Cockney capers

HE PROBABLY would have been more at home refereeing at a bare-knuckle boxing match - or calling time in a seedy East End pub.

So what on earth was Cockney comedian Mike Reid doing hosting Southern TV's brand new kids' game show, Runaround?

Then best known as one of the stars of The Comedians, Granada's popular showcase of northern comic turns, Reid was as surprised as anyone when he was asked to front the new series in 1975.

"At the time I had a record out with Pye called The Ugly Duckling, which went into the top ten of the hit parade," recalls the comedian-turned-actor in his familiar gravelly tones.

"The director of Runaround, Colin Nutley, said they were looking for a new presenter. He saw me on Top of the Pops and thought I would be ideal for it.

"I'd never presented anything, let alone kids' stuff, so I was a bit apprehensive to say the least. But when it went out it had 75 per cent of the viewing figures."

Born in Hackney in London's East End in 1940, Reid began his showbiz career as a stand-up comedian in clubs and on board cruise liners before working as a film extra and stunt driver, with appearances in such 60s classics as Casino Royale, Up the Junction and The Dirty Dozen.

It was in 1975 that he was approached to front Southern's new children's quiz series, Runaround - recorded at the TV studios in Northam, Southampton.

By modern standards, Runaround was put together at incredible speed.

According to Reid, the show - based on an American idea - was being recorded and transmitted just eight weeks after Southern TV had bought the rights to make it.

Described as "a cross between a circus, a quiz and a chat show", the raucous game show - remembered as much for Reid's bellowing presence as its energetic format had been a success in the USA from 1972, where it was hosted by Paul Winchell (the voice of Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races).

One of the noisiest children's programmes of its day, Runaround featured ten young contestants battling it out to win such objects of 1970s desire as Swingball sets and black-and-white portable TVs.

The children - egged on by schoolmates, teachers and family members in the audience - were asked a question by Reid and, on the shout of "Go!", ran to one of three markers representing possible answers.

Those standing on the correct marker remained to answer further questions, while those on the wrong markers were promptly eliminated - only to spend the remainder of the show looking forlornly on from a caged-off area (a sadistic touch that these days would probably flout countless broadcasting guidelines).

Clever contestants were given a chance to fox the opposition by hopping between answers at the last minute when prompted by a yell of "Runaround now!" from Reid.

The quiz itself was broken up with appearances by studio guests - who often brought in animals or vintage cars from Beaulieu - and performances by pop bands, with Reid on hand to oversee the festivities in true ringmaster style.

Jan Beal, then a production assistant at Southern, worked on the first series of Runaround alongside Reid and producer/director Colin Nutley.

"What we had to be careful of was Mike's language, which was quite colourful," she remembers.

"In between takes, especially if something hadn't gone well, I had to get him away from the children, because he'd forget where he was and who he was in front of. But he was very much a presence and had a great sense of humour."

There was probably plenty of "colourful" language on the very first edition of the show, which Reid fondly remembers as a "total cock-up".

"No one knew what was going on on that show," says the 64-year-old star, who has returned to his stand-up roots since leaving EastEnders four years ago.

"They had all the parents of the kids taking part in the audience, as well as teachers from every school in Hampshire.

"Every Tom, Dick and Harry was there - the studio was at saturation point."

Later, Reid got the recording of the show down to a fine art, usually wrapping the whole thing up in under half an hour.

Recording on the first show started at 4pm and was only finished an exhausting five-and-a-half hours later.

It wasn't so much the children that caused the problem, but the animal guests.

"I had to do an interview with a dressage rider, who had come in with his horse," remembers Reid.

"As I was doing the interview I could see on the monitor out of the corner of my eye that the horse was starting to get quite excited. I could see the parents in the audience starting to laugh and I was just desperate to get this horse off.

"The second interview was with a shepherd with a flock of 50 sheep. After the interview I said 'Now boys and girls, give us a soft round of applause', but they all went 'Waah!' and these sheep just messed themselves. We were up to our ankles in it.

"Afterwards, me and Colin Nutley said 'We can't go on like this', so we decided to let the show go out warts and all.

"That's the reason the show was so successful. It was a 25-minute programme and - after that first one - it took us 27 minutes to make. It was very natural."

According to Reid, the production team used to record 21 shows in a week.

"At one time we were even doing four shows a day. It wasn't hard work, once you got into it."

In 1977, Reid left to work on another project and was temporarily replaced by Leslie Crowther and Stan Boardman.

Young viewers everywhere rejoiced when he returned to oversee proceedings in his loveably abrasive manner - something he continued to do until the show was dropped by TVS in 1981 after they won the franchise for TV in the south.

"I used to come down for the week and was treated very well by Southern TV," says Reid.

"They put me up in a local hotel, gave me my own dressing room and offered to lay on a car for me, although I didn't need that."

Reid maintained his links with Southern TV by acting in Noah's Castle - "about an atom bomb being dropped up north" - and three episodes of Worzel Gummidge.

Runaround's rough-and-ready approach would probably be considered too much for modern audiences, who seem to like their presenters as unthreatening and child-like as possible.

Reid, with his boxer's features, hairy chest and sinister "gangland" chuckle, could hardly be described as child-like.

And his attitude to Runaround's young contestants was far from indulgent.

"People say that I used to be a little bit hard with the kids, that I used to shout at them," he says, "but if kids in the audience were shouting out the answers to their mates I had to keep them in line."

Never mind National Service - surely the return of Runaround would do wonders for the nation's moral fibre.

For loads more great memories and stories look out for The Dream Factory, a book charting the history of Southern Television, TVS and Meridian and the great programmes produced from their Northam studios in Southampton, which will be on sale in November.