Play School (Australian TV series)

Play School is an Australian educational television show for children produced by the educational department of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), based on the original British version created by Joy Whitby, 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.

Play School
Logo since 2011
Genre	Children's television
Created by	Joy Whitby
Written by	Henrietta Clark
Directed by	Jennie McKenzie
Presented by	See Presenters
Theme music composer	Richard Connolly (lyrics by Rosemary Milne)
Opening theme	"There's a Bear in There"
Ending theme	"There's a Bear in There" (instrumental)
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	49
No. of episodes	4,516 (approx.)
Production
Executive producers	Claire Henderson Henrietta Clark (1968–1984, 1990–1999) John Fox Virginia Lumsden Jan Stradling Allan Kendall
Producers	Allan Kendall Henrietta Clark Ros Lawson John Fox Tracey Ellison Wendy Gray Sophie Emtage Sarah Dabro Bryson Hall Natalie Martin
Production location	Australian Broadcasting Corporation Studios
Running time	25–30 minutes
Production company	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Original release
Network	ABC Television
Release	18 July 1966 (1966-07-18) – present

An estimated 80% of pre-school children under six watch the program at least once a week. It is screened three times each weekday on ABC Kids, at 9 am, 11:30 am and 3:30 pm (from 7 July 2014) and twice daily each weekend at 9 am and 3:30 pm.

Play School was admitted to the Logie Hall of Fame in 2006, the program's 40th anniversary year. It is one of only five Australian television programs to be inducted.

History

Long-time host Don Spencer

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. It was admitted to the Logie Hall of Fame on its 40th anniversary in 2006, in recognition of the strong influence the show has had on at least three generations of Australian children.

Play School was the third show to enter the Logies' Hall of Fame in its own right, after Four Corners (1992) and Neighbours (2005). It was also the first children's show inducted into the hall of fame.

During the 2006 Logie Awards, 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 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 and computer animation with a new arrangement of the theme song sung by presenters Jay Laga'aia and Justine Clarke.

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

Date	Time	Celebrity	Title
4 July	8 am	Benita Collings & Don Spencer	"Teddy Bears' Picnic"
	5 pm	Missy Higgins	"Three Little Fishies"
5 July	8 am	Carrie Bickmore	"Family Forest"
	5 pm	Guy Sebastian	"Singin' in the Rain"
6 July	8 am	Dan Sultan	"The Wheels on the Bus"
	5 pm	Bernard Fanning	"Morningtown Ride"
7 July	8 am	Delta Goodrem	"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
			"Moon, Moon"
	5 pm	Emma Watkins	"There's a Bear in There"
8 July	8 am	John Hamblin	"I'm a Little Teapot"
	5 pm	Kurt Fearnley & Rachael Coopes	"Going on a Bear Hunt"
9 July	8 am	Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales	"Singing in the Kitchen"
	5 pm	Kate Ceberano & daughter Gypsy	"I Like Peace, I Like Quiet"
10 July	8 am	Costa Georgiadis	"Worm at the Bottom of My Garden"
			"Wiggerly Woo"
	5 pm	Caitlin Cooper, Ellie Carpenter and Michelle Heyman	"If You're Happy and You Know It"
11 July	8 am	Dami Im	"Over the Rainbow"
	5 pm	Adam Goodes	"Counting Aussie Animals in My Backyard"
12 July	8 am	You Am I	"One Potato, Two Potato"
	5 pm	Katie Noonan	"I Can Sing a Rainbow"
13 July	8 am	Tim Minchin	"The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek"
	5 pm	Benita Collings & Don Spencer	"Little Peter Rabbit"
14 July	8 am	Magda Szubanski	"Old Mother Hubbard"
	5 pm	Tim Omaji	"Rhythm"
15 July	8 am	Molly Meldrum & Charlie Pickering	"Nursery Rhyme News"
	5 pm	Josh Thomas	"On the Ning Nang Nong"
16 July	8 am	Lee Lin Chin & Takaya Honda	"The Emperor's New Clothes"
	5 pm	Architecture in Helsinki	"Big Bass Drum"
17 July	8 am	Jeremy Fernandez	"Five Cheeky Monkeys"
	5 pm	Kate Miller-Heidke	"The Owl and the Pussycat"
18 July	8 am	The Umbilical Brothers	"Fairytale Mash-up"
	5 pm	John Hamblin	"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"
19 July	8 am	Hamish & Andy	"There's a Hole in My Bucket"

