LRTV

A Look and Read Special to supplement the regular drama stories, this eschews grammatical and language-level work in favour of teaching more general writing and communication skills, and is also meant to support the Media Education scheme.

LRTV is a television station staffed entirely by children (which surely wouldn't be legal), though apparently the characters they're playing are meant to be adults. The sparse content, magazine style, and ridiculously oversized, opaque on-screen logo seem to suggest that the 'station' is more of a limited-time franchise like GMTV. Anyway the station is run by former window cleaner Crystal Clear, who seems to know what she wants but isn't very good at getting it done (the executive producer, then). The sofa-bound anchors are called Frank and Daisy and there's a regular language-skills quiz called Wordpower hosted by Lloyd B. Stickler; everything is written by Emily Penn with new recruit Joe Nas, and designed by 'Mona' Lisa; and the producer, Harmony, basically does everybody's work and makes sure everything gets done. Criminal psychopath Lester Binliner keeps trying to get himself on telly by disguising himself as various LRTV personalities after having kidnapped them or pushed them into the canal. The non-speaking Punk T. Waite is the company's general assistant, providing inadequate door security, pouring jelly over the losers on Wordpower and hosting a segment called Spelling Spot. The technician and editor, Alf A. Bett, spends his time trying to get rid of two bugs called Vin and Vern that are corrupting LRTV's computer system and providing most of the actual language-related content, stealing all the quotation marks or putting in too many exclamation points.

Note that this is the first time Look and Read had ever been broadcast in the Summer term, and the first season of the programme to have less than ten episodes. It's also the first Look and Read unit not to be made in-house by some department of the BBC, it's an independent production by Double Exposure for BBC Education.

Episodes

Episode listings from the old BBC Online Schedules.

1. Welcome to LRTV
   • A budding writer arrives for a job at a TV station, where boss Crystal Clear puts him to work on the weather report. Among the regulars, presenters Frank and Daisy get the show off to a sentence-perfect start, Lloyd Stickler hosts the gameshow 'Wordpower', and Punk T Waite introduces spellings with a difference.
2. LRTV Gets Moving
   • An early morning verb workout.
3. Kitchen Capers
   • Punk collects nouns for the gameshow 'Wordpower' but finds himself in trouble with PC Parrot. And there's a surprise in store when the mysterious Desmond Cheesegrater stands in for the regular LRTV chef.
4. A Soap Square Sizzler
   • Frank and Daisy describe their experiences on the island of Costa Lot, but seem to have differing opinions on the same holiday. Meanwhile, contestants play the opposites game on 'Wordpower', and CC sets the writing unit the task of creating a soap opera.
5. ...and Action!
   • Frank tries his hand at sports presenting, but needs help with his adverbs. Lester steps in as storyteller Uncle Rory on 'Children's Story' and becomes tongue-tied when Vin and Virn mix up his speech marks.
6. Follow That Frog
   • It is the station's 20th birthday and Mona is working on the invitations.
7. LRTV Gets It Together
   • Preparations are under way for LRTV's 20th birthday celebrations.
8. Happy Birthday LRTV!
   • The deadline draws near for LRTV's 20th birthday celebrations.

Credits

Starring

Preeya Kalidas as 'CC' Crystal Clear Sophie Ward as Harmony Lisa O'Connell as Emily Penn Leon Black as Joe Nas Jade Magri as 'Mona' Lisa Iain Robertson as Frank Ernest Scarlett Vaigncourt-Strallen as Daisy Hayes Joe Boiling as Alf A. Bett Geoff Mills as Lloyd B. Stickler James Yorath as Punk T. Waite Felix Bell as Lester Binliner Glenn Hanning as Cliff Hanger Geoff Felix as Vin Katherine Smee as Virn

With

Matthew Bethell as Prisoner 1 Michael Wearne as Prisoner 2 Jonathan Cordell as Farmer Muckspreader Elijah Young as Zelda Katie Sutton as Old Lady Max Carlish as Daddy Bear Andrew Buckley as PC Parrot Sam Stockman as Barry (Noun Shop) Katie Sutton as Barry's Customer John Trakos as Chef Rupert Shreeve as Dog Owner Lee Sadler as Plank Man Barry Farrimond as Pancho Peanut Zoe Hodges as Lester's Mum Giselle, James, Peter, Lucy, Matthew, Duane, Rosie, Zenta, Mairead, Liam

Created by	Andrew Bethell
Written by	Colin Izod David Stafford Chris Cole Lionel Robinson
Music by	Harold Burgon Colin Izod
Executive producers	Frank Flynn Andrew Bethell
Producer & directed by	Colin Izod

Production manager	Joe Pellisier
Assistant producer	Frances Hodge
Script editor	Annika Bluhm
1st assistant director	Will Dutton
2nd assistant director	Jo Harris
Script supervisor	Matilda Griffin
Casting	Val Farron
Camera assistant	Richard Hill
Grip	Tex Childs
Gaffer	Tim O'Connell
Sound	Rupert Ivey
Sound assistants	John Chandler Sarah O'Toole
Production designer	Fran Cooper
Art director	John Henson
Props master	Richard Tharp
Standby props	Mark Digby
Graphics assistant	Christina Casali
Make-up/hair artist	Stephanie O'Rourke
Make-up assistant	Sheila Flynn
Costume designer	Jane Ripley
Assistant costume	Barbara O'Callaghan
Graphics	Damian Weir
Online editors	Simon Coldrick Mark Manning
Director of photography	Luke Cardiff
Editor	David Gasson
Education consultants	Peter Sanders Sue Widgery
BBC education officer	Chris Hughes

Broadcasts

Here is a list of all of the broadcasts of this story on the BBC. Unless your teachers managed to get the video recorder to work, this is when you would have seen it in school. See the Schedules section for precise dates and times.

• Summer 1995, BBC2
• Summer 1996, BBC2
• Summer 1999, BBC2

• Spring 2005, CBBC
• Summer 2006, CBBC
• Autumn 2006, CBBC