''Geordie Racer'' is an educational

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Look and Read ''Look and Read'' is a BBC Television programme for primary schools, aimed at improving children's literacy skills. The programme presents fictional stories in a serial format, the first of which was broadcast in 1967 and the most recent in 20 ...

'' production, which was first aired on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

from 12 January to 22 March 1988. The story was set in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

and the surrounding area, and featured pigeon racers and runners competing in the

Great North Run The Great North Run (branded the AJ Bell Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September. Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shie ...

. The main character is Richard "Spuggy" Hilton (Spuggy being a nickname – the

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

word for sparrow), who isn't a runner like the rest of his family, but is a keen

pigeon fancier Pigeon keeping or pigeon fancying is the art and science of breeding domestic pigeons. People have practiced pigeon keeping for at least 5,000 years and in almost every part of the world. In that time, humans have substantially altered the morpho ...

and owns 'Blue Flash' – one of the best birds in Newcastle. He and his friend Janie observe some suspicious activity, and link a spate of local art robberies with obscure messages they find on some of the pigeons, but find they have even more problems when they go to spy on the crooks. ''Geordie Racer'' was praised for attempting to bring a grittier edge to educational programmes shown in

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. The series also featured

actor

Kevin Whately Kevin Whately OBE (born 6 February 1951) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Neville "Nev" Hope in the comedy drama ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''; Robert "Robbie" Lewis in the British crime drama ''Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000) ...

as Spuggy's father. Whately, who went on to star in ''

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

'', in a casting decision which was purely coincidental, was joined on screen by his real-life wife,

Madelaine Newton Sheila Madelaine Whately, better known by her stage name Madelaine Newton, is a British actress best known for her portrayal of Dolly in 1970s BBC television drama ''When the Boat Comes In''. Since 1984 she has been married to actor Kevin Whately, ...

, who played his on-screen wife.

Cast

* Leon Armstrong as Spuggy Hilton * Lien Lu as Janie Chung * Lesley Casey as Cath Hilton * Brian Hogg as Victor *

as Bev Hilton * Fred Pearson as Baz Bailey * Peter Rowell as Mickey Stone *

as Ray Hilton * Bungo as Plod * Charles Collingwood as Wordy * Katie Hebb as Wordy puppeteer * Rachel Mackay as Bug-Bopper * Mary Edwards as Bug-Bopper puppeteer

Episodes

# Runners and Fliers # Down in the Cellars # Pigeon Post # This Is Radio Newcastle # Race Day # Light of St Mary # Lost Bird # Have You Gone Daft, Man? # If Only We Knew When... # Run!

Theme tune

The theme tune was sung by

Derek Griffiths Derek Griffiths (born 15 July 1946) is a British actor, singer and voice artist who appeared in numerous British children's television series in the 1970s to present and has more recently played parts in television drama. Career Griffiths was ...

. The lyrics are:

References

External links

* {{Look and Read 1988 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series BBC children's television shows British children's education television series British television shows for schools Look and Read Reading and literacy television series Television shows set in Tyne and Wear Television shows set in Newcastle upon Tyne