Zig Zag: The Olympics

From Broadcast for Schools.co.uk.co.uk
Jump to: navigation, search
companyBBC
started14th May 1984
ended15th Jun 1992
last rpt17th Jun 1992
9 school years
episodes5
duration20 mins
subject 🏫Miscellany
age rangeAge 7-9
languageenIn English


Zig ZagHierarchyPrevious.gifPrevious unit: SpaceNext unit: The ArabsHierarchyNext.gif

The Olympics is a unit of the BBC Schools TV series Zig Zag from the 1980s & 1990s, covering various topics for primary school pupils.

A unit of programmes inspired by the Olympic Games, and shown every four years to tie-in with the actual games. Regular presenter Sheelagh Gilbey is joined, for this unit only, by Wayne Laryea.

Wayne and Sheelagh

For the original screening in 1984 anticipating the Los Angeles Olympics, the unit began with a repeat of a 1980 Merry-Go-Round documentary about Ceremonies. Subsequent programmes find the presenters encountering the ghost of Pausanias to explain the ancient games, investigations of how human and animal bodies adapt for sport and exercise, and a preview of the Olympic games across various sports with heptathlete Judy Livermore.

The unit was repeated for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, without the older Ceremonies episode and listed to include a new programme previewing the 1988 games, though I think this was essentially a repeat of the 1984 Games programme.

The unit emerged for one final broadcast in anticipation of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, this time with an entirely new programme previewing the 1992 games presented by athletes Tessa Sanderson and Tanni Grey.

Episode List

# Title Broadcast
- rpt Ceremonies #1984-05-09-00-00-009 May 1984
1. The Ancient Olympics #1984-05-14-00-00-0014 May 1984
2. Human Bodies #1984-05-21-00-00-0021 May 1984
3. Animal Olympics #1984-06-04-00-00-004 Jun 1984
4. The 1984 Olympics #1984-06-11-00-00-0011 Jun 1984
5. The 1992 Olympics #1992-06-15-00-00-0015 Jun 1992


Broadcasts

Year Term Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Channel Details
1983-84 Summer 1984 Monday, 11:00am Wednesday, 2:40pm BBC2
1987-88 Summer 1988 Monday, 11:00am Wednesday, 1:38pm BBC2
1991-92 Summer 1992 Monday, 11:00am Wednesday, 1:40pm BBC2

Credits

Presenter Sheelagh Gilbey & Wayne Laryea (1984)
Tessa Sanderson & Tanni Grey (1992)
With Geoff Capes
Mike Findlay
Judy Livermore
Illustrator Ken Gay
Producer Chris Ellis (1984)
David Meldrum (1992)
Series Producer Tom Stanier

Resources

There were teacher's notes available.


Related programmes

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.


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.

More Programmes