Chock-A-Block
| Chock-A-Block | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Children's |
| Created by | Michael Cole |
| Presented by | Carol Leader Fred Harris |
| Theme music composer | Peter Gosling |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Cynthia Felgate |
| Producer(s) | Michael Cole |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 1981-05-21 – 1981-08-13 |
Chock-A-Block was a BBC children's television programme, created by Michael Cole. It was first shown in 1981 and repeated through to 1989 and shown as part of the children's programme cycle See-Saw (the "new" name for the cycle originally known as Watch with Mother). "Chock-A-Block" was an extremely large yellow computer, modelled to resemble a mainframe of the time; it filled the entire studio and provided the entire backdrop for the show. The presenter of the show played the part of a technician maintaining the computer. There were two presenters, Fred Harris ("Chock-A-Bloke") and Carol Leader ("Chock-A-Girl"), but only one appeared in each episode. At the start of the show, the presenter would drive around the studio towards the machine in a small yellow electric car, before saying the catchphrase "Chock-A-Bloke (or Girl), checking in!").
The presenter would then use the machine to find out about a particular topic. The name "chock-a-block" was derived from the machine's ability to read data from "blocks" - which were just that, physical blocks painted different colours. A typical show would include dialogue from the presenter, a brief clip played on Chock-a-block's video screen, and the presenter recording a song on Chock-a-block's audio recorder (which resembled the reel-to-reel tape drives used on actual mainframes, but with a design below to cause the reels to resemble the eyes of a smiling face).
According to the Kaleidoscope 'Lost Shows' database, eight out of thirteen episodes are no longer in the BBC archives.
Episodes
| # | Title | Presenter | Airdate | Catalogue#[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Clock" | Fred Harris | 21 May 1981 | LCHS566P |
| Featured the song "The Clock That Lost Its Tock". | ||||
| 2 | "Crow" | Carol Leader. | 28 May 1981 | LCHS573Y |
| Featured the song "Ballad of Joe Crow". | ||||
| 3 | "The Sheep" | Fred Harris | 4 June 1981 | LCHS567J |
| 4 | "The Train" | Carol Leader | 11 June 1981 | LCHS574S |
| 5 | "The Sun and The Moon" | Fred Harris | 18 June 1981 | LCHS568D |
| Featured the song "Out Shone a Ray". | ||||
| 6 | "Magpie" | Carol Leader | 25 June 1981 | LCHS575L |
| 7 | "UNKNOWN" | Fred Harris | 2 July 1981 | LCHS569X |
| Featured the song "King Cole's Mole" | ||||
| 8 | "Cat" | Carol Leader | 9 July 1981 | LCHS576F |
| 9 | "Pig" | Fred Harris | 16 July 1981 | LCHS570R |
| Featured the song "The Dancing Pig" | ||||
| 10 | "Shoe" | Carol Leader | 23 July 1981 | LCHS577A |
| 11 | "Snake" | Fred Harris | 30 July 1981 | LCHS571K |
| Featured the song "Drake on the Lake" | ||||
| 12 | "Bee At The Sea" | Carol Leader | 6 August 1981 | LCHS578T |
| Featured the poem "If All the Seas Were One Sea". | ||||
| 13 | "UNKNOWN" | Fred Harris | 13 August 1981 | LCHS572E |
| Featured the poem "Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?" | ||||
The presenter Fred Harris went on to present the serious computing programme Micro Live and to become a personality strongly associated with computers in the public eye.
References
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