Zig Zag: Making It Work

📺BBC Schools TV

companyBBC

started14th Apr 1997

ended7th May 1997

last rpt21st Jun 2001

5 school years

episodes4

duration20 mins

subject 👨‍🔬ScienceTechnology

age rangeAge 7-9

languageenIn English

2 images from Making It Work

Zig Zag

Previous unit: Village, Town, CityNext unit: Art

Making It Work is a unit of the BBC Schools TV series Zig Zag from the 1990s & 2000s, covering technology for primary school pupils.

Programmes about the design and construction of a new habitat for tropical animals at Marwell Zoo, linked to school projects on design and technology.

Episode List

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	For the Animals	#1997-04-14-00-00-0014 Apr 1997
2.	For the Plants	#1997-04-21-00-00-0021 Apr 1997
3.	Over the Bridge	#1997-04-28-00-00-0028 Apr 1997
4.	For the Visitors	#1997-05-07-00-00-007 May 1997

Following the first run in 1997 the order of the episodes was switched, so that for all subsequent broadcasts For the Plants came first, followed by For the Animals.

The episodes were originally billed under the titles Making It Work ...for Animals, ...for Plants, ...with Structures and ...for People. The final episode continued to be advertised as For the People but the on-screen title is For the Visitors.

Broadcasts

Year	Term	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Channel
1996-97	Summer 1997	Monday, 11:10am		Wednesday, 1:25pm			BBC2
1997-98	Summer 1998		Tuesday, 11:15am				BBC2
1999-2000	Summer 2000					Friday, 10:50am	BBC2
2000-01	Summer 2001				Thursday, 11:50am		BBC2

Learning Zone

Also broadcast overnight as part of the Learning Zone broadcasts on BBC2 in Autumn 1998. The first two programmes from 3:20am on the morning of Tuesday 22nd September, and the final two programmes from 2:00am on the morning of Wednesday 23rd September.

Credits

Presenter	Jess Brooks
Music	Henry Marsh
Animation	Wrench and Franks
Series Producer	Peter Evans
Producer	Judy Brooks

Resources

There were teacher's notes available.

Related programmes

Zig Zag: TechnologyAnother design and technology unit from Zig Zag in the 1990s.

Zig Zag (1983-2000)

Series Overview • Units • Episode List

Ancient Greece (1996) • The Anglo-Saxons (1992) • The Arabs (1984) • Art (1997) • Canada (1987) • Cathedrals (1989) • The Channel Tunnel (1987) • Computers (1983) • Danger Detectors (1996) • The Eskimos (1985) • Food and Farming (1995) • France (2000) • Gardens and Growth (1985) • Geography UK (1995) • Getting About (1988) • The Greeks (1986) • Hungry Times (1983) • Invaders (1997) • Kenya (1994-96) • Let's Face It (1990) • Making It Work (1997) • Mapmakers! (1993) • Mordicus (1986) • The Normans (1983) • The Odyssey (1990) • The Olympics (1984-92) • Over to You (1985-89) • Roman Britain (1993) • Rush, The Fallow Deer (1987) • The Saga of Gunnar Goldhair (1987) • Snapshots: Children in the Second World War (2000) • Space (1984-88) • Spaceship Earth (1986) • Tales from Europe (1992) • Tales from Europe (2000) • Technology (1991) • Topical Programmes (1985-89) • Trees (1993) • Trees and Man (1991) • Tudor Life (1998) • The Vikings (1987) • Village, Town, City (1997) • A Walk Through Time (1999) • Water (1990) • Water, Air, Land (1998) • Weather (1999) • Where You Live, Where I Live (1994) • Wildlife Safari (1989-91) • Winter Festival (1986) • World of Work (1989) • You and the Media (1986)

See also: Zig Zag Shorts • Landmarks • Primary Geography • Primary History

Topics

School topics covered in this programme. Click to find other programmes covering the same topics, but bear in mind topics are a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.

Design and technology

Keyword tags

Some features of this programme. Click to find other programmes with the same features, but bear in mind tags are also a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.

Documentary

BBC Learning Zone

More

Do you know more about this programme?

Do you know anything that I have missed? Do you have pictures, sounds or videos that fill in gaps? Please get in touch by email!

Want more on this programme?

This site attempts to cover thousands of programmes and it will take ages to update them all. If you would like to see this one updated soon please click on the star to 'vote' for it and I will do my best to prioritise it!

Voting is currently (2026) broken. I'm not sure why. I'll fix it if I can! You can still see a list of all the votes so far.

More programmes

Some random programmes for age 7-9 from the 1990s

Cu Chulainn (Irish) BBC Schools TV1996-2001English

Practising Belief (radio) BBC Schools Radio1996-1998Religion

Puzzle Maths(from TVM) Channel 4 Schools1999-2006Mathematics

Primary Themes BBC Schools Radio1991-2006Miscellany

Eader Èisdeachd BBC Schools Radio1994-2003Miscellany

Irish Scientists and Inventors Channel 4 Schools1995-1997Science