Sesame Street in the United Kingdom facts for kids
Just a few months after the famous children's TV show Sesame Street first aired in the United States in 1969, people in the United Kingdom started talking about bringing it to British TV. They wondered if they should show the American version or create a special British one. This idea caused a lot of debate. The BBC didn't want to show it, and ITV was unsure. Parents, teachers, and TV bosses had different opinions, from not liking it at all to loving it.
After much discussion, the BBC decided not to air Sesame Street. They had several reasons: they didn't like the show's teaching style, they felt it was made only for American kids, and Britain already had many great educational shows for young children. However, ITV did a lot of research, including a report called Reactions to Sesame Street in Britain, 1971. They decided to show Sesame Street for a limited time. Later, in the 1980s, the show moved to Channel 4 and stayed there until 2001. It was then replaced by a show called The Hoobs.
The 1971 report said that teachers really disliked Sesame Street, but parents and young children liked it more. The report doubted if the show's teaching methods were good. It agreed with the BBC that the UK already had high-quality children's TV. However, it also noted that the big public debate around Sesame Street actually helped improve children's television in Britain. The report also suggested that British TV producers should learn from Sesame Street and create shows based on what their audience wanted.
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The BBC's Decision
Sesame Street first appeared on TV in the US on November 10, 1969. It received good reviews, caused some debate, and had high ratings. Soon after, TV producers from many countries asked the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), which made Sesame Street, to create versions for their own countries. These became known as "international co-productions". Within six months of the show's US debut, British producers began discussing whether to broadcast the American show or make a British version.
The BBC didn't like Sesame Street from the start. They refused to air a British version, saying they already had children's shows that did the same things. Throughout 1970 and 1971, there were many heated discussions in the British media about showing Sesame Street in the UK. Joan Ganz Cooney, who created Sesame Street, hoped a British version could offer British children "something more telling than The Magic Roundabout". But Monica Sims, who was in charge of children's programming at the BBC, said, "This sounds like brainwashing, and a dangerous way to use television." A teacher in North London showed the series to over 400 educators. The most common negative comment was that Sesame Street was "brash and vulgar but utterly lovable."
On November 24, 1970, a short part of the show was shown at a meeting for the Society for Film and Television Arts. One person said, "There is not much chance of it appearing on British television, but the Department of Education and Science was looking into using the programme in schools." Cooney explained her idea: "One day we thought: Can't we use commercials, not to sell products but to teach letters and numbers."
As the public debate grew, Monica Sims wrote a letter to The Guardian newspaper. She explained the BBC's decision and their problems with Sesame Street. The BBC said that even though they showed other American and international programs, Sesame Street was made specifically for American children. They felt American children didn't have as many high-quality children's shows as British children did. Sims and the BBC also thought the show's idea was what they called "wallpaper television." This meant it encouraged children to watch TV for many hours, which British shows tried to avoid.
The BBC also disliked Sesame Street's didactic (meaning "teaching in a lecture-like way") methods. They felt this was not right for mass media. The BBC was against children's shows that told young children exactly what to learn. So, airing Sesame Street would go against twenty years of how they made children's TV in the UK. Finally, Sims and the BBC believed that because Sesame Street was "carefully geared" to help children from less fortunate backgrounds in the US, some words, like "trash" and "zip code", would confuse four-year-olds in Britain.
The BBC's decision received both praise and disappointment. It also led to an investigation into how the BBC planned its TV schedule. The controversy also stopped plans for a British co-production of the show. In 1974, the BBC did show 13 episodes of The Electric Company, another show from the CTW, for eight weeks. They said they aired it because it was part of a school curriculum and came with extra learning materials like books. With the BBC refusing to air Sesame Street, the discussion about its place on British TV moved to ITV.
ITV's Approach
After the BBC said no to Sesame Street, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) thought about giving it a spot on ITV. They decided more research was needed. In March and April 1971, HTV broadcast a three-week test run on weekdays. The show was liked, but the ITA still felt more testing was needed. They passed the question to The Authority Schools Committee. This committee allowed LWT, Grampian Television, and HTV to broadcast another test run of Sesame Street. They made it clear that this permission "should not be seen as an educational approval of Sesame Street for British children." HTV's second trial ran daily for three weeks in December 1971. LWT and Grampian showed it for thirteen weeks on Saturday mornings from September to December 1971.
After these trials, Grampian stopped showing the series until July 1978, while HTV continued to air it. LWT also continued to air it but stopped in August 1973, then brought it back on October 15, 1977. The ITA and The Authority Schools Committee agreed to let both companies keep broadcasting the series after their study finished in March 1971. Three more ITV companies agreed to air it the following year. Like the BBC, some ITV companies were against Sesame Street. Some even created their own original children's shows. At the same time, the British government decided to require more hours of children's programming in the afternoon.
In 1974, Associated Television aired a special Sesame Street show during prime time called Julie on Sesame Street, featuring Julie Andrews. This special was filmed in the UK at the Elstree Studios.
