Take Hart

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Take Hart
Take Hart.jpg
Final title card, used from 1982 to 1983
Starring Tony Hart
Opening theme"Left Bank Two" by the Noveltones (1977–1982)
"Passion Punch" by Stanley Myers (1982–1983)
Ending theme"Cavatina" by John Williams
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series8
No. of episodes102
Production
Running time30mins (Special: 60mins)
Original release
Network BBC1
Release15 February 1977 (1977-02-15) –
30 December 1983 (1983-12-30)
Related
Vision On
The Amazing Adventures of Morph
Hartbeat

Take Hart is a British children's television programme about art presented by Tony Hart. It took over from Vision On , and ran from 1977 until 1983. [1]

Contents

Format

Tony Hart on set of Take Hart, c. 1970s Take Hart 1970s.jpg
Tony Hart on set of Take Hart, c. 1970s

The programme featured Hart and the animated Plasticine character Morph, and other characters created by David Sproxton like 'Smoulder the Moulder', which was a lump of mould which would create props by 'spraying' them out of a spray can. The only other human to appear on a regular basis was Mr. Bennett, the caretaker, played by Colin Bennett. The programme won a BAFTA award for Hart in 1984.

As well as demonstrating small-scale projects (the type that viewers might be able to do), Hart also created large-scale artworks on the TV studio floor and even used beaches and other open spaces as 'canvases' (to be viewed from a camera-crane). This idea was later adopted by Art Attack , which began in 1990.

A regular feature of the programme was 'The Gallery', which displayed artworks sent in by young viewers. The easy-listening vibraphone music accompanying this feature – "Left Bank Two", composed by Wayne Hill – has passed into British TV musical lore. In later series, "Left Bank Two" alternated with John Williams' recording of "Cavatina", and in the final three series, the theme music was replaced by the more reggae-like "Passion Punch", composed by Stanley Myers, and The Gallery music was replaced by "Marguerite", by Bob Morgan, which is also well-remembered by many viewers. [2]

Demise

By the end of the eighth series in December 1983, Hart felt that the format of the programme, which essentially continued with much of the format of its predecessor Vision On, had become somewhat outdated and routine. Despite the award of a BAFTA in early 1984, viewing figures for Take Hart by 1983 had gradually fallen since the series' heyday in the late 1970s. In an attempt to update the image of the series, Take Hart was dropped in December 1983, and replaced by the relatively more popular series Hartbeat .

Some 2 inch Quadruplex videotape master copies of Take Hart episodes were irretrievably junked by Adam Lee of the BBC archives in 1993 on the assumption that they were 'no use' and that examples of some other episodes were sufficient. A few months later, access to the material was requested by the head of Children's BBC's light entertainment department for a documentary on Tony Hart.[ citation needed ]

Series guide

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References

  1. ↑ Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 236–240. ISBN   1903111277.
  2. ↑ "UK | Magazine | A bit of vibraphone nostalgia". BBC News. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
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