It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is what you want: between the satire boom and the Alternative scene, before the Irony years and the comedy of Cruelty, Tiswas - it stood for 'Today is Saturday Wear A Smile' (among other acronyms) - roared into LWT like a coachload of Midlands monkeys and kids' telly was never the same again. Where would SMTV or Going Live be without Tiswas? (You can't really blame Tiswas for Noel's House Party though).Every Saturday morning a still-cool Chris Tarrant and co-host, saucy Sally James, borough flan-flying anarchy to the box, while bemused children stood around crying with fear, and grown men and women, who knew this programme was really for them, clambered into cages for a violent drenching. (Later, the Tarrant-fronted OTT attempted the formula for an adult audience, but they needn't have bothered.) In my day, you were either a 'Swap Shop' person or a 'Tiswas' person. 'Swap Shop' was on a the same time on BBC1, and was for nice middle-class kids with 'hobbies', whose idea of fun was exchanging Mousetrap for a gonk or making pen-pals with a buck-toothed girl from Luxembourg. No contest.One of this reviewer's favourite moments was when Lenny Henry's Trevor McDoughnut is surprised by the real Trevor McDonald, invited on set for a laugh. A stunned Henry is momentarily lost for words. Then, regaining his composure, embraces the newsreader, and in Trevor's own clipped tones remarks, "Well... good morning, Daddy."

Well, which did you prefer? 'Multi-Coloured Swap Shop' or 'Tiswas'? To tell the truth, I never watched a complete edition of either, preferring to channel surf, but of the two, 'Tiswas' was clearly the best. Its also the only programme I've ever liked with Chris Tarrant in. The Hee-Heeing Blonde One led a team of comics which included Lenny ( 'This Is Trevor McDoughnut' ) Henry, John Gorman ( of 'The Scaffold' ) and Bob ( Spit The Dog ) Carolgees. Sally James ( she of the 'almost legendary pop interviews' ) was devastatingly sexy, even to us kids.'Tiswas' was like a children's tea party had been invaded by fifth-form students weened on Spike Milligan. Its anarchic sense of humour was refreshing. Everyone involved seemed to be having a good time. Must have been something in those condensed milk sandwiches...One of the funniest moments was when Chris and co. made Lenny the subject of a 'This Is Your Life' spoof. They even managed to get his mother into the studio! Tarrant and the gang eventually quit 'Tiswas' to do an 'adult' version - 'O.T.T.'. Only Sally James stayed behind. She was wise to do so because 'O.T.T.' was the P.I.T.T.S. Naked men dancing with balloons and Bob Carolgees saying 's--t'. It managed to be childish in a way 'Tiswas' simply was not.Many shows have tried to copy 'Tiswas' over the years, but none have come close. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a postcard I simply must walk through...

And it was too! With classic features such as flan your folks, compost corner, the dying fly "there's people lying on their backs kicking their arms and feet in the air!", Matthew butlers legendary rendition of bright eyes, the bucket of water song and a fabulous theme tune Saturday certainly was tiswas day.Presented in a very loose style by Chris Tarrant, Sally James, Lenny Henry, Bob Carolgees (with spit the dog and the largely hated cough the cat), John Gorman and many more the show largely consisted of utter chaos and stupidity (which was the shows strength) bought to you in a well organised chaos sort of way. Characters such as Trevor McDoughnut, Clive 'the wizard' Webb and many others were present to give the show its mad edge. The shows main strength is that nobody seemed to know what was happening and nobody seemed to care as long as they were having fun.A classic moment came in about 1980 when Sally James doing one of her tricks decided to do the walk through a postcard trick. Chris Tarrant who was sat next to her went into a hilarious tirade starting with "A POSTCARD! Its a postcard everybody! Its a trick with a postcard in YEAAAHHH!" and ending with him having run an entire lap of the studio (even the broadcasting galleries) Before exclaiming "no wonder Noel Edmonds is out of work!" before sally completed her trick. This and many other things are what makes tiswas my no1 programme of all time and its probably made me the person I am today (Oh god!).According to a recent t.v programme there were 372 tiswas episodes made but only 12! still exist in the Atv/Central archive. Criminal!THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT! Tiswas the best of is now available on network video!Weblink: www.tiswasonline.com is actually partly run by Matthew lewis (a.k.a butler) and is very good.

When I was at junior school in tne 70's the kids at the front of the class watched swap shop and blue peter, and the kids at the back of the class watched tiswas and magpie. Tiswas was far too good for kids on a saturday morning, a lot of it was beyond us. I always remember my dad used to sit with me and my sisters laughing more than we were. In the early eighties they tried to do an adult version called O.T.T, it was awful. Why make an adult version when the kids' version had the adults laughing more than the kids. I occasionally see kids t.v on a saturday morning, how much happier they'd be if they had the phantom flan flinger and Algernon Razzmatazz.