Magic Grandad was an educational programme which originally aired on BBC Two under the title 'Switch On, Switch Off' during Schools section of 1993. The show saw 'Magic' Grandad take his young grandchildren back in time, many of the adventures are about comparing the past and the present and seeing how evidence of what happened in the olden days still survives. The show was said to make learning about history "fun for youngsters" and was aimed at children aged 5-7 years. The series was introduced to support the History National Curriculum at Key Stage 1. New seasons have been made periodically to support new areas of the infant history curriculum such as seaside holidays and toys. The early season have a companion booklet of teacher's notes with descriptions of the episodes, various suggestions for follow-up work and photocopiable worksheets.
Showing Season 3 of 6
Seaside Holiday
2001
We now meet a new Grandad and two new children, Tom and Nikki. This time Grandad's magic relies on his collection of old 16mm films - when they are projected he is able to take his grandchildren 'into' the films and back to the time when they were made. All the adventures now take place in 1901 and have a recurring cast of characters.
01. The Promenade
2001-01-17
Nikki and Tom are left at their Grandad's home by their parents, Grandad shows them some old films showing life at the seaside 100 years ago. The children want to find out more about the olden days and so they all walk into the projector screen and find themselves in 1901.
02. The Beach
2001-01-24
Tom and Nikki see film of a young Grandad swimming in the sea with an old-fashioned rubber ring, and his mother attempting to change under a towel. When they go back 100 years they immediately go off to find a bathing machine and change into their own old-fashioned swimming costumes.
03. Entertainment
2001-01-31
Grandad takes Tom and Nikki back to 1901 to explore the attractions of the pier.