Editing Wide Awake Club

{{for|the 19th century American political organization|Wide Awakes}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox television
| image        =
| caption      = 
| runtime      = 30 min.
| presenter    = [[Timmy Mallett]]<br>Arabella Warner<br>James Baker<br>[[Tommy Boyd]]<br>[[Michaela Strachan]]
| country      = United Kingdom
| channel      = [[TV-am]] ([[ITV (TV network)|ITV]])
| first_aired  = {{start date|1984|10|13|df=y}}
| last_aired   = {{end date|1989}}
| num_episodes = 
| related      = [[Wacaday]] (1985 – 1992) 
}}

'''''Wide Awake Club''''' (often abbreviated to '''''WAC''''') is a [[children's television series]] that was broadcast in the United Kingdom on the [[breakfast television]] channel [[TV-am]] between 1984 and 1989.

==History==
''Wide Awake Club'' started on Saturday 13 October 1984, broadcasting for an hour each Saturday morning at 8.30&nbsp;am as TV-am's flagship kids series. It replaced two separate shows, ''[[Data Run]]'' and ''SPLAT'' which had been created by [[Ragdoll Productions|Ragdoll's]] Anne Wood then as Head of Children's Programmes. The change to ''Wide Awake Club'' was part of cost cutting by management<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ragdoll.co.uk/html/story.html#3 |title=Ragdoll Story |publisher=Ragdoll.co.uk |access-date=2013-09-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053652/http://www.ragdoll.co.uk/html/story.html |archive-date=21 September 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref> and was devised by producer Nick Wilson.

''WAC'' was presented by [[Timmy Mallett]], Arabella Warner and James Baker,  with [[Tommy Boyd]] joining in February 1985 and [[Michaela Strachan]] in August 1986<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pelley |first1=Rich |title=Timmy Mallett and Michaela Strachan: how we made Wide Awake Club |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jul/20/wide-awake-club-timmy-mallett-michaela-strachan |website=The Guardian |access-date=20 July 2020 |date=20 July 2020}}</ref><ref name="Tait">{{cite book |last1=Tait |first1=Derek |title=A 1980s Childhood |date=2019 |publisher=Amberley Publishing |isbn=978-1445692418 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVe-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT254}}</ref> – all newcomers to television, except Boyd who had previously presented ''[[Magpie (TV series)|Magpie]]'' and Mallett who had presented the ''[[Oxford Road Show]]''.

The live programme combined comedy, games, celebrity guests, competitions and viewer interaction. There were also more educational features, including visiting experts such as [[Carol Vorderman]] for the science slot, and attempts to explain historical and contemporary events like the [[Cold War]]. A spelling contest, 'Bonk’n’Boob'<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pelley |first1=Rich |title=Timmy Mallett and Michaela Strachan: how we made Wide Awake Club |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jul/20/wide-awake-club-timmy-mallett-michaela-strachan |website=The Guardian |access-date=20 July 2020 |date=20 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timmymallett.co.uk/wacaday-20-best-bits/|title = Wacaday: 20 Best Bits – the Utterly Brilliant Timmy Mallett}}</ref> was praised by teachers for encouraging children to learn to spell properly. The show also launched the career of [[Mike Myers (actor)|Mike Myers]], later a major Hollywood star, who made guest appearances with [[Neil Mullarkey]] on the show for a brief time, parodying the show's title in his segment "Sound Asleep Club", in which he sported [[pyjamas]] and a "bed-head" hairstyle. His roles included making earrings out of spoons, tape and string, as well as making a glass of water in a cookery section.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.contactmusic.com/news/myers-reunited-with-mallett_1033989 |title=Myers Reunited With Mallett | author=WENN | publisher=Contactmusic.com |date=2007-06-13 |access-date=2013-09-07}}</ref>

When ''Wide Awake Club'' returned after its summer break on Saturday, 14 September 1985, the series was extended to broadcast for almost two hours from 7.30&nbsp;am until 9.25&nbsp;am.

The programme was so successful that it launched two spin-offs: ''[[Wacaday]]'', a programme for holiday mornings presented solely by Timmy Mallett (joined by Terry a puppet during its first series and Michaela Strachan for later editions) that became even more successful than its parent, and ''WAC Extra'', a Sunday morning version of the show. Both ''Wide Awake Club'' and ''Wacaday'' introduced the ''Wacawave'', done by making a 'w', by putting one's thumbs together, and waving.

Meanwhile, ''Wide Awake Club'' continued for many years with only minor changes to the format until 9 September 1989<ref>{{cite news | work=The Stage | date=7 September 1989 | page=17 | title=TVAM is looks for new "green" sponsor}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | newspaper=Hull Daily Mail | date=8 September 1989 | title=P5 Weekend, New Presenter Shelah Ferrel}}</ref> when it was relaunched as ''WAC '90'', broadcast from [[Granada Television|Granada]]'s studios in [[Manchester]] (as opposed to TV-am's in [[London]]).  However, the ''Wide Awake Club'' franchise continued as ''Wacaday'' until TV-am lost its franchise in 1992.

== Programming == 
*''[[Jem (TV series)|Jem]]'' (1987–late 80's) 
* ''[[Transformers]]'' -

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.brillianttv.co.uk/timmymallett/television-wac.html Page at Timmy Mallett's website]
*[http://www.cjetech.co.uk/watched_it/wac.html Page at Watched It!]

{{UK Breakfast TV}}

[[Category:1980s British children's television series]]
[[Category:1984 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1989 British television series endings]]
[[Category:Breakfast television in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British children's television series]]
[[Category:TV-am original programming]]
[[Category:British English-language television shows]]