''Take Hart'' is a British children's
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
programme about
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, presented by
Tony Hart
Norman Antony Hart (15 October 1925 – 18 January 2009),Debrett's People of Today 2008, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2007. known professionally as Tony Hart, was an English artist best known for his work in educating children in art through his role ...
. It took over from ''
Vision On
''Vision On'' was a British children's television programme, shown on BBC1 from 1964 to 1976 and designed specifically for children with hearing impairment.
Concept and production
''Vision On'' was conceived and developed by BBC producers Ur ...
'', and ran from 1977 until 1983. The programme featured Hart and the animated
Plasticine
Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...
character
Morph, and other characters created by David Sproxton like 'Smoulder the Moulder', which was a lump of mould which would create props by 'spraying' them out of a spray can. The only other human to appear on a regular basis was Mr Bennett, the caretaker, played by
Colin Bennett. The programme won a
BAFTA award for Hart in 1984.
As well as demonstrating small-scale projects (the type that viewers might be able to do), Hart also created large-scale artworks on the TV studio floor, and even used beaches and other open spaces as 'canvases' (to be viewed from a camera-crane). This idea was later adopted by
Art Attack
''Art Attack'' is a British children's television programme revolving around art, currently hosted by Lloyd Warbey on Disney Junior, and originally airing on CITV hosted by Neil Buchanan from 1990 to 2007.
The original programme aired on CI ...
, which began in 1990.
A regular feature of the programme was 'The Gallery', which displayed artworks sent in by young viewers. The easy-listening
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
music accompanying this feature – "
Left Bank Two", composed by Wayne Hill – has passed into British TV musical lore. In later series, "Left Bank Two" alternated with
John Williams' recording of "
Cavatina
Cavatina is a musical term, originally meaning a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to any simple, melodious air, as distinguished from brilliant arias or recitatives ...
", and in the final three series, the theme music was replaced by the more reggae-like "Passion Punch", composed by
Stanley Myers
Stanley Myers (6 October 19309 November 1993) was an English composer and conductor, who scored over sixty films and television series, working closely with filmmakers Nicolas Roeg, Jerzy Skolimowski and Volker Schlöndorff. He is best known fo ...
, and The Gallery music was replaced by "Marguerite", by Bob Morgan, which is also well-remembered by many viewers.
By the end of the eighth series in December 1983, Hart felt that the format of the programme, which essentially continued with much of the format of its predecessor ''Vision On'', had become somewhat outdated and routine. Despite the award of a
BAFTA in early 1984, viewing figures for ''Take Hart'' by 1983 had gradually fallen since the series' heyday in the late 1970s. In an attempt to update the image of the series, ''Take Hart '' was dropped in December 1983, and replaced by the relatively more popular series ''
Hartbeat''.
Some
2 inch Quadruplex videotape
2-inch quadruplex videotape (also called 2″ quad video tape or quadraplex) was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording video tape format. It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by A ...
master copies of ''Take Hart'' episodes were irretrievably
junked by Adam Lee of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 1993 on the assumption that they were 'no use' and that examples of some other episodes were sufficient. A few months later, access to the material was requested by the head of
*Series 1: 13 editions first shown 15 February 1977 – 17 May 1977
*Series 2: 6 editions first shown 14 March 1978 – 18 April 1978
*Series 3: 13 editions first shown 3 January 1979 – 28 March 1979
*Series 4: 13 editions first shown 2 January 1980 – 26 March 1980
*Series 5: 15 editions first shown 14 January 1981 – 22 April 1981
*Special: Take Hart on Holiday By the Sea, first shown 12 June 1981
*Series 6: 15 editions first shown 6 January 1982 – 14 April 1982
*Series 7 15 editions first shown 5 January 1983 – 13 April 1983
*Series 8: 10 editions first shown 28 October 1983 – 30 December 1983