‘Play School’ is in at Chch studio

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 18

‘Play School’ is in at Chch studio

A Christchurch television producer, Kim Gabara, has just embarked on an enormous and, he admits, somewhat frightening task — overseeing the production of two seasons of the popular pre-school show, “Play School,” the first to air in 1987. The current “Play School” series was made in Dunedin back in 1982 and is on a second run. With kindergartens and schools claiming a new crop of children each year, most youngsters do not stay around long enough to be bothered by repeats, but there are, no doubt, a number of mums who could do with a change. Not that the new “Play School” will be all that different, says Gabara. “We don’t want it to look new,” he says. “We are following on the tradition admirably set by the Dunedin production team and will keep the beloved ‘Play School’ format. “However, the show will no doubt evolve and change to reflect the input of a variety of different people.” As well as the “all new” production team, there

will be six new presenters. “This will allow us to regularly change people and combinations, so we don’t use the same male and female all the time.” While the front people are newcomers, however, the “core cast” of Big Ted, Little Ted, Humpty, Manu and Jemina will remain the same. "They’ve been refurbished a little bit, and Humpty has finally got himself a new pair of trousers. All of them are looking forward to coming back.” It is: probably just as well because their workload over the next two years will be horrendous. “Every week in Christchurch, until 1988, a ‘Play School’ programme will be recorded,” says Gabara. This is only a slight exaggeration because apart from the Christmas breaks, “Play School” production will be continuous. Two production teams will do five shows each once a fortnight. It is impossible for each team to record five shows a week because this would allow no time for preparation.