Rainbow (TV series)
British children's television series
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.
The British series was developed in house by Thames Television. 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.
Premise
Each episode of Rainbow revolved around a particular activity or situation that arose in the Rainbow House, where the main characters lived.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Rainbow (TV series)” is british children's television series. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Rainbow, series and British, not as a finished interpretation.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7284563. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972, 1992, 1994 and 1997.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rainbow (TV series)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.