Joy Whitby

Everyone dreams of running away at least once in their lifetime. Toughy, Smarty and Mouse discover an island which seems perfect. Sun, sand, fruit in the trees, fish in the sea. No haircuts. No school dinners. No goodnight kisses. Best of all, no grown-ups. Or so they think.

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A medieval wizard (though not a very good one) Catweazle is transported to the modern age... A British television series, created and written by Richard Carpenter which was produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence for London Weekend Television under the LWI banner, and screened in the UK on ITV in 1970. A second season in 1971 was directed by David Reid and David Lane. Both series had thirteen episodes each, with Geoffrey Bayldon playing the leading role. The series was broadcast in Ireland, Britain, Gibraltar, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Czechoslovakia, Nicaragua and Quebec. The first episode is available to view in full at the BFI Screenonline site.

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“The Growing Summer,” on the ITV network, tomorrow (8.15) features Wendy Hiller. “The Growing Summer,” a novel for children by Noel Streatfeild, has been dramatised for television by Eric Thompson. The story, in seven episodes, is the second series presented in London Weekend Television's “Heyday Theatre". The series has been filmed in colour on location at Bantry Bay, Southern Ireland, which was Miss Streatfeild’s original setting for her book. “The Growing Summer” is a story about four children who have been sent to stay with eccentric Great Aunt Dymphna, while their parents are abroad. They are joined by the mysterious Stephan (played by Louis Selwyn). The story tells how the children's personalities are developed under the guidance of their Great Aunt, a whimsical, almost magical old lady, played by Wendy Hiller. The children are played by Hoagy Davies (Alex), Zuleika Robson (Penny), Mark Ward (Robin), and Laura Hartong (Naomi).

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Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap-o'-Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996, clocking up around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run. The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett and broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show returned on 27 November 2006 for two one-off stories. The show's format, which varied little over the decades, involved an actor reading from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially commissioned still drawing, often by Quentin Blake. Usually a single book would occupy five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday.

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Play School is a British children's television series produced by the BBC which ran from 21 April 1964 until 11 March 1988. Devised by Joy Whitby, it accidentally became the first ever programme to be shown on the fledgling BBC2 after a power cut halted the opening night's programming. Play School originally appeared on weekdays at 11am on BBC2 and later acquired a mid-afternoon BBC1 repeat. The morning showing was transferred to BBC1 in September 1983 when BBC Schools programming transferred to BBC2. It remained in that slot even after daytime television was launched in October 1986 and continued to be broadcast at that time until it was superseded in October 1988 by Playbus, which soon became Playdays. When the BBC scrapped the afternoon edition of Play School in September 1985, to make way for a variety of children's programmes in the afternoon, a Sunday morning compilation was launched called Hello Again!. There were several opening sequences for Play School during its run, the first being "Here's a house, here's a door. Windows: 1 2 3 4, ready to knock? Turn the lock - It's Play School." This changed in the early seventies to "A house, with a door, 1 2 3 4, ready to play, what's the day? It's..." In this version blinds opened on the windows as the numbers were spoken.

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