On 18 July at 6:30 pm, ABC also broadcast a special 50th anniversary Play School celebrity covers special that featured Hamish & Andy singing "There's a Hole in My Bucket"; John Hamblin, "I'm a Little Teapot"; Dan Sultan, "The Wheels on the Bus"; Molly Meldrum and Charlie Pickering, "Nursery Rhyme News"; Delta Goodrem, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" & "Moon Moon"; Benita Collings & Don Spencer, "Teddy Bears Picnic"; Josh Thomas, "Ning Nang Nong"; Annabell Crabb and Leigh Sales, "Singing in the Kitchen"; Guy Sebastian, "Singing in the Rain"; Magda Szubanski, "Old Mother Hubbard"; and You Am I, "One Potato, Two Potato". In 2020, all of the existing Celebrity Covers episodes were rebranded as part of a new spin-off series Play School Show Time, which features new celebrities singing covers of songs from the series. Potentially redundant information based on the table above. Open to feedback on this point.

On 8 July 2019, Aboriginal presenters Luke Carroll, Miranda Tapsell 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 culture and highlighting the importance of caring for Country together. A new doll, "Kiya", was introduced to the program. Matthew Doyle played a didgeridoo.

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

Flower clock

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 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 Trains 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:

• Bill Antman (1966–72)
• Judy Bailey (1970s–90)
• Penny Biggins (1991–94)
• Warren Carr (1972–93)
• Peter J Casey (1996–2004)
• Ron Creager (1998)
• Peter Dasent (2000–present)
• Rob Eastwood (2000) – after revamp
• Max Lambert (1991–99, 2004)
• Paul McDermott (1991–94)
• Brian Castles Onion (2003–09)
• Lindsay Partridge (1994)
• Elliott Wilshier (1994–99)
• Franky Valentyn (2000s)
• Stuart Hunter (2014–present)

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.

There's a bear in there,
  and a chair as well.
There are people with games
  and stories to tell.
Open wide, come inside;
  it's Play School.

In 2016, the song was remixed by Andre Butterworth aka Copycatt as the winner of the Triple J 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's Sounds of Australia 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

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2016	Play School	Best Children's Television Series	Nominated

AIR Awards

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result	Ref.
2023	Very Jazzy Street Party	Best Independent Children's Album or EP	Nominated

TV Week Logie Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
1990	Play School	Most Popular Children's Program	Nominated
1992			Nominated
1993			Nominated
1996			Nominated
1998		Most Outstanding Achievement in Children's Television	Won
2000		Most Outstanding Children's Program	Nominated
2004		Most Outstanding Children's Preschool Program	Nominated
2006		Hall of Fame	Inducted
2014		Most Outstanding Children's Program	Nominated
2024		Best Children's Program	Nominated

ARIA Music Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
1995	Oomba Baroomba	Best Children's Album	Nominated
1997	In the Car		Won
2000	Hullabaloo		Nominated
2003	Hip Hip Hooray		Nominated
2011	Let's Play Together		Nominated
2015	Favourite Things – Songs and Nursery Rhymes from Play School		Nominated
2016	Famous Friends: Celebrating 50 Years of Play School		Nominated
2023	Very Jazzy Street Party		Nominated

AIMIA Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2014	ABC4Kids Play School Play Time	Best of Tablet – Entertainment	Won

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) (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 descent) (2010s)
• Jim (plastic doll of Australian Aboriginal 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) (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 descent) ('80s or '90s–present)
• Lisa (plastic doll and Kim's twin sister which both of them are of Korean 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 Miranda Tapsell.
• Kiya (doll of Australian Aboriginal descent) in an Acknowledgement of Country special for NAIDOC Week 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 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 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. This controversy arose again when the episode was replayed in 2015.

"Grooming" accusation

In October 2022, Courtney Act 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 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 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 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 with vocals by presenters Justine Clarke and Jay Laga'aia.

