17-05-2021, 08:41 PM
NorthTonight post_id=13029 time=1621274324 user_id=1660 Wrote:I think the only people who felt really alienated where some of the pre 1983 revamp presenters who were told that they were too old at the time. Having just recently read Paul R Jackson’s excellent two volumes of “ Here’s A House “, it seems that giving the daily preschool slot to an independent company was fulfilling a quota for X amount of hours of children’s production to go outside the BBC. Despite the cancellation being announced in early 1988, it seems when Anna Home took over as controller of Children’s BBC in 1986 the writing was on the wall, which is why from that point there is an increasing number of repeats ( 133 new programmes that year and 127 repeats ). I don’t think Play School was old fashioned - it still runs in Australia and is still well received. A bit like other long running series, it just needed to continue to move with the times. I’m surprised it hasn’t been revived by the BBC.
In the Radio 4 Trumpton Riots episode about the series, Fred Harris and Brian Cant recall being let go because of their age, (I don't think Fred was that old, but I know after the show's cancellation, he along with Carol Leader left the world of children's television for good). Ironically, many of the "old-timers" like Cant and Floella Benjamin were still working in kids telly, LONG after Play School.
https://youtu.be/wqArcUeYC4s
I think the outsourcing to indies came after the Peacock Report 1986 and became even more apparent after the Broadcasting Act 1990, BBC children's programming in the mid-80's I feel was definitely stagnating and Anna Home, (who reviewed the corporation's output after returning from TVS), gave the department a much needed kick up the backside.
I know new episodes of Play School ended on March 11th 1988, after that the series was indefinitely in repeats teriority until Playbus/Playdays arrived on October 17th, (there were a few previews of the new series in the leading weeks up to its launch). To be fair, the BBC did attempt to revive the Play School format with Tikkabilla, (no longer in production) in the early 2000's, what with the windows, stories and games, the CBeebies House and Show Me Show Me seem to be their own spiritual successors, just as CBeebies Bedtime Stories is to Jackanory.
(I don't mean to delve into blog territory, I am trying.)