''Play School'' is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the educational department of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

(ABC), based on the original British version created by

Joy Whitby Joy Whitby (born 27 July 1930) is an English television executive, television, and radio producer who specialises in children's programmes and animated films. Early life Whitby read History at St Anne's College, Oxford, and, after graduating, ...

, with many of the presenters former school teachers, whilst others being a mix of well known stage and screen actors and musicians. It is the longest-running children's show in Australia and the second-longest-running children's show worldwide after British series ''

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 ...

''. An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the program at least once a week. ''Play School'' was admitted to the

Logie Hall of Fame The Logie Hall of Fame is a specialised industry-voted award presented annually at the Australian TV Week Logie Awards. It was first awarded at the 26th Annual TV Week Logie Awards held in 1984. The award is given to recognise the outstanding c ...

in 2006, the program's 40th anniversary year. It is one of only five Australian television programs to be inducted.

History

''Play School'' premiered on 18 July 1966, with the first episode and was based on the British program of the same name. (The British version started in 1964 and ended in 1988; the show's format was then sold to Australia.) The first episode began transmitting that day, as the program was originally transmitted live. It has been produced continuously from this time. It has also launched the careers of several Australian actors and television presenters. ''Play School'' was the third show to enter the Logies' Hall of Fame in its own right, after ''

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

'' (1992) and ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

'' (2005). It was also the first children's show inducted into the hall of fame. During the Logie Awards of 2006, a package showing memorable scenes from the show throughout its history was shown, before notable presenters (from past and present) came onto the stage with some of the favourite toys from the show. After these presenters accepted the award, the audience then joined them for a stirring rendition of the ''Play School'' theme. In 1992, a through-the-windows segment featured an early performance by the Australian children's musical group

the Wiggles The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...

performing the songs "Get Ready to Wiggle" and "Rock-a-Bye Your Bear" at a day care centre. On Monday 4 July 2011, ''Play School'' updated its opening titles using a combination of

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

and

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

with a new arrangement of the theme song sung by presenters

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 Gregar Typho, Captain Typho in the films ''Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' and ''Star Wars: Episode ...

and

Justine Clarke Justine Clarke is an Australian actress, singer, author and television host. Clarke has been acting since the age of seven and has appeared in some of Australia's best-known TV shows. She is best-known for her portrayal as Roo Stewart on the ...

50th anniversary

In 2016, ''Play School'' celebrated 50 years on the air and had a month of celebrations. To mark its 50th anniversary, from 4 July the program presented a series of cover songs called ''Play School Celebrity Covers''.

List of covers

On 8 July 2019, Aboriginal presenters Luke Carroll,

Miranda Tapsell Miranda Tapsell (born 11 December 1987) is a Larrakia Aboriginal Australian actress of both stage and screen, best known for her role as Cynthia in the Wayne Blair film '' The Sapphires'' and her 2015 performance as Martha Tennant in the Nine ...

and Hunter Page-Lochard hosted a special episode featuring an Acknowledgement of Country celebrating Australia's first people, sharing knowledge of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

culture and highlighting the importance of caring for Country together. A new doll, "Kiya", was introduced to the program. Matthew Doyle played a

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

Spin-offs

There have also been various spin-offs from ''Play School'' which have been played on ABC Kids, typically much shorter in duration. These include ''Little Ted's Big Adventure'', ''Jemima's Big Adventure'', ''Big Ted's Big Adventure'', ''Humpty's Big Adventure'', ''Maurice's Big Adventure'', ''Joey's Big Adventure'', ''Play School Story Time'', ''Play School Art Time'', ''Play School Nursery Rhyme News Time'', ''Play School Art Crew'', ''Play School Song Time'', ''Play School Science Time'', ''Play School Show Time'' and ''Play School Story Time: Languages''.