• 
  1966–1975
• 
  1976–1987
• 
  1987–2000
• 
  2000–2011
• 
  2011–present

Presenters

Long time presenter Justine Clarke (tenure; 2000-present)

Australian musician Don Spencer 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 (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 (26 years), Karen Pang (25 years), Andrew McFarlane, Justine Clarke (both 24 years) and Noni Hazlehurst (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

Presenter	Tenure	Ref
Karen Pang	1999–present
Andrew McFarlane	2000–present
Justine Clarke	2000–present
Leah Vandenberg	2000–present
Teo Gebert	2004–present
Alex Papps	2006–present
Abi Tucker	2009–present
Luke Carroll	2010–present
Emma Palmer	2011–present
Rachael Coopes	2011–present
Michelle Lim Davidson	2013–present
Zindzi Okenyo	2013–present
Hunter Page-Lochard	2018–present
Matthew Backer	2017–present
Kaeng Chan	2018–present
Miah Madden	2022–present

List of former presenters

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

• Note list is current to 2016, the 50th anniversary year, and may not reflect updated changes

Source:

Presenter	Tenure
Kiruna Stamell	2018–2020
Miranda Tapsell	2016
Takaya Honda	2015–2023
Eddie Perfect	2015–2016
Essie Davis	2011–2012
Hugh Sheridan	2009–2013
Georgie Parker	2006–2012
Brooke Satchwell	2005–2008
Matt Passmore	2002–2011
Ling-Hsueh Tang	2002
Dasi Ruz	2000
Rhys Muldoon	2000–2012
Jay Laga'aia	2000–2014
Mark Owen-Taylor	2000
David Whitney	2001
Deborah Mailman	1998–2002
Glenn Butcher	1997–2000
Jamie Oxenbould	1997
Joy Hopwood	1995–1997
David James	1994–2000
Angela Moore	1994–2000
Nicholas Opolski	1993–1994
Jeremy Scrivener	1993–1994
Colin Buchanan	1992–1999
Carlton Lamb	1992–1993
Georgie Goldstein	1995–1996
David McCubbin	1991–1995
Sofya Gollan	1992–2020*
Sarah Chadwick	1991
Pauline McLeod	1990–2003
Monica Trapaga	1990–1998
Tara Morice	1989, 1993
James Valentine	1989, 1992
Simon Burke	1988–2007, 2013–2020
Liz Burch	1988
Trisha Goddard	1987–1998
Anna Maria Monticelli	1987
George Spartels	1986–1999
Merridy Eastman	1985–1989
Liddy Clark	1984
Tyler Coppin	1982
Philip Quast	1981–1996
Lynette Curran	1981
Elaine Hudson	1981
Barbara Frawley	1980–1992
Jennifer Ludlam	1983–1986
Mervyn Drake	1980s
Colin Friels	1980
Noni Hazlehurst	1978–2001
Judy Cannon	1978
Roslyn Gentle	1977
Mary Ann Severne	1975
Peter Sumner	1974
John Waters	1972–1990
John Hamblin	1970–1996
Richard Bradshaw	1970s–1996
Benita Collings	1969–1999
Jan Kingsbury	1969–1986
Ken Shorter	1969
Don Spencer	1968–1999
Darlene Johnson	1968
Tom Oliver	1967
Nehama Patkin	1966 (original)
Lorraine Bayly	1966–1978 (original)
Kerry Francis	1966–1969
Anne Haddy	1966–1969 (original)
Donald McDonald	1966–1969 (original)
Peter Drake	1966 (original)
Evan Dunstan	1966 (original)
Patsy King	1966 (original)
Ann Stroh	1966
David Yorston	1966 (original)
Alister Smart	1966–1993 (original)
Diane Dorgan	1966 (original)

See also

• List of Australian television series
• List of programs broadcast by ABC (Australian TV network)
• List of longest-running Australian television series
• Sesame Street
• Captain Kangaroo
• Play School (British TV series)
• Play School (New Zealand TV series)
• Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
• Polka Dot Door
• Play Away
• Playdays
• Tikkabilla
• Zoom

External links

• Play School at IMDb