Play Safe (public information film)

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Play Safe is a series of three public information films (PIFs) directed by David Eady and broadcast in the United Kingdom from 1978 highlighting to children the dangers of playing near overhead power lines and electrical substations. The broadcasts were sponsored by the Electricity Council, as part of wider efforts to educate the public about electricity. In a fashion typical for such broadcasts of the period, the films were made to be frightening for young children^[1] – depicting graphic electrocution scenes well before the 9pm watershed for programmes unsuitable for children. Television transmission was typically most frequent during school holidays and at times of day dedicated to children's programming.

The three individual films were in fact part of a longer 10-minute film shown in schools to highlight the dangers of electricity. The film was hosted by two animated characters, a Wise Owl voiced by actor Brian Wilde, famous for his roles in Last of the Summer Wine and Porridge, who indoctrinates a younger bird, Robin, voiced by Bernard Cribbins, in electrical dangers and then shows the three films as demonstration of the hazards described. The inclusion of these animated characters provided a reassuring presence to younger children who would have been potentially traumatized by the events depicted in the films.

Within this longer film, all three separate films differ slightly from their individual TV broadcasts with very minor changes to the music. However, the first film 'Frisbee' is notable also for about 5 seconds of additional footage not broadcast on TV, showing more of the character 'Jimmy' forcing entry through the sub-station fence, and also an additional graphic shot of his legs on fire after his electrocution.

The longer 10-minute film also features a fourth incident not released as a separate stand-alone TV PIF. This focuses on the consequences of vandalism to electrical infrastructure and opens with a teenage boy, encouraged by friends, throwing a chain up to a 132,000 volt pylon, causing an explosive short circuit which in turn triggers an area blackout. This knocks out power to local traffic lights, which results in a young girl being knocked off her bike and killed. It subsequently transpires that the dead girl is in fact the younger sister of the teenage vandal who caused the power cut.

Within both the 10-minute film and as a stand-alone PIF, the film 'Frisbee' is not narrated. However, in both formats, the other two films are narrated by Brian Wilde and also commence and end with a white on black caption with the words 'Play Safe' placed between two prongs between which a violent arc of electricity then occurs.

The 'Play Safe' campaign was superseded in 1988 by a new film called 'Powerful Stuff' which was also presented in both a longer version for schools and separate stand-alone PIFs for television broadcast. This featured brief clips from the earlier film. The tone of this later campaign, whilst broadly aimed at all ages, placed the emphasis on older children and teenagers.