l Tiswas began life as a links strand for the Midlands based ATV region, before becoming a fully-fledged programme in its own right in 1974.
As other regions picked it up, the programme's anarchic reputation grew. Chris Tarrant co-presented the programme from early on, with Sally James joining the team in 1977. The programme ended in 1982, as senior management tried to re-focus what had become a cult programme for adults back on to children.
l Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, the BBC's infinitely tamer response to Tiswas, was hosted by Noel Edmonds with Maggie Philbin and John Craven, while Keith Chegwin acted as a roving reporter. The show's mix of celebrity phone-ins, quizzes and pop music was bolstered by Chegwin travelling the country to conduct a 'Swaporama', whereby viewers could meet to exchange items. Swap Shop ran over six series between 1976 and 1982, and was replaced in turn by Saturday Superstore, Going Live! and Live & Kicking.
l There were numerous other ITV Saturday morning shows across the regions in the 1970s. These included The Saturday Banana, presented by former Goodie Bill Oddie, and The Mersey Pirate, which was filmed on a boat as it sailed the River Mersey. Items included appearances by Andrew Schofield as Scully, Boys From The Blackstuff writer Alan Bleasdale's archetypal Scouse scally.
l In the 1990s, other Saturday morning TV programmes showed Tiswas's clear influence. Between 1998 and 2002, SM TV Live was presented by Ant and Dec with Cat Deeley, while from 2002 to 2006, Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern presented Ministry Of Mayhem, which was later rebranded as Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown.
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