Today’s blog post will feature a very unique and sweet children’s TV show from the 1960’s-1970’s era – a British program that featured art, surreal humor, and all sorts of wonderful imaginative diversions.
Oh, and it was designed so that hearing-impaired children could enjoy it just as much as their hearing-abled friends.
Welcome to Vision On.
Host Pat Keysell would introduce each episode’s theme, while artist Tony Hart and mime Sylvester McCoy (yes, Doctor Who’s Sylvester McCoy) would participate in artwork and skits around that specific theme.
Here’s Vision On’s first episode, which features Tony Hart’s brilliant and innovative artwork wrapped around the theme of the letter M.
And by keeping the dialogue to a minimum, the show could be easily exported to other countries where English wasn’t the predominant language. Such as this version, retitled Déclic.
The crazy thing is, I remember Vision On actually airing in Boston, when I would visit my Grandma Betty during the summer to get away from my toxic home life. And these shows were soothing and calming and always piqued my interest. Maybe this show was one of the earliest moments in my discovery of art and all its wonderful possibilities.
I’m definitely going with that.
Chuck The Writer 
Looks like something I could look into—–and will.
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Great post! I grew up on this stuff in Canada on public TV during the 80s, and the variety and inclusivity was not lost on me -even back then. Thank you for the reminder!
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