Concept and creative process
In 1994, BBC Childrens commissioned the BBC Resources broadcast design team in Manchester to produce the title sequence and programme kit of parts for the classic Children’s TV programme ‘Why Don’t You...?’ The programme was presented by children for children and aimed at sharing ideas to do different fun activities and games during the holidays, rather than children spending their time just watching TV. The key clients at BBC Children’s were executive producer Richard Simkin, producer Dominic Macdonald and editor Malcolm Cowan. Designers Gregory Millar and Susan Frost were supported by senior designer Mark Allen.
The title sequence shows a large cardboard box spinning and falling from a blue sky, watched by a group of children and their animated pet model dog. Other falling objects - including pencils, tomatoes, plastic spades and bananas - are caught by the children. The box lands and we see that it’s addressed to “Why Don’t You...? BBC TV, PO Box 88, London W12 6BB”. The children and the dog watch and catch, and more objects fall from the sky as they work on different art activities. Using a giant pair of scissors, the children cut the rope wrapped around the box, and open it to show a large colourful banner. More objects continue to fall, including false teeth, giant dice, footballs, and paintbrushes. A boy filming the objects with a video camera pulls focus on a toy cake made up of six slices. Children’s hands pull the slices away to reveal the ‘Why Don’t You...?’ logo on a plate. We then see the children unfurling the colourful banner, carrying it above their heads. As they march across a map of the United Kingdom we see the banner has the colourful ‘Why Don’t You...?’ logo on it. The sequence was edited and post-produced on Quantel Harry at 4:2:2 in Manchester.