Stu Francis has warned new ‘Crackerjack’ hosts Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes to stay away from his catchphrases.
The presenting duo are to front a reboot of the classic kids TV series next year and the 68-year-old comic – who was known for lines such as ‘Ooh, I could crush a grape’ when he presented the programme from 1979 until 1984 – thinks it would be a "backwards step" if they mimicked his signature phrases.
He told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre TV column: "They’re not my copy-right as such, but I would like to think they’ve got more going for them than to do somebody else’s catchphrases.
"That doesn’t gel at all. That’d be like me going out on TV next week and saying, ‘Nice to see you, to see you nice’. It’s just not right.
"Everybody in the business associates those catchphrases with me. If they started doing that they’d be taking a backwards step."
When BBC chiefs announced the programme was being rebooted and modernised, they confirmed the game ‘Double or Drop’ – in which young audience members are chosen to answer questions and go head-to-head to win prizes or a consolation cabbage if they give an incorrect answer – will be making a comeback in the new show, but Stu doesn’t know if children today will be as interested in the challenge as he thinks it is "too slow" for modern audiences.
He said: "They’re going to need to bring the new version into 2019/20, and whether Double Or Drop will be too slow for kids of this day and age I don’t know.
"Kids live at a faster pace than we did then. They’re like, ‘If I’ve got to wait 30 seconds I’m not interested’."
‘Crackerjack’ will return to CBBC and BBC Red Button next year.
Stu Francis doesn’t want catchphrases in Crackerjack revamp
