Play School
Here is a house, here is a door,
Windows - one, two, three four.
Ready to knock? Turn the lock. It's Play School.
 In
1964 there had never been a TV show before where adults spoke to
an audience of children. Play School was first shown on the
second day of transmission of BBC2 - Tuesday April 21st 1964, at
11:00am.
Due to a power problem on the official night of the BBC2
launch, however, Playschool actually became the first
proper program broadcast on the new channel.
A mixture of songs and stories which entertained and educated
the under five's for 24 years, it made household names of many of
its presenters including Johnny Ball, Floella Benjamin, Derek
Griffiths and the unforgettable Brian Cant.
 The presenters came from mixed backgrounds (teaching, acting)
and inhibitions, embarrassment had to be left at the studio door,
along with just about everything learnt at drama school.
After
you've been pretending to be a frog in front of a camera crew, you
definitely aren't going to have any inhibitions.
"Hello! I'm painting by blowing. It's so good because
it doesn't get your fingers dirty. Remember to blow down your
straw, not suck. Otherwise you get a mouthful of paint."
But perhaps even more famous than the long list of presenters
were the Play School toys, Big Ted and Little Ted, A misshapen
floppy egg called Humpty, Jemima and ugly old Hambel (replaced in
the 80s by a black doll called Poppy).
Each day had a particular theme. Monday was Useful Box Day,
Tuesday was Dressing Up Day, Wednesday was Pets Day, Thursday was
Ideas Day and Friday was Science Day.
And every afternoon you'd get a camera shot of the clock and a
pause before Brian Cant or whoever would tell you what the time
was (so you could guess first), the camera would then draw back to
reveal a turntable with a little model on it which would introduce
the story.
 The other staple segment was the visit through one of the
windows to see a short film of men digging a road, or a family of
ducks in a village pond or a trip round a factory to show how
footballs are made.
The round window certainly got more of a workout than the
arched window or the square window but they were all accompanied
by that pleasing big swoosh of harp music.
TRIVIA NOTES
The original Big Ted was stolen and none of the cast of Play
School liked Hambel (and called her the "tart with a
heart").
In the Canadian Play School, which is called Polka
Dot Door, there are two Humpty Dumpty's (Humpty and Dumpty)
and only ONE Teddy! It's like an alternate universe - And they
don't have three windows, just one Polka dot door.
An Australian version of Play School has run continuously
since 1966, making it the second longest running children's
program in the world. Throughout its long run the show has
introduced many of the country's most notable performers.
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