Play School (Australian TV series)


Play School is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is the longest-running children's show in Australia, and the second-longest-running children's show worldwide after British series Blue Peter.
An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the programme at least once a week. It is screened three times each weekday on ABC Kids, at 9 am, 11:30 am and 3:30 pm and twice daily each weekend at 9 am and 3:30 pm.

History

In 2006, Play School was admitted to the Logies' Hall of Fame. The program celebrated 50 years of broadcasting in 2016. Many of the presenters have remained with the series for a long period, including musician Don Spencer, Benita Collings, John Hamblin, Alister Smart, Noni Hazlehurst, Simon Burke, Karen Pang, Rhys Muldoon and Justine Clarke. While the show is written by preschool education experts, the presenters are all trained actors or musicians who can connect well with the target audience.
Play School premiered on 18 July 1966, and was based on a British programme of the same name. The British version of Play School started in 1964 and ended in 1988, the show's format was sold to Australia. The first episode began transmitting that day, as the programme was originally transmitted live. It has been produced continuously from this time. It has also launched the careers of several Australian actors and television presenters. Diane Dorgan and Don Spencer are the only regular presenters to appear on both the British and Australian versions, although Lorraine Bayly appeared in September 1972 as a guest storyteller on BBC's Play School. It was admitted to the Logies' Hall of Fame on its 40th anniversary in 2006, in recognition of the strong influence the show has had on at least three generations of Australian children. Play School was the third show to enter the 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 presentation of the Logie Awards, 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.
In 2016, Play School celebrated 50 years on the air and had a month of celebrations.
50th Anniversary Play School Celebrity Covers
To mark this special occasion, from 4 July the program presented a series called Play School Celebrity Covers.
DateTimeCelebrityTitle
4 July8 amBenita Collings & Don Spencer"Teddy Bears' Picnic"
5 pmMissy Higgins"Three Little Fishies"-
5 July8 amCarrie BickmoreFamily Forest
5 pmGuy Sebastian"Singing in the Rain"-
6 July8 amDan Sultan"The Wheels on the Bus"
5 pmBernard Fanning"Morningtown Ride"-
7 July8 amDelta Goodrem"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
"Moon, Moon"---
5 pmEmma Watkins"There's a Bear in There"-
8 July8 amJohn Hamblin"I'm a Little Teapot"
5 pmKurt Fearnley & Rachael Coopes"Going on a Bear Hunt"-
9 July8 amAnnabel Crabb and Leigh Sales"Singing in the Kitchen"
5 pmKate Ceberano & daughter Gypsy"I Like Peace, I Like Quiet"-
10 July8 amCosta Georgiadis"Worm at the Bottom of My Garden"
"Wiggly Woo"---
5 pmCaitlin Cooper, Ellie Carpenter and Michelle Heyman"If You're Happy and You Know It"-
11 July8 amDami Im"Over the Rainbow"
5 pmAdam Goodes"Counting Aussie Animals in My Backyard"-
12 July8 amYou Am I"One Potato, Two Potato"
5 pmKatie Noonan"I Can Sing a Rainbow"-
13 July8 amTim Minchin"The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek"
5 pmBenita Collings & Don Spencer"Little Peter Rabbit"-
14 July8 amMagda Szubanski"Old Mother Hubbard"
5 pmTim Omaji"Rhythm"-
15 July8 amMolly Meldrum & Charlie Pickering"Nursery Rhyme News"
5 pmJosh Thomas"On the Ning Nang Nong"-
16 July8 amLee Lin Chin & Takaya Honda"The Emperor's New Clothes"
5 pmArchitecture in Helsinki"Big Bass Drum"-
17 July8 amJeremy Fernandez"Five Cheeky Monkeys"
5 pmKate Miller-Heidke"The Owl and the Pussycat"-
18 July8 amThe Umbilical Brothers"Fairytale Mash-up"
5 pmJohn Hamblin"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"-
19 July8 amHamish & Andy"There's a Hole in My Bucket"

On 18 July at 6:30 pm ABC also broadcast a special 50th Anniversary Play School Celebrity Covers Special that featured Hamish & Andy singing "There's a Hole in My Bucket"; John Hamblin, "I'm a Little Teapot"; Dan Sultan, "The Wheels on the Bus"; Molly Meldrum and Charlie Pickering, "Nursery Rhyme News"; Delta Goodrem, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" & "Moon Moon"; Benita Collings & Don Spencer, "Teddy Bears Picnic"; Josh Thomas, "Ning Nang Nong"; Annabell Crabb and Leigh Sales, "Singing in the Kitchen"; Guy Sebastian, "Singing in the Rain"; Magda Szubanski, "Old Mother Hubbard"; and You Am I, "One Potato, Two Potato".
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 highlight the importance of caring for Country together. A new doll "Kiya" was introduced to the program. The Yidaki was played by Matthew Doyle.
There was also some spin-offs which shows the toys going on big adventures with one of the presenters along with Story Time, Art Time and Nursery Rhyme News Time.

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. Until 2000, 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 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 to 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.
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 programme 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 massive revamp, with the rocket and flower clocks and the three windows put in storage in favour of a newer-style Play School. 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 to slide down a slippery dip. That was soon replaced by the Hickory Dickory Clock which featured clockwork resembling the "Hickory Dickory" nursery rhyme. That was soon replaced by the Train Clock which resembles a train station with a clock above it. The windows were also heavily changed. They were now built into a massive 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. The order in which they appear is Square~Diamond~Round~Arched~Square. 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 and Humpty stands next to the arched window and the window chosen goes through to pre-recorded footage.

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 the late Warren Carr, who served as musical director for over 20 years. The pianists who have worked on Play School over the years are:
The Play School theme song, "There's a Bear in There", was composed by Australian composer Richard Connolly, with lyrics by Rosemary Milne.
"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."
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

Music has always been a central component of Play School, with episodes regularly featuring performances of nursery rhymes and classic children's songs. Since 1976, many Play School albums have been released.

Awards and nominations

AACTA Awards

TV Week Logie Awards

ARIA Music Awards

AIMIA Awards

Toys

From the inception of the programme, 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 School's 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.

Controversy

On 31 May 2004, during a 'through the window' segment narrated by Brenna Harding, includes 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, 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.
A 2013 segment 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 in 2015, when the segment was replayed.

Logo history

Play School has had a number of openers and logos throughout its long history. Originating as simple animations with vocals from select presenters, the logos and their respective openers have evolved over the many years of the series. The most recent logo, introduced in 2011, features an opener made entirely of stop-motion animation with vocals by presenters Justine Clarke and Jay Laga'aia.

Presenters

PresenterDuration
Jolene Anderson2010–present
Matthew Backer2018–present
Kaeng Chan2018–present
Justine Clarke1999–present
Rachael Coopes2011–present
Michelle Lim Davidson2013–present
Teo Gebert2003–present
Sofya Gollan1991–present
Takaya Honda2015–present
Jay Laga'aia2000–present
Andrew McFarlane2000–present
Rhys Muldoon1999–present
Zindzi Okenyo2013–present
Hunter Page-Lochard2018–present
Emma Palmer2011–present
Karen Pang1998–present
Alex Papps2005–present
Jonny Pasvolsky2011–present
Eddie Perfect2015–present
Kiruna Stamell2018–present
Miranda Tapsell2016–present
Abi Tucker2009–present

Former presenters