WATCH With Mother, Muffin the Mule, Dr Who, He-Man and Bagpuss can each evoke a powerful pang of nostalgia for anyone who grew up watching them.
This summer an exhibition called The Way We Watched has put together the weird and wonderful world of children’s television through the decades at Prescot Museum. The exhibitions include a range of memorabilia from The Wombles to The Lone Ranger, Thunderbirds and Scooby Doo. Museum manager Iain Morley said children have really taken to the colourful exhibits and a good deal of bemused conversations had been sparked between youngsters and parents.
Mr Morely said: "What has been the most interesting for me is the reaction of children to the programmes their parents used to watch.
"A lot of the programmes are very bizarre. Our children can’t believe what we used to watch."
"Programmes today are probably even more bizarre than those that were created in the drug fuelled ’70s for example. But children are amazed at the old programmes."
The exhibition, which opened last week, features a 1950s style living room where visitors can sit and watch old episodes from children’s TV from the last 50 years.
George Mensah from Retro Love Deluxe built the room to inspire memories not only of the older programmes but also the style of living and how things have changed.
He said: "This is a fantastic display with something for everyone, I thought I’d seen everything retro until I came here."
"The life-size Dalek is my personal favourite in the exhibition."
An original Katie the Kangaroo from the iconic 1950s Muffin the Mule show helps complete this image.
But the museum also has videos and memorabilia from every decade from the 1950s to the 1990s.
A Cyberman and K9 from Dr Who have been lent by a collector in Kirkby while a fan in Warrington has built a life-size Darlek out of plastic and metal.
Mr Morley said: "I loved Tom Baker era Dr Who so K9 is a favourite. We came up with the idea for a blockbuster exhibition for Capital of Culture probably 12 months ago.
"We’ve got the exhibits and videos from all over the place, Katie the Kangaroo, for example came from a collector in Essex."
A summer programme is now getting under way for children to build their own Tardis and Thunderbird models as well as develop their own television characters. A puppet theatre featuring Sooty and Sweep has already proven popular.
The exhibition will run until October 18.
The Museum is free and opening times are:
(Monday is closed)
Tuesday - Saturday; 10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm.
Sunday; 2pm-5pm.
To see the children’s favourites on display in Prescot museum visit www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk and click on video and pictures.
