Did you watch Jackanory as a child ?

[WildRosie]

I admit I didn't! Growing up in the 70s and 80s, children's television was a big thing on BBC and ITV. I saw stuff like John Craven's Newsround, The Tomorrow People and Blue Peter but Jackanory just passed me by. I don't ever remember watching it and I certainly never made a point of it. I guess I just had little interest in children's stories! Did I miss anything ?

@WildRosie there is a programme on CBeebies called Bedtime Stories which is the same gig for slightly younger children now. The readers are often clearly aimed at the mums, so lots of people like Harry Styles, James McAvoy and Tom Hardy but also some lovely readers/presenters like Floella Benjamin and some real actors.

It's a bit more high spec than the slow drift across the page of Jackanory was and my DD likes it!

Noprle hated it. Can't even remember why, just turned off as soon as I saw it was on. That was back in the 4 channels days, so I chose nothing over jackanory.

I did love the story teller though. That was much more riveting.

Yes. I'm 48.

I watched it all through the 70s - loved it!
Yes to Bernard Cribbens, Kenneth Williams and Willy Rushton - I loved his Winnie the Pooh.
It introduced me to lots of books and encouraged to read more - Mrs Pepperpot was one such series.
I also loved seeing the illustrations - Quentin Blake seemed to do so many of them!!

I loved it , sitting cross legged in front of the TV , but I also loved the stories on Playschool ,or being read to by a Teacher .

I don't really remember watching it... I do however love Crackanory.

I absolutely loved it. Loved books and reading. Actually learnt to read because of sesame Street according to my mum!

Yes - though whether I watched beyond the first episode of the week depended on whether I was interested in the book. If I was interested, I kept watching; if I was totally gripped, the book went onto my birthday/Christmas present list!

I mostly found it boring. It felt like school. The one time I did really enjoy it was when Patrick Moore read one of his Scott Saunders space adventures. I loved Patrick Moore and anything to do with space and astronauts. I was an early and voracious reader, and could read fast, so being read to at what felt like a snail’s pace felt like slow torture, especially if the story was a drippy one.

Watched it for a while and then got too old for it to keep my internet.

As a teen there was one show with Rik Mayall (I think), who was in The Young Ones who read a story about a house on chicken legs and he was brilliant.

Sometimes it's as much the storytelling as much as the story.

Keep my interest 🥴

I loved Jackanory. I also loved that show that was dubbed. Don't remember it's name but I remember the song.
I'm a story teller and my stories must be told.
I have many stories, tales for both the young and old.
Through my many travels
I have gathered these tales
To teach good sense
When all else fails.
Sometimes there are tears.
Sometimes there is laughter.
But always a Happily Ever After.

The Rik Mayall one where he read 'George's Marvelous Medicine' was legendary.
I remember a teen actor from Neighbours reading 'Two Weeks With The Queen'.
I used to love getting the Arabella and Mortimer books from the library - I expect I originally heard them on Jackanory.
I liked Jackanory. I also loved it at primary school when the teacher read a chapter or two of book to us at the end of the day. There several books I fondly remember being read at school - the term the book was Roald Dahl 'The Witches' got a lot of jealousy from the other class.

Oh I loved it. I was (still am) a voracious reader so any way of getting another book was good to me. I did grow out of it though. Mind I loved Blue Peter, the BBC Sunday early evening book adaptations, things like that.

Bedtime Stories on CBeebies is the same format, though just one story an episode, with often famous actors and others doing the reading. I think…Jackanory took a week to tell the story.

I remember it being on - but no great memories - it was someone reading a story?

Remember Blue Peter, Magpie and a load of cartoons. Crackerjack and Tiswas.

Yes - a well-known actor, presenter or 'personality' would read a book over the course of a week; illustrations would also be shown on the screen as they read.

Possibly the most famous to appear was our present King, as Prince of Wales, reading his own book 'The Old Man of Lochnagar'.

I watched it sometimes but wouldn't describe it as a must watch. I much preferred Storybook International (?) probably because I liked singing along to the catchy theme tune!

Not often. I found it boring too, and I read EVERYTHING in sight, but also had a mum who could read stories far better than the Jackanory narrators!

I'm a secondary teacher now, but in Book Week in the past have volunteered to go into primary schools for 30 minutes and read to a class. It's astonishing how carefully they can and do listen to a story, with no visuals, if you pick the right one. So I'm not sure why Jackanory didn't really work!