Country of origin United Kingdom No. of seasons 1 | Original language(s) English No. of episodes 16 | |
Genre Children's
Entertainment Starring Simeon Courtie
Sophie Aldred
Peter Cocks
Phil Cornwell | ||
WOW! was a children's entertainment magazine programme, broadcast in 1996 on the UK's ITV television network (under the CITV branding). It aired for 16 weeks from 31 August to 14 December 1996, preceded by the Summer 1996 run of Scratchy & Co. and followed by the spring 1997 run of the same show.
The presenters of WOW! were Simeon Courtie (previously of CBBC) and Sophie Aldred (a former Doctor Who star). The programme was broadcast from The Maidstone Studios in Maidstone, Kent, also home over the years to shows such as No. 73, Motormouth, and Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown. (On one occasion, a power issue in the studio meant that part of the episode was an outside broadcast from the studio car park.) The programme was produced by The Media Merchants in association with Meridian Television for ITV.
The show was a live, anarchic, entertainment magazine similar to Tiswas or Motormouth. It featured imported cartoons, guest interviews and music performances, games and competitions, and comedy. Comic characters featured within the show included the 'Tea Ladies' - played by male actors Peter Cocks and Woody Taylor - supposedly 'interrupting' the show to provide banter and bicker with the guests; and Syd the Spider, a puppet arachnid voiced by Phil Cornwell.
The show was dropped after a single run, and the following autumn, ITV aired the series Tricky.
The Noise
The Noise was a half-hour music magazine broadcast on the ITV network in the autumn of 1996. It aired between 11.00am and 11.30am on Saturdays and sat between WOW! and The Chart Show in the schedule. Like The Chart Show, it was focused on music; however, whereas The Chart Show was based principally on videos, The Noise featured live in-studio performances, interviews and features.
It was presented and produced by Andi Peters, who had recently left CBBC and been put in charge of music and youth programming at LWT. The show was made by LWT from the London Studios on the south-bank and featured a variety of guests from across the musical spectrum.
It performed poorly in the ratings and did not continue beyond its sole series; however, two years later, ITV would go on to replace The Chart Show with a studio-based music performance series, CD:UK, to significantly greater success. Andi Peters later left LWT to join Channel 4, where he developed the T4 youth strand.
The week before both WOW! and The Noise began on CITV, Andi Peters appeared on the last episode of Series 2 of Scratchy & Co. to promote The Noise starting the following week (with no mention about WOW!).