Stop-Go is one of those vintage, forgotten programmes which has proved frustratingly elusive for me over the years. Part of the See-Saw lunchtime children's schedule, Stop-Go ran for two series and concerned itself with, as the wonderfully jazzy theme informed us, the fact that "wheels go fast, and wheels go slow!"
Stop-Go was repeated several times throughout the 1980s, yet home recordings seem to be as rare as hen's teeth. In fact, very few have surfaced at all. Neil Miles managed to unearth an episode a decade ago and, aside from that, I've seen little more than a clip or two over the years. Even the BFI Archive came up empty-handed. Fortunately, another episode has recently turned up online.
It was part of this wider collection of children's recordings, but I decided to isolate the Stop-Go episode as it was such a notable find. The original upload had also been stretched to 16:9 proportions, which made my archivists instincts recoil in horror. Thankfully, restoring it to its original 4:3 ratio was a simple job.
So, here it is for people to enjoy. Narrated by Ben Thomas, this episode explores the world of tugboats. It feels very different to the rest of the See-Saw schedule, resembling more of a BBC Schools programme. But its simple, gentle approach provides an intriguing glimpse into the shipping industry of the period. Hopefully, more episodes will eventually turn up.
P.s. I recently wrote a love letter to the lunchtime children's schedules of the mid-1980s, so please click here to take a read.
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