Within 18 months he was working for ATV as a presenter of children's shows, sports magazines and schools' programmes.
In 1968 he moved to Thames Television and began presenting Magpie, a new children's programme, with Susan Stranks and Pete Brady.
[1] These included: Problems (1976–77), a programme on sexual issues, firstly with Claire Rayner and then with Jenny Conway and Paul Brown; Drive-In with Shaw Taylor (1973–78) and its successor Wheels (1980–81); Miss Thames Television; 1776, a ITV programme on the US bicentenary; and the award-winning historical series English Garden, narrated by Sir John Gielgud.
[2] For nine years Bastable presented the consumer protection series Money-Go-Round, and also presented shows such as Mind Over Matter, a programme he devised with Kit Pedler that investigated the paranormal, and the computing series Database as well as 4 Computer Buffs.
[1] He also wrote mini-history books for children on the 15th and 16th-century nautical explorers John Cabot and Ferdinand Magellan.