Magpie (TV show)

Magpie was a children's television show shown on ITV from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It was a magazine format show intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but was consciously a much more "hip and trendy" show compared to the BBC's rather old-fashioned "auntie beeb" approach. It focused much more on popular culture - music, fashion, etc than Blue Peter.

The show, made by Thames Television, first aired on July 30th, 1968, the first day that Thames broadcast. The show was shown once a week for the first year, but from then on was shown twice a week until it ended in 1980. The first presenters were ex-Radio 1 DJ Pete Brady, Susan Stranks and Tony Bastable. Bastable and Brady left the show in 1972 to be replaced by Mick Robertson and Douglas Rae. Jenny Hanley replaced Susan Stranks in 1974. This lineup remained until 1977, when Tommy Boyd replaced Rae.

Approximately 1000 episodes were made, each of 25 minutes duration.

The show's mascot was Muragtroyd Magpie, and the rocking theme tune was based around the old children's nursery rhyme "One for sorrow, Two for joy..."