* CBBC, CBeebies From Monday, February 11, 7am-7pm; 6am-7pm

Monday sees the launch of the BBC’s two dedicated digital channels for children, CBBC and CBeebies. CBBC broadcasts daily from 7am to 7pm and is intended for six to 13-year-olds. During term time the channel will include some BBC schools programming in its morning schedules.

CBeebies will be dedicated to the pre-school audience, with four-hour blocks repeated throughout the day (a pattern based on research into viewing habits among the under-fives).

It promises to avoid broadcasting mainly imported (American) material, but will build on the BBC’s successes in children’s broadcasting, with interactive components and online back-up.

Teletubbies will feature four times a day on CBeebies, with a new slot, Teletubbies Everywhere, three times daily, in which Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po help the youngest viewers take their first steps down the road to literacy and numeracy.

Non-Teletubby programming includes Smarteenies (a junior Blue Peter), Step Inside (stories told in a magic house) and The Shiny Show (a fast-moving quiz). Children can join in with singing and other activities.

While it should be safe to leave pre-school children alone with CBeebies (no advertising or objectionable material), a preview suggests that The Shiny Show is one you might like to watch with them. Later in the year, CBeebies will introduce the first pre-school soap.

Blue Peter will be on CBBC, along with Newsