''Play School'' was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

educational

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

for children. It was based on the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

'' Play School'' show. The series first aired in 1972, and ended in 1990.

Synopsis

''Play School'' was first broadcast in New Zealand on Tuesday 22 March 1972 for a 26-week trial period, with a group of six hosts chosen, one pair for each week. Series one and two continued to be broadcast twice weekly, Tuesday and Thursday at approx. 4.30pm. Its first producer was David Istance, an ex-BBC TV Floor Manager, who had worked on Play School, as well as comedies Gas and Gaiters and Hugh and I during the 1960s. He later returned to the UK and worked as a Production Assistant on Juliet Bravo (1980) and then as a Production Manager on Bergerac, Juliet Bravo, All Creatures Great and Small (1983), Malestrom and Tenko Reunion (1985) and in the mid-80s worked at BBC TV Training at Elstree Studios. It was originally filmed at AKTV2's Shortland Street studios in Auckland, and in January 1975 moved to TVNZ's Dunedin Studio being screened twice a day at around 10am and then 2:30pm. For a brief period in 1986, the programme was filmed in Christchurch. The final edition, recorded in March 1989 was number 440, presented by Pauline Durning and John Mann. The last series screened on television in 1990. The show was provided by the BBC in "kitset" form. They supplied scripts and also short filmed items for showing "through the windows". The show starred five toys, which are famously nostalgic for New Zealanders who watched the programme as children. They are: *Big Ted: A traditional-style golden coloured

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

*Little Ted: Identical to Big Ted, but much smaller *Manu: A very human-looking plastic doll with

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features, such as dark skin and hair *Jemima: A rag doll with orange woollen hair *Humpty: A round green fabric toy resembling

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. ...

. Today, Big Ted, Manu, Jemima, and Humpty are part of a collection at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand. The museum also has a large collection of clothing and props from the show. Little Ted's head was blown from his body by the film crew after the completion of the final series. The body can be seen at the

Otago Settlers Museum Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second larges ...

in Dunedin while the head remains in private ownership. The original clock from the series was discovered at a library in

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in August 2009. In 2005, TV2 started to screen the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n version of ''Play School''. It features New Zealand presenter

Jay Laga'aia Jay Laga'aia (born 10 September 1963) is a New Zealand-Australian actor and singer. He is known internationally for his role as Captain Typho in the films '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' and '' Star Wars: Episode III – Rev ...

who has been on the show since 2000, though the Australian version is significantly different from the New Zealand version, which was similar to the British format of the seventies and eighties.

Cast

The founding presenters were Waric Slyfield and Janet (née Chaafe) Milne. They presented most of the programmes made in the first year of production (1972), with some presented by Ken Rea and Val Lamond. Waric and Janet were joined the following year by Jan Johnstone,

Ray Woolf Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gr ...

and Elizabeth Rogers. Pianists included Ossie Cheesman. Other presenters were: * Wayne/Gabriel Alston (1975-76) *

Timothy Bartlett Timothy Bartlett is a New Zealand stage, television and film actor who is best known for presenting TVNZ's Playschool in the 1980s, and playing Bernie Leach in ''Shortland Street'' in the mid-1990s. He first appeared in professional theatre for Au ...

(1987-89) * Janine Barry (1975-77) * Dallas Beckett *

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* Jeremy Brownbrook (née Brookes) * Winsome Dacker Aroha (1980-82) *

Jacqui Dean Jacqueline Isobel Dean (née Hay, born 13 May 1957) is a New Zealand politician and the current Member of Parliament for the Waitaki electorate, where she represents the National Party. Early career Dean was born in Palmerston North. She has ...

(née Hay) * Barry Dorking (1976-82) * Pauline Durning (née Nitis-Cooper) (1975-78; 1982; 1987-3/89) * Ray Edkins/Steven Ray * Deb Faith * Nick Farra (1988) * Kristen Gillespie (1986-88) * Doris Gieson (1975-76) *

Theresa Healey Theresa Healey (born 25 January 1964) is a New Zealand actress, known mostly for her role as nurse Carmen Roberts in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Street''. Early life Theresa was born on 25 January 1964 and is of Irish Catholic descent ...

* Campbell Hegan (1974-76) * Ian Kingsford-Smith * Laugharne (née Stockham)Laughananda (1975-76) * Kerry McCammon (1986) * Michael McGrath (1976) * John Mann (1987-89) * Shaquelle Maybury * Eilish (née Moran) Wahren (1986) * Margot Nash (1975) * Jayashree Panjabi (1980-81) * Rawiri Paratene (1980-82) * Katy Platt (1975-76) * Kathryn Rawlings (1975-77) * Mike Rehu * Tania Robins (1987) * Russell Smith (1987) * Ian Taylor *

Marcus Turner Marcus William Turner (16 February 1956 – 2 February 2016) was a New Zealand singer-songwriter and folk musician. He performed at folk festivals in New Zealand, Australia, and overseas. He was also a presenter in the TVNZ children's televisio ...

* Peter Verstappen * Greg Wells

Musicians

* Russell Sheppard * Ian (Eli) Gray-Smith * Neville Copeland * Graeme Perkins * Murray Wood (deceased in CTV building, Canterbury Earthquake)

References

External links

''Play School''
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Play School''
at TV2 *{{cite news , author=ONE News , title=Remembering a childhood favourite , url=http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/123456/593970/ , date=2005-06-25 New Zealand children's television series 1970s preschool education television series 1980s preschool education television series 1990s preschool education television series 1970s New Zealand television series 1980s New Zealand television series 1990s New Zealand television series TVNZ original programming 1972 New Zealand television series debuts 1990 New Zealand television series endings English-language television shows Sentient toys in fiction

Synopsis

Cast

Musicians

See also

References

External links