Hop, Skip and Jump (TV)
Hop, Skip and Jump (TV) is an ITV schools TV series from the 1970s and 1980s, covering various topics for primary school pupils.
A specialist, local series for early primary school age viewers, made by the regional ITV company Ulster Television in consultation with local teachers in Northern Ireland, and broadcast only in Northern Ireland. The series is arranged around short units of programmes on topics familiar to most children from their local environment, to stimulate classroom activity.
The programmes include songs and stories, drama and crafts, including a Hop, Skip and Jump theme song to enrouage audience participation. A Hop, Skip and Jump Club for local children was organised, providing t-shirts and stickers, to which 4,000 children were joined up in the first two weeks of broadcasts.
Children were encouraged to share their work in response to the programmes with the presenters. This work was shown on screen in the final programme of the term. Some of the pictures were also shown in Ulster Television's late night series Bedtime for parents and teachers, and a display of the work was held at Queens' University Belfast in 1978.
History
The first series of 10 programmes was screened in Spring 1978 with presenters Rose Neill and John O'Hara.
This was considered successful and Ulster Television at first planned to repeat it in Spring 1979[2]. However their plans changed based on feedback from viewing teachers and pupils, and instead they decided to make an entirely new series following the same topics, ideas and even programme titles as the first. This new, second series was presented by teacher Ann Osborough alongside a kangaroo mascot called Hoppity[3].
The series continued to be broadcast by Ulster Television in the spring term for the following five years, and as far as I can tell all subsequent broadcasts were repeats. However if you have any further information about the series to confirm or refute this, please do get in touch by email.
Episode List
I have only been able to confirm the titles and units for the first series.
| # | # | Title | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1 | |||
| 1. | (1) | An Irish Story and Song 1 | 9 Jan 1978 |
| A Place of Interest | |||
| 2. | (2) | Jordan's Castle | 16 Jan 1978 |
| 3. | (3) | The Ulster Transport Museum | 23 Jan 1978 |
| Further series 1 episodes | |||
| 4. | (4) | An Irish Story and Song 2 | 30 Jan 1978 |
| 5. | (5) | Our Street | 6 Feb 1978 |
| 6. | (6) | Our Market | 13 Feb 1978 |
| Spring in Ulster | |||
| 7. | (7) | Wildlife | 20 Feb 1978 |
| 8. | (8) | Birds | 27 Feb 1978 |
| 9. | (9) | Plants | 6 Mar 1978 |
| Children's Work | |||
| 10. | (10) | Children's Work (1978) | 13 Mar 1978 |
| Series 2 | |||
| 11. | (1) | Series 2, Episode 1 | 15 Jan 1979 |
| 12. | (2) | Series 2, Episode 2 | 22 Jan 1979 |
| 13. | (3) | Series 2, Episode 3 | 29 Jan 1979 |
| 14. | (4) | Series 2, Episode 4 | 5 Feb 1979 |
| 15. | (5) | Series 2, Episode 5 | 12 Feb 1979 |
| 16. | (6) | Series 2, Episode 6 | 26 Feb 1979 |
| 17. | (7) | Series 2, Episode 7 | 5 Mar 1979 |
| 18. | (8) | Series 2, Episode 8 | 12 Mar 1979 |
| 19. | (9) | Series 2, Episode 9 | 19 Mar 1979 |
| 20. | (10) | Children's Work (1979) | 26 Mar 1979 |
An episode from the first series was previewed as part of an Out of School broadcast on Monday 19th December 1977 at 10:30am on Ulster Television.
Broadcasts
| Year | Term | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Channel | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977-78 | Spring 1978 | Monday, 10:10am | Wednesday, 11:20am | Ulster TV | ||||
| 1978-79 | Spring 1979 | Monday, 10:10am | Wednesday, 11:20am | Ulster TV | ||||
| 1979-80 | Spring 1980 | Tuesday, 10:15am | Thursday, 11:52am | Ulster TV | ||||
| 1980-81 | Spring 1981 | Tuesday, 10:48am | Friday, 9:58am | Ulster TV | ||||
| 1981-82 | Spring 1982 | Wednesday, 10:16am | Friday, 10:43am | Ulster TV | ||||
| 1982-83 | Spring 1983 | Tuesday, 10:45am | Friday, 10:35am | Ulster TV | ||||
| 1983-84 | Spring 1984 | Thursday, 10:50am | Ulster TV |
Credits
| Presenters | John O'Hara & Rose Neill (1978) Ann Osborough (1979) |
Topics
School topics covered in this programme. Click to find other programmes covering the same topics, but bear in mind topics are a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.
Keyword tags
Some features of this programme. Click to find other programmes with the same features, but bear in mind tags are also a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.
Sources & References
- Independent Broadcasting Authority Annual Reports and Accounts, 1979-1985
- ITV Schools Annual Programme Guide 1978-79, Ulster edition. p.7
- Newspaper listings from the 'Belfast News-letter', 'Derry Journal', 'The Scotsman' and the 'Ulster Star' via the British Newspaper Archive.
- Ulster Television (1978) Educational Television in Ulster.
- ↑ Educational Television in Ulster (1978) p.8 says "Audience participation was encouraged with the Hop, Skip and Jump song, T-shirts and club membership stickers. There was an immediate response and in the first two weeks, 4,000 children joined the Hop, Skip and Jump Club."
- ↑ The ITV Schools Annual Programme 1978-79 Ulster edition p.7 previewed "a repeat of the series produced by Ulster Television for the early primary age group." The IBA Annual Report 1978-79 p.95 identified the spring term 1979 broadcasts of Hop, Skip and Jump as a "Repeat Series."
- ↑ An article Hop, Skip and Jump Returns in the Ulster Star of 12th January 1979 p.13 said "The programmes have taken into account the suggestions of teachers and pupils who have used the series and reflecting the experience gained last year from making programmes for this specialised age group in the primary school. The presenter is primary schoolteacher Ann Osborough from Coleraine, and another newcomer and surprise package on the programme is kangaroo Hoppity."
More
Want more on this programme?
This site attempts to cover thousands of programmes and it will take ages to update them all. If you would like to see this one updated soon please click on the star to 'vote' for it and I will do my best to prioritise it!
Voting is anonymous and you can vote for as many programmes as you like. The number in the box above shows how many people have already voted for this programme. You can also see a list of all the votes so far.
This page was updated on Saturday 25 November 2023 when there were already 113 votes.
More Programmes
Some random programmes for age 5-7 from the 1970s
| Movement and Music Stage One | |
| BBC Schools Radio | |
| 1969-1974 | |
| Movement |
| Storiau'r Byd | |
| ITV Schools | |
| 1970 | |
| Languages |
| A Corner for Music | |
| BBC Schools Radio | |
| 1969-1980 | |
| Music |
| Reading with Lenny | |
| ITV Schools | |
| 1977-1982 | |
| English |