Alphabet Zoo

History

Alphabet Zoo made its debut on 10 January 1983, running for 16 episodes. For the series, Ralph McTell composed 26 songs, each tied to a different letter of the alphabet. Stephen Leahy served as producer, Frank Hayes as director, and Valerie Pye handled the illustrations. The writing team consisted of seven people, but only two—Diane Wilmer and Linda Thornber—had any television background before this project. The remaining five writers were Anne Yates, Jeffrey Flynn, Nicholas Symons, Amanda Webb, and Chris Galer. Paul Danson designed the show’s set, which was constructed at Granada Television’s studio. The Stage and Television Today noted that this set was considerably larger than what children’s programmes typically use. Broadcasts Belkis Bhegani described it as both expensive and lavish, featuring a Bernese mountain dog named Duster the Dog, along with fountains and ponds. A second series followed, lasting 27 weeks, with Lorne Magory directing; Magory had previously worked on well-known British shows like Press Gang, Life Force, and Emmerdale. In March 1983, a hardcover book tied to the series was released, which included an extended play record with four songs. Later, in 1994, another book titled The Complete Alphabet Zoo came out, featuring McTell’s songs such as “Fergus the Frog,” “Ollie the Otter,” and “Yuri the Yak.” Lahri Bond of Baltimore remarked that the recording contains some brilliant turns of phrase and predicted that parents, not just children, would want to listen to it again as soon as it finishes. About a decade after Alphabet Zoo ended, ITV Carlton revived the concept with a similar series called Alphabet Castle, which aired from September 1993 to December 1995. The original show also reached international audiences, broadcasting on channels like TVNZ 1 and TVNZ 2 in New Zealand, RTB in Brunei, GBC in Gibraltar, TV1 and TV2 in Malaysia, and on BFBS and SSVC Television in Germany.