'We got away with murder' - Chris Tarrant on chaos of ITV's Tiswas ahead of reunion

  • Chris Tarrant on gunge, custard and 'getting away with murder' on Tiswas

It has been 40 years since Tiswas ended, but this weekend the team behind the classic ITV show will reunite in Bristol.

The children's programme started in 1974 - bringing comedy, celebrities and chaos to our screens.

Viewers quickly became familiar with seeing their favourite stars get soaked in custard, with the show's presenters Chris Tarrant and Lenny Henry going on to become household names.

"My memories of Tiswas are of absolute chaos," Chris Tarrant told ITV News West Country ahead of the reunion at St George's in Bristol on Saturday 16 April.

"We got away with murder," he said. "We had a fantastic time. We were like pop stars for a while, just everywhere we went we were mobbed."

Chris Tarrant said he struggled to get away from the smell of custard during his time presenting Tiswas Credit: ITV

He described the reaction to the show as "extraordinary", adding: "I'm still not really sure why, but somehow it was just the right show at the right time."

Four decades later, the presenter says he still has "wonderful" memories of the show, which was recorded at ITV studios in Birmingham.

"I remember one morning I'm rolling about with Sheena Easton, Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders and Annie Lennox from The Tourists and the Eurythmics - I remember thinking 'I'm being paid for this, what a great Saturday morning'."

But there was one drawback... the custard.

Chris said: "When I finished I smelt of custard, my car smelt of custard, my kids smelt of custard, my wife smelt of custard.

"It was just a wonderful moment in all our lives."

For fans of the show, the custard was one of the main attractions and Chris said the waiting list to watch the live recording from its famous cage was always three times as long as its capacity.

"People were always saying 'can we come in, can we come in' and we'd say 'no, it's a kids show, it's only children in the audience'.

People stood for three hours in a cage on set - only to get covered in custard

"Then eventually we thought we could get some people in if they were prepared to stand for all three hours in a cage and let us do whatever we want with them.

"They'd get done up, they'd have their best hair-dos, and within seconds they were unrecognisable because we'd gunge them. Whenever there was a lull on Tiswas, we'd just jump up and take buckets and throw them all over the cage."

  • The Tiswas team will be at a reunion at St George's in Bristol on Saturday 16 April from 8pm.