The first series of the

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

'' Hi-5'' aired between 12 April 1999 and 11 June 1999 on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

in Australia. The series was produced by Kids Like Us for Nine with

Kris Noble Kris Noble (born 12 October 1952) is an Australian director of Drama and of Nine Films and Television at the Nine Network. Personal life Noble was born in Sydney, Australia. Big Brother Noble served as executive producer for Network 10's ''Big ...

as executive producer.

Production

Creator Helena Harris initially conceived ''Hi-5'' in 1998 along with co-producer

Posie Graeme-Evans Posie Graeme-Evans is an Australian novelist, television and film producer, editor, screenwriter and director. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of ''McLeod's Daughters'', the co-creator and co-producer of '' Hi-5'', producing and c ...

, developing the series as entertainment for preschoolers. During her time living in England, Harris realised that children are the same around the world, and was inspired to create a children's series which would appeal globally. Note: Article is published across two pages. The creators believed that pre-schoolers were rapidly maturing beyond programs such as ''

Here's Humphrey ''Here's Humphrey'' was an Australian children's television series produced by Banksia Productions for the Nine Network, which first aired on 24 May 1965 and last went to air in 2009. It features an anthropomorphic brown bear character (a per ...

'', and discovered that most children learned from shows which incorporated movement and song. * Note: some information is available at the front section of the thesis. They saw the need for television which was "life affirming", and believed that a child's imagination could be activated by television of good quality. The name of the series was derived from the

high five High five is a friendly gesture in which one individual slaps another's hand. High five (and variants such as Hi5, Hi-5, and Hi-Five) may also refer to: Music * Hi-5 (Australian group), an Australian children's musical group * Hi-5 (Greek band), ...

gesture. Harris and Graeme-Evans pitched ''Hi-5'' to the

through Kids Like Us, their joint independent production company. After auditions for the cast were held in June 1998, a pilot was produced, and shown to a test audience. No changes to the format were made after this test. The original cast consisted of

Kellie Crawford Kellie Lynn Crawford, née Hoggart (born 1 May 1974), is an Australian singer, actress and children's performer. Crawford was an original member of the Australian children's musical group Hi-5 (Australian band), Hi-5 from 1998 to 2008 and was ...

(née Hoggart),

Kathleen de Leon Jones Kathleen de Leon Jones (born Kathleen de León on 1 September 1977) is a Filipina-born Australian actress, dancer, and singer. She was an original cast member of the ARIA Award winning Australian children's musical group Hi-5. She left Hi-5 ...

, Nathan Foley, Tim Harding and

Charli Robinson Sharlene Marie Zeta Robinson (born 8 March 1981), known professionally as Charli Robinson previously as Charli Delaney, is an Australian television and radio presenter, most famously known as an original member of children's musical group Hi-5 ...

, who were aged between 19 and 25 at the time of the series' airing. After being commissioned, the first full series began production in October, and went to air on Nine in 1999. The series was produced for US$20,000 to US$30,000 for each episode.

Cast

Presenters

– ''Word Play'' *

– ''Puzzles and Patterns'' * Nathan Foley – ''Shapes in Space'' * Tim Harding – ''Making Music'' *

Production

Cast

Presenters

Episodes

Home video releases

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links