A Tuesday and Thursday afternoon mainstay on Children's ITV, Thames Television's Freetime gave it's viewers ample incentive to go and do things more productive than sitting in front of the telly. Presented by curly ex-Magpie idol Mick Robertson and Trudy Dance, who was soon replaced by Kim 'All over ITV' Goody. The informative and varied magazine format shed light on all sorts of hobbies and leisure activities twice a week. Not every activity could be picked up by it's viewers, though: one memorable episode (broadcast August 8 1985) featured two teams of soccer playing dogs, with Mick providing commentary from the sidelines and Kim showing off her lovely legs playing referee. Between seasons of Freetime, Kim would appear as one of the regulars on No 73.
When Freetime folded in 1985, Kim moved into 73 permanently while Mick got The Children's Channel (TCC for short) up and running on satellite television. The pair of them were reunited in 1988 when Kim joined Mick's TCC show "Roustabout". Around this time producer Kate Marlow debuted a new version of Freetime on Thames with unknown Andi Peters, lasting one season. Kim left "Roustabout" after slightly more than a year for a career in music to be replaced by Stephanie Lowe in 1989. Coincinentaly, Lowe had just spend the summer presenting "But First This" (BFT) with Andi Peters, who had moved to the BBC. Soon Andi was being groomed to become take Phillip Schofield's place as children's telly ideal-son-in-law, while Phillip became Stephanie's real live groom. Kim entered the BBC's Song for Europe competition in March '90 while Roustabout came to a close in September of that year (the finale had Mick and Steph karaoke-ing 'I've got you babe'). No information could be found concerning Trudy Dance's further career.
8 out of 10
When Freetime folded in 1985, Kim moved into 73 permanently while Mick got The Children's Channel (TCC for short) up and running on satellite television. The pair of them were reunited in 1988 when Kim joined Mick's TCC show "Roustabout". Around this time producer Kate Marlow debuted a new version of Freetime on Thames with unknown Andi Peters, lasting one season. Kim left "Roustabout" after slightly more than a year for a career in music to be replaced by Stephanie Lowe in 1989. Coincinentaly, Lowe had just spend the summer presenting "But First This" (BFT) with Andi Peters, who had moved to the BBC. Soon Andi was being groomed to become take Phillip Schofield's place as children's telly ideal-son-in-law, while Phillip became Stephanie's real live groom. Kim entered the BBC's Song for Europe competition in March '90 while Roustabout came to a close in September of that year (the finale had Mick and Steph karaoke-ing 'I've got you babe'). No information could be found concerning Trudy Dance's further career.
8 out of 10
