Television TV

Why Don't You?

Why Don’t You? was a TELEVISION PROGRAMME (remember that, it’s important) designed to – erm – encourage children to do something creative or active rather than watching TELEVISION PROGRAMMES all day. And to do this they encouraged children to watch their TELEVISION PROGRAMME to get ideas. Hmmm.

To be fair, Why Don’t You? (or to give the show its full title ‘Why Don’t You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? Catchy, eh?) had its heart in the right place and I’m just being pedantic. Obviously, it was simply suggesting that children watched their programme and then went out and did other stuff for the rest of the day. This was much easier then than now, of course, when only a few programmes suitable for kids were actually broadcast every day.

The premise of the show was a ‘gang’ of kids who hung out together and suggested activities for children (i.e. us who were watching) to take part in; often they showed you ‘interesting’ things to do with the town they were in, to do with local history. For example: an 1985 episode set in Cardiff started with the group standing unnaturally together in front of a monument and then going on a bus tour around the city, all the while telling us stilted nuggets of information. ‘Many towns and cities run special buses around their most interesting places. So, why don’t you ask at your local bus station?’ (See how they would cunningly get the title of the show into their script?)

They’d also read out letters from kids watching at home, who would recommend stuff that they liked, such as cheap science and craft activities, games, recipes (often sandwiches) magic tricks and days out - ‘Here’s an idea from Linda in Bromley’ - interspersed with dreadful jokes and wooden ‘conversations’ between the children. 

Despite the fact that it’s very hard to actually find anybody who actually enjoyed watching Why Don’t You? the programme ran for an incredible 42 series between August 1973 and April 1995. It started originally in the school summer holidays but later got included in the schedules for the Easter and Christmas breaks as well. Over the years it also got shown once during the children’s television session in the afternoons and once on a Saturday morning but it was mainly seen as the kids’ TV staple of the holidays.

It was created by director and producer Patrick Dowling at BBC Bristol. Dowling was also responsible for surreal celeb quest The Adventure Game and Vision On, an applauded show for kids with hearing impairments. 

The pilot for Why Don’t You? was filmed in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire and featured children from a local primary school. When the first full length series was in production it was filmed in Bristol, with a set built to look like a basement and the children, who half-presented and half-acted their way through it were auditioned for their roles.

Once 1980 rolled around, the base of the programme expanded to include ‘gangs’ coming from a café in Cardiff, a hall in Belfast and a barn in Scotland. This lasted for nearly a decade until the locations changed and other areas, such as Liverpool and Newcastle, were introduced. One of the really great things about Why Don’t You was the fact that there was a huge mix of regional accents featured; something still pretty rare at this time. 

Later through the run the show would be given a big boost from one Russell T. Davies (Queer as Folk, Doctor Who). Starting off as a bit of a jack of all trades (illustrator, researcher, assistant floor manager, director etc.) in 1986 he was asked to write a replacement script, which was received well. He was given increasingly more to write over the next few years and, when the show moved to BBC Manchester in 1988 he received a six month contract to write the scripts and also, later, became the producer. This gave Why Don’t You? a much-needed re-focus; under Davies’ vision it became more of a drama than a magazine programme (even though BBC Manchester was not really supposed to make dramas). 

He wrote more interesting plots for the actors: with many concentrating on long-running Welsh presenter Ben Slade, an eccentric inventor who would spend his time coming up with evermore complex creations. Slade appeared with both the Liverpool and Newcastle gangs - the latter featuring another child who would go on to be part of a very famous double act (more on that in a minute) – before going to forge a very successful career in the world of academia.

When Davies-scripted shows started hitting the air the audience for Why Don’t You grew substantially: going over the two million mark. Davies’ final episode certainly showed a little sign of what the writer would go on to achieve later in his professional life…it featured a murderous supercomputer holding the children hostage…

Probably the thing that everybody from any of the Why Don’t You? eras remembers the best is the irritating theme tune. I’ll sing it for you now:

‘Whyyyyyyy don’t you? Whyyyyyyyy don’t you? 

Whyyyyyyy don’t you just switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead?

Sitting at home, watching TV

Turn it off, it’s no good to me,

So whyyyyyy don’t you,

GO, GO, GO!

