How a Power Cut Made Play School BBC2's First Show

When BBC2 was supposed to launch at 7:20 PM on April 20, 1964, executives had planned an evening of sophisticated entertainment: Soviet comedian Arkady Raikin, a Cole Porter musical, and a fireworks finale. Instead, viewers got absolutely nothing—thanks to a fire at Battersea Power Station that plunged West London into darkness just 35 minutes before airtime.

The next morning at 11:00 AM, BBC2 quietly limped onto the airwaves with Play School, a new children's programme featuring presenters, toys, and songs aimed at preschoolers. It wasn't glamorous, but it made history as the first full programme on Britain's second television channel.

The Launch Night Disaster

The power cut couldn't have been timed worse. At around 6:45 PM, a massive electrical failure originating from Battersea knocked out Television Centre and much of West London. Engineers scrambled, producers panicked, and newsreader Gerald Priestland was dispatched to the unaffected studios at Alexandra Palace to deliver brief bulletins explaining the situation.

These emergency news segments—starting around 7:25 PM—were technically the first content transmitted on BBC2, but they were hardly the grand opening anyone had envisioned. At 10:00 PM, the BBC officially postponed the launch until the following morning.

Play School Steps In

By the time power was restored, the original primetime schedule was impossible. So BBC2 opened with what was available: Play School, created by Joy Whitby and designed for preschool children. The show featured the now-iconic round, square, and arched windows, along with toys, stories, and songs that would become staples of British childhood for the next 24 years.

The postponed entertainment lineup—The Alberts, Arkady Raikin, and Kiss Me, Kate—finally aired that evening with minor adjustments. But the damage to BBC2's reputation was done: Britain's shiny new channel had been upstaged by a power station fire and rescued by a puppet and some nursery rhymes.

An Accidental Legacy

Play School ran until 1988, becoming one of the longest-running children's programmes in British television history. Its accidental debut turned into a defining moment: while BBC2 was designed to be highbrow and experimental, it was a humble kids' show that actually got it on the air.

So was Play School the first programme on BBC2? Sort of. If you count emergency news bulletins, then no. If you mean the first proper, scheduled programme, then absolutely—and it happened entirely by accident.