Play School (Australian TV series)
Play School is an Australian preschool learning program, which has been produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 1966. Its presenters include a mix of former school teachers as well as well-known stage and screen actors and musicians. The program has also helped launch the careers of numerous Australian actors and television presenters.
The toy family, which has changed over the decades, includes Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima, Humpty, Henny Penny, Daisy the cow, Korean twins Kim & Lisa, Banana, Kiya from Noongar country, Diddle the cat, Scrap the dog and more.
In 2003, it was estimated that 80% of Australian pre-school children under six watched the program at least once a week. In 2015, more than 10 million preschoolers tuned in to watch Play School on ABC iview. The program’s two apps had over 90 million sessions and 550 million screen views. Although audience reach is one indicator of success, the program’s primary aim since its earliest episodes has been to connect with children in ways that resonate with their everyday experiences.
It is the longest-running children's show in Australia and the second-longest-running children's show worldwide after British series Blue Peter which has broadcast since October 1958
History
Play School premiered on 18 July 1966 at 10.05am in NSW and Victoria only, but soon was broadcast around the country. The first episode was originally transmitted live and the first presenters on air were Diane Dorgan and Alister Smart.In December that same year, Play School began afternoon transmissions as well as mornings, a practice that continues to this day. For the first decade, Play School was broadcast in black and white with the first colour episode broadcasting on June 28, 1976.
The show is based on the original British version created by Joy Whitby, which started in 1964 and ended in 1988. The show's format was sold to the ABC early in the BBC version's run.
Play School was the third show to enter the Logies' Hall of Fame in its own right, after Four Corners and Neighbours. It was also the first children's show inducted into the hall of fame. During the Logie Awards of 2006, a package showing memorable scenes from the show throughout its history was shown, before notable presenters came onto the stage with some of the favourite toys from the show. After these presenters accepted the award, the audience then joined them for a stirring rendition of the Play School theme.
In 1992, a through-the-windows segment featured an early performance by the Australian children's musical group the Wiggles performing the songs "Get Ready to Wiggle" and "Rock-a-Bye Your Bear" at a day care centre.
On Monday 4 July 2011, Play School updated its opening titles using a combination of stop motion and computer animation with a new arrangement of the theme song sung by presenters Jay Laga'aia and Justine Clarke.
The Play School team make nine series each year, which includes 45-50 episodes. Each series takes around 17 weeks to make.
21st anniversary
In 1987 Play School had a mild makeover for its 21st anniversary on air; there was a mild cosmetic revamp to the set, with a new set of opening and closing titles with a new version of the theme song sung by presenters, Philip Quast and Jennifer Ludlam.The windows also changed to look like the ones used on the British version of the show, but this change was not well received and the windows reverted to their old style by 1988, which remained until the major 2000 revamp.
40th anniversary
In 2006, after four decades since the first episode was recorded, 1,781 episodes of Play School had been made and over one million children were viewing the show each week. To commemorate the birthday, there was a free Play School concert on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait.Play School was admitted to the Logie Hall of Fame in 2006, the program's 40th anniversary year. It is one of only five Australian television programs to be inducted.
50th anniversary
In 2016, Play School celebrated 50 years on the air and had a month of celebrations. By the time of the anniversary, 2,250 episodes had been made and there were 1,821 songs in the Play School inventory. To mark its 50th anniversary, from 4 July the program presented a series of cover songs called Play School Celebrity Covers.Spin-offs & Strands
There have also been various spin-offs from Play School which have been played on ABC Kids, typically much shorter in duration. These include Little Ted's Big Adventure, Jemima's Big Adventure, Big Ted's Big Adventure, Humpty's Big Adventure, Maurice's Big Adventure, Joey's Big Adventure, Play School Story Time, Play School Art Time, Play School Nursery Rhyme News Time, Play School Art Crew, Play School Song Time, Play School Science Time, Play School Show Time, Play School Story Time: Languages, Play School What's Cooking, Play School When I Grow Up, Play School Down At The Beach, Play School World By Night, Play School Dinosaur Roar, Play School Interesting Insects, and Play School Playtime With Pets.Format
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.From 1976 to 2000, they had a clock shaped like a rocket, and from 1966 to 2000, a clock shaped like a flower. The rocket clock was a popular addition to Play School in 1976 with its distinctive space and band music and the lights under the clock with colourful stars covered flashing and rotation to see what's behind the clock and reveal the diorama of the day. The coloured timbered Flower Clock appeared in 1975 with its two flower shapes and the pot under the clock going round and round. It was more vibrant than the original Perspex model and it was introduced along with the other changes to the Play School set to make most of the colour television which arrived in Australia the previous year.
