You and Me (TV series)

You and Me
Opening title from 1970s
Presented by	Cosmo and Dibs (1982-1992)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Producer(s)	BBC
Running time	15 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC1 1974-1983 BBC2 1983-1992
Picture format	4:3
Original release	14 January 1974 (1974-01-14) – 1992 (1992)

You and Me is a BBC television programme for pre-school children broadcast in the 1970s to 1990s. The programmes consisted of various segments intended to educate and entertain young children and included elements for early literacy and numeracy. Although the programme ended in 1992, repeats of the programme continued until 1995.

The first programme, called "Moving house", was broadcast at 10:45 am 14 January 1974 on BBC1, The series was influenced by the American series Sesame Street and the research done by The Children's Television Workshop. It also took guidance from the analysis of children's needs in The Warnock Report, 1978. It aimed therefore, in the jargon of the time, to be very much a "child-centred series" with an emphasis on a child's independence, enjoyment, and understanding. Emotional and social education were held to be as important as more traditional school skills. Relationships with the presenters, who were surrogate parents and carers, were seen as central. There was an assumption that most children watching would be in the company of an adult.

The series' original intention was to teach children safety, reading and emotional well being. The show featured a mixture of human actors and puppets. Originally it featured the actor Tony Hughes as Herbert The Handyman, along with the puppet characters Mr Bits and Pieces and Purrfecta the Cat. By the late 70s these had been replaced by a number of episodes being introduced by either:

In January 1983, two new puppets were introduced. They were a pair of friends of an uncategorisable animal species; Cosmo, a female, from the North East of England, and Dibs, male, a Londoner, who lived in a street market.

The set was based on a street market in London’s Shepherd's Bush. Each programme featured a four-minute sketch with Cosmo and Dibs on an area of child interest: sharing, eating, arguing, bullying, sleeping, bereavement, dressing up, being silly, having a row, make-believe, making poetry – there were no limits, as long as the sketch was considered relevant and useful to the target audience.