Motormouth

MOTORMOUTH
Made by: ?
Shown on: ITV
Years shown: 1988-92

This was another show in the long line of attempts that ITV made to steal BBC1’s Saturday morning thunder - and, once again, it was unsuccessful. Motormouth was hosted by presenters who were basically rejects from other kids’ shows, when either they or the programme had lost their appeal. There were Andrea Arnold and Neil Buchanan, both from Number 73, and, later, Andy Crane from children’s BBC’s broom cupboard; plus Terry Wogan’s favourite, Gaby Roslin, and Tony Gregory. There’s really not a lot to say about Motormouth, except that it was loud and fast-moving, which ITV bosses in the eighties obviously thought would win them the hyper-active vote from the more staid SaturdaySuperstore and Going Live! One memorable aspect (by memorable, don’t automatically read ‘good’) was Mousetrap!, the board game which was played on a life-sized board, where contestants added pieces to the puzzle, and were then usually trapped at the end by their own making. Sandi Toksvig (also of Number 73) cropped up in Spin Off, a spoof soap supposedly based in the production offices of Motormouth, which also starred Joe Greco, Roger Sloman, Pippa Michaels and Richard Waites - little did she know that she only had years of Call My Bluff ahead of her….

SQUARE EYES RATING: 2/10

(Thanks to www.paulmorris.co.uk for the borrowed pic)