Wednesday 17 April 2013

1982: SPIDER-MAN ON JIM'LL FIX IT (Marvel UK)

When Jimmy met Spidey!

Here's a piece from Marvel UK's SPIDER-MAN (issue 528, 20 April 1982) about the Web-head's appearance on BBC ONE's JIM'LL FIX IT show.

For those unfamiliar with the format: young viewers would write to presenter Jimmy Savile requesting a 'fix' (not like that) that the show would then arrange and film.  The fixes were a mix of live in-studio (IE cheap) pieces and pre-filmed packages.

Other geek-notable pieces that aired in the eighties included a studio visit to the STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE Enterprise sets on the Paramount lot (featuring an appearance by Shatner himself) and a mini-DOCTOR WHO adventure featuring Colin Baker.

The perpetually old (he always adopted the persona of a slightly eccentric - not to mention creepy - uncle figure) Savile died in October 2011.  After his death its emerged that he was a prolific (possibly the UK's most prolific) pedophile.  Another well-circulated rumour that he also had a penchant for necrophilia hasn't been substantiated.  He used his position as a TV personality, as well as charity worker, to mask his activities.

The revelations, and the way the current generation of BBC senior management handled them (to cut a long story short: badly) sent the corporation into a tailspin and led to the resignation of the Director General.

Because of these revelations, it's highly likely the BBC will lock the long-running show in the archive, unseen, forever (the WHO one is on THE TWO DOCTORS DVD... get it before they delete it!).


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