980 to 1981, and Sadie Tomkins i ...

("Chock-A-Girl"), but only one appeared in each episode. At the start of the show, the presenter would drive around the studio towards the machine in a small yellow

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...

, the chock a truck, before saying the catchphrase "Chock-A-Bloke (or Girl), checking in!"). The presenter would then use the machine to find out about a particular topic. The name "chock-a-block" was derived from the machine's ability to read data from "blocks" – which were just that, physical blocks painted different colours. A typical show would include dialogue from the presenter, a brief clip played on Chock-a-block's video screen, and the presenter recording a song on Chock-a-block's audio recorder (which resembled the

reel-to-reel tape Reel-to-reel audio tape recording, also called open-reel recording, is magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording tape is spooled between reels. To prepare for use, the ''supply reel'' (or ''feed reel'') containing the tape is plac ...

drives used on actual mainframes, but with a design below to cause the reels to resemble the eyes of a smiling face). The presenter

went on to present the serious computing programme ''

Micro Live ''Micro Live'' is a BBC2 TV series that was produced by David Allen as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project, and followed on from earlier series such as ''The Computer Programme'', '' Computers In Control'', and '' Making the Most of the ...

'' and to become a personality strongly associated with computers in the public eye. According to the Kaleidoscope 'Lost Shows' database, eight out of thirteen episodes are no longer in the BBC archives, however the whole of one of these and parts of a second survive only as domestic video recordings.TV Archive – Chock-A-Block
/ref>

Episodes

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0236895, Chock-A-Block 1981 British television series debuts 1981 British television series endings BBC children's television shows Lost BBC episodes Television series by BBC Studios 1980s British children's television series British children's education television series British television shows featuring puppetry