Puppets of Bill, Penelope and the letter P star in this episode of Granada TV's early years' school literacy programme

Getting to watch television at school always seemed a treat, even if it was an educational programme. School broadcasts began in 1957 in Britain, first on ITV and soon after on the BBC, bringing audiovisual learning into the classroom without the need of a film projector. The It's Fun to Read series, produced by the Granada franchise, is a charming example of how colour could add appeal and, just as importantly, visual definition to early years literacy programmes.

The puppets are filmed mostly in static poses with magical appearances, limited camera moves, and some basic puppetry taking the place of more expensive and time-consuming stop-motion animation. The 26 episodes were designed to be watched in sequence, with the reading requirements becoming more advanced across the series. Accompanying the series was a set of 12 reading books and separate teacher's guide, which contained the full commentary of Keith Gardner's clever participatory narrative commentary. Repeated multiple times in the 1970s, the series was the last broadcast in 1997 on the shortlived Granada Plus digital channel.