It began as a rock ‘n’ roll style theme tune but later on it morphed into a more boogie-woogie type version (personally I think Jools Holland had something to do with this, as I always do when boogie-woogie is involved.)  The accompanying video was part animated, part film, the kind of thing that adults who convince themselves they’re ‘still young at heart’ believe that children think is trendy. It wasn’t. 

Over the years the basements, cafes, halls and barns were filled with a succession of child presenters. Definitely the one who went on to become the most famous was a certain Anthony McPartlin. He was part of the group from Newcastle and has gone on to phenomenal popularity on the box with his long-term showbiz pal Declan Donnelly.

Regardless of the actual dullness of the show itself, Why Don’t You? was a children’s television institution between 1973 and 1995 and should really be praised for trying to give children and their parents lots of great ideas for non-expensive ways of filling their school holidays. 

Now, I’m just off to ring my local bus station and see whether they’ll take me on a tour of interesting places of my neighbourhood.

 

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Do You Remember Why Don't You??

Do You Remember Why Don't You??

  • Anonymous user
    on
    yes and I do remember and the Dorriss which was spelt with 2 R'S and 2 S's. Looking back I find that bizarre that it was sent in and became the theme of the program which was great because I don't think I would have watched the program otherwise. Originally an invisible evil spirit that attacked if you said its name unless you were wearing a stripy sock for protection. In the last episode they always got attacked. Was it female, we assumed it was with a name like that, who was the person who sent that idea in? they would be an adult now, I would love to hear from them, what made them come up with the idea and the name Doris? It just disappeared from the show without a word and was forgotten so we never got to know what it looked like
  • Anonymous user
    on
    "How to step through a postcard... Part One." The series was at its best when Russell T Davies (of Doctor Who fame) wrote and produced, and he gave the presenters personalities and made it into more of a fun sitcom about some kids who had a shared home, had adventures and just happened to do a few makes. Do you remember from this era: 1. Ben the crazy inventor and Kate the roving reporter from the Cardiff gang, whose clipboard Ben was always chucking down a trapdoor. Plus the cupboards with GOOD, DAFT and DON'T TOUCH - the latter was opened once and all the rejected Why Don't You letters flew out in a Visual Effects blizzard! 2. Ant of Ant and Dec, pre-Byker Grove, as a presenter with the Newcastle Gang 3. Ben again with various Liverpool gangs and his mad inventions, including the vat (where seaweed was the key ingredient), the BBC-style computer with the Ben Byte (Ben on-screen) and the monstrous supercomputer it became? They had to use a string telephone (another quick make) when the supercomputer threatened to take over, as it was intercepting all other communications. Then the Why Don't You electric lemon and the hoover they used to defeat it! 4. The "men from LINDA" (a name Davies reused in Doctor Who) and the sheep with red, green or yellow wellies. I clearly spent far too much of my school holidays watching this mad programme. I even made my family delay outings when we were away on (UK) holidays, so I could see the show first!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I was in awe of the kids who presented the programme and the theme tune was so catchy to me!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    This was one of the programmes we used to look forward to during the summer holidays. We used to watch it then go and try out some of the makes. One in particular I remember was cutting the leg of a pair of tights, putting a tennis ball in the end then tying the other end into a loop so you could put the loop over your ankle, then spinning this with your foot and jumping over it with the other foot. I have seen modern plastic versions, but you can't beat the original lol. I was trying to explain about this programme to my 9 year old, I can now show him that such programmes did exist.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    REMEMBER THIS EVERY SUMMERTIME IN THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS...
  • Anonymous user
    on
    does anyone remember the doris??
  • Gojira
    on
    Don't forget to watch out for...the Doris!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I have vivid memories of why don't you....it was a godsend in the rainy school hols....learned how to make gypsy taost on it(basiclly eggy bread) we were plonked in front of the goggle box by our busy mum and very content too!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    i watched a programme a few years ago and it featured one of the producers from WDY and they said that so few people used to phone or write in with suggestions about things to do that they had to read about things to do in books and just say that someone wrote in ha ha
  • Anonymous user
    on
    ..must admit I found this programme a little boring..did learn to make an oragami paper ball/water balloon thingie though...remember at school my class always used to sing "Why don?t you eat dog poo!"...sad I know...but true...