Format

The format of the show is activities, songs and games with either host passing back to each other at the end of their segment, and frequently joining each other in activities. Each day the presenters look at the calendar to find out which day of the week it is, read a story, and look through the windows. From 1976 to 2000, they had a clock shaped like a rocket, and from 1966 to 2000, a clock shaped like a flower. The rocket clock was a popular addition to ''Play School'' in 1976 with its distinctive space and band music and the lights under the clock with colourful stars covered flashing and rotation to see what's behind the clock and reveal the diorama of the day. The coloured timbered Flower Clock appeared in 1975 with its two flower shapes and the pot under the clock going round and round. It was more vibrant than the original Perspex model and it was introduced along with the other changes to the ''Play School'' set to make most of the colour television which arrived in Australia the previous year. The windows looked almost exactly like their British counterparts with a few slight differences. They changed the background behind the windows from black to white at the end of 1967 and they then changed it to light blue in 1985. In 1987 ''Play School'' had a mild makeover for its 21st anniversary on air; there was a mild cosmetic revamp to the set, with a new set of opening and closing titles with a new version of the theme song sung by presenters, Philip Quast and Jennifer Ludlam. The windows also changed to look like the ones used on the British version of the show, but this change was not well received and the windows reverted to their old style by 1988, which remained until the major 2000 revamp. In 1992 there was a set revamp with new shelving and coloured tree shapes in the background; this change was done about midway through the 1992 production season, with earlier 1992 episodes retaining the older 1980s set. Every week there is a common theme running through the program that the actors reflect upon during the episode; themes include Dinosaurs, Opposites, Zoo Animals, Food, Clothes, Games, Art, Hair, Hats, Shapes, Road Safety and vehicles. Each theme (or block of five episodes) were repeated twice a year on average for a period of six to seven years, before it was recycled and reused in new episodes. As funding was limited, only 45 new episodes were made each year, which means that nine weekly blocks shown each year were new episodes, the rest repeats. In 2000, the show had a considerable revamp, with the rocket and flower clocks and the three windows put in storage in favour of a newer-style ''Play School''. The clocks and windows were subsequently sent to the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia (NMA), in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''Nation ...

. The main clock was now simply called the Play School Clock, which was controlled by one of the presenters standing at the top of the clock and turning a winding device, which caused the clue to the story on the trolley to slide down a slippery dip from 2000 to 2003, some episodes include the toys inside the trolley along with a book. Then came the Hickory Dickory Clock which made its debut in 2001 featured clockwork resembling the "Hickory Dickory" nursery rhyme with a cat and the mouse running around the clock and then the mouse re-appearances as the little red doors under the clock opens. The train clock made its debut appearance in 2005 which resembles a train station with a clock above it and the train comes out of the tunnel and pulls up at the station with a clue to the story on the back of the train. In 2017, the rocket clock made a comeback, featuring sliding doors with a clue to the story. The windows were also heavily changed. They were now built into a large rotating prop which was built underneath the clock (shown one themed week "Messy") and 'controlled' by one of the presenters pulling a lever back and forwards. The windows (now including a diamond window) would spin around and would slowly be eliminated as the window they would look through until they got to the fourth window and the camera would slowly zoom in and fade out into the fill. That was soon replaced by windows with animation where Jemima stands next to the round window; Little Ted stands next to the square window, Big Ted stands next to the diamond window, Humpty stands next to the arched window, and the window chosen goes through to pre-recorded footage. That was replaced by CGI craft-like animation where each window shakes with assorted theme tunes for the windows.

Music

Pianists

The program has historically had a musical director, who served as a pianist who played live music to accompany the presenters on each episode. Occasionally the pianist would make an on-camera appearance, one of the more well known being Warren Carr who served as musical director for over 20 years. The pianists who have worked on ''Play School'' are:

Theme song

The ''Play School'' theme song, "There's a Bear in There", was composed by Australian composer Richard Connolly, with lyrics by Rosemary Milne. In 2016, the song was remixed by Andre Butterworth aka Copycatt as the winner of the

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

Play School remix competition which, along with two other remixes by KLP and Jondrette Den respectively, appeared on the ''Play School'' album ''Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School''. In 2017, "There's a Bear in There" was inducted into the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

Sounds of Australia The Sounds of Australia, formerly the National Registry of Recorded Sound, is the National Film & Sound Archive's selection of sound recordings deemed culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant and relevant for Australia. It was fo ...

registry.

Albums

*Hey Diddle Diddle (1976) *Hickory Dickory (1978) *Humpty Dumpty (1981) *Wiggerly Woo (1984) *There's a Bear in There (1987) *...It's Play School (1991) *The Best of Play School (1993) *Oomba Baroomba (1994) *Play School Favourites (1996) *In The Car (1997) *Hullabaloo (1999) *Favourite Play School Nursery Rhymes (2002) *Hip Hip Hooray (2002) *Sing-a-Long Songs (2004) *Let's Play Together (2011) *Come and Play 45th Anniversary (2011) *Big Ted, Prince of Bears (2014) *Favourite Things Songs and Nursery Rhymes from Play School (2014) *Play School: Jemima's Big Adventure (2015) *Once Upon a Time (2015) *Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School (2016) *Play School: 50 Best Songs (2016) *Very Jazzy Street Party (2022)

Awards and nominations

AACTA Awards

, - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, ''Play School'' , Best Children's Television Series , , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, ''Play School: Big Ted's Time Machine'' , Best Children's Series ,

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as

AIR Awards The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. History The inaugural 2006 awards were held at Blacket Hot ...

) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. ! , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, ''Very Jazzy Street Party'' , Best Independent Children's Album or EP , ,

TV Week Logie Awards

, - ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, rowspan="10", ''Play School'' , rowspan="4", Most Popular Children's Program , , - ,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, , - ,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, Most Outstanding Achievement in Children's Television , , - ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, Most Outstanding Children's Program , , - ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, Most Outstanding Children's Preschool Program , , - ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

, , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Most Outstanding Children's Program , , - ,

, Best Children's Program ,

Notes

ARIA Music Awards

, - ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, ''Oomba Baroomba'' , rowspan="8", Best Children's Album , , - ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, ''In the Car'' , , - ,

, ''Hullabaloo'' , , - ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, ''Hip Hip Hooray'' , , - ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, ''Let's Play Together'' , , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, ''Favourite Things – Songs and Nursery Rhymes from Play School'' , , - ,

, ''Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School'' , , - ,

, ''Very Jazzy Street Party'' , , -

AIMIA Awards

, - ,

, ABC4Kids ''Play School Play Time'' , Best of Tablet – Entertainment ,

Toys

* Big Ted (teddy bear) (1966–present) * Little Ted (teddy bear) (1966–present) * Hamble (plastic doll) (1966–93) * Jemima (rag doll) (1966–present) * Humpty (white egg-shaped toy with eyes, nose and mouth, which resembles

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle, and is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...

) (1966–present) * Slush (toy pig) (1970s–present) * Maurice (teddy bear) (1987–present) * Meeka (plastic doll of possibly mixed Asian descent) (1993–present) * Dan (plastic doll of

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

descent) (mid-2000s) * Jim (plastic doll of

descent) (1985–2000s) * Scrap (toy dog) (70s or 80s–present) * Diddle (toy cat) (1966–present) * Fergus (toy frog) (1994–present) * Sam the Lamb (toy lamb) (1980s or '90s–present) * Banana (banana-shaped toy wearing pyjamas, see also ''

Bananas in Pyjamas ''Bananas in Pyjamas'' is an Australian children's television series that first aired on 20 July 1992 on ABC. It has since been syndicated in many countries and dubbed into other languages. In the United States, the " Pyjamas" in the title w ...

'') (1976–2010) * Daisy (toy cow) ('80s or '90s–present) * Henny Penny (toy hen) ('80s or '90s–present) * Goosy Lucy (toy goose) ('80s or '90s) * Kim (plastic doll and Lisa's twin brother which both of them are of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

descent) ('80s or '90s–present) * Lisa (plastic doll and Kim's twin sister which both of them are of

descent) ('80s or '90s–present) * Darcy (toy donkey) ('90s or 2000s–present) * Henry and Henrietta (toy mice) * Troy And Tony (twin teddy bears) ('90s or 2000s) * Owl (toy owl) ('90s to 2000s–present) * Tippy (toy duck) (2011–present) * Mukundan Jr (toy lion) (2000s or 2010s) * Fido (toy dog) (2000s to 2010s) * Joey (toy kangaroo) Designed by award-winning children's book illustrator Bruce Whatley and introduced in the 50th anniversary edition 'Come to the Party' tx 18 July 2016 by presenter

. * Kiya (doll of

descent) in an Acknowledgement of Country special for

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee. NAIDOC Week has its roots in the 1938 Day o ...

2019

Teachings

From the inception of the program, the producers of ''Play School'' have made efforts to promote equality, playful education, and a love of learning in its audience. Working on ''Play School'' has come to be considered an unusually demanding and important job for some actors, because they feel they are becoming part of a generation of children's lives and providing a foundation for learning things that will last for life. ''Play School''s stated philosophy is to encourage a child "to wonder, to think, to feel and to imagine". The duo (sometimes a trio when joined by hearing impaired actress Sofya Gollan) of presenters (now almost always a male-female pairing, but sometimes two females or two males) address the child directly and personally, so that every child watching the show feels that they are spending time with two people they know and can trust. Into this relationship are woven the stories, songs and activities that form the fabric of Australian children's culture.