The windows looked almost exactly like their British counterparts with a few slight differences. They changed the background behind the windows from black to white at the end of 1967 and they then changed it to light blue in 1985.
In 1992 there was a set revamp with new shelving and coloured tree shapes in the background; this change was done about midway through the 1992 production season, with earlier 1992 episodes retaining the older 1980s set.
Every week there is a common theme running through the program that the actors reflect upon during the episode; themes include Dinosaurs, Opposites, Zoo Animals, Food, Clothes, Games, Art, Hair, Hats, Shapes, Road Safety and vehicles. Each theme were repeated twice a year on average for a period of six to seven years, before it was recycled and reused in new episodes. As funding was limited, only 45 new episodes were made each year, which means that nine weekly blocks shown each year were new episodes, the rest repeats.
In 2000, the show had a considerable revamp, with the rocket and flower clocks and the three windows put in storage in favour of a newer-style Play School. The clocks and windows were subsequently sent to the National Museum of Australia. The main clock was now simply called the Play School Clock, which was controlled by one of the presenters standing at the top of the clock and turning a winding device, which caused the clue to the story on the trolley to slide down a slippery dip from 2000 to 2003, some episodes include the toys inside the trolley along with a book.
Then came the Hickory Dickory Clock which made its debut in 2001 featured clockwork resembling the "Hickory Dickory" nursery rhyme with a cat and the mouse running around the clock and then the mouse re-appearances as the little red doors under the clock opens. The train clock made its debut appearance in 2005 which resembles a train station with a clock above it and the train comes out of the tunnel and pulls up at the station with a clue to the story on the back of the train.
In 2017, the rocket clock made a comeback, featuring sliding doors with a clue to the story. The windows were also heavily changed. They were now built into a large rotating prop which was built underneath the clock and 'controlled' by one of the presenters pulling a lever back and forwards. The windows would spin around and would slowly be eliminated as the window they would look through until they got to the fourth window and the camera would slowly zoom in and fade out into the fill. That was soon replaced by windows with animation where Jemima stands next to the round window; Little Ted stands next to the square window, Big Ted stands next to the diamond window, Humpty stands next to the arched window, and the window chosen goes through to pre-recorded footage. That was replaced by CGI craft-like animation where each window shakes with assorted theme tunes for the windows.
Music
Pianists
The program has historically had a musical director, who served as a pianist who played live music to accompany the presenters on each episode. Occasionally the pianist would make an on-camera appearance, one of the more well known being Warren Carr who served as musical director for over 20 years.The pianists who have worked on Play School are:
Theme song
The Play School theme song, "There's a Bear in There", was composed by Australian composer Richard Connolly, with lyrics by Rosemary Milne.In 2016, the song was remixed by Andre Butterworth aka Copycatt as the winner of the Triple J Play School remix competition which, along with two other remixes by KLP and Jondrette Den respectively, appeared on the Play School album Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School.
In 2017, "There's a Bear in There" was inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry.
Albums
- Hey Diddle Diddle
- Hickory Dickory
- Humpty Dumpty
- Wiggerly Woo
- There's a Bear in There
- ...It's Play School
- The Best of Play School
- Oomba Baroomba
- Play School Favourites
- In The Car
- Hullabaloo
- Favourite Play School Nursery Rhymes
- Hip Hip Hooray
- Sing-a-Long Songs
- Let's Play Together
- Come and Play 45th Anniversary
- Big Ted, Prince of Bears
- Favourite Things Songs and Nursery Rhymes from Play School
- Play School: Jemima's Big Adventure
- Once Upon a Time
- Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School
- Play School: 50 Best Songs
- ''Very Jazzy Street Party''
Awards and nominations
AIR Awards
The Australian Independent Record Awards is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.!
