For The Children

:"This page refers to the British television programme. For the political phrase, see For The Children (politics)"

"For The Children" was a British television programme, the first to be designed especially for young children of school age. First broadcast on the BBC Television Service at 3pm on Saturday 24 April 1937, for its first two years the series was only ten minutes in length. Suspended along with the rest of BBC Television for the duration of the Second World War in 1939, it returned on 7 July 1946, now running on Sunday afternoons and expanded to twenty minutes in length.

The series featured a variety of different presenters and acts – story readings, puppet shows, songs. Of particular note is the edition broadcast on 4 August 1946, which saw the debut of famous children's television puppet Muffin the Mule, accompanied by his "friend" Annette Mills, sister of John Mills. The duo would go on to have their own programme and become extremely popular – Muffin was revived in a new animated series in 2005.

"For The Children" was last broadcast in 1950, when it was superseded by other BBC children's television programmes, including "Watch with Mother".

References

*Vahimagi, Tise. "British Television: An Illustrated Guide". Oxford. Oxford University Press / British Film Institute. 1994. ISBN 0-19-818336-4.