Tiswas was a slapstick show with kid friendly features like cartoons, pop music and a little bit of public information for kids to satisfy IBA regulations( most people yawned through these bits), but what it is mostly remembered for is its custard pie throwing, mad sketches, The Cage and The Dying Fly Dance.More than competently hosted by Chris Tarrant, who later went on to much greater things, and " The Lovely " Sally James, Tiswas was responsible for giving big breaks to Brummie comedians Jasper Carrott, who invented The Dying Fly Dance, and to Lenny Henry, whose send ups of Trevor Macdonald( Trevor Macdoughnut) and David Bellamy ( " gwapple me grapefwuits, Kwis") were hilarious. Rather like The Stig, no one knew who The Phantom Flan Flinger was, a caped figure who shoved custard pies in people's faces, until it was revealed after the show finished it was a taxi driver from Solihull.In deadly competition to Tiswas was Swap Shop on BBC 1. While not a bad show, with Noel Edmonds in charge, like most BBC kids shows, it had the need to fill the show up with slow, boring phone ins involving people like Margaret Thatcher and educational features hosted by John Craven. ( Custard pies and dying fly dances were notable by their absence). When my local ITV region decided to show Tiswas, most kids defected from Swap Shop as it was seen as stuffy and middle class and lacking in laughs. Indeed in the late seventies you were either a Tiswas or a Swap Shop kid, and by 1980, when Tiswas was at its peak, most kids were Tiswas, leading Chris Tarrant to comment that Noel Edmonds would soon be out of work.It couldn't last, sadly. In the spring of 1981 Chris Tarrant, Lenny Henry and John Gorman, who provided most of the musical pieces, announced they were leaving to create an adult version of Tiswas. This left Sally James to battle on with a well below par final series and when ATV became Central, the budget was slashed, most of the mayhem was taken out, ratings slumped and the show was cancelled in April 1982.Which brings me to the much maligned adult version of Tiswas, OTT, which was shown in early 1982. Yes the balloon dance was embarrassing, some of the sketches were crass, and Chris Tarrant swore too much, but in other respects it was quite amusing and sketches such as violent tennis, the Jehovahs Witnesses and a send up of That's Life were as good as anything on Not The Nine O CLock News. Also 7 million viewers seemed to like OTT, but rather like Tiswas itself, the IBA and Central couldn't wait to cancel it and got their wish around the same time the real thing was cancelled.However, for those of us of a certain age, the words Today is Saturday, Wear A Smile, always mean a certain two hours of mayhem every Saturday morning.

This is what you want: between the satire boom and the Alternative scene, before the Irony years and the comedy of Cruelty, Tiswas - it stood for 'Today is Saturday Wear A Smile' (among other acronyms) - roared into LWT like a coachload of Midlands monkeys and kids' telly was never the same again. Where would SMTV or Going Live be without Tiswas? (You can't really blame Tiswas for Noel's House Party though).Every Saturday morning a still-cool Chris Tarrant and co-host, saucy Sally James, borough flan-flying anarchy to the box, while bemused children stood around crying with fear, and grown men and women, who knew this programme was really for them, clambered into cages for a violent drenching. (Later, the Tarrant-fronted OTT attempted the formula for an adult audience, but they needn't have bothered.) In my day, you were either a 'Swap Shop' person or a 'Tiswas' person. 'Swap Shop' was on a the same time on BBC1, and was for nice middle-class kids with 'hobbies', whose idea of fun was exchanging Mousetrap for a gonk or making pen-pals with a buck-toothed girl from Luxembourg. No contest.One of this reviewer's favourite moments was when Lenny Henry's Trevor McDoughnut is surprised by the real Trevor McDonald, invited on set for a laugh. A stunned Henry is momentarily lost for words. Then, regaining his composure, embraces the newsreader, and in Trevor's own clipped tones remarks, "Well... good morning, Daddy."

Tiswas is without a doubt one of the greatest ever children's TV show ever made! It was an absolute treat to watch when I was a kid & after recently seeing the 'Best Of' DVD which I purchased, it is still hilariously funny! I badly wanted to be put into the cage & have buckets of water thrown over me every week, but I never managed to get on the show (I even tried getting on via Jim'll Fix It!). The show itself was total nonsense. No real purpose at all; just lots of people doing very stupid things & getting extremely soaked by many things including, water, custard, semolina & baked beans, but the main one was the Phantom Flan Flinger who got the lucky job of throwing custard pies into the faces of many a big celebrity every week. Classic scene for me was when Lenny Henry was reading the news as Trevor McDougal (pretending to be the legend, Trevor McDonald) & then the main man himself walked out with Lenny Henry knowing nothing about it! While many of today's youngsters may not find this funny at all, Tiswas was, without a doubt, one of the best ever children's shows on TV. Had it not been done, a lot of the stuff we see today may not have been brought into existence. A MUST SEE for anyone that remembers the show but look out, that Phantom Flan Flinger may still be around, so be careful......!!10/10 classic stuff

I enjoyed watching Tiswas, but felt that O.T.T. was unfairly treated. Tiswas was a great programme and I don't care what people say about Dick and Dom, you cannot compare it to Tiswas. The thing about Tiswas is it had few if any rules, which is what made it so great. I cannot in a million years imagine Dick and Dom grabbing kids and pulling them from behind the desk by their ears, within five minutes it would be taken off the air. Tiswas is a classic children's show and will never be repeated or bettered by Dick and Dom or anyone. I can say this because, the world has become so stupid, what with political correctness and various other things. Half the things done on Tiswas were just great fun, now they would be close to child abuse. Tiswas was a reflection of how the world of Saturday morning kids TV should have stayed, if it hadn't been for political correctness idiots and people who watch programmes so they can write in and complain about them hence (O.T.T.) It was Tiswas, with semi naked ladies, if you knock O.T.T. your knocking Tiswas