Toys
- Big Ted
- Little Ted
- Hamble
- Jemima
- Humpty
- Slush
- Maurice
- Meeka
- Dan
- Jim
- Scrap
- Diddle
- Fergus
- Sam the Lamb
- Banana
- Daisy
- Henny Penny
- Goosy Lucy
- Kim
- Lisa
- Darcy
- Henry and Henrietta
- Troy And Tony
- Owl
- Tippy
- Mukundan Jr
- Fido
- Joey Designed by award-winning children's book illustrator Bruce Whatley and introduced in the 50th anniversary edition 'Come to the Party' tx 18 July 2016 by presenter Miranda Tapsell.
- Kiya in an Acknowledgement of Country special for NAIDOC Week 2019
Teachings
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 actors, because they feel they are becoming part of a generation of children's lives and providing a foundation for learning things that will last for life.Play Schools stated philosophy is to encourage a child "to wonder, to think, to feel and to imagine". The duo of presenters 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. Into this relationship are woven the stories, songs and activities that form the fabric of Australian children's culture.
Controversies
"Two mums"
On 31 May 2004, a "through the windows" segment narrated by Brenna Harding featured the sentence "My Mums are taking me and my friend Merryn to an amusement park". The clip was raised as controversial by sections of the media, and three federal ministers expressed dislike over the screening of the clip. The ABC responded, however, by 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 said the segment showed the girl being accompanied by her birth mother and her step mother and they believed most people would automatically assume the same. What was shown was taken by the public to be two lesbians taking their child and her friend to an amusement park.Constructing a "bong"
A 2013 episode showed Alex Papps constructing some kind of contraption which involved a straw inserted through the side of a plastic bottle, which was then filled with hot water, accidentally resembling a bong. This controversy arose again when the episode was replayed in 2015."Grooming" accusation
In October 2022, Courtney Act appeared on an episode of spin-off Play School Story Time, where she read The Spectacular Suit by Kat Patrick. Her appearance generated considerable media attention when Senator Alex Antic took issue with the ABC inviting a drag queen to read a book to children about a girl who favoured wearing pants instead of a dress, which he described in a Senate Estimates hearing as "grooming". Questioning ABC managing director David Anderson, Antic asked why the ABC was "grooming Australian children with this sort of adult content" and asking Anderson whether such content was contributing to a "gender dysphoria problem". Anderson denied this, while Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young accused Antic of using "deeply offensive" language. Act defended her appearance on Play School Story Time in an opinion piece she wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald and during an appearance on ''The Project.''Presenters
Australian musician Don Spencer is a noted presence on the program, having not only been a presenter for some 28 years but also releasing several related tie-in records. He also appeared with Diana Dorgan, the only presenter to appear on both the Australian and British versions.Play School has had many presenters, however several remained with the series for a long period. Australian actress Benita Collings and British-Australian actor John Hamblin are the longest-serving.
The program's long-term hosts have also included: Sofya Gollan, Simon Burke, Karen Pang, Andrew McFarlane, Justine Clarke and Noni Hazlehurst.
On 8 July 2019, Aboriginal presenters Luke Carroll, Miranda Tapsell and Hunter Page-Lochard hosted a special episode featuring an Acknowledgement of Country celebrating Australia's first people, sharing knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and highlighting the importance of caring for Country together. A new doll, "Kiya", was introduced to the program. Matthew Doyle played a didgeridoo.
While the show is written by preschool education experts, the presenters are all well-known actors or musicians who can connect well with the target audience.
