Magic Grandad

U
TV series
1993–2009
6 seasons
CBBC
Kids

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Magic Grandad was an educational programme which originally aired on BBC Two under the title 'Switch On, Switch Off' during Schools section of 1993. The show saw 'Magic' Grandad take his young grandchildren back in time, many of the adventures are about comparing the past and the present and seeing how evidence of what happened in the olden days still survives. The show was said to make learning about history "fun for youngsters" and was aimed at children aged 5-7 years. The series was introduced to support the History National Curriculum at Key Stage 1. New seasons have been made periodically to support new areas of the infant history curriculum such as seaside holidays and toys. The early season have a companion booklet of teacher's notes with descriptions of the episodes, various suggestions for follow-up work and photocopiable worksheets.

About the show

Magic Grandad is an educational programme which originally aired on the BBC Two Schools section Watch during 1995. The show saw Magic Grandad, played by Geoffrey Bayldon, take his young grandchildren, played by Kristy Bruce and James Moreno, back in time to see historical events and people such as the Great Fire of London or Florence Nightingale. Cheryl Hall also starred in the show as the children's mother.

The programme was said to make learning about history "fun for youngsters" and was aimed at children aged 4–7 years. During its peak, many schools in England used the show to teach young children about history. It was very popular and influential among primary school children. The programme ran for two series in 1993 and 1994, one themed around historical items and another themed around historical people, though it was repeated on TV for a number of years after it ended.

In 2003, a new version featuring a new cast was remade for BBC Two. In the years following the programme, a number of educational items were released in the UK including a CD-ROM entitled Magic Grandad's Seaside Holidays designed for Key Stage 1 pupils to learn about history in the same way the TV show taught them. Written by Susan Bolton, the disc is designed for Infant school teachers to teach pupils during history lessons.

In 2003, a new interactive version of the show was released on CD-ROM. In keeping with the original concept of the TV show before it, it allowed users to travel back in time whilst featuring the interactive elements described as extras. The main difference was that the cast now appeared in digital form.

The episodes that were shown in 2001 were the following of 1. "The Promenade" or billed "The Promenade And Souvenirs" on 19 January 2001, 2."The Beach" or billed "On The Beach" on 24 January 2001 and 3. "Entertainment" or billed "The Pier" on 31 January 2001 which starred Miriam Margolyes as Grandmama.

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