Playdays ( TV Series 1988 - 1997 )





 

Plot



Playdays (known as Playbus until 25 December 1989) was a children's television programme from the United Kingdom. The series ran from 17 October 1988 to 28 March 1997 on Children's BBC (CBBC), and was aired in reruns until 2003. The show was the successor of Play School, and, like its predecessor, was designed as an educational programme. After the show was dropped from CBBC on BBC One, repeats were shown on CBBC on Nickelodeon until December 1999, CBBC on BBC Choice (later known as CBeebies) and CBBC on BBC Two until it was axed in October 2003. In 1989, the BBC insisted that the independent production company which made Playbus (Felgate Productions) change the programme's name after they had received a complaint from the National Playbus Association.



 

The main characters of Playdays were puppets known as Why Bird, a woodpecker nicknamed Why (voiced and manipulated by Ellie Darvill), Peggy Patch (Sally Preisig) and Poppy, a cat (Sue Monroe). They were also accompanied by Mr Jolly, (Robin Fritz, later Clive Duncan and then Andy Hockley) who would usually end each programme with a song (usually a nursery rhyme) on a magical roundabout named Rosie. There were also a number of human presenters including Zoë Ball, Trish Cooke and Dave Benson Phillips. The show would begin with a title sequence of the Playbus driving along to the theme tune until it reached the bus stop, where characters on the bus were Why, Peggy, Dot, Poppy, Humphry, Lizzie and Mr. Jolly. The bus stopped at a different place each day.



Story



 

​Monday - The Why Bird Stop. Why Bird lived at the Lost Property Office, where things that were left on the Playbus were filed until someone claimed them. She interacted with the human bus driver- there were several throughout the series. She had a special computer called the Why-Tech, which had a variety of uses - it could provide music for songs, pictures for stories, instructions for making something in keeping with the programmes theme, or to help sing a song (e.g. paper sugar buns for Five Currant Buns). It also showed videos, usually to show how everyday things were made - socks, toothbrushes etc. Sometimes, Peggy and/or Poppy visited the Lost Property Office. In a later series, the office installed a telephone, where people - usually Peggy or Poppy - could phone in asking for particular things, (examples include information about spiders, a night-time picture to help someone sleep during the day).



​Tuesday - The Playground Stop. A variety of different things involved. The programme always opened with the presenter (several, including Dave Benson Philips), saying, Lizzie, followed by the programmes theme, (e.g. were playing racing games today). The show featured a group of children doing activities, such as pretending to be cooks and making paper meals. Dave was accompanied by a glove puppet named Chester. The programme always featured a rhyme accompanied by sign language, a string puppet named Lizzie dreams occasionally accompanied by another puppet named Nick. There was also a story, often featuring Max and his magical chest of dressing-up dreams.



 

​Wednesday - The Dot Stop (19881992) replaced with The Roundabout Stop (1992end) - the non-speaking Dot played by Rebecca Higgins, had fun with music or numbers and counting. Later there were 3 Dots: the 'Dot who played the violin' (Eithne Hannigan), 'The Dot who played the drums' (Liz Kitchen) and 'The Dot you can count on' (Dyanne White). Sometimes a puppet called Dash would appear and squirm its way through holes in the set. It had a song - "Not number one, not number two, not number three or four, not number five, not number six, only one Dash can do tricks!" The Counting Dot had a sidekick called Mr Domino (Stephen Cannon).



Later replaced by the Roundabout Stop. Presented by Mr. Jolly. The show featured the musician, Charlie Grindle (Nick Mercer), who also appeared as one of the bus drivers from The Why Bird Stop, Bitsy Bob (Michele Durler), who played music and made things, and the puppets Morris Cog and Milly Sprocket (Nick Mercer & Michele Durler), who presented a segment called "Morris and Millys Numerical Melodies", where they sang a song glorifying a particular number. Charlie often sang songs for them as well. The main body of the episode featured the characters finding different shaped pictures, which came together to form the title of a nursery rhyme, which was performed by the entire cast at the end of the episode. In later episodes (19951997), the show featured Peggy, Poppy and Why Bird, who rode on the roundabout and went off on adventures (but on some episodes only Peggy and Why went on adventures so on the 3rd shape they would both go together). At the end of each adventure, a picture associated with it appeared in their shaped ticket (purple circle, red square, pink triangle, yellow diamond, green arch or blue rectangle), and these would combine to make the song, which ended the episode.



 

​Thursday - The Patch Stop. Featuring Peggy, a small doll who is very kind natured. She would often travel places and l eave clues for children to find her. She was originally non-speaking, but gained a voice (Sally Preisig) in 1994. Presenters included Vanessa Amberleigh, Teresa Gallagher and Peter Quilter.



​Friday - The Tent Stop (19881995) replaced with The Poppy Stop (1995end). A group of actors including: Trish Cooke, Ricky Diamond, Will Brenton, Sue Monroe & Sarah Davison would dress up, and with the help of some children, perform a play or show.

 

When the stop became the Poppy Stop, the setting was at Poppy the cats house. Why Bird, Peggy Patch and other characters would often also appear in episodes at Poppys house.

Another character also featured in Playdays was Parsnip, a brown rabbit who was often seen with Peggy at 'The Patch Stop'.





 

Presenters

Dave Benson Phillips
Vanessa Amberleigh
Zoë Ball
Trish Cooke
Ricky Diamond
Nick Mercer - Charlie Grindle
Andrew Lynford - presenter
Ellie Darvill - Why Bird
Sally Preisig - Peggy Patch
Sue Monroe - Poppy
Peter Quilter
Simon Harbrow - presenter
Elizabeth Watts - Lizzie - presenter
Elizabeth Fost
Frances Dodge
Robin Fritz - Mr Jolly
Clive Duncan - Mr Jolly
Andy Hockley - Mr Jolly
Rebecca Higgins - Dot