''The Appleyards'' is a British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

for children, made and transmitted fortnightly by

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

across eleven series and one special from October 1952 to April 1957, plus a revival one-off in 1960, mostly from the BBC's

Lime Grove Studios Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and ...

. It was initially produced and directed by Naomi Capon. The series was initially transmitted live on a Thursday afternoon from 4:30 to 5 p.m. with a Sunday repeat, which was the same cast giving a second live performance. From the second series onwards in 1953 it was broadcast on Saturdays. The programme told the story of the home counties family Mr. and Mrs. Appleyard and their four children: John, Janet, Margaret and Tommy. They were usually accompanied by their neighbour and best friend Ronnie Grant. It was of its time but also a groundbreaking family sitcom, popular with both adults and children alike but particularly the latter who saw it as an embodiment of their own family. The catchy light music signature tune came from the Chappell Record Library and was called "Looking Around" by Colin Smith (real name is Rhys Donald Lloyd Thomas), recorded by conductor

Robert Farnon Robert Joseph Farnon CM (24 July 191723 April 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a composer of original works (often in the light music genre), he was commissioned by film and ...

. A reunion programme, ''Christmas with the Appleyards'', went out at Christmas 1960.

Archive status

Almost all of the programme's episodes were aired live and never recorded. Only one episode (entitled "Family Treat" and originally aired on 29 December 1956) of the entire run of 77 exists in television archives as of 2017, and can be found on YouTube.

References

External links

''The Appleyards'' at Television Heaven BBC television soap operas 1950s British television soap operas British English-language television shows 1952 British television series debuts 1957 British television series endings Lost BBC episodes 1950s British children's television series {{UK-kids-tv-prog-stub