| Jim'll Fix It | |
|---|---|
| Format | Entertainment |
| Created by | Roger Ordish, Jimmy Savile |
| Starring | Jimmy Savile |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 35 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One UKTV Gold |
| Original run | 31 May 1975 – 24 July 1994 |
Jim'll Fix It was a long-running British television show, broadcast by the BBC. It was a successor to the earlier "Clunk, Click" which had run from 1973-1974.
Contents |
Conception
The show debuted on 31 May 1975, and ran until July 1994, in the Saturday teatime slot. It was devised and hosted by Jimmy Savile, who would "fix it" for the wishes of several viewers (usually children) to come true each week. The producer throughout the show's run was Roger Ordish, always referred to by Savile as 'Doctor Magic'. The standard format was that the viewer's letter, which described their wish, would be shown on the screen and read out aloud by the letter's writer, although initially Savile himself read the letters. This would be followed with a quick chat between Jimmy and the letter writer, where they would discuss the wish. The wish would then be enacted (either live in the studio or shown in a pre-recorded format, which usually consisted of a segment recorded on film), and finally the viewer would be presented with a medal which had the words "Jim fixed it for me" engraved on it. Occasionally, other people featured in the 'Fix It' (actors from well known series, for example), might also give the viewer an extra gift somehow relating to the Fix. Some children apparently thought that Jim's first name was "Jim'll", so some letters shown on the programme started "Dear Jim'll".
Early series saw Jim distributing medals from a "magic chair" which concealed the medals in a variety of compartments. The "magic chair" was invented by Tony Novissimo and was built for the BBC by him at his workshops in Shepherds Bush . The chair had first appeared on Savile's earlier Saturday night TV series, "Clunk, Click". The chair was later replaced by a new computer controlled robotic "magic chair", the brainchild of Kevin Warwick, built for the BBC by his team at the University of Reading.
Well known "Fix-it's"
A group of Cub Scouts from the 2nd Sutton St Mary’s troop, who wrote to the programme asking to have a meal in an unusual place. The show opted to send them, complete with packed lunch, to ride the Revolution rollercoaster at Pleasure Beach Blackpool — the result, thanks to the force of gravity and momentum, being lots of little faces full of food and drink. This was repeated with the same former Cubs in 2007 for Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again, with similar results.
A young Doctor Who fan was able to take part in a short adventure titled A Fix with Sontarans with Colin Baker. The fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, also appeared in one episode, where he tore off and handed away the frayed ends of his scarf to girls visiting the studio.
Adam and the Ants allowed one young viewer to become their third drummer for an in studio performance of Kings Of The Wild Frontier.
Veteran movie actor Peter Cushing (who also played Doctor Who in two cinematic outings) wrote to the show in 1986 to ask if a variety of rose could be named after his late wife.
In the 1980s a young girl wrote to ask if she could "accidentally" drop and smash a seemingly-valuable vase on an edition of Antiques Roadshow. This was broadcast as part of a regular edition of Antiques Roadshow (as well as in the Jim'll Fix It episode), with many of the crowd at the Roadshow looking on, horrified, until the antiques expert explained the ruse.
ABBA appeared on a pre-recorded segment for the show in 1979, when Claire Lindeman and Clare Doggett got to sing "Thank You For The Music" with them in a London recording studio. The girls later complained that while they had sung live, Abba had not sung at all, but mimed to the track, plus they were disappointed to be given copies of the 1976 Greatest Hits album, which was almost three years old at the time the show was recorded.
In the 1980s a young boy called Dom Lawson, who now works for Kerrang and Metal Hammer magazine, got his wish to be Iron Maiden's tech for the day. This came true and he also met the band. This was found out in Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death tour book, where Dom Lawson speaks about Iron Maiden and his history on the band[verification needed] In Spring 1976 Muhammed Ali was on a whirlwind World tour to promote his book, "The Greatest". Landing in London, catching the BBC by surprise, and with no time to bring the thousands of hopeful letter writers to a meeting with the legend, the TV company nipped next door "borrowing" 3 schoolboy boxers from the school(Christopher Wren). Vince, Andly and Nigel were whisked off to meet the great Ali.
References in popular culture
In an episode of BBC comedy Citizen Smith, amused at the latest failure on the part of the Tooting Popular Front, Shirley suggests Wolfie writes to Jim'll Fix It to bring about the revolution.
A regular feature of Stephen Fry's 1988 Radio 4 series Saturday Night Fry was entitled Stephen Will Do His Level Best To Comply With Your Wishes.
An episode of Drop The Dead Donkey featured a young girl reading the news alongside regular newsreader Sally Smedley as her "Fix-it" wish.
In the third episode of season 1 of the HBO/BBC sitcom Extras, Ricky Gervais's character Andy describes the letter his agent wrote for him: "It's like he's writing to 'Jim'll Fix It.'"
In an episode of Alistair McGowan's Big Impression, a parody of the Eminem song Stan shows the rapper repeatedly writing letters to Jim'll Fix It and becoming increasingly agitated at the lack of any reply.
In the audio program The Ricky Gervais Guide to ... Philosophy (March 2009), hosts Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant ask Karl Pilkington what he would have written to Jim'll Fix It as a kid if Jim could have arranged absolutely anything. After some discussion, Karl replied "That me name was Brett".
2007 revival
In October 2006 UKTV announced that they were to revive Jim'll Fix It with a new series provisionally called Jim'll Fix It: Now and Then.[1]
This new series, which sees the return of Sir Jim (complete with customary jewellery, garish tracksuits and big red chair), began on April 5, 2007 on UKTV Gold and was actually titled Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again. The series set out to show classic moments from the original shows, 're-fix' it for some of the original participants, and make dreams come true for a number of new people.
In the first episode, which was co-presented by Mel Giedroyc, the infamous 'fix-it' was recreated whereby a group of Cub Scouts attempted to consume food and drink whilst travelling on a roller coaster. The show went back to Pleasure Beach Blackpool and once again rode the Irn Bru Revolution. It featured a number of the original lads — now grown men some 26 years older — who donned woggles, shorts and caps and made even more of a mess than they did back in the 80s. Towards the end, Go West performed their top five hit We Close Our Eyes.[2]
UKTV Gold is looking for participants for a second series of Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again; be they adults who wrote to Jim the first time around and were unsuccessful, or people who want their dreams realised now. An example of the latter is the woman featured in the first episode who, inspired by watching Strictly Come Dancing, wanted to dance with pro dancer Ian Waite after having not danced for several decades. She was paired-up with Ian and actually got to dance the tango in front of the Strictly Come Dancing studio audience and panel of judges.
References
External links
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