You and Me (UK TV series)
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''You and Me'' is a British
educational television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable telev ...
programme as part of the
BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...
strand from 14 January 1974 to 26 March 1992. The programmes consisted of various segments intended to educate and entertain young children and included elements for early literacy and numeracy. It is aimed at children aged between 3 and 5.


Background

The first programme, called "A New House", was broadcast at 10:45am 14 January 1974 on
BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
. The series was influenced by the American series ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'' and the research done by the
Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...
, and was also influenced by the forerunners of other British children's
education television Educational television or learning television is the use of television programs in the field of distance education. It may be in the form of individual television programs or dedicated specialty channels that is often associated with cable televis ...
series like '' Play School'' and ''
Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...
''. It also took guidance from the analysis of children's needs in The Warnock Report, 1978. It aimed therefore, in the jargon of the time, to be very much a "child-centred series" with an emphasis on a child's independence, enjoyment, and understanding. Emotional and social education were held to be as important as more traditional school skills. Relationships with the presenters, who were surrogate parents and carers, were seen as central. There was an assumption that most children watching would be in the company of an adult.


Format

The series' original intention was to teach children safety, reading and emotional well-being. The show featured a mixture of human
actors An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...
and
puppets A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or 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 or strings to mov ...
. In 1979, new characters were introduced which included the actor Tony Hughes as Herbert The Handyman, along with puppet characters that included Mr Bits and Pieces, a marionette made from Household objects, and Purrfecta the Cat. Herbert was portrayed as a well-meaning but inept handyman, who invariably made a hopeless mess of any odd job he was called upon to do. Although only 5 episodes of Herbert the Handyman were made, they were repeated until 1983. Episodes were also introduced by either: * Two stop frame animations, called Alice (a hamster) and Crow. * a puppet dragon called Duncan and humans called Vicki (Jan-Feb 1979) and later Sam (Sept 1979-Feb 1982) * Purrfecta the Pussycat and a human called Stephen. (They only featured together in a Maths unit April–May 1980)


Cosmo and Dibs era

In January 1983, two new puppets were introduced. They were a pair of friends of an uncategorisable animal species; Cosmo, a female, from the North East of England, and Dibs, male, a Londoner, both of whom lived in a
street market A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...
. The set was based on a street market in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
’s
Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...
. Each programme featured a four-minute sketch with Cosmo and Dibs on an area of child interest: sharing, eating, arguing, bullying, sleeping, bereavement, dressing up, being silly, having a row, make-believe, making poetry – there were no limits, as long as the sketch was considered relevant and useful to the target audience. The scripts aimed to inform, educate and entertain and see the world from a child’s point of view. Explicitly the aim was not to patronise. A successful group of sketches dealing with ‘Safety’ included the subject of
child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
, unusual in a series for this age group. It was welcomed by the charity
Kidscape Kidscape is a London-based charity established in 1985, by child psychologist Michele Elliott. Its focus is on children's safety, with an emphasis on the prevention of harm by equipping children with techniques and mindsets that help them stay ...
, and featured on the national
news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...
. Songs and stories were always included, with an emphasis on cultural diversity – ''You and Me'' was one of the few programmes at the time to do this. Short documentary films covered a wealth of subjects from farming to the
Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966
. Through their experiences in short dramas, viewers were invited to share the lives of contemporary 4- to 5-year-olds; whenever possible, the two puppets would be left without adult intervention to make their discoveries and act out every human emotion - anger, love, jealousy, greed, and fear, amongst others. For the last two series in the early 90s, the street market disappeared and was replaced by a less adventurous, more adult-controlled domestic setting, and two additional characters (Baxter and Spike) were added. Simon Buckley and Richard Coombs puppeteered and voiced the newcomers. The running time was also reduced by 5 minutes.


Production team

The first producer in the format with Cosmo and Dibs was Richard Callanan who remained with the show for three series, leaving to join schools' television at
Thames TV Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broad ...
. His place was taken by Nicci Crowther, who later developed a career as an independent producer and film maker, until her early death in 2008. Sue Aron, Adrian Mills, Diane Morgan, Pat Farrington, Julie Callanan and Cas Lester were among the regular producers and directors. Jill Wilson, Noreen Hunter and Hilary Hardaker were the regular
production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...
s. Robert Checksfield was the studio
Floor Manager A floor manager or floor director is a member of the crew of a television show. The floor manager is responsible for giving information from the director in the control room, to the crew on the studio floor, and then back to the director. Duties * ...
who most frequently worked on the show.
Assistant Floor Managers Assistant may refer to: * Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones * Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration * Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google * ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...
included Wendy Pedley, Garry Boon, Simone Dawson, Terry Pettigrew, Sally Bates, Christine Crow and Donna Rolfe. The first series of twenty programmes was begun at the BBC's
Lime Grove Studios Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and ...
, part of which overlooked
Shepherd's Bush Market Shepherd's Bush Market is a street market in Shepherd's Bush, London. The market is located on the east side of the railway viaduct for the Hammersmith and City Tube line, and is bordered on the north side by the Uxbridge Road, and on the south ...
. It was completed at
BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...
in
Wood Lane Wood Lane (A219 road, A219, formerly A40 road, A40) is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway (London), Westway (A40) past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of ...
, which became the show's regular home for all but the last series. Additional puppet characters joined Cosmo and Dibs for the final two seasons, and the street market disappeared in favour of a brightly coloured domestic setting. in 1992, an independent production company, SFTV (the Production of
BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...
's Words and Pictures as well as the creators of
CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
's ''The Funbox'') took over and the final series of ''You and Me'' was produced by Sheila Fraser.


