1 9 5 5 – 1 9 6 4 (UK)
120 x 45 minute episodes
Playbox used to alternate weekly with Crackerjack – with both programmes hosted by Eamon Andrews. The show was the brainchild of Freda Lingstrom who had also created Watch With Mother during her time as the BBC’s head of Children’s Television.
The magazine-style show featured quizzes and games (including The Playbox Detective Agency, in which teams of school children were given the chance to try their hands at detection), organised by Ivan Owen, plus the animated cartoon Bengo about a pet puppy and the drawings of Tony Hart.
Other regular guests included comedienne Janet Brown, storyteller Johnny Morris (in his first appearances as The Hot Chestnut Man) and artist-cum-entertainer Rolf Harris.
Hosts
Eamonn Andrews
Tony Hart
Ivan Owen
