Play School (Australian TV Series) - Format

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 1970 to 2000, they had a rocket clock which was shaped like a rocket and a flower clock which was shaped like a flower. Until 2000, 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 the late 1980s they also changed the windows to look like their British counterparts had in the late 1970s through to the axing of the show. Every week there is a common theme running through the programme that the actors will reflect upon during the episode.

In 2000, the show had a massive revamp, with the rocket and flower clocks and the three windows put in storage in favour of a newer style Play School. 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 to slide down a slippery dip. That was soon replaced by the Hickory Dickory Clock which featured clockwork resembling the Hickory Dickory nursery rhyme. That was soon replaced by the Train Clock which resembles a train station with a clock above it. The windows were also heavily changed. They were now built into a massive rotating prop which was built underneath the clock (shown one week) 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. The order in which they appear is Square~Diamond~Round~Arched~Square. 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 and humpty stands next to the arched window and the window chosen goes through to pre-recorded footage.