Sesame Street premiered on public broadcasting television stations in the US on 10 November 1969,[1] to positive reviews, some controversy, and high ratings.
[3] The BBC disliked the series from the very beginning and refused to air a British version, claiming that there were already children's television programmes that accomplished the same goals as Sesame Street.
[4] Monica Sims, head of children's programming at the BBC at the time, stated, "This sounds like indoctrination, and a dangerous extension of the use of television".
[5] A teacher in North London showed the series to over 400 educators and reported that the most negative feedback was that Sesame Street was "brash and vulgar but utterly lovable".
[7] As the public debate over the series increased, Sims wrote a letter of reply in The Guardian outlining the BBC's decision and its objections regarding Sesame Street.
Finally, Sims and the BBC believed that since Sesame Street was "carefully geared" to the needs of disadvantaged children in the U.S., much of the terminology, including the words "trash" and "zip code", would confuse four-year-olds in Britain.
After the BBC rejected Sesame Street, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) considered giving it a network slot on ITV, after concluding that further research was needed.
Reactions to Sesame Street in Britain 1971[12] was a report commissioned by the ITA in association with the National Council for Educational Technology and three ITV companies.
In the UK, the organisations involved in the production of educational television programmes were small, so it was easy for them to work together, thus forming a pool of knowledge accessible to few outside the industry.
The report recommended that British shows follow the example of the producers and creators of Sesame Street, and adjust the content of their programmes based upon their audience's feedback.
The report concluded that without Sesame Street, discussion would not have occurred, and the changes to both American and British children's programming would not have happened as quickly.
Parents' criticism of the show was that the pace was too fast, that some of the songs included were poor-in-quality, and that children were confused regarding the use of upper and lower case letters.
The report found that children's attention levels were highest during the show's jazz segments, and that their favorite Muppets were Bert and Ernie.
The BBC has stood by its original decision, and its position that other children's programmes in the UK cover similar learning themes and values.
[14] In 2014, CBeebies launched a Sesame Street spin-off called The Furchester Hotel, which included Elmo and Cookie Monster as well as new characters.
[15] Sesame Street returned to UK television on Cartoon Network's sister pre-school channel, Cartoonito on 7 November 2016[16] for a six-month period, with the last episodes aired at the end of April 2017.