Jackanory is a BBCchildren's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fairy-tale "Cap-o'-Rushes" read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996, with around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run. The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett and broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show was briefly revived on 27 November 2006 for two one-off stories, and the format was revived as Jackanory Junior on CBeebies between 2007 and 2009. The show's format, which varied little over the decades, involved an actor reading from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially commissioned still drawing, often by Quentin Blake. Usually a single book would occupy five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday. A spin-off series was Jackanory Playhouse, which was a series of thirty-minute dramatisations. These included a dramatisation by Philip Glassborow of the comical A. A. Milne story "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh".
Title
The show's title comes from an old English nursery rhyme: The rhyme was first recorded in the publication The Top Book of All, for little Masters and Misses, which appeared about 1760.
Revival
In November 2006 Jackanory briefly returned with comedian John Sessions as the revived programme's first narrator reading the Lord of the Rings parody Muddle Earth, written by Paul Stewart. The second narrator was Sir Ben Kingsley, reading The Magician of Samarkand by Alan Temperley. They were broadcast in three 15 minute slots on CBBC and BBC One and later repeated in their entirety on BBC One on consecutive Sundays. The readings of Muddle Earth were heavily accompanied by animation and featured John Sessions speaking the lines of all the animated characters, leading to criticism that the spirit of the original programme, a single voice telling a tale with minimal distractions, had been lost. The Magician of Samarkand was a similar production, without additional actors speaking lines; Ben Kingsley read both the story and the lines of all the characters. Both of these stories were produced and directed by Nick Willing. Both stories were released on DVD in their entirety with added bonus features.
''Jackanory Junior''
A version of Jackanory for younger children—called Jackanory Junior—was shown on CBeebies between 2007 and 2009. The CBeebies Bedtime Stories strand continues the tradition of well-known actors and personalities reading stories directly to camera.
, in character as Gene Hunt, made an appearance on Jackanory as the guest reader in the Ashes to Ashes series 2 finale, set in 1982, which Alex Drake imagines being transmitted to her television set. "Jackanory, jackanory" said by someone in the sing-song tones of the theme tune indicates that they think that someone else is making up or "stretching" a story, i.e. lying. In 2013 the UK TV Network Dave launched Crackanory as an adult version Jackanory. Each Crackanory episode features two 15-minute tales narrated by contemporary comedians and actors, containing a mix of live action and animation as per the original.
