Alive and Kicking: Series 1 (1977)
Series 1 of the ITV Schools series Alive and Kicking was broadcast in the 1970s, covering PSHE for primary school pupils.
The first series of Alive and Kicking is presented by local children's TV celebrity Chris Tarrant, who gets stuck into activities such as walking down the street in his pyjamas (so viewers can see why this is not appropriate), attempting unsuccessfully to copy children rolling head-over-heels, and driving around a troublesome car called Henry.
The first four episodes end with film of the daily life of two children, 5-year-old Emma and her 7-year-old brother John, who get up, go to school, then come home and get ready for bed. The fifth episode is an omnibus of these four adventures put together to tell an entire day's story. These sequences are narrated by Emma and John themselves.
It's Alive and Kicking
The first part of the first series was previewed for parents and teachers as part of ITV's Sunday morning educational programmes. This series was called It's Alive and Kicking and was presented by Graham Sellors, later to become Alive and Kicking's producer.
Each 25 minute episode includes a transmission of the 15 minute schools programme due to be shown in the following week, accompanied by discussions and films on health education in schools, and follow-up work done in schools where Alive and Kicking had been piloted.
It's Alive and Kicking was produced by Philip Grosset and directed by Albert Wallace.
The five episodes were first shown on Sunday mornings from 24th April to 22nd May 1977. In many regions, including the producing company ATV Midlands, it was shown at 11am but other regions received it at other times including 9am in Yorkshire and 9:30am in London.
Episodes of It's Good Health was repeated, in many but not all regions, on Tuesday mornings in June and July 1977 as part of ITV's Summer School holiday time educational programmes.
Titles & Theme Music
The sounds of children shouting and singing at play are heard while the series and episode titles are shown.
Episode List
| # | Title | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Clothing | 27 Apr 1977 |
| 2. | Safety | 4 May 1977 |
| 3. | Movement | 11 May 1977 |
| 4. | Looking After Young (1977) | 18 May 1977 |
| 5. | Emma and John | 25 May 1977 |
| 6. | On the Farm 1 | 1 Jun 1977 |
| 7. | On the Farm 2 | 15 Jun 1977 |
| 8. | Keeping Well | 22 Jun 1977 |
Broadcasts
| Year | Term | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Channel | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976-77 | Summer 1977 | Wednesday, 11:20am | Friday, 9:50am | ITV | ||||
| 1977-78 | Summer 1978 | Thursday, 11:00am | Friday, 9:50am | ITV | ||||
| 1978-79 | Summer 1979 | Wednesday, 11:20am | Friday, 9:47am | ITV |
Credits
| Presenter | Chris Tarrant |
| Researcher | Pam Edwards |
| Adviser | Rose Roberts |
| Director | Sam Fairhall |
| Producer | Philip Grosset |
Resources
Teacher's Notes
The health education related aim of each programme, plus a detailed synopsis and suggestions for following up in the classroom.
16mm Film
The Emma and John episode was available on 16mm film from the Rank Film Library.
ATV released multiple episodes of its primary school series Good Health and Stop, Look, Listen in this way in the 1970s, but only one episode of Alive and Kicking was released.
Books
Around 1977 a series of children's health education books was published by Nelson, based on Alive and Kicking and written by the series adviser who was also headmistress of Meadgate County Infants School, Chelmsford. 16 books were commissioned, to be printed in full colour.
Written by Rose Roberts
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(actually a whole separate series)
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