Rainbow (TV series)

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Rainbow
Genre	Educational, Comedy
Created by	Pamela Lonsdale
Presented by	David Cook Geoffrey Hayes
Starring	John Leeson Stanley Bates Malcolm Lord Richard Robinson Paul Cullinan Peter Hawkins Roy Skelton Violet Philpott Ronnie Le Drew Telltale Rod Burton Jane Tucker Matthew Corbett Roger Walker Freddy Marks
Opening theme	“Rainbow” by Telltale
Ending theme	various (normally the instrumental of the Rainbow theme tune)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	25
No. of episodes	1,002 (list of episodes)
Production
Production location	Teddington Studios
Running time	Typically about 15 minutes (though specials were 10 minutes longer)
Production companies	Thames Television (1972–1992) Tetra Films for HTV (1994–1997)
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	16 October 1972 (1972-10-16) – 24 March 1997 (1997-03-24)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Rainbow is a British children's television series, created by Pamela Lonsdale, which ran from 16 October 1972 until 6 March 1992, made by Thames Television. The series was revived by Tetra Films from 10 January 1994 until 24 March 1997, in two different formats from the original Thames Television series, with differing cast members. The series was originally conceived as a British equivalent of Sesame Street.^[1]

The British series was developed in house by Thames Television, and had no input from the Children's Television Workshop.^[2] It was intended to develop language and social skills for pre-school children and went on to win the Society of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Children's Programme in 1975. It aired five times weekly, originally twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays, then switched to Tuesdays and Fridays, and finally once weekly at 12:10 on Fridays on the ITV network.

The show had three producers over its lifetime – Pamela Lonsdale, Charles Warren and Joe Boyer.

The original Thames series has gained cult status and continues to get frequent mentions on radio and television. A few DVDs have been produced, including one celebrating 30 Years of Rainbow.