Play School

It's Eleven O'Clock, when the long hand is pointing straight up to the top, and the little hand is pointing to the eleven next to the long hand. The television is tuned into BBC2 one chilly morning in Britain. It's foggy, you can barely see anything outside. The older siblings left for school hours ago, Dad has gone off to work, and Mum is in the kitchen getting your lunch ready. All the better for you as a little toddler to visit your special friends, Humpty, Big Ted, Little Ted, Hamble and Jemima, those naughty stuffed toys that you saw every week, and the playmates that usually lit up cold, dreary mornings.

"Play School" ran from 1964 to 1988, and is still cherished today with most modern programming aimed at young children. Every week from Monday to Friday, children would tune into a colourful studio, where they would meet a random man and woman, who they'd all be with until the next week. The weekly pair would encourage children to bounce around pretending to do certain tasks or be different things, like a greedy pig looking for food, or a bowling skittle tumbling to the ground. A fun story would be told, but not before telling the time on a clock, whether it being "something o'clock" or "half past something", with an item relating to the story on the clock's turntable underneath. And of course, a film would be shown through one of the infamous windows, and when the film ends, the presenters would sing one last song, or make one more item, before greeting the children watching a temporary farewell until either the next day, or when they would appear again.

Such things the weekly pair would do would be make and do things, like making a football net out of lollipop sticks and an empty net of oranges, or a spaceship out of some kitchen foil and an empty bottle of glue or paint. They would sing some catchy original songs, or well known nursery rhymes like, "The Wheels On The Bus" or "This Old Man". But of course, there would be times when little Humpty would feel like falling over, and they would end up singing his infamous rhyme.

Simple concept, but there was always something fresh everyday. The title "Play School", comes from the idea that for every living creature, including young children, "play" is essentially the first form of "school" for them. Children learn from playing and developing their imaginations, seeing things with their own eyes, pretending to be something that they are not. Hence why the weekly presenters would usually bounce around the studio pretending to be kangaroos or grasshoppers, or something else of that nature.

Seeing certain activities and tasks take place is also a way in which children learn. It gives them an idea to what everyday people do, and "Play School" managed to do just that with the use of the arched, round and square windows. For example, the arched window might show a group of firemen putting out a fire, giving children a glimpse to how people like firemen go about doing their job. After the film, one, or both of the presenters would pretend to be a firefighter, giving children the encouragement to play along and pretend to put out a burning fire with them. Giving kids a level of interactivity and encouragement.

All the window films were very different each day. It might be a film about a farmer milking cows or herding the sheep. It might be a film about construction workers and builders digging holes, or it might be a film about how something like a packet of crisps is pieced together in a factory. The films would usually be based around things children might wonder about, almost like a glimpse into the real world for them. Plus, it was always fun for them to guess what window the presenters would choose that day. The arched window being a favourite of my dad's and all of my uncles, who all grew up with the programme in the early 1970s to the early 1980s, before moving onto shows like "Blue Peter" and "Grange Hill".

Another thing that made "Play School" so good was that the presenters were all really lovely people. No matter what random pairing children were with each week, they were always so encouraging and fun. Although some never lasted for too long, some lasted all three decades and even continued working in children's television in the 90s and the 2000s. The first week was hosted by television actress Virginia Stride and the late, great Gordon Rollings, who narrated Ivor Wood's "Herbs" series. Joining them within the following weeks would also become household names amongst parents, children and primary school teachers.

These names consisted of,

Brian Cant

Johnny Ball

Fred Harris

Toni Arthur

Julie Stevens

Floella Benjamin

Chloe Ashcroft

Rick Jones

Diane Dorgan

Stuart McGugan

Derek Griffiths

Carol Chell

Lionel Morton

Marla Landi

Phyllida Law

Eric Thompson

Don Spencer

Terence Holland (or Frisby)

Sarah Long

Valerie Pitts

Carol Leader

Ben Thomas

Sheelagh Gilby

Johnny Silvo

Gordon Clyde

Karen Platt

Carole Ward

Ben Bazell

Miranda Connell

Jon Glover

Carmen Munroe

Marian Diamond

Paul Danquah

Beryl Roques

Jennifer Naden

Stephen Cartwright

John White

and Ann Morish

Quite a lengthy list, yes, but that's not even all of the presenters "Play School" had. There were a total of 104 presenters throughout the programme's 24 year duration, and I just mentioned 40 of them, including Stride, Rollings and all of the ones on the list. Some stayed, some went, some didn't even last a year on the programme, but at one point or another, a good majority of those names would've been buried somewhere in British children's heads in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The presenters were all told to imagine one child alone in a room whenever addressing the audience down the camera lense, which helped to develop a one-to-one relationship with them and the children at home, also helping the presenters become comfortable with addressing the camera as well as young children, creating a sort of aunt and uncle relationship as supposed to parent or teacher relationship most of the time.

"Play School" came to a close in 1988 in Britain, but it's legacy still lives on. In Australia, "Play School" was adapated for the ABC in 1966, and is still running there today. Diane Dorgan and Don Spencer themselves presented the Australian version first before moving to Britain. New Zealand had their own "Play School" series for a little bit, which was based more on the original programme than the Australian version, and Canada had "Polka Dot Door", which retained certain elements from the original UK "Play School". However, the windows were replaced with the colourful polka dots on the titular door.

When the BBC axed "Play School" in 1988, a sequel was quickly put together called "Playbus", with new presenters like Dave Benson Phillips, and new puppet characters replacing the likes of Humpty, Big Ted and Jemima. This programme ran throughout the 80s and the 90s and re-aired on CBEEBIES.

Modern CBEEBIES shows don't tend to strip away from "Play School" either. "Show Me Show Me", which began in 2010 and is presented by Pui Fan Lee and Chris Jarvis, is a more modern, updated version of "Play School". Humpty and friends were replaced with an updated group of toys, and the windows were replaced with a telescope.

"Tikkabilla" was CBEEBIES' first attempt to update "Play School" in the early to mid 2000s. The windows and the clock were used once again, but with rhyming introductions and a new batch of presenters, including Justin Fletcher of "Mr Tumble" fame, Beverly Hills from the BBC's "Storytime" series from the 1990s, and 1980s "Play School" presenter, Simon Davies. The toys were also not present in this version, and were instead replaced by a live puppet, a purple baby dragon called Tamba, who was essentially the the child within the programme, and the figure that the new audience of children could relate to.

With all of these adaptions and remakes, it's quite clear how much of an impact "Play School" has made in the name of children's entertainment. It was very rare in children's programing before "Play School" that adults talked one-on-one with young children, it was mostly puppets like Muffin The Mule and Andy Pandy that became children's television buddies. With "Play School" and it's presenters' interaction with the children at home or at school watching, it helped form educational television to the way it is today. If you ask me, we wouldn't have shows like "Sesame Street" or "Mr Rogers" if it weren't for "Play School". It just shows you how well thought out and revolutionary of a programme it actually is.

So all I ask the BBC is this, release all the remaining tapes of "Play School" on the IPlayer already. I know a good majority of the tapes have been destroyed, but you probably still have enough to release online. You've been releasing other old programmes onto the IPlayer, so it would be really nice for you to do "Play School" as well. It might even give children of this day and age to see what children's television was like when their parents were younger.