Current presenters
| Presenter | Tenure | |
| Karen Pang | 1999–present | |
| Andrew McFarlane | 2000–present | |
| Justine Clarke | 2000–present | |
| Leah Vandenberg | 2000–present | |
| Teo Gebert | 2004–present | |
| Alex Papps | 2006–present | |
| Abi Tucker | 2009–present | |
| Luke Carroll | 2010–present | |
| Emma Palmer | 2011–present | |
| Rachael Coopes | 2011–present | |
| Michelle Lim Davidson | 2013–present | |
| Zindzi Okenyo | 2013–present | |
| Matthew Backer | 2017–present | |
| Hunter Page-Lochard | 2018–present | |
| Kaeng Chan | 2018–present | |
| Miah Madden | 2022–present |
List of former presenters
The cast of numerous presenters, has featured the who's who of actors of stage and screen and musicians.| Presenter | Tenure |
| Kiruna Stamell | 2018–2020 |
| Miranda Tapsell | 2016–2019 |
| Eddie Perfect | 2015–2024 |
| Takaya Honda | 2015–2023 |
| Essie Davis | 2009–2011 |
| Hugh Sheridan | 2009–2013 |
| Georgie Parker | 2006–2012 |
| Brooke Satchwell | 2006–2009 |
| Matt Passmore | 2002–2011 |
| Ling-Hsueh Tang | 2002 |
| David Whitney | 2001 |
| Dasi Ruz | 2000 |
| Rhys Muldoon | 2000–2012 |
| Jay Laga'aia | 2000–2014 |
| Mark Owen-Taylor | 2000 |
| Deborah Mailman | 1998–2002 |
| Glenn Butcher | 1997–2000 |
| Jamie Oxenbould | 1997 |
| Joy Hopwood | 1995–1997 |
| Georgie Goldstein | 1995–1996 |
| David James | 1994–2000 |
| Angela Moore | 1994–2000 |
| Nicholas Opolski | 1993–1994 |
| Jeremy Scrivener | 1993–1994 |
| Colin Buchanan | 1992–1999, 2025 |
| Carlton Lamb | 1992–1993 |
| Sofya Gollan | 1992–2020 |
| David McCubbin | 1991–1995 |
| Sarah Chadwick | 1991 |
| Pauline McLeod | 1990–2003 |
| Monica Trapaga | 1990–1998 |
| Tara Morice | 1989, 1993 |
| James Valentine | 1989, 1992 |
| Simon Burke | 1988–2007, 2013–2020 |
| Liz Burch | 1988 |
| Trisha Goddard | 1987–1998 |
| Anna Maria Monticelli | 1987 |
| George Spartels | 1986–1999 |
| Merridy Eastman | 1985–1989 |
| Liddy Clark | 1984 |
| Tyler Coppin | 1982 |
| Philip Quast | 1981–1996 |
| Lynette Curran | 1981 |
| Elaine Hudson | 1981 |
| Barbara Frawley | 1980–1992 |
| Jennifer Ludlam | 1983–1986 |
| Mervyn Drake | 1980s |
| Colin Friels | 1980 |
| Noni Hazlehurst | 1978–2001 |
| Judy Cannon | 1978 |
| Roslyn Gentle | 1977 |
| Mary Ann Severne | 1975 |
| Peter Sumner | 1974 |
| John Waters | 1972–1990 |
| John Hamblin | 1970–1996 |
| Richard Bradshaw | 1970s–1996 |
| Benita Collings | 1969–1999 |
| Jan Kingsbury | 1969–1986 |
| Ken Shorter | 1969 |
| Don Spencer | 1968–1999 |
| Darlene Johnson | 1968 |
| Tom Oliver | 1967 |
| Nehama Patkin | 1966 |
| Lorraine Bayly | 1966–1978 |
| Kerry Francis | 1966–1969 |
| Anne Haddy | 1966–1969 |
| Donald Macdonald | 1966–1969 |
| Peter Drake | 1966 |
| Evan Dunstan | 1966 |
| Patsy King | 1966 |
| Ann Stroh | 1966 |
| David Yorston | 1966 |
| Alister Smart | 1966–1993 |
| Diane Dorgan | 1966 |