Wide Awake Club

Wide Awake Club (often abbreviated to WAC) was a children's television series broadcast in the United Kingdom on the breakfast television channel TV-am between 1984 and 1989.

History

Wide Awake Club started on Saturday October 13, 1984, broadcasting for an hour each Saturday morning at 08.30am as the first Live kids show on TVam. It was presented by Timmy Mallett, Michaela Strachan, Tommy Boyd, James Baker and Arabella Warner - all newcomers to television, except Boyd who had previously presented Magpie.

It was devised by producer Nick Wilson to be TV-am's flagship children's programme, replacing Data Run and SPLAT which were created by Anne Wood then as Head of Children's Programmes, as part of the cost cutting by management.

The live programme combined comedy, games, celebrity guests, competitions and viewer interaction. There were also more educational features, including visiting experts such as Carol Vorderman for the science slot, as well as attempts to explain historical and contemporary events like the Cold War. A spelling contest, 'Bonk and Boob' was praised by teachers for encouraging children to learn to spell properly. The show also launched the career of Mike Myers, now a major Hollywood star, who made guest appearances with Neil Mullarkey on the show for a brief time, parodying the show's title in his segment, Sound Asleep Club, in which he sported pyjamas and a "bed-head" hairstyle. His roles included making earrings out of spoons, tape and string, as well as making a glass of water in a cookery section.