For the programme, Southern Television built a giant yellow, peeled banana, which they placed in front of their studios, and which often featured in opening titles and in the background of any item where the cameras were taken outside the building. Around six opening title sequences were pre-recorded, backed by Oddie's theme song, including a one-off Christmas Special sequence. Items featured on the show included a weekly chart rundown, with guest pop groups miming their latest hits, then being interviewed after being forced to slide down half of the main interior set. Children could also write-in with their 'dream activities', which show researchers would attempt to grant. One such feature saw Bill Oddie wrestle a small child in a side-sealed square filled with a foot of mud-coloured 'gunge'. "The Saturday Banana" featured a version of the children's television game show "Runaround", made famous by comedian host Mike Reid but for "The Saturday Banana"'s edition, one of the programme researchers who doubled as a presenter, Bill Gamon, hosted the madcap quiz. On one show, "West Side Story" star George Chakiris, then starring in 'Passion of Dracula' in a London production at the Queen's Theatre, opened the show by being driven, in a horse-drawn hearse, across Northam Bridge (by the studios), bringing startled drivers to a virtual halt. The opening programme featured a steam train on the railway siding that ran through the car park. The locomotive was "Bonnie Prince Charlie" borrowed from the Great Western Society at Didcot.