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BBC brings back Crackerjack in 6pm slot because children are 'no longer home for five to five'

Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes are the new presenters of Crackerjack - WARNING: Use of this copyright image is subject to the terms of use of BBC Pictures' Digital Picture
Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes are the new presenters of Crackerjack - WARNING: Use of this copyright image is subject to the terms of use of BBC Pictures' Digital Picture

It’s Friday, it’s five to five… and Crackerjack isn’t on yet. The BBC is to revive the show in a 6pm slot because so many of today’s children are in after-school clubs at teatime.

The beloved programme is returning to the screen after an interval of 35 years, hosted by Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes.

The “five to five” catchphrase will be ditched. “Five to five is very early these days, what with after-school clubs. There wouldn’t be enough people watching because they’d not be home in time,” Nixon explained.

Most schools now extend their day with a range of activities and clubs, a godsend for households in which both parents work.

The new start time is not the only change from the original Crackerjack, which ran from 1955-84. Then it was on BBC One; now it is on the digital CBBC channel.

The Krankies with Jan Michelle and host Stu Francis in a 1980s edition of Crackerjack - Credit: BBC
The Krankies with Jan Michelle and host Stu Francis in a 1980s edition of Crackerjack Credit: BBC

The show’s executive producer, Sid Cole, told Radio Times that the BBC hopes to attract a wider audience by posting clips on social media in the hope of sending them viral, as James Corden does with the Carpool Karaoke section of his US chat show.

“It’ll be diced up in order to entice people to come to it. It’s the kind of thing that Ellen DeGeneres and James Corden are very good at in America. That model will become commonplace going forward,” said Cole.

One of the show’s original stars, Don Maclean, is returning for a cameo appearance in the first episode. He lamented the fact that it is no longer on the BBC’s flagship channel.

“Is the CBBC channel, which is for children only, doing more damage than good? Shouldn’t Crackerjack be on BBC One?” he asked.

His sentiments were echoed by Stu Francis, the last host of the programme, who said: “Why put it out in the wilderness? What’s wrong with it being on BBC One?”

But Nixon, who was born two years after the original show ended, said: “These days, if you want to watch a kids’ show, you’ll find the channel.”