'Watch with Mother' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1973, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at pre-school children, a development of BBC radio's equivalent 'Listen with Mother', which had begun two years earlier. In accordance with its intended target audience of pre-school children viewing with their mothers, 'Watch with Mother' was initially broadcast between 3:45 pm and 4:00 pm, post–afternoon nap and before the older children came home from school.
The choice of 'Watch with Mother' for the title of the series was intended "to deflect fears that television might become a nursemaid to children and encourage 'bad mothering'".
Dive into history. Family memories reveal Northern Ireland's crucial role in WWII's epic sea battle, as divers explore the lost wrecks that reveal the human cost of the conflict.
A live series celebrating the wildlife success story of Monterey Bay, California. Once ravaged by humans, now everything's returning from Sea Otters to Blue Whales.
A series of ten programmes featuring playwright Peter Terson and reporter Dennis Skillicorn as they travel by gypsy wagon along the old pilgrims' route from Winchester to Canterbury.
Adventurer Guy Grieve and primatologist Julie Anderson spend six weeks in the Central Africal rainforest, trying to save one of the world's rarest monkeys
Bits and Bobs is a children's television programme which is produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is aired on CBeebies. The show is filmed at several notable Scottish attractions and locations.
It features two balls of fluff: Bits and Bobs who live and travel in a "car" called Trug. Using Trug's eyepiece they explore the world and try to work out what different items are. They have the catchphrase "If I don't know and you don't know, and you don't know and I don't know; do you know?". Another phrase that is used is mentioned during sped up footage of them travelling to their next destination "Hold onto your Bobs, Bits" and vice-versa.
They continuously nose each other by rubbing their noses. At the bottom of Trug is a secret compartment where Bits and Bobs keep their most prized objects. They access this compartment with a crane fueled by sugar cubes.
Bits and Bobs also is English slang for a collection of small items too numerous or varied to name individually. It originated from carpenters' tool kits containin
Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death aka Colosseum: A Gladiator's Story is a 2003 BBC Television docudrama which tells the true story of Verus a gladiator who fought at the Colosseum in Rome.
Monitor was a BBC arts programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 and ran until 1965.
Huw Wheldon was the first editor from 1958 to 1965. He was also the principal interviewer and anchor. Wheldon set about moulding a team of talents, including John Schlesinger, Ken Russell, Patrick Garland, David Jones, Humphrey Burton, John Berger, Peter Newington, Melvyn Bragg, Nancy Thomas and Alan Tyrer. Monitor ranged in subject over all the arts.
The hundredth programme was a film directed by Ken Russell and written by Wheldon, the celebrated Elgar. The Elgar film was innovative because it was the first time that an arts programme showed one long film about an artistic figure instead of short items, and also it was the first time that re-enactments were used. Prior to this, only photos or location shots had been used in programmes. Russell however still met resistance from Wheldon in allowing actors to play the subjects of his films. The Elgar film includes sequences of the young composer riding his bicycle on the Malve
Breakfast News was a breakfast news show which first aired on BBC1 on 2 October 1989. The programme was previously known as Breakfast Time. It was planned to launch on 4 September 1989 and again on the 18 September but was held back due to technical issues with its new studio
The programme went through three main visual changes. The initial look lasted from launch in 4 September 1989 to 12 April 1993. The 13 April 1993 revamp saw the programme presented from the same set as the One, Six and Nine O'Clock News bulletins. A further and final revamp took place in June 1997 when 'BBC' was shorn from its title, and on-screen it became known as simply Breakfast News. It was during this final period that the tone began to shift, with the return of a sofa set, alongside more features, and more interaction between the presenting team.
The final edition of Breakfast News aired on 15 September 2000, and on 2 October 2000 it relaunched as BBC Breakfast.
Becoming an army helicopter pilot involves a rigorous 12 months of training with the Army Air Corps. BBC2 television series, follows ten soldiers from different ranks and regiments of the Army, pursuing their Wings. It focuses both on the technical skills and on the mental courage needed to transform them into front-line fighters flying killing machines.
See It Saw It was a Children's BBC game show about a king who rules over the kingdom of "Much Jollity-On-The-Mirth". It ran from 6 January 1999 to 26 March 2001. The programme was filmed entirely in the studio with an audience of children who at various points in the show would be asked an observation question by the King, which they would answer by climbing on board a giant see-saw. The majority answer would be indicated by which way the see-saw tipped. The show's main catchphrase was "Did you see it?" asked by the king, to which the audience would shout back, "We saw it!".
The show was created and produced by Clive Doig, and most of the cast had also appeared in previous shows created by Doig: Mark Speight and Philip Fox were both part of the supporting cast in the GMTV programme Eat Your Words, while both Sylvester McCoy and Julia Binsted had long histories of working with Doig, both having appeared in the classic series Jigsaw in the 1980s. The only newcomer in the main cast was Natasha Collins as the jester S
Holiday is a long-running UK television programme on BBC One, and was the oldest travel review show on UK television. It was aired on the channel from 1969 until 2007.
Paddington Green is a British television series, which explores the lives of the residents of Paddington, London. It is created by Lion Television and was first shown on the BBC in late 1998/early 1999. It is an example of the fly on the wall and docusoap television format, with narration by Ross Kemp in the first three series, followed by Todd Carty in the latter three.
Picture Book was a BBC children's TV series created by Freda Lingstrom and first broadcast in 1955. It was the Monday programme in the Watch with Mother cycle. Initially introduced by Patricia Driscoll, the programme encouraged children to make things; Driscoll's catch phrase was "Do you think you could do this? – I am sure you could if you tried". She left the programme in 1957 to play the part of Maid Marian in the ITV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, and was replaced by Vera McKechnie.
The show's opening theme tune was Badinerie, the final movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor.
Each Monday, Driscoll or McKechnie would open the Picture Book at a relevant page. Sometimes it would be shown to the camera at a distance, making the pages' content often brief and obscure. Alternatively, the presenter would simply tell the children what the next item would be, sometimes with a still photograph as a continuity link. It was something different every week. The 1963 series feature
The series tell the surprising stories of the wild characters that live right on our doorsteps, revealing what they get up to when our backs are turned.
Insides Out is a children's television game show. Its theme was the human body, and involved games that included body parts. A total of thirty episodes were made over two series, lasting from 15 September 1999 to 22 December 2000. It was presented by Mark Speight and Marsali Stewart, with co-presenter Otis the Aardvark.