''Alphabet Zoo'' is a series of ten-minute programmes for young children, produced by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and was broadcast on

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 ...

for two series in 1983 and 1984. It was presented by singer

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (19 ...

and actress

Nerys Hughes Nerys Hughes (born 8 November 1941) is a Welsh actress and narrator, known primarily for her television roles, including her part in the BBC TV series ''The Liver Birds''. Biography She was born in Rhyl, Flintshire. Her parents were Myfi and ...

. Each episode is dedicated to a letter of the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...

. The second series was directed by Lorne Magory (who also worked on several famous British programmes such as ''

Press Gang ''Press Gang'' is a British children's television comedy drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993. It was produced by Richmond Film & Television for Central, and screened on the ITV network in it ...

'', '' Life Force'' and ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'') Nearly a decade after ''Alphabet Zoo'' came to an end, the format was revived by ITV Carlton on the similarly named series ''

Alphabet Castle ''Alphabet Castle'' is an educational children's television program produced in the UK and created by Michael Cole. It began in September 1993 with a series of 27 episodes aired on CITV, and ran until December 1995. It had three main character ...

'' which ran from September 1993 to December 1995. The series was also transmitted on television in several countries worldwide such as

TVNZ 1 TVNZ 1 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tahi) is the first national television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It is the oldest television broadcaster in New Zealand, starting out from 1960 as indep ...

(originally called TV One) and

TVNZ 2 TVNZ 2 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Rua) is the second New Zealand television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It targets a younger audience than its sister channel, TVNZ 1. TVNZ 2's line up consi ...

(originally called Network 2) in New Zealand, RTB in Brunei, GBC in Gibraltar, TV1 and TV2 in Malaysia and on BFBS and SSVC Television in Germany. The original stories were in part written by Ann Yates.

Series guide

*Series 1: 26 editions, 10 January 1983 – 25 July 1983 *Series 2: 27 editions, 19 September 1983 – 2 April 1984 (Including one Christmas special) 1983 British television series debuts 1984 British television series endings 1980s British children's television series British children's education television series ITV children's television shows Reading and literacy television series Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television English-language television shows TVNZ 1 original programming {{child-tv-prog-stub