Playbox (1987 TV series)

Playbox was a British preschool television programme aimed at children aged two to five. It aired on ITV as part of the Children's ITV block, first broadcasting on 5 January 1987 and ending on 4 February 1992. The show was produced by Central Independent Television and marked the first Ragdoll television programme made for ITV. It was created by Leslie Pitt and Anne Wood, who had recently established Ragdoll Productions.

The series was set inside a box coloured red, yellow, and blue. The main characters, Cat and Dog, were puppets operated by puppeteer Marcus Clarke from within the box. They would draw pictures, tell stories, sing songs, and play slapstick jokes on each other. Cat was voiced by Pat Coombs, and Dog by Keith Chegwin.

Each storytime segment featured episodes from the French stop-motion animation series Pépin la bulle, which originally ran from 1969 to 1970. In the English version, the character Brigantine was renamed Polly, while Garatakeu, Fouretout, and Clapotis became Monkey, Toucan, and Hippo respectively. These episodes were slightly shorter than the original French versions. The Pépin la bulle storytime segments were not included on any VHS releases of the show.

Playbox was one of several children's programmes that appeared on ITV during weekday lunchtimes between midday and 12:30 pm, alongside shows such as Rainbow, Rod, Jane and Freddy, Allsorts, Rosie and Jim, and The Riddlers.