Tiswas is a British children’s television show which aired on Saturday mornings from 1974 to 1982. “Tiswas” stands for “Today Is Saturday: Watch And Smile. Presenters included Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Lenny Henry, John Gorman, and others – including returning special guests and famous personalities. One of the most popular characters was the masked Phantom Flan Flinger – the arch villain of the show who would think nothing twice of chucking a custard pie in your face.
The show was all about fun, mayhem, riotous and slapstick humour, jokes, custard pies, puppets, impersonations, music, and famous faces. Popular slots included ‘Flanorama’, ‘Compost Corner’, and ‘Flan Your Folks’. The show spawned a hit single called ‘The Bucket of Water Song’, performed by members of the cast as ‘The Four Bucketeers’.
My Saturday morning TV childhood memories are full to bursting with excellent programmes, but Tiswas will always have a special place for its sheer mayhem and fun.
Recently I received a little bit of Tiswas in my life again – namely an armful of 1981 issues of the Tiswas Family Fun Book (later Tiswas Magazine). Flantastic! Here are the covers, ads, and selected content – all wiped clean of custard pies, and dried out from their buckets of water soaking.
Enjoy! I’m off to practice my Dying Fly movements 🙂
Tiswas Family Fun Book Vol 1 N°9 1981.
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- Tiswas Family Fun Book Vol 1 N°6 1981.
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- Tiswas Family Fun Book Vol 1 N°4 1981.
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- Tiswas Family Fun Book Vol 1 N°7 1981.
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- Tiswas Family Fun Book Vol 2 N°3 1981.
Tiswas Book of Silly Superstitions 1981.
Tiswas official money box and digital watch. 1981.
Tiswas. Bob Carolgees and Spit the Dog.
Thank you for flinging flans with us 🙂
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
Ooh, nostalgia bomb right there! Have many wonderful memories of this show as a kid, not least the arguments from those who preferred it’s inferior rival – Multi-coloured Swap Shop (boo!) Thanks for the nostalgia once again TVTA! 🙂
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Hehe, thanks mate. Yes, Swap Shop was okay but never as good as Tiswas!
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Interesting. I’ve never heard of this program. Not sure if it’s because I’m in the US or because it was before my time. Cool post!
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Thanks Retro Dee. Yes, unfortunately many of my North American readers will have no reference as it was aired in Britain. But take it from me it was a riot of fun and a staple of Saturday morning TV 🙂
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we sing a song the bucket of water song.
Happy memories. Never did get the square eyes my mother told me I would get laying on the floor so close to the TV
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Haha, you were warned too about the square eyes?
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