Ahh, we were all so much thinner back in the seventies.
One of the highlights of this year’s festive telly is It Started With Swap Shop.
As previously discussed in this blog, it will reunite Saturday morning presenters Noel Edmonds, Keith Chegwin, Maggie Philbin and John Craven.
Screened on BBC2 at 9pm on Thursday December 28, the marathon 130-minute show also features successors Saturday Superstore, Going Live and Live And Kicking.

IT’S a strange time of the year in TV land.
While normal souls are looking forward to Christmas telly, we’re already watching the stuff that’ll be screened in January and beyond.
That includes a second series of Wild At Heart, which was a huge hit for ITV1 earlier this year, with audiences of over 10 million.
Which is why I put off the festive shopping yet again today and headed for ITV Network Centre in London to watch two new episodes filmed in the heat of the African plains.

RAVE reviews for An Audience With Take That Live.
And there’s good news for fans who complained that Saturday night’s show was over far too soon.
The hour-long spectacular came in at around 47 minutes long, thanks to ad and sponsorship breaks.
Aside from not being long enough and far too many shots of celebs in the audience, it was mainly all good fun.
So why did ITV bosses restrict Take That to just one hour in the schedule? Surely Parky could have been put back by 30 minutes to make extra room?

AND so we come to the end of another series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
Jason Donovan is odds on favourite to be crowned King of the Jungle in tonight’s ITV1 final.
But with Myleene Klass a close second favourite and Matt Willis the outsider with a large number of female fans, anything could happen.
All three were shocked when David Gest was evicted in last night’s show, as you’ll see from their comments in tonight’s programme.
Many viewers assumed he was safe and simply didn’t bother to vote for the star of the series.
But perhaps that’s what happens when you finally do the dishes.
The remaining three celebs have now completed their final trials and are fast asleep after an eventful last full day together. All will be revealed this evening.

THE latest round of media speculation does not make happy reading for those backing the BBC’s move to Salford.
It predicts that, at best, the BBC will receive a licence fee settlement in line with inflation, or even a below inflation deal.
That compares to the corporation’s request for an increase of inflation plus 1.8 per cent to fund its future plans, including Salford.
There’s actually nothing much new in these stories or headlines saying the big move north is under threat.
One uses the boys’ book of logic and an office calculator to work out that even an increase in line with inflation will leave the BBC with a £1.6 billion funding gap.
All of which may well be true.

HE went for the job, not the money, and claims he wasn’t influenced by events at the BBC.
Former BBC chairman Michael Grade is pictured walking into ITV’s HQ in London today, where he has taken the job of executive chairman.
Mr Grade didn’t want to talk about leaving behind the BBC’s licence fee talks with the government. “Not an issue for today,” he said.
But BBC director general Mark Thompson moved quickly to quell fears that the corporation had been left in the lurch – or that the move to Salford might face another question mark because of Mr Grade’s channel switch.

WHAT does BBC chairman Michael Grade’s shock defection to ITV mean for the corporation’s planned move to Salford?
His resignation to become executive chairman at ITV is a huge blow to the BBC.
“Clearly this is a surprise,” said the BBC, as the media world struggled to come to terms with Mr Grade’s stunning transfer.
A government decision on the BBC’s licence fee settlement is due any week now.
Negotiations on the licence fee are at a critical stage and certainly won’t be helped by Mr Grade’s sensational switch to ITV.
The amount of cash the BBC receives will determine whether or not the planned 2010 move of five departments and 1,500 staff posts to Salford can go ahead.

REACH for the stars, climb every mountain higher…
Former S Club 7 star Hannah Spearritt is back on screen soon in what ITV hopes will be a monster hit.
She plays zoologist Abby Lister in a six-part drama called Primeval, which begins in the New Year.
“It was a great part for me to get and I’m very proud to be in it,” Hannah told me when we chatted about the series last week.
“There were so many great elements involved in the role, and the show was so new and fresh, there was no question of, ‘Do I want to do this?’”
Already an actress and performer, Hannah appeared in four TV series after joining the S Club party, with the group also enjoying a string of hit singles.

HARD to believe, but some viewers object to BBC1’s screening of the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance.
They blame the BBC for wasting their licence fee by showing the annual event at the Royal Albert Hall.
And, missing the point entirely, the critics accuse the corporation of glorifying war.
The always moving Saturday night in November demonstrates the difference between the BBC and the now hundreds of commercial channels on our remotes.
It will never attract huge ratings and yet it still retains a place in the primetime schedule.
From current events in Iraq and Afghanistan to the poppy fields of France, it’s important that we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of freedom.

THE scripts were clunky and the end result not as good as it should have been.
But Robin Hood is to get another chance with confirmation today of an expected second series.
Speaking in Manchester, BBC1 Controller Peter Fincham said Lancashire-raised Jonas Armstrong will return as Robin in 2007.
Filming is due to start in Budapest next spring with the series back on our screens later in the year.