Year: 2012

"Football’s just a branch of science."

There’s not been many football shows on TV. Footballers’ Wives, sure, but that wasn’t so much about the football as, er, the wives.

One of the few shows that have aired was a show for children, Jossy’s Giants, that was on BBC1 for two series back in the 80s. The show’s plot centred around the ups and downs of a boys’ football team, the Glipton Giants (formally Glipton Grasshoppers), and their enthusiastic Geordie manager Joswell ‘Jossy’ Blair, who had previously played for Newcastle United.

Written by – of all people – the Newcastle native and darts commentator Sid Waddell, the show was watched by 6.3 million viewers but only lasted for 10 episodes, before being turned into a musical that ran at the Bolton Octagon in 1989.

But apart from the football and Jossy, it’s best remembered for its insanely catchy theme tune by former Play School presenter Mike Amatt, which you can listen to now. I’ll warn you though: you’ll be humming it for the rest of the day.

And if that’s whet your appetite, here’s a playlist of some of the first few episodes. The first video’s from the fifth episode, so skip to the second video.