Known in the short form as PIFs, they were government-commissioned television commercials mainly, but not exclusively, aimed at children that had begun on television in the 1960s. But the 70s were most definitely their heyday, and you may even have found yourself recently quoting them without even realising it
John Winterson Richards chooses his own personal choice of ten classic television shows that had a major influence on our viewing habits and the type of programmes that followed them.
In 1964, at the height of Beatlemania in the UK, The Beatles took America by storm when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. And nothing would ever be the same again.
Every TV show where The Beatles appeared on British screens from 1962 to 1970.
How television funded the world's greatest theme park
Andrew Cobby remembers 1983: VCRs, Columbo and Top of the Pops.
The story of Britain's foremost drama series - Armchair Theatre
Andrew Cobby takes a humorous look at 1970s daytime TV: Crown Court, A Handful of Songs and Nancy Kominski - who wouldn't want to skip school for that?
In spite of all the major domestic news stories of 1963; The Great Train Robbery, The Profumo Affair, everything else was eclipsed by the world shattering events in Dallas Texas on 22nd November.
Exploring the history of the scripted crime shows that we watch on our TV screens today which owe much to television's innovation of the 1950s.