Presenters

The
presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...
s who appeared were cast from a diverse range of age-groups and social and ethnic backgrounds; *
Annette Badland Annette Badland (born 26 August 1950) is an English actress known for a wide range of roles on television, radio, stage, and film. She is best known for her roles as Margaret Blaine in the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who'', Mrs. Glen ...
* Michael Balfour *
Jeni Barnett Jeni Barnett (born 24 March 1949 in London) is an English actress and TV presenter who grew up in Borehamwood. Acting career As an actress Barnett appeared on several TV shows, including ''Revolting Women'' (BBC2, 1981) and ''Doctors'', and has a ...
*Charubala Chokshi *Tony Hughes (who played the part of Herbert The Handyman) *Vicky Ireland *Joe Barton (Puppeteer and voice of Duncan the Dragon) *
Isabelle Lucas Isabelle Harriet Lucas (3 December 1927 – 24 February 1997) was a Canadian-born British actress and singer. Life and career Isabelle Lucas was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to a chef from Barbados who worked on the Canadian Pacific Railw ...
*
Clive Mason Clive Mason (born 1954) is a Deaf Scotland, Scottish television presenter and actor. Early life Mason was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1954. Deaf since birth, he entered a school for deaf children when he was five years old. Until then, he had ...
also joined the cast for programmes relevant to the
deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...
community. * Bill Owen * Anton Phillips *
Christopher Lillicrap Christopher J. Lillicrap (born 14 February 1949 in Plymouth, Devon) is a British television presenter, writer and composer. He is best known for being a children's TV presenter in the 1970s and '80s, and has numerous writing credits, including'' Ra ...
*
Harry Towb Harry Towb (27 July 1925 – 24 July 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland. Early life and career Towb was born in Larne, County Antrim, to a History of the Jews in Russia, Russian-Jewish father and an History of the Jews in Ireland, Irish- ...
*Frances Kay (Puppeteer and voice of Cosmo) *Michael Snelders *
Maggie Ollerenshaw Margaret Ollerenshaw (born 8 October 1949) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Mavis in the BBC sitcom ''Open All Hours'' (1981–1982) and its sequel ''Still Open All Hours'' (2013–2019). Her other television credits ...
* Simon Buckley (Puppeteer and voice of Baxter) * Richard Coombs (Puppeteer and voice of Spike) *
Bharti Patel Bharti Patel is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Ruhma Carter on the BBC soap opera '' Doctors''. For her portrayal of Ruhma, she has been nominated for numerous awards at the National Television Awards, British Soap Award ...
* Francis Wright (Puppeteer and voice of Dibs) *
Larrington Walker Larrington St Anthony Walker (1946 – 3 September 2017) was a Jamaican-born British actor. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Walker emigrated to the UK in 1956. Walker starred in the British television drama Taboo, and starred in movies such as ''Sec ...
*
Gary Wilmot Harold Owen "Gary" Wilmot, MBE (born 8 May 1954) is a British singer, actor, comedian, presenter, writer and director who rose to fame as a contestant on ''New Faces''. As a television presenter, he is best known as the host of '' You and Me'', ...
*
Wendy Padbury Wendy Padbury (born 7 December 1947) is a British actress and former talent agent. She has appeared in television series since 1966, including as Zoe Heriot, a companion to Patrick Troughton's Doctor in ''Doctor Who'', from 1968 to 1969. Earl ...
(1976 - "Shapes" unit)


Puppet characters

* Crow and Alice * Duncan the Dragon * Mr Bits-and-Pieces * Purrfecta the Cat * Cosmo and Dibs Cosmo and Dibs were played by Frances Kay and Francis Wright who puppeteered and voiced the characters throughout the series. The puppets were made by
Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...
-maker and performer
Tim Rose Timothy Alan Patrick Rose (September 23, 1940 – September 24, 2002) (unofficial website by long-term correspondent of Rose's) was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in E ...
, and the scripts were written by members of the production team and cast.


Henry the Kangaroo

From 1981 until 1992 the show also included a regular item featuring Henry the Kangaroo, an animated cartoon incorporating live action. The item introduced 'social sight words' such as STOP and EXIT. Henry would say each time: 'I'm looking for the words in my book again...' His farewell line was: "Toodle-oo from the kangaroo, toodle-oo from me to you". Henry was voiced by
Nigel Lambert Nigel Lambert (born 11 May 1944) is an English voice actor. He is best known for his role as the narrator of the first series of the BBC comedy series ''Look Around You'', as well as Merle Ambrose in the MMORPG ''Wizard101''. Acting since the ...
.


Theme tune

The theme was written by
Charlie Dore Charlie Dore (born 1956) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and actress. Although best known as a singer-songwriter, Dore has a multi-faceted career that includes acting in film, TV and radio, comedy-improvisatio ...
, Julian Littman and Karl Johnson, and was originally an acoustic version. In 1983, it was replaced with a
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
version performed by
UB40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...
which lasted until the series finished in 1992: :''You and me, me and you'', :''Lots and lots for you to do'', :''Lots and lots for you to see'', :''Me and you, you and me …'' The lyrics were referenced in the
Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
song "
She's Electric "She's Electric" is a song by English rock band Oasis, from their 1995 album ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?''. Background "She's Electric" was intended to be released on the band's debut album ''Definitely Maybe'', but was replaced by the so ...
", "Cos I'll be you and you'll be me, there's lots and lots for us to see, lots and lots for us to do".


References


External links

*
''You and Me''
at Broadcast for Schools {{DEFAULTSORT:You And Me (Tv Series) BBC children's television shows British television shows for schools 1974 British television series debuts 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series 1992 British television series endings British preschool education television series British television shows featuring puppetry English-language television shows