''Junior Showtime'' was a British

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

for children made by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

and shown on ITV between 1969 and 1974. The series' executive producer was Jess Yates. Jeff Evans ''The Penguin TV Companion'', London: Penguin, 2006, p. 455 Presented by Bobby Bennett from the Leeds City Varieties theatre, the show consisted of song and dance routines in the

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

style. Several regular performers later developed successful careers in Britain as adults, including

Joe Longthorne Joseph Patrick Daniel Longthorne (31 May 1955 – 3 August 2019) was an English singer and impressionist. He performed on stage, television and released three platinum albums. Longthorne started his TV career at the age of fourteen when he lan ...

Pauline Quirke Pauline Perpetua Sheen (née Quirke; born 8 July 1959) is a retired English actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, ''Pauline's Quirkes'', in 1976. She later starred as ...

Kathryn Apanowicz Kathryn Apanowicz ( ; 3 June 1960 – 3 March 2025) was a British actress and presenter. Background Apanowicz grew up in Horsforth, Leeds, with a brother, Stephen. Her father was a Polish RAF pilot in the Second World War. From 1994 to 200 ...

Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette Langford (born 22 July 1964) is an English actress, dancer and singer. She came to prominence as a child star in the 1970s, when she had a notable role in the TV series '' Just William''. In the 1980s, she played companio ...

Janet Kay Janet Kay Bogle (born 17 January 1958) is an English actress and vocalist, best known for her 1979 lovers rock hit " Silly Games". Biography Janet Kay Bogle was born in Willesden, North West London. She was discovered singing impromptu at a ...

, Mark Curry,

Lisa Stansfield Lisa Jane Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition ''Search for a Star''. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first ...

, and Malandra Burrows. One of the regulars was Glynn Poole of the Poole Family, winners of '' Opportunity Knocks''. The show also featured the return of the 1930s music hall character

Old Mother Riley Old Mother Riley is a fictional character portrayed from about 1934 to 1954 by Arthur Lucan and from 1954 to the 1980s by Roy Rolland as part of a British music hall act. Old Mother Riley (full comedy name: Daphne Bluebell Snowdrop Riley) is a ...

, played by

Roy Rolland Roy Rolland (29 June 1921 – 16 August 1997) was an English comedian and stage actor who was the understudy for Arthur Lucan as Old Mother Riley and who took over the role following the death of Lucan in 1954, playing it until about 1977. Bio ...

.Rolland's Obituary
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' - 26 August 1997 In a 2001 poll by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

to find the "100 Greatest Kids' TV shows" ''Junior Showtime'' was at number 99. However Jeff Evans, the author of ''The Penguin TV Companion'' has also identified it as being amongst the twenty worst shows of all time.Adam Sherwi
"Do not adjust your set - these really are the worst shows on TV"
''The Times'', 24 October 2006 Almost none of the 190 episodes broadcast have survived (see

Wiping Wipe or wiping may refer to: Hygiene * Toilet paper or wet wipes, or their use Arts and media * Wipe (transition), a gradual transition in film editing * Wipe curtain, a kind of theater curtain * ''Wipe'' or ''Screenwipe'', a television series ...

); only three programmes are believed to still exist.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0266158, title=Junior Showtime 1969 British television series debuts 1974 British television series endings 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series British variety television shows ITV children's television shows Television series by Yorkshire Television Television series by ITV Studios British English-language television shows