1963: Learn English with Walter and Connie | English By Television | BBC Archive

 

From the great BBC Archive, here's a 13-minute short TV production with "Walter and Connie," two young, good looking actors who will help you speak English. Interspersed between the live-action Walter and Connie are a series of animated bits recapping the English that has just been spoken. 

 

"In the 1960s, two of Britain's biggest global stars were pretty much unknown in the UK. Walter and Connie (Brian McDermott and Anne Lawson) were the fictional couple that helped teach English to the world and were besieged by fans on personal appearances across Europe. 

"This is the entire first episode of the English By Television series (a spin-off of the BBC's popular and successful English By Radio output, which had been running since 1943). Walter and Connie at Home was made by Claudia Productions for the BBC, in conjunction with the British Council, and was first broadcast in 1963. 

"A fascinating Archive on 4 episode looking into the history of the BBC's language learning enterprise, titled Do You Speak English?, is available on BBC Sounds - presented by none other than the real-life daughter of 'Walter', Josephine McDermott."