When Sesame Street Aired in Britain
Because ITV had a federal structure, meaning each TV company could decide what shows to broadcast, it took over 15 years for Sesame Street to be shown in all parts of the UK. The show was usually broadcast on Saturday mornings or during weekday school holidays. ITV continued to broadcast the series until early 1987. After an eight-month break, it reappeared daily on Channel 4 from November 30, 1987, until March 2001. It then continued to air on Saturday mornings until September 22, 2001, when it was replaced by The Hoobs.
- HTV - March 29, 1971
- LWT and Grampian - September 25, 1971
- Granada - July 8, 1972
- UTV - January 6, 1973
- Westward Television - May 1973 (moved to Saturdays in summer 1974)
- ATV - July 6, 1977
- Southern Television - November 19, 1977
- Border - July 8, 1978
- STV - March 16, 1979
- Anglia Television - July 1981
- Yorkshire - March 29, 1982
- Tyne Tees - July 5, 1982
- Channel Television - 1986
The 1971 Report on Sesame Street
The report Reactions to Sesame Street in Britain 1971 was ordered by the ITA. It was done with the National Council for Educational Technology and three ITV companies. The report was not shared widely at first. The ITA thought that since there were more British children's shows, there was less need for Sesame Street in the UK. However, both ITV and the BBC used the report to make their children's programming better. The report found that teachers "abhorred" (strongly disliked) Sesame Street because they felt it questioned and possibly harmed educational goals. It also doubted how successful the show's teaching methods were.
Frank Blackwell, who directed primary education programs for the National Council for Educational Technology, led the research for the ITA's report. Both children and their parents were asked about their experiences with Sesame Street. Experts also watched children's reactions while they watched the show. They found that 98-99% of young viewers enjoyed it. They were surprised that most of the negative comments came from teachers. Most parents had good things to say.
The report mentioned concerns raised by Americans like John Holt about Sesame Street's teaching methods and the research used by the CTW. The investigators recognized the show's success in the US. However, they agreed with the BBC that both the ITA and the BBC had over twenty years of experience making high-quality educational shows for children. In the US, Sesame Street was the first "proper pre-school television programme" ever made. The report also agreed that the BBC's carefully chosen imported shows met their high standards.
In the UK, the groups involved in making educational TV shows were small. This made it easy for them to work together and share knowledge. Because of this, it was hard to compare Sesame Street with British-made shows. However, Sesame Street did encourage the BBC and ITV to create more educational shows for children. The report suggested that British shows should follow the example of Sesame Street's creators. They should change their show's content based on what their audience thought. The report concluded that without Sesame Street, these discussions and changes to children's programming in both America and Britain would not have happened so quickly.
The ITA's report found that most parents said their children were interested in Sesame Street. Parents also reported that children reacted well to the show, found it funny, paid attention, and learned from watching it. Most children asked to watch the show again. Parents' criticisms included that the show's pace was too fast, some songs were not good, and children were confused about using upper and lower case letters. Half of the parents thought a fifty-minute children's show was too long. Parents' criticisms of Sesame Street changed depending on the region. For example, 64% of parents in one test area and 43% in another thought the show was too American.
Overall, young viewers gave positive feedback. The report found that children paid the most attention during the show's jazz parts. Their favorite Muppets were Bert and Ernie. In one area, some children found it confusing when the show used letter names instead of sounds, especially after they started school.
Sesame Street Today in the UK
After Channel 4 stopped showing Sesame Street on regular TV, it appeared on satellite and cable channels. These included Nick Jr. from 2000 to 2003 and the Disney Channel.
As of 2011, Sesame Street was mostly shown in BBC Northern Ireland, which has aired Sesame Tree since 2008. Also, TG4 showed Tar ag Spraoi Sesame in Northern Ireland from 2007. A spin-off of the show, Play with Me Sesame, was shown on Playhouse Disney. Channel 5 aired three segments from the show: Elmo's World, Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, and Abby's Flying Fairy School. Channel 5 preferred to use British voices for their imported shows and felt that using puppets was old-fashioned. The BBC still stands by its original decision, believing that other UK children's shows cover similar learning topics and values.
In 2014, CBeebies launched a Sesame Street spin-off called The Furchester Hotel. This show included Elmo and Cookie Monster, along with new characters. The second season brought in more Sesame Street characters as guests at the hotel.
Sesame Street returned to UK television on Cartoon Network's sister channel for younger kids, Cartoonito, on November 7, 2016. It aired for six months, with the last episodes in April 2017. In December 2018, a segment called Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck started airing on Tiny Pop. Then, another segment, Elmo's Wonderful World, first aired on the same channel on January 1, 2020. Cookie’s Crumby Pictures and Super Grover 2.0 joined on September 1. This block of shows was called "Sesame Workshop."
On May 30, 2020, BBC One aired a special half-hour show called Elmo's Playdate. This show was made because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first time Sesame Street was broadcast on the BBC's main TV network. The special also aired earlier that month on CBeebies.
