Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, more commonly known simply as Swap Shop, was a children's television programme that aired on Saturday mornings in the UK on BBC One. It ran from 1976 until 1982 and was thought by many to be a response to the growing success of ATV's Tiswas - although the latter had not yet aired outside the Midlands. Swap Shop was hugely popular with its target audience and used innovative ideas such as the phone-in to engage the audience.
The main presenters were Noel Edmonds, Keith Chegwin, John Craven and Maggie Philbin.
The content of the programme included music, competitions, interviews, children's news and issues. The cornerstone however was the "Swaporama" element where an outside-broadcast unit would travel to different locations throughout the country where children could swap their belongings with others. This proved to be one of the most popular aspects of the show, often achieving gatherings of more than two thousand children.
In many ways, nothing like Swap Shop had been seen prior in children's television and the BBC continued to use the successful format in many programmes, such as Saturday Superstore and Going Live!.
The programme ran for 146 episodes.
Annuals
The show was so popular that during its run 4 annuals were published. The book were published on the following dates.
- Book One - November 1978
- Book Two - September 1979
- Book Three - September 1980
- Book Four - November 1981
The annuals are full of quizes, funny stories, pop star photos, knitting patterns plus features on the shows stars.
Every book features pictures of the presenters dressed as a variety of silly characters, for example Book Four sees Noel as a schoolboy called Harry Copter. The character of Harry Copter is referenced throughout the annual and was based on Noel's love of helicopters.