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Hop, Skip and Jump: The Story of Children's Play

Steve Humphries

Hop, Skip and Jump: The Story of Children's Play: Episode 2: Moving Indoors

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Moving Indoors

Episode 2

Episode 2: Moving Indoors

BBC Four - Hop, Skip and Jump: The Story of Children's Play, Moving Indoors

How the advent of mass TV saw a decline in outdoor play from the late 1950s onwards.

Series telling the story of children's games in 20th-century Britain concludes by showing how the advent of mass TV saw a decline in outdoor play from the late 1950s.

Two-part series which tells the story of children's outdoor games in 20th-century Britain. 

The mid to late 1950s are generally considered to be the highpoint of children's outdoor play. The benefits of the welfare state, better health care for children and an improving standard of living all helped create a final heyday of the singing street. All the traditional outdoor games - and new ones - were thriving in the cities and the countryside. 

However, outdoor play was to dramatically change from the late 1950s onwards. Mass car ownership and the advent of 'stranger danger' made the streets more perilous, while the coming of mass television provided a rival attraction - one that was favoured by all parents, as it was safe. 

Television's influence inspired a new generation of children's games that were grafted onto the old. Popular songs, fashions, adventure programmes and news stories such as the conquest of space were all turned into a myriad of games and rhymes that reflected the modern world. 

Even in the multilingual playgrounds of today, traditional games are still played, some of them with origins stretching back centuries. But they are complemented and enriched by Afro-Caribbean hip-hop raps, role plays that have been adapted from modern TV shows and dance steps from the latest music fashions.

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Two-part series telling the story of children's outdoor games in 20th-century Britain

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Hop, Skip and Jump: The Story of Children's Play

Episode 2: Moving Indoors

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