7.6 /10 1 Votes
Country of origin United Kingdom Original network BBC1 Final episode date 25 July 1995 | 7.5/10 IMDb Running time 30 minutes First episode date 13 June 1973 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Created by Alan Russell & Ron Pickering Starring Ron Pickering (1973–1990)
Gary Lineker (1991–1995)
Paddy McGuinness (2010) Producer(s) Alan Russell
Clive Doig Genres Children's television series, Sports Cast Ron Pickering, Paddy McGuinness, Gary Lineker Similar Screen Test, Wish You Were Here?, Nationwide, Crown Court, Call My Bluff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We are the Champions was a long-running children's sports programme that ran from 13 June 1973 to 25 July 1995. There was a full series every year until 1987, and one-off specials every year from 1988 to 1995. It was originally presented by Ron Pickering but, when he died in 1991, Gary Lineker took over as presenter of the remaining one-off specials.
The programme was formatted around a traditional British school sports day, where children would compete in various athletics and swimming competitions. Each programme concluded with Ron Pickering shouting to the children ""Away Y' Go" at which point they would all run and jump/dive into the swimming pool as the titles ran.
The series is poorly represented in the BBC archives, with even the last full series from 1987 not existing in full according to the Kaleidoscope Children's Guide.
In March 2010, We Are The Champions was revived as part of the BBC's Sport Relief programming. It was hosted by Paddy McGuinness with team captains Tim Henman, Amir Khan, Dame Kelly Holmes and Mark Foster.