BBC Children's TV: 1970s
The 1970s was a period of great change for television
in general - at the start of the decade colour had only
been available on BBC1 and ITV for a few months (and only
from key main transmitters), and over half of programmes
were still in black and white. The decade that brought
bread shortages, power cuts, disco dancing, decimalisation,
Abba, and the Queen's Silver Jubilee was also responsible
for the following BBC children's television programmes - a
few of which are illustrated below for your enjoyment.
(Just incase you were wondering about
The White
Seal, it was a cartoon based on a Rudyard Kipling
story.)
Many of the previous decade's offerings (eg.
Vision On,
The Magic Roundabout,
Clangers) were still going thoughout all or most of
the 1970s in either new or original versions, as well as
the later colour episodes of
Andy Pandy.
Crystal
Tipps and Alistair (1972) was one of the new offerings
from this decade. Crystal Tipps is the one with the frizzy
hair and together with Alistair (the dog) they lived in a
house.
Ivor the engine was another series produced by
the legendary partnership of Oliver Postgate and Peter
Firmin, whom had produced (among others)
Noggin the
Nog,
Pogles Wood,
The Clangers in the
1960s and
Bagpuss by 1974 (see below). It was also a
return to the cardboard cutout animation technique used on
Noggin the Nog, but this time in colour. Both Oliver
and Peter are still thankfully alive and well, though now
retired.
Bagpuss (1974) was a cleverly-conceived
animation based around a saggy old cloth cat in a junk
shop, which magically came to life together with the shop's
numerous other inhabitants such as Professor Yaffel the
wooden woodpecker which normally served as a bookend. The
girl Emily (centre picture) who owned Bagpuss was infact
Peter Firmin's youngest daughter. Many regard
Bagpuss as the greatest childrens' television
programme of all time, though some may prefer the all-time
classic
Pogles Wood or the
Clangers from the
same stable.
Another children's favourite of this period was
Jackanory, which featured various special guests
reading from a storybook. Jackanory has over the years
featured some very famous and distinguished guests,
including no less than HRH Prince Charles reading from his
own book "The Old Man of Lochnigar". The animated titles
featured picture(s) from the book with mirrors to create a
rotating kaleidoscope pattern, and the original theme
music's oboe arrangement was changed around the mid 1970s.
The middle of the decade saw what was possibly the
BBC's answer to ITV's
The Ghosts of Motley Hall -
Rentaghost, which featured a selection madcap
adventures involving beings of a spectral kind. In the
centre picture Mr. Claypole (the jester) is about to
perform a vanishing spell.
BBC children's output also comprises of factual-based
programming such as
Blue Peter and
Record
Breakers - as well as being informative they set out to
entertain as well. These programmes often had lavish
Christmas specials which often include additional
entertainment; a case in point being the extravagent
All
Star Record Breakers of Christmas 1977 was perhaps one
of the more extreme examples.
Much of the programme revolved round elaborate
pantomime sequences that featured guest stars such as
Kenneth Williams who was the 'storyteller', and the facts
and feats were incorporated into the 'action' which
developed into a pantomime.
The show kicked off with the song "Catch a falling star and
put it in your pocket", which was interspersed with facts
about the universe such as the brightest star in the sky.
The presenter Roy Castle (pictured with a paper star) had
ample opportunity to show off his musical and dance skills,
and a record was also broken during the show for the
world's largest tap dance.
Grange Hill was a popular drama series created
by Phil Redmond (who want on to create Brookside and
Hollyoaks) which was set in a school, and some of the child
actors who appeared in the series went on to become famous
for other things (such as Todd Carty who later on appeared
in
EastEnders). The series had a very memorable
animated title sequence in its early years, and
Grange
Hill is still running albeit in a different form to
when it started (naturally).
