Look and Read

Look and Read was a TV series used in schools. We had to follow a story and read along with it, and every so often the teacher would pause the video and ask questions about it.

The episodes I remember were "Badger Girl", "Dark Towers" and "The Boy from Space".

Amanda Adams

Comments




doris moris and boris! classic! i just got earth warp, through the dragons eye, badger girl ANDDDD geordie racer from www.haroldmedia.com - they do loads more for dirt cheap! woop woop
joho6513-Dec-2010, 06:16:04 PM

Best school programme ever made. I remember 'the boy from space' - very scary for the time, also remember a fairground story and another about a falcon or kestrel - all these were around 1979 - 1981
gp150908-Nov-2010, 07:18:46 PM

The one I specifically remember is the one with the creepy spaceman in it, it gave me nightmares for weeks, can't remember much else other than THAT creepy-ass man.
scunger19-Sep-2010, 05:58:02 PM

I absolutely loved Look And Read, Fairground and Boy From Space was my favourite. I have copies of both on dvd. Brilliant show.
JoJo210625-Jul-2010, 09:15:43 PM

does anyone know where i can get or buy a copy of the video? im a primary teacher in desperate need of a copy...
catherine020207-May-2010, 10:53:21 PM

Through The Dragon's Eye was a BBC Look and Read production, first aired on in 1989.

It was said to bear some resemblance to the Chronicles of Narnia. The villain of Through the Dragon's Eye is called Charn, who bears the same name as a fictional land in The Magician's Nephew, one of the Chronicles of Narnia. Talking animals add to the Narnia resemblance, as does the fact that, like Narnia, Pelamar turns to children from Earth for aid in a time of great crisis.

The story involves three children: Jenny, Amanda and Scott. They paint a mural on their school wall and then the dragon in the mural winks at them! They are consequently whizzed off to a land called Pelamar, where the dragon, named Gorwen, asks the children to help save the magical land.

In order to save Pelamar, the children, with Gorwen's help, must recover the pieces of the Veetacore (the life source of Pelamar), which recently exploded; three of the pieces have been thrown into the distant land of Widge. Until they succeed, the land of Pelamar turns barren and its inhabitants start to fade. Charn, is the "Evil One".

The instructions for the reconstruction of the Veetacore are written in a book, and the children must use their reading skills to help the Veetacore keepers - showing the young audience the importance of reading. The art of reading has been lost in Pelamar, but the Veetacore keepers do start learning to read as the series progresses.

Although the show ends with the children returning to their school at the moment they left, the presence of their notebooks and three miniature versions of the Veetons they recovered proves that the experience was genuine.


ems8525-Jan-2009, 01:52:32 PM

I am confused between Look and Read and Words and Pictures....were they one and I same? I remember Wordy, and the Magic E song! brilliant!
Bojangles16-Oct-2008, 01:53:57 PM

hi - i remember fairground and the thin man. my sister was petrifield of him. does anyone know if the bbc will be showing these again or of they are available to buy, i was 5, i have children now and how i would love to show them these look and read programmes, the greatest memories of my childhood AND NEVER FORGOTTON
loujazmilkea03-Jun-2008, 11:13:12 AM

through the dragons eye is legend, I remember geordie racer but I didn't like that one, through the dragons eye though, saving the land of Panama gotta love it!
slightlyodd13-May-2008, 12:35:02 AM

Whilst I was at primary school, I saw Sky Hunter (autumn 1979) and The Boy From Space (spring 1980).

In recent years the CBBC Channel repeated most of the Look and Read stories in its Class TV strand, I recorded and watched them. It was great seeing Sky Hunter and The Boy From Space again in my thirties, plus a load of other L&R stories:

Joe And The Sheep Rustlers
Cloud Burst
The King's Dragon
Dark Towers
Fair Ground!
Badger Girl
Geordie Racer
Through The Dragon's Eye
Earth Warp
Spywatch

and the new one that came out on BBC2 about four years ago, "Shadow Play".

Star Attraction26-Jan-2008, 09:52:22 PM

I remember Badger Girl, for some reason we all really loved that story in my class, I also vaguely remember one about a fairground or something...??..Do they still do these kinds of tings in school today?
Becky02-Oct-2006, 08:09:21 AM

RE: My last post (above/below.) I've been thinking about it, and I'm wrong! It was Look and Read. Was Charlie the violin from words and pictures then?
Niall Brady01-Oct-2006, 02:13:59 AM

Words And Pictures (Now named "Writing and Pictures", I believe) was a series by BBC schools dept., shown to kids of primary school age. (Don't think it was called Look and Read, wasn't that the one for really little kids? With Charlie the violin as opposed to Wordy the ... What exactly WAS Wordy?!) One of the series was called "Geordie Racer", and was about racing pigeons. There was another one about about life on a fairground, was it actually called "Fairground"? Theme tune (Can't believe I actually remember this!) went:#"Fair's Fair at the fairground, Fair's fair at the fairground" Duh duh duh duh duh duh!! The series had cliffhangers at the end of these stories, like "I'm going to count to three and punch you on the nose!" (Cue end music...) Made school worthwhile, and yeah, we'd all wait impatiently for the ONE tv in the school to be wheeled in, and count down the seconds to the programme starting with the on screen clock. By the time we got to "FIVE!" it was pandemonium and we were all desperate to know what was going to happen next!
Niall Brady01-Oct-2006, 01:11:45 AM

Look and Read was a great series; the best story of all was Dark Towers - I can remember all our class being glued to the TV screen and desperate to see the next instalment - brilliant!!
Avengers Fan28-Sep-2006, 12:14:24 PM

hi trudy i always remember the badger girl funny how every body remembers that one . they were good though i love it
tony19-Jul-2006, 07:12:03 PM

I remember Badger Girl! I also remember a similar schools programme about a girl and some kind of secret garden? At the end they showed how they'd made it and I was gutted to find out that the pretty soft focus was just vaseline on the lense!
Trudi Rogers17-Jul-2006, 12:46:06 AM

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