Controversies

"Two mums"

On 31 May 2004, a "through the windows" segment narrated by

Brenna Harding Brenna Harding (born May 19, 1996) is an Australian actress, best known for her role as Sue Knight in the television series '' Puberty Blues,'' and her role in " Arkangel", an episode in the anthology series ''Black Mirror''. Career Harding' ...

featured the sentence "My Mums are taking me and my friend Merryn to an amusement park". The clip was raised as controversial by sections of the media, and three federal ministers expressed dislike over the screening of the clip. The ABC responded, however, by saying that "''Play School'' aims to reflect the diversity of Australian children, embracing all manner of race, religions and family situations". The producers of the segment also said the segment showed the girl being accompanied by her birth mother and her step mother (hence "two mums") and they believed most people would automatically assume the same. What was shown was taken by the public to be two lesbians taking their child and her friend to an amusement park.

Constructing a "bong"

A 2013 episode showed

Alex Papps Alex Papps (born 11 February 1969) is an Australian actor, television host, writer and singer. Early life Papps was born in Melbourne in 1969, to Apollo Papps who, though identifying as Greek, was born in Cairo, and a mother of English and Jew ...

constructing some kind of contraption which involved a straw inserted through the side of a plastic bottle, which was then filled with hot water, accidentally resembling a

bong A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the smoke flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right ...

. This controversy arose again when the episode was replayed in 2015.

"Grooming" accusation

In October 2022,

Courtney Act Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of ''Australian Idol' ...

appeared on an episode of spin-off ''Play School Story Time'', where she read ''The Spectacular Suit'' by Kat Patrick. Her appearance generated considerable media attention when Senator

Alex Antic Alexander Charles Antic (born 1974) is an Australian politician who has been a senator for South Australia since 2019 representing the Liberal Party. Early life and education Antic was born in Adelaide in 1974, the son of Vicki Anderson and R ...

took issue with the ABC inviting a drag queen to read a book to children about a girl who favoured wearing pants instead of a dress, which he described in a Senate Estimates hearing as "grooming". Questioning ABC managing director David Anderson, Antic asked why the ABC was "grooming Australian children with this sort of adult content" and asking Anderson whether such content was contributing to a " gender dysphoria problem". Anderson denied this, while Greens senator

Sarah Hanson-Young Sarah Coral Hanson-Young (née Hanson; born 23 December 1981) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since July 2008, representing the Australian Greens. She is the youngest woman to be elected to federal parlia ...

accused Antic of using "deeply offensive" language. Act defended her appearance on ''Play School Story Time'' in an opinion piece she wrote in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' and during an appearance on '' The Project.''

Logo history

''Play School'' has had a number of openers and logos throughout its long history. Originating as simple animations with vocals from select presenters, the logos and their respective openers have evolved over the many years of the series. The most recent logo, introduced in 2011, features an opener made entirely of

stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

with vocals by presenters

and

. Play_School_1960s.png, 1966–1975 Play_School_logo_(1980-1990).png, 1976–1987 Play_School_logo_(1990-2003).png, 1987–2000 Play_School_logo_(2003-2011).png, 2000–2011 Play_School_logo_(2011-present).png, 2011–present

Presenters

Australian musician

Don Spencer Donald Richard Spencer (born 22 March 1937) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, and former children's television presenter. He had a long tenure as a host on ''Play School'' on both the Play School (Australian TV series), Australian ...

is a noted presence on the program, having not only been a presenter for some 28 years but also releasing several related tie-in records. He also appeared with Diana Dorgan, the only presenter to appear on both the Australian and British versions. (Although Lorraine Bayly briefly appeared on the British version in 1972 as a storyteller) ''Play School'' has had many presenters, however several remained (or remain) with the series for a long period. Australian actress

Benita Collings Benita Collings (born 1940) is an Australian theatre, television and film character actress and children's television presenter best known for her role on ABC TV's '' Play School''. Collings has also featured in documentaries and commercials. ...

(30 years) and British-Australian actor John Hamblin (29 years) are the longest-serving. The program's long-term hosts have also included: Sofya Gollan (28 years),

Simon Burke Simon Gareth Burke (born 8 October 1961) is an Australian actor, active in films, television and theatre. Biography Simon Burke began his career at the age of 12, starring in Michael Cove's ''Kookaburra'' (1974); a painful look at a dysfuncti ...

(26 years), Karen Pang (25 years), Andrew McFarlane,

(both 24 years) and

Noni Hazlehurst Leonie Elva "Noni" Hazlehurst is an Australian actress, director, writer, presenter, and broadcaster who has appeared on television and radio, in dramas, mini-series, and made for television films, as well also on stage and in feature films ...

(23 years). While the show is written by preschool education experts, the presenters are all well-known actors or musicians who can connect well with the target audience.

Current presenters

List of former presenters

The cast of numerous presenters, has featured the who's who of actors of stage and screen and musicians.

References

External links