Saturday Morning Memories – Get Fresh.

Get Fresh (CITV, 1986-1988)

This is a Saturday Morning show that I don’t remember watching much myself as I was still only five years old when it ended, but it does seem to be fondly remembered by the people who did watch it regularly as it was a regular fixture on CITV in the mid-80s so I decided to find out more about the show for myself to bring you this review.

Get Fresh was hosted by Gaz Top and Charlotte Hindle, and the theme music was provided by Big Audio Dynamite. The idea was that every week The Millennium Dustbin would touch down and provide entertainment live from somewhere in the UK. Curiously they only visited the smaller ITV regions so it was a rare chance for viewers who lived in the Border and TSW areas to get their moment in the spotlight. 

There were the usual features such as cartoons, a game show element called Get Mucky and big pop groups entertaining the crowds that had gathered where the weather was usually rather wet. For a short while Get Fresh was also shown on Sunday Mornings and featured another bunch of great cartoons. But great as they were, for many people Gaz and Charlotte weren’t the stars of the show. 

They were joined from the second series by the remarkable puppet character Gilbert The Alien, a really hideous green and red thing who was voiced by the impressionist Phil Cornwell who liked to make outrageous and very funny comments to the somewhat bemused celebrity guests. The odd comedy character Frank Sidebottom often joined in the fun as well. Gary Wilmot also turned up sometimes too, which is lovely. 

Gilbert was popular enough with viewers to get his own spin-off show on CITV called Gilbert’s Fridge, now that really was a bizarre show. One of the other highlights of the show for many viewers was Gaz’s hairstyle which was ludicrous even by mid-80s standards and was the talk of the nation of a short while, and when he got it cut for many people life was never the same again. 

After Get Fresh ended Gareth would remain a familiar face on CITV for another two decades, hosting many other shows including The Big Bang and How 2, and Charlotte went on to co-host the CBBC Saturday Morning show The 8:15 From Manchester in the early-90s among other things. Get Fresh ran for five series and from the clips that I have seen of the show it does seem to be really enjoyable. It was a good idea and one of the better CITV shows, if only I had been five years older, I would have watched it all the time I’m sure.