Play School
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
Play School is an educational television programme for pre-school aged children.
Contents |
United Kingdom
The original manifestation of Play School was a long-running British series. It was produced by the BBC and ran from 21 April 1964 until 11 March 1988. It accidentally became the first ever programme to be shown on the fledgling BBC2 after a power cut halted the opening night programming. Play School originally appeared on weekdays at 11am on BBC2 and later acquired a mid-afternoon BBC1 repeat.
Presenters
Presenters throughout the 24-year run included Brian Cant, Carol Chell, Chloe Ashcroft, Derek Griffiths, Eric Thompson, Floella Benjamin, Fred Harris, Carmen Munroe, Johnny Ball, Simon Davies, Julie Stevens, Toni Arthur and Stuart Bradley.
Toys
The presenters were accompanied by a supporting cast of cuddly toys and dolls. The five regulars included:
- Big Ted and Little Ted, teddy bears.
- Humpty Dumpty, a soft toy version of the nursery rhyme egg, usually referred to as just 'Humpty'.
- Jemima, a ragdoll with long red and white striped legs.
- Hamble, a rather dirty and ordinary plastic doll.
- Poppy, a black doll who replaced Hamble in the later years of the series in response to changing attitudes in society. (The Hamble doll was also getting rather fragile at this point.)
A rocking horse named Dapple was also seen in some episodes, when a particular song or item suggested it.
Pets
Contents of the show
The high point of each episode was the video excursion into the outside world taken through one of three windows: the young viewers were invited to guess whether the round, square, or arched window would be chosen that day. A triangular window was added in 1983. Very often the film would be of a factory producing something such as buttons.
The three window option lives on in the children's programme Tikkabilla, which borrows much from Play School, while a similar choice of portal into a film clip was provided by the abdomen-mounted video displays in the children's show "Teletubbies".
There would also be songs and stories.
From 1971 to 1984, Play School also had a sister programme, called Playaway.
Australia
An Australian version, also called Play School, is still being produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for Australian and international distribution. It is notable because it is the longest-running program on Australian television, and second only to the American educational program Sesame Street in terms of influence on Australian children. The first episodes aired in 1966. Two episodes screen every day, at 9am and 3pm.
The format of the show is activities, songs and games with either host passing back to each other at the end of their segment, and frequently joining each other in activities. Each day the presenters look at the calendar to find out which day of the week it is, read a story, and look through the windows. Every week there is a common theme running through the program that the actors will reflect upon during the episode.
From the inception of the program, the producers of Play School have made efforts to promote equality, playful education, and a love of learning in its audience. Working on Play School has come to be considered an unusually demanding and important job for some talented actors, because they feel they are becoming part of a generation of children's lives and providing a foundation for learning that will last for life.
Long-running Play School presenters have included:
- Noni Hazlehurst
- Benita Collings
- Alister Smart
- Don Spencer (who also appeared in the UK Play School)
- John Hamblin
- Janet Kingsbury (as Jan)
- Alister Smart
- George Spartels
- Monica Trapaga
Other notable presenters have included:
- Trisha Goddard
- Jay Laga'aia
- Deborah Mailman
- Philip Quast
- Rhys Muldoon
- John Waters
- Christine Anu
- Ruth Cracknell
Play School's stated philosophy is to encourage a child 'to wonder, to think, to feel and to imagine'. The two presenters (always a male/female pairing) address the child directly and personally, so that every child watching the show feels that they are spending time with two people they know and can trust. From the Play School website: [1]
- Into this relationship are woven the stories, songs and activities that form the fabric of Australian children's culture. Play School is successful because it satisfies our basic human need to interact with other people and to be valued by them.
Pets
- Bit and Bot - Fish
- Henry and Henrietta - Mice
- Jack and Jill - Guinea Pigs
- Peppino and Peppina - Budgerigars
Controversy faced by the show
On the 31 May 2004 a segment was shown showing what was taken by the public to be two homosexual women taking their children to an amusement park. A little girl narrated the clip, stating "My Mums are taking me and my friend Meryn to an amusement park." The clip was raised as controversial by the media, and three federal ministers expressed dislike over the screening of the clip. The ABC responded however, saying that "Play School aims to reflect the diversity of Australian children, embracing all manner of race, religions and family situations." The producers of the segment also claimed that they scripted the work with the girl being accompanied by her birth mother and her step mother (hence "two mums"), they believed most people would automatically assume the same.
Canada
The Canadian show The Polka Dot Door is an adaptation of the Play School format.
New Zealand
The NZ version was based on the BBC show of the same name. It started filming in Dunedin in 1975 and was hosted there for nearly 15 years. Playschool always included the Maori language in counting and singing activities.
"...a programme for New Zealand children, and the thing that we really wanted to show was that adults could work very well together and that toys could also be your best friends," says Playschool producer Lorraine Isaacs.
Quotes
- Here is a house, here is a door, windows -- one, two, three, four. Ready to knock? Turn the lock. It's Play School. --Opening voiceover of the BBC version.
- A House, with a door, windows -- one, two, three, four. Ready to play? What's the day? It's (insert name of day) --later version of the opening voiceover of the BBC version.
- Get ready, to play! It's (insert name of day)! --1983 version of the opening voiceover of the BBC version.
- Five currant buns in a baker's shop,/ Big and round with a cherry on top./ Along came [Hamble/Jemima/Big Ted/Little Ted/Humpty] with a penny one day;/ Bought a currant bun and took it away! -- A recurrent counting song on the BBC version.
- There's a bear in there, and a chair as well. There are people with games, and stories to tell. Open wide, come inside -- it's Play School. --Opening jingle of the ABC version.
See also
- List of UK television series
- List of Australian television series
- List of Canadian television series