Wacaday was introduced when Roland Rat, the puppet host of TV-am’s previous Good Morning Britain weekday morning slot during school holidays, transferred to the BBC.
With only a week until October half term was due to start, it was decided to produce a summer holidays spin-off of the existing and successful Saturday morning programme, Wide Awake Club.
Timmy Mallett, the best-known presenter of Wide Awake Club, was chosen to front the new show. The “wac” of the title took the initials of Wide Awake Club.
The initial 1985 run consisted of basic features and competitions, but from its second run in 1986, the format quickly began to develop, with the word-association game ‘Mallett’s Mallet’ being introduced.
Michaela Strachan (pictured at right) co-presented the show with Timmy during the summer of 1987 and 1989.
