BBC Schools human body program

When it comes to school shows, I found it suprising how long they stayed on air. I remember in 2008 BBC2 showing an episode of a schools programme (can't remember what it was called now) that I'd seen during my final year in primary school- nearly 12 years earlier (so the audience the show was aimed at then wouldn't have even been more when it was made!). Quite bizarre as it had clips from the England V Scotland match in Euro 96, which was vey recent when it first went out but would surely have been puzzling to primary school kids of the late 00s who weren't even born when that match was played.

Though we were showed some old stuff too, I remember when we did sex education we watched a programme with mullets galore! I guess they stayed being shown for so long because the educational value was still relevent even if the content looked dated!

Wasn't just schools stuff as I remember in the early 90s you could still see OU programmes from the 70s on weekend mornings (the ones with the beardy professors in white coats standing in front of big equations!). Often the only thing to watch back then if you were awake early enough!

Yet, when I was in high school the Chemistry teacher wheel out the VHS of old schools programme with Just a mini theme ( everyone joined in) but that was at least 8 years later its last broadcast, The teacher said it may be old but it does a grand job explaining.

I was going through some old VHS recordings last month and was surprised to find schools programmes still being shown in 2006/7. In fact, flicking through that VHS made me feel quite nostalgic, as at that point we still had large-scale CBBC in-vision continuity from Studio 9, schools programmes and the Lambie-Nairn era continuity. It was a funny period, I guess, as YouTube and online video was just coming in, yet there were people like me still taping things onto VHS and there were still some hangovers from the 90s, like the schools programmes still being shown.

I was taping onto VHS as late as 2010 myself!

Still have players hooked up in 3 rooms too, though they've been rarely used since I digitised everything back in 2013.

There were three series of HealthE produced, one with Blod, another with Bob or Bod and a third about sex education. Fairly certain that one of seasons was broadcast overnight on the Learning Zone in the 2000s.

Space Ark - an interesting fact is that 24 episodes were made, but 4 were never tx'd on BBC. Have them taped from RTE's short lived schools' service - The Outer Planets and the Inner Planets were 2 of the episodes. The curriculum in England had changed while BBC was recording these and Space was not the topic it had been. I would love to know if there were any intentions to create episodes on space for Cats' Eyes / The Experimenter / Science Zone - and how far into production they got - did they get to scripts but not recorded, even a vague storyboard?

As one who works in education, I am saddened at what became of schools' broadcasting - the BBC's mission to educate seems to have been diluted. Agree with others that online service is not a satisfactory substitute for what we had in the past.

I'm sure there was a series of Zig Zag that involved a woman travelling around the world underground in a mechanical 'mole'. Perhaps there was a similar version involving the human body?

I remember that, it was auntie something and she come in and out of red striped tent?

Schools TV is probably where my interest in TV pres began...back around 1996-97, in Year 3 of primary school, I distinctly remember being utterly fascinated by a few classroom videos of Look & Read and Zig Zag that dated back to the Daytime on 2 era, complete with Follows Shortly slide and holding music. The teacher would at first try and fast forward through it but eventually I insisted on playing at least a bit of it, much to the confusion/annoyance of the other kids.

Funny how c.1984 presentation looked so different and archaic to childhood me just twelve years later...I suppose it would be the equivalent of an eight year old on Youtube being spellbound by the BBC1 dancers and yellow 2s today.

Oh god, I remember watching that one too!

If anyone brings up Story World with Tony Robinson, I'll start donning my pipe and slippers.

Who remembers The Maths Channel on BBC Two that had segment featuring The Chuckle Brothers?

Right with you, bro! A glimpse of the BBC collapsing dots countdown clock and 'Bart' playing in the background in school hours was a great treat indeed...

Actually what you describe is luxury to my primary school tv watching.

VHS? Watch a taped schools programme?

We had to be herded into the 'viewing room' for the start of the programme, and then leave as soon as the credits rolled so Ms Trimdon's class could get in to watch the next programme on the BBC Two schedule.

The next post reminiscing about BBC Schools programmes follows in a few minutes...