1 9 5 5 – 1 9 6 3 (UK)
560 x 16 minute episodes
Picture Book (featuring Bizzy Lizzy and Sausage the dachshund) was part of the early Watch With Mother series.
It started off the week, screening on Mondays, ahead of Andy Pandy (Tuesday), The Flowerpot Men (Wednesday), Rag, Tag & Bobtail (Thursday) and The Woodentops (Friday).
Bizzy Lizzy had somehow come into possession of a Magic Wishing Flower, which made her outlandish dreams come true but with a catch – she could only make four wishes in any day, and if she exceeded that, all of her previous wishes would automatically come undone.
Picture Book was initially hosted by Patricia Driscoll (with stories read by Charles E. Stidwell) with Vera McKechnie taking over when Driscoll left to star on Saturday afternoons as Maid Marion in ITC’s The Adventures of Robin Hood.
By 1967, with colour broadcasting on the horizon and a number of new and indeed colourful shows lined up to replace it, Picture Book had been phased out.
Bizzy Lizzy would continue to be shown in constant rotation well into the seventies, inspiring countless annuals and storybooks and a long-running strip in Pippin comic, but eventually dropped out of the schedules.
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