Julie Stevens, who has died aged 87 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease, has a place in the history of children’s television as a presenter of the under-fives series Play School – fronting 595 episodes, a feat exceeded only by Carol Chell and Brian Cant.
The first programme broadcast on BBC Two when the channel was launched in 1964, it quickly caught on with preschool children and their parents, who were introduced to the show with the words: “Here’s a house, here’s a door. Windows: one, two, three, four. Ready to knock? Turn the lock. It’s Play School.”
