Your letter was only the start of it, one letter and now you're a part of it,

Now you've done it, Jim has fixed for it you, and you and you.

There must be something that you always want to do, the one thing that you always wanted to,

Now you've done it, Jim has fixed it for you, and you and you and you ... ba ba ba ...

... ba ba ba ... Jim has fixed it for you, and you and you and you-ou-ou.

So went the classic theme tune that introduced "Jim'll Fix It". A BBC television programme, it was hosted by Jimmy Saville and ran from the mid 1970s through to the early 1990s. It became a fixture of Saturday evening television viewing, often sandwiched between "Dr Who" and "The Generation Game".

Children would write in to ex-Radio One DJ Jimmy Saville asking for him to fulfill their most precious wishes and so often he did. Not only did they get to go off and do the activity of a lifetime, but then they got to meet him and be presented with their Jim Fixed It For Me badge! Jim would sit in his big chair, bang his hand on the armrest and out would pop the badge. Other times it could produce a nice cup of tea if he was feeling a bit weary from the exertions of running the marathon, or wearing all his heavy jewelry and smoking an enormous cigar.

Invariably if the child had been on a visit to a chocolate factory or playing cricket with the England team; the managing director of the factory or Bob Willis would come on to give them an extra momento of their visit. Maybe a year's supply of Quality Street or a signed bat and a set of whites!

Sometimes the Fix-its were plain dull and would be entirely studio based. Most of the time though they were damn good, well if you were 10 years old. Occasionally adults would get to have their wishes fulfilled, although strangely these never involved becoming a porn star or being given a brand new 3 bedroom detached house.

After 20 years or so the format became tired and also harder to follow as the children of Thatcher's Britain grew up to expect more than being able to appear on an episode of "Terry and June".

Some of the Fix-Its remembered from the show over the years are:

• the scout group who ate their lunch on a roller coaster.
• the boy who got to drive in the Lotus from the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me".
• a girl who got to press the button on the demolition box for blowing up a chimney stack.
• the boy who got to guess the football results.
• a girl who got to design her own Christmas wrapping paper and received rolls of it from the factory. Reportedly she's still using it now!
• a boy who got to appear with Colin Baker in a mini Doctor Who episode titled "In A Fix With the Sontarans".
• a girl who designed an outfit for "Barbie" and got to see it produced. Factory-based Fix-Its were always a favourite for the programme.
• an ex-chaffeur had his dream of driving a Rolls-Royce fulfilled. In the meantime, Rolls Royce presented Jimmy with miniature replicas of each of his five RRs! People were so kind to him ...
• two blind children got to meet their pop idols - Showaddywaddy.