Cheggers Plays Pop
| Cheggers Plays Pop | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's game show |
| Presented by | Keith Chegwin |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 77 (inc. 4 specials) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC Manchester |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 10 April 1978 – 7 November 1986 |
Cheggers Plays Pop was a British children's game show broadcast on BBC1 from 10 April 1978 to 7 November 1986 hosted by Keith Chegwin, who was commonly known to the British public as "Cheggers". The show's format consisted of a series of physical and mental challenges undertaken by two teams of children representing their respective schools, together with studio performances by contemporary pop music acts. The participating schools were predominantly from the North-West area of the UK due to the choice of studio (New Broadcasting House, then the base of BBC Manchester).
There were two teams. Reds and Yellows. Team captains were popular based celebrities of the time.
Games involving balls and inflatables were played by the teams and a pop quiz too. Each episode also had a current chart single being performed in it.
The beginning game was always quite eyecatching. For a while the first game was called Space Invaders. At the end of the show, Cheggers would always blow his whistle and jump onto the inflatable that the final game had been played on; he led the children who all jumped on it in mayhem style to end the show.
Transmissions
Series
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 April 1978 | 19 June 1978 | 9 |
| 2 | 2 April 1979 | 11 June 1979 | 11 |
| 3 | 31 March 1980 | 9 June 1980 | 8 |
| 4 | 6 April 1981 | 15 June 1981 | 8 |
| 5 | 5 April 1982 | 14 June 1982 | 8 |
| 6 | 20 April 1983 | 8 June 1983 | 8 |
| 7 | 17 April 1984 | 5 June 1984 | 8 |
| 8 | 12 September 1985 | 31 October 1985 | 8 |
| 9 | 12 September 1986 | 7 November 1986 | 9 |
Christmas Specials
| Date |
|---|
| 22 December 1980 |
| 30 December 1981 |
| 26 December 1982 |
| 30 December 1983 |
Missing episodes
Seven episodes are missing from the BBC Archives [1]. They are:
Series 6
27.04.1983 Episode 3
18.05.1983 Episode 6 (featuring Big Country)
25.05.1983 Episode 7
Series 7
24.04.1984 Episode 2
01.05.1984 Episode 3 (Kajagoogoo)
15.05.1984 Episode 5 (Bananarama)
22.05.1984 Episode 6 (Eddy Grant)