Concept and creative process
‘Jackanory' was a BBC children's television series which was a daily programme originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996, which featured children's stories, brought to life by actors. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading and the show’s title came from an old English nursery rhyme. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965. The show’s opening varied little over the years. It was shot live in the studio with a camera looking at a moving pattern of artwork, relevant to the story about to be read, created by a motorised kaleidoscope machine. The music and voice over repetition of the name ‘Jackanory’ and the type font used for the title were also consistent elements of the opener.
Stories varied with the amount of illustrations that needed to be created. The script and story were discussed to establish the amount of illustrations required. It was an extremely tight turn-around. The size of some of the illustrations created was up to 40cm deep by 60 cm wide. Gouache, water-colour, washback, acrylic and collage were used and each story would need many illustrations to carry the whole narrative. Camera and studio instructions were written on the back. Illustrations were created weekly to support the stories, using all styles and mediums. Presentation Department created a vast amount of bespoke illustrations for both 'Jackanory' and 'Play School'. Later a separate Children's illustration Group was created within the Graphic Design Department under Senior Designer Hilary Hayton, which included a number of designer/illustrators such as Mina Martinez, Clare Beaton, Graham McCallum, Paul Birkbeck, Lawrence Henry and Tom Brooks.