Child's Play - episodes and excerpts

Start 'Em Young

By Peter Sharp 25/09/2025

Child’s Play was an early series on South Pacific Television, a production that has slipped into obscurity.  One inaccurate entry on IMDB, and (until now) nothing on NZ On Screen. It was a competition for primary school children, with scripts solicited throughout New Zealand for pupils to submit a short drama, six to eight minutes long, with no limit on subject or style. There was on-air judging, and the winner and runner-up were brought to Auckland with their families for a prize presentation.

Herbie (Derek Ward) tries to milk a cow in Herbie the Tramp.

Two seasons were produced, the first in 1977 and the second the following year. Series one was fronted by actors Ilona Rodgers and Selwyn Crockett, and series two by Alice Worsley. I cannot remember whose idea Child's Play was originally — I suspect it was Olwynne Macrae, the drama department's first script editor — but both series were produced by Roger Le Mesurier. I directed the first season, and was joined on the second by Chris Bailey and Mike Smith. 

Olwynne created an intricate, colour-coded system to classify the mass of scripts that poured in, to help Roger make a decision on which entries to produce. Unfortunately when he arrived from Australia for his first production at SPTV, Roger had to confess that he was colour-blind. But he was up to the selection task. The creativity displayed was astounding. The scripts covered every known form of drama; comedy, adventure, mystery, tragedy, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romance. It was notable how many were macabre; worth another instalment of Cinema of Unease?

Tani Kawara (Tina Cross) in the Tani Kawara story.

Looking back now, I’m amazed at the resources invested in them. Each drama was given full production treatment: sets, costumes, props, locations, and some of the leading actors of the day. Studio scenes were shot on purpose-built sets with three cameras, vision-switched. The location shoots ranged everywhere within an hour’s drive of home base in Hargreaves Street, central Auckland, with a full film crew and catering.

It was comparatively early times for television dramas to be shot in public, and the sight of a working crew was a cause of great interest — excitement even. These were the days before a briefly closed street inspired general rage, or councils charged hefty location fees; a bottle of wine could secure a private suburban house, even in the better suburbs. We were welcomed everywhere. An elderly Birkenhead resident took us in for The Postman. Unhappy that her garden was not at its best in mid-winter, she had been up since six am attaching flowers and foliage to the bare branches. Unaware of the catering van in Little Shoal Bay, she also had morning tea ready.

Mary Mute (Brian Walden) in SuperDuperHuperman.

They were not always easy shoots. SuperDuperHuperman tracked stolen cash and a villainous gang down Queen Street, across the harbour to North Head, and deep into the old tunnels. There, in a morally ambivalent moment, he went for the cash rather than a happy home life with Mary Mute, the Ugliest Girl in the World, who had the body of dancer Niki Fowler-Jones and the head of ‘The Sarge’, the show's production manager Brian Walden. Also appearing in this story was Robert Bruce, in an early performance during his transition from wrestler to stunt coordinator and actor's agent. 

For me it was a very satisfying introduction to kidult television — an area in which, under John McRae’s leadership, SPTV made a very successful speciality.

- Peter Sharp followed Child's Play by directing classic kidult dramas Children of Fire Mountain, The Fire-Raiser and The Champion, and many other shows.

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