One of the Giants in ITV/Channel 4 Schools Programming...It's Kinda Sad to Say That but it's True!

Stop Look Listen "Railways"




I was going to post about a titles only video about the same programme, but even better, I found a full episode from 1986. "Stop Look Listen" was an ITV Schools programme which educated and helped children to learn about the outside world, really. Although the title and opening credits come across as a glorified public information film about crossing the road, being wary of cars. This episode doesn't distance too much away from the subject of transport, with the focus on trains. You may hear a well-known voice, it's Chris "Do you want to Ask the Audience, Phone a Friend or 50/50?" Tarrant, who was a large presence on the show throughout the 1980s. Tarrant featured as an out-of-vision narrator since the second series in 1975. However the show's first series was in 1971.

In this clip, we see probably one of the best regional idents at the time, of Central Television, formerly ATV. The beginning credits are cut off, which were fairly interesting. The episode, it's a fairly mundane task for a teacher and his pupils, who are taking a trip in a train from Birmingham to Kidderminster. However, Tarrant vocally and visually point us to the inner workings of the railway, how a signal box works etc. Which was what certain school programmes were good at, making mundane items more compelling, without too of a fuss or budget or any great frills, and no need for a sexy host!

It's hard to find much information about the later years of "Stop, Look and Listen" (IMDB only lists it as a 1977 show), but the programme survived the jump to Channel 4 in 1987, still under the "ITV Schools moniker", and the end of ITV Schools on Four in 1993. It ran into the 2000's along with other not-so long running programmes like "Scientific Eye" until Channel 4 decided to turn it's attention from children to the unemployed "yoof" in 2007.