Vision On

Vision On was a British children's television programme, shown on BBC 1 from 1964 to 1977, It was designed to appeal to deaf as well as hearing viewers. Conceived by BBC producers Ursula Eason and Patrick Dowling, it replaced a monthly series called For the Deaf, and was intended to reflect changes in the education of deaf children, placing an emphasis upon communication and interaction rather than image-based storytelling alone. The main presenter was Pat Keysell, who had combined an acting career with teaching deaf children. Keysell was usually the only presenter to address the audience directly. She was later joined by Tony Hart, who encouraged viewers to send in their paintings to the Vision On gallery, which showed viewers' paintings in sequence in the middle of the programme. Other presenters at various times included Ben Benison, and Sylvester McCoy, both of whom specialized in mime in the series, and Wilf Makepeace Lunn, who appeared as an eccentric inventor of equally eccentric machines. David Cleveland appeared in filmed sequences as "the Prof".

External links

• Vision On tribute site
• British Film Institute Screen Online