Concept and creative process
The Children’s Television series ‘Crackerjack’ was launched in 1955. It was a frantic, noisy games show with a lot of audience interaction with the presenters and participation in the games. Most famous was ‘Double or Drop’, a quiz in which contestants from the audience were given prizes to hold if they answered correctly and a cabbage if they did not. They were out if they dropped anything at all or got three answers incorrect and therefore three cabbages! The show was the brainchild of Freda Lingstrom, the Director of BBC Children’s Television, who was responsible for commissioning a wide range of children’s programmes from ‘Andy Pandy’ and the ‘The Flowerpot Men’ to drama plays and entertainment shows such as ‘Harry Corbett and Sooty’. She also introduced the much-loved Johnny Morris to a whole generation of children. ‘Crackerjack’ ran and ran continuously until 1984.