''Let's Pretend'' was a 1980s

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 ...

aimed at

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school ...

aged children in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It was shown across the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network at 12:10 on Tuesdays, then later on Mondays, replacing the popular ''

Pipkins ''Pipkins'' (originally ''Inigo Pipkin'') is a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov, Octavia and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981. ''Pipkins'' was one of th ...

'' which had been cancelled at the end of 1981. Like its predecessor, each edition was fifteen minutes long, and the programme was produced using many of the same personnel, such as the

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

Nigel Plaskitt Nigel Plaskitt (born 27 July 1950) is an English actor, puppeteer, producer, and stage and television director. Career His voice and puppetry talents have appeared on television shows such as ''Pipkins'' (for which he provided the narration, a ...

and the producer Michael Jeans. Each week the presenters would find a number of ordinary household items and contrive to produce a short story featuring them all. The first programme, "The Story Of The Broken Puppet", was shown on Tuesday 5 January 1982 by Central Television. The show was broadcast weekly until 1988. The show's original opening titles showed items moving along a conveyor belt into the mouth of a large plastic whale, and later a

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

moving along the screen. The actual story began with the rising of a curtain with the same puppet caterpillar on accompanied to the same bars of the song ''

On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at" (Standard English: ''On Ilkley Moor without a hat'') is a folk song from Yorkshire, England. It is sung in the Yorkshire dialect, and is considered the unofficial anthem of Yorkshire. According to Andrew Gant, the words ...

'' that were used as the pre-programme ident of

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

Transmission guide

Series 1 (1982)

#The Story of the Broken Puppet – 5 January 1982 #The Story of the Leaping Frog – 12 January 1982 #The Story of the Dancing Elephant – 19 January 1982 #The Hungry Pillar Box – 26 January 1982 #The Garden Bench – 2 February 1982 #The Shoe That Wanted to Go Its Own Way – 9 February 1982 #The Whistling Kettle – 16 February 1982 #The Teapot That Lost Its Lid – 23 February 1982 #The Zoo Keeper and the Giraffe – 2 March 1982 #The Story of the Cleaner and the Cook – 9 March 1982 #The Story of the Rabbit and the Mole – 16 March 1982 #The Tale of Two Bears – 23 March 1982 #The Story of How the Bus Got up the Hill – 30 March 1982 #The Story of the Sleepless Owl – 6 April 1982 #The Story of the King Who Loved Bananas – 13 April 1982 #The Umbrella That Didn't Like Rain – 20 April 1982 #The Cheesemaker and the Mouse – 27 April 1982 #The Story of the Giant's Boots – 4 May 1982

Series 2 (1982-1983)

#The King Who Liked Music – 24 August 1982 #The Snowman – 31 August 1982 #The Jack Who Wouldn't Come Out of His Box – 7 September 1982 #The Cat That Liked Mice – 14 September 1982 #The Sailors Who Lost Their Sail – 21 September 1982 #The Piggy Bank – 28 September 1982 #The Goldfish Who Swam Away from His Bowl – 5 October 1982 #The Clock That Forgot to Tock – 12 October 1982 #The Hole – 19 October 1982 #The Soldier and the Crown – 26 October 1982 # – 2 November 1982 #The Greedy Crocodile – 9 November 1982 #The Boat That Had No Paddle – 16 November 1982 #The Witch and the Sweeper – 23 November 1982 #The Old Man and the Duck – 30 November 1982 #The Fork Lift Truck – 7 December 1982 #The Man Who Wanted His Milk – 14 December 1982 #The Cow That Wanted to Jump Over the Moon – 21 December 1982 #Worn Out Teddy – 28 December 1982 #The Smallest Circus in the World – 10 January 1983 #The Little Cloud That Cried – 17 January 1983 #The Stripy Deckchair – 24 January 1983 #Baby Hedgehog's Discovery – 31 January 1983 #The Two Parrots – 7 February 1983 #The Balloon That Lost Its Puff – 14 February 1983 #Colin the Court Jester – 21 February 1983 #The Caterpillar and the Butterfly – 28 February 1983 #The Sad Banana – 7 March 1983 #Henrietta's Tea Party – 14 March 1983 #The Band Got Smaller and Smaller – 21 March 1983 #The Rag Doll and the King – 28 March 1983 #The Scarecrow That Wanted to Look Smart – 11 April 1983 #The Hopping Kangaroo – 18 April 1983 #Tom Thumb and the Race – 25 April 1983 #The Dancing Dragon – 9 May 1983

Series 3 (1983-1984)

#The Hippo, the Peacock and the Giraffe – 26 September 1983 #The Travelling Musician and the Missing Notes – 3 October 1983 #The Cat Who Wanted to Be a Lion – 10 October 1983 #The Oil Can – 17 October 1983 #The Roundabout Ostrich – 24 October 1983 #The Witch and Lazy Jack – 31 October 1983 #The Camel Who Got the Hump – 7 November 1983 #The Queen and the Tailor – 14 November 1983 #The Penguin and the Pig – 21 November 1983 #The Wind Finds Some Friends – 28 November 1983 #The Cock Who Crowed Too Much – 5 December 1983 #Granny in Space – 12 December 1983 #The Reindeer and the Rhinoceros – 19 December 1983 #The Naughty Reflection – 9 January 1984 #The Octopus Came Out of the Sea – 16 January 1984 #The Neglected Piano – 23 January 1984 #The Moving Bus Stop – 30 January 1984 #The Dirty Clean... Dirty Clean Sweep – 6 February 1984 #The Unneighbourly Neighbour – 13 February 1984 #The Sandwich Which Had a Quarrel – 20 February 1984 #The Messy Man – 27 February 1984 #The Adventures of a Jelly – 5 March 1984 #Bath Toys – 11 March 1984 # – 19 March 1984 #The Road Roller – 26 March 1984 #The Runaway Shoe – 2 April 1984 #The Invisible Friend – 9 April 1984 #The King Who Loved Sausages – 16 April 1984 #The Bee and the Bear – 30 April 1984 #The Television Set – 14 May 1984 #The Empty Eggcup – 21 May 1984 #The Sun Who Forgot to Set – 4 June 1984 #The Lion and the Leopard – 11 June 1984 #The Seaside Special – 18 June 1984 #What Father Christmas Does in the Summer – 25 June 1984 1980s British children's television series 1982 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings British preschool education television series British television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows Television shows produced by Central Independent Television ITV children's television shows Television series by ITV Studios {{UK-kids-tv-prog-stub