After School (TV series)

After School was a New Zealand children's television programme that aired weekday afternoons on TVNZ from March 1981 to December 1988. Olly Ohlson was the original presenter and would host links between various segments and programming. He was the first Māori presenter on New Zealand television to anchor a children's show,[1] and the programme was also one of the first New Zealand shows to incorporate Te Reo, the Māori language, as well as Sign language into its scripts. In the mid-1980s Olly was joined occasionally in the links items by Richard Evans and Annie Roach, who eventually took over the hosting roles, and towards the end of its run the show featured the birth of the puppet alien Thingee and the introduction of Jason Gunn as a presenter. After School was ended in December 1988 and the following year in February 1989 the mid-afternoon programming block was split up into two separate links shows, After 2, for younger children (which had Jason Gunn and Thingee carrying over as presenters), and 3.45: Live! for the 10-14 age group (initially hosted by Fenella Bathfield and Nigel Hurst).[2]