Child's Play - episodes and excerpts

You do have a strange taste in women. But we won't go into that now — I think the programme we're on is before 8:30 p.m.

– The detective to Superduperhuperman, in Superduperhuperman

You don't know where I live? Boy, are you dumb. I'm a Peterson. I live at the Peterson mansion.

– Bobby Peterson introduces himself curtly to Janey, In The Girl From Nowhere

Hey. It says here that a scientist thinks he let loose an epidemic in New Zealand, but that other scientists have proved him to be wrong and even sued him for disrupting the research centre. He's out of business, alright.

– A teen boy reads the newspaper to his camping colleague, in The Last Survivor

...Just this letter from me mum. She wrote slowly because she knows I can't read very fast.

– Herbie (Derek Ward) is asked for references for a prospective job, in Herbie the Tramp

The mould that's growing on the side of the footpath is exactly the same as the mould that's growing out of the plug hole in our bath! I can't find any bath cleaner to shift it . . . The mould just seems to be growing bigger and bigger every second.

– A housewife complains about her mould problem, in The Mould

Child's Play on Sunday was entertaining and imaginative — not so much for what happened in the plays, but for what the children said through them. Adult viewers sometimes fail to realise how perceptive their children are, and juvenile accounts of how their parents act and speak to one another can be embarrassing and revealing.

– Ken Coates in a review of the series, The Press, 28 March 1978

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. 

– Director Peter Sharp writes about the show, in his backgrounder

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. 

– Director Peter Sharp writes about the show, in his backgrounder