''Jossy's Giants'' is a children's footballing comedy drama that ran on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

between 23 April 1986 and 8 April 1987. The show's plot centred on a boys' football team, the Glipton Grasshoppers, and their enthusiastic

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 ...

manager Joswell 'Jossy' Blair. The show was written by darts commentator and television personality

Sid Waddell Sidney Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed the 'Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada Television, Granada, Yorkshire ...

, himself a native of

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 ...

. Ten episodes were made. The producer and director Edward Pugh later became an executive producer and ran the Children's Programmes Department at BBC Manchester. The theme music was written by Mike Amatt. Football scenes were shot at a since demolished Oldham Town FC site off Middleton Road,

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. The ...

, exterior scenes were shot in and around

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, it had a population of 26,830. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east o ...

, and the studio material was shot at BBC Oxford Road.

Cast

Many of the child actors from the series have since left acting, although Jim Barclay, who played Jossy Blair, has appeared on ''

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...

'' and '' Blessed''. Julian Walsh, who played Harvey, has appeared in ''

Sorted Sorted may refer to: * ''Sorted'' (TV series), a BBC television series *"Sorted for E's & Wizz", a 1995 Pulp song * ''Sorted'' (The Drones album), 1999 * ''Sorted'' (DJ? Acucrack album) * ''Sorted'' (film), a 2000 British thriller film *'' Sorted'' ...

'' and '' The Street''. Walsh was also the face of the Warburton's Bread TV advertising campaign in 2007.

Julie Foy Julie Foy (born 5 May 1971) is an English actress and producer, best known for ''The Silent Child'' which received critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Julie Foy attended Canon Slade School in Bolton. Juli ...

, who played Tracey Gaunt, went on to appear in ''

Press Gang Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is a type of conscription of people into a military force, especially a naval force, via intimidation and physical coercion, conducted by an organized group (hence "gang"). European nav ...

'' and ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' and acted on stage and in film. In 2017 Julie was Assistant Producer on the short film The Silent Child which won Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards.

Suzanne Hall Suzanne Hall (born 1972), is an Australian-born British actress. Hall has played Suzanne Ashworth in Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', from 2005 to 2010 and again in 2011 and 2012. She will reprise the role of Suzanne in 2024. She was previou ...

, who appeared in four episodes as Harvey's girlfriend Opal, went on to appear in ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'' .

Cast

Releases

Jossy's Giants was released on DVD in 2018 by Simply Media.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, tt0281453 BBC One original programming Fictional association football television series 1986 British television series debuts 1987 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series British English-language television shows