For the Children

This article is about the British television programme. For the political phrase, see Think of the children. For the Chinese film, see Pretty Big Feet.

For the Children is a British television programme targeted at children of school age. First broadcast on the BBC Television Service in 1937 at 3pm as the opening programme for afternoon viewing (as television would generally be broadcast from 3pm to 4pm and then later, from 9pm to 10pm). For its first two years the series was ten minutes in length. Suspended in 1939 along with the rest of BBC Television for the duration of World War II, it returned on 9 June 1946, running on Sunday afternoons and expanded to twenty minutes in length.

The series featured a variety of different presenters and acts: story readings, puppet shows, songs. On Saturday 13 March 1937, George Queen's Pantomime Goose was shown in the For the Children slot, the opening programme before In Your Garden came on at 3:10pm. In October 1946 the "hugely popular" children's puppet Muffin the Mule made his television debut on the show, accompanied by his "friend" Annette Mills. The puppet's character was devised by the puppeteer Ann Hogarth.

For the Children was last broadcast in December 1952, when it was suspended by other BBC children's television programmes, including Watch with Mother.

Further reading

• Vahimagi, Tise (1994), British Television: An Illustrated Guide, Oxford University Press / British Film Institute, ISBN 0-19-818336-4