8. Allo My Dalek (1975)
No, its not Doctor Who. Its Friday, it's 5 o'clock and its Crackerjack. This is how the presenters of Crackerjack opened the show in March 1974, their faces superimposed onto the Season 11 opening credits. The childrens entertainment show first lampooned the Doctor in 1966 with Leslie Crowther as the First Doctor and Peter Glaze as the Second in a musical number, but it was 1975's Allo My Dalek that is best remembered. Don Maclean enters the TARDIS console room dressed in Fourth Doctor-like attire, still knitting his scarf as it gets trapped in the door. There, he meets Peter Glazes Brigadier and Jan Hunts Sarah Jane. After pointing out that the Brig should not be in this particular series, Glaze explains that he is standing in for Ian Marters Harry Sullivan. Despite early appearances by Ronnie Corbett and a guest hosting gig for Little and Large, Glaze and Maclean were Crackerjacks stand out comedy duo. Their silent sketches have even been released on a separate DVD. When Maclean left in 1978 to be replaced by Bernie Clifton, the show quickly began to lose quality and popularity. At one stage Basil Brush was even a host of Crackerjack. The wily old fox has himself parodied the show - the first time encountering the Yeti in a sketch which appears on The Mind Robber DVD and the second time in his ill fated Basil does Swap Shop revival. The time, Basil plays Doctor Who with a Kylie Minogue as Astrid lookalike (in drag) and an alien flappy colourful bird, something of a cross between The Time Monster and Ken Dodd. Seriously. A brief clip from the 1975 Crackerjack sketch appears on the More Than Thirty Years In The TARDIS documentary. Sadly the earlier Crowther/Glaze feature is missing from the archives.