Jackanory
Jackanory is a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fairy-tale "Cap-o'-Rushes" read by Lee Montague. Jackanory was broadcast until 1996, with around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run.
| Jackanory | |
|---|---|
A title frame from the 1960s (top, the same font continued to be used throughout the 1970s) | |
| Genre | Children's television |
| Created by | Joy Whitby |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 3640 (2330 missing) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 (1965–96) CBBC (2006) |
| Release | 13 December 1965 – 24 March 1996 |
| Related | |
| Jackanory Playhouse Jackanory Junior | |
The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett and broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show was briefly revived on 27 November 2006 for two one-off stories. The format was revived as Jackanory Junior, airing on CBeebies between 2007 and 2009.
The show's format, which varied little over the decades, featured an actor reading from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially commissioned still drawing, often by Quentin Blake. In 1983, Malou Bonicos was commissioned to provide illustrations for one Jackanory story. Usually a single book would occupy five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday.
A spin-off series was Jackanory Playhouse (1972–85), which was a series of thirty-minute dramatisations. These included a dramatisation by Philip Glassborow of the comical A. A. Milne story "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh".
Coverage of the live broadcast of the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 was interrupted so Jackanory could be shown.