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There’s no sign of Take a Letter Or Take a Chance yet, but this is a proper teatime treat that perfectly recreates the spirit of the original. And is there gunge? Of course there is!
Oh, such a lovely word was Crackerjack! But can it be again? This is the question on all our lips – or at least the lips of those who came of age at any point during the show’s original 29-year run (1955-1984) – as the new series gets under way.
Replacing the traditional single host – Eamonn Andrews/Leslie Crowther/Michael Aspel/Ed Stewart/Stu “Ooh, I could crush a grape!” Francis (delete according to era) – are Mark Rhodes and Sam Nixon. The pair have carved out successful presenting careers together after coming second and third in Pop Idol in 2003. By the end of the first episode – broadcast, as the rest will be, at teatime on Fridays – it is clear that appointing a duo is a smart move. They banter and riff off each other, and still have plenty of attention to spare for the contestants. Plus, they work beautifully together: warmhearted and lively, never playing things for adult laughs and pitching their jokes and teasing of the competing children perfectly. They appear, as claimed at the top of the show, to be having more fun than a toad in a toga doing loads of yoga. The eight-year-old next to me and the one who, against all odds, seems to have survived somewhere inside me, laughed like drains. Continue reading...