Multi-Coloured Swap Shop

MULTICOLOURED SWAP SHOP paved the way for Saturday morning shows like LIVE AND KICKING and GOING LIVE , but MCSS was the original . It was also the worst and was composed of three hours of chat , only briefly broken by the cartoon series VALLEY OF THE DINOSAURS or a pop video . The show got its name from the concept of viewers phoning up to swap things , like Tarquin from Surrey wants to swap some books for a piano . The fact that this type of barter system disappeared after the dark ages didn`t seem to register with the producers .

The worst thing was children coming on showing Noel Edmonds their collection of ....pointless crap I think the generic term is . In a more cynical era like today I think it would be called " The Anorak Of The Week Slot " where young middle class children would bore the audience senseless with their collection of matchboxes along with the equally banal Noel Edmonds asking " How long have you been collecting match boxes for ? " . I`m sure the real question should have been " Have your parents ever considered adoption ? "

TISWAS was much better

I feel I should defend the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop as I feel Theo was a little unfair on it! This was a time of innocence, a time of getting exited when a friend owned a Soda-Stream! You mentioned about a more 'cynical' time now and isn't it good that it wasn't such a cynical time, many kids loved the 'MCSS', myself and my younger brother included. Yes you could watch the mindless Tiswas but for the more erudite and intelligent child, the MCSS offered a lot more! And could anything be funnier than Keith Chegwin, answer me that?! Not forgetting of course, the gorgeous Maggie Philbin and the extremely interesting John Craven. But honestly, I loved MCSS and would love to see it again! Takes me back to Saturday mornings, watching MCSS till 12 and then turning over to watch the footy on ITV presented by Dickie Davies, followed by the wrestling, Big Daddy against Giant Haystacks. It might be fashionable to say you preferred Tiswas but MCSS offered a lot more!

Long live Noel Edmonds!