His status as a Play School stalwart has long been assured, but Derek Griffiths's pathway to children's TV greatness wasn't initially smooth. Already a versatile performer on television and in theatre, he was recruited by former presenter turned producer Miranda Connell after she watched him in pantomime. Griffiths tells Radio Times: "Miranda spotted me rushing through the audience, whacking children over the head with a newspaper and invited me for an audition.
"When I got there, I had to sing a terrible song they gave me on the spot. The lovely Jonathan Cohen was on the piano, so I asked him for a 12-bar blues instead and decided to liven it up. We thought we'd be poleaxed so, when we finished, I threw my guitar in the case and ran, to avoid being told off. I got to the main doors when I heard a voice behind me, 'Where you are going? We want you!' I was in."
Thus in 1971, Griffiths joined the line-up of a show already established as a cornerstone of children's TV, with its winning formula of arts and crafts, sketches, clock, music, toys, the worlds through the various windows – round, square and arched. Griffiths, who fondly remembers his co-presenters including Brian Cant, Johnny Ball and Carol Chell, is probably best remembered for his musical offerings, but he calls himself now "a jack of all trades, master of none".
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Alongside the humans were Play School's resident toys: Humpty, dolls Jemima and Hamble, and a pair of Teds, Big and Little. Did Griffiths have a favourite? "I loved Little Ted, because he could never sit up straight, and I'd have him falling over Jemima, so I could tell him, 'Stop that. She doesn't like it.' Nice to sneak in a joke for the parents watching."
Integral to the show were the pre-filmed segments, bringing the outside world inside to viewing youngsters. Griffiths remembers: "There was nothing then for kids to do on a rainy day. I remember being stuck to the window, looking out at the world going by. I think Play School reflected that."
What does he credit for the show's huge and lasting success? "It's no different from when you watch Chaplin walking up to a banana skin, and going round it, only to trip over it. If you have a child's attention, give them the information, then they laugh, and they're happy."
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Griffiths's run on Play School lasted 10 years. He went on to present other children's programmes as well as branching out in other directions, including performing on stage with the RSC at Stratford. His career has taken in appearing as Freddie Smith in Coronation Street to joining the London cast of The Mousetrap. He credits his time on Play School for teaching him the importance of "fluidity, not seizing up".
He remembers a producer throwing him some plasticine and telling him to fill two minutes: "I just started moulding the plasticine, playing a guessing game. It turned out to be a bit rude, and I could hear the crew all giggling, but I somehow kept a straight face."
More than 40 years later, Play School is never very far away. Griffiths reports having some double glazing installed in his home when the foreman approached him. "He tapped me on the shoulder and said with a big smile on his face, 'Don't you want an arched window, mate?'"
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