- Magpie (TV series)
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This article is about the television series. For other uses, see Magpie (disambiguation).
Magpie 
The Magpie logoGenre Children's
EntertainmentCreated by Lewis Rudd & Sue Turner Presented by Pete Brady
Susan Stranks
Tony Bastable
Mick Robertson
Douglas Rae
Jenny Hanley
Tommy BoydTheme music composer Ray Fenwick Country of origin United Kingdom Language(s) English Production Executive producer(s) Lewis Rudd & Sue Turner Running time 25 minutes Broadcast Original channel ITV Picture format 4:3 Audio format Monaural sound Original run 30 July 1968 – 6 June 1980 Magpie was a children's television programme shown on ITV from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It was a magazine format show intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture. The show's creators Sue Turner & Lewis Rudd named the programme Magpie as a reference to the magpie's habit of collecting small items, and because of "mag" being evocative of "magazine", and "pie" being evocative of a collection of ingredients.
Contents
Broadcast history
The programme, made by Thames Television, was first transmitted on 30 July 1968, which was Thames Television's first day of broadcasting. It was shown once a week for the first year, but from then until it ended in 1980 went out twice a week. The first presenters were the former BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Pete Brady, Susan Stranks, and Tony Bastable. Brady left the show in 1969 to be replaced by Douglas Rae, and Bastable left in 1972 when he was replaced by Mick Robertson. Jenny Hanley replaced Susan Stranks in 1974. This lineup remained until 1977, when Tommy Boyd replaced Rae.
Approximately 1000 episodes were made, each of a duration of 25 minutes.
Like Blue Peter, Magpie featured appeals for various causes and charities. Notably however, it asked for cash donations rather than stamps or secondhand goods, familiar on Blue Peter. The cash totaliser was a long strip of paper which ran out of the studio and along the adjacent corridor walls.
The show's mascot was a magpie called Murgatroyd.
Theme song
The theme tune was played by the Spencer Davis Group under the alias of The Murgatroyd Band, and written by their guitarist Ray Fenwick. The main lyric was cribbed from an old children's nursery rhyme:
- One for sorrow
- Two for joy
- Three for a girl
- Four for a boy
- Five for silver
- Six for gold
- Seven for a story never to be told
- Eight for Heaven
- Nine for Hell
- Ten for the Devil himself
or, alternatively,
- Eight for a wish
- Nine for a kiss, and
- Ten for a big surprise!
The first seven lines of this song (from "One for sorrow" to "Seven for a secret never to be told") have been used in the last verse of the song Magpie, by Patrick Wolf.
The rhyme refers to an old English superstition concerning the portent of the number of magpies seen together in a flock. The TV programme version altered the final lines to:
- Eight's a wish and
- Nine a kiss
- Ten is a bird you must not miss (a tongue-in-cheek admonition not to miss future editions of Magpie).
Steam engine
In 1973, Magpie adopted a steam engine, "Black 5" 44806 and renamed her "Magpie" (Blue Peter already had a locomotive named after their show). After an eventful history, it is still being used today on the Llangollen Railway, although now under another name.
Magpie also adopted a boat originally called "Mankadu", and renamed "Thames Magpie". Its current whereabouts are unknown.
External links
Categories:- Children's ITV television programmes
- 1968 in British television
- 1968 television series debuts
- 1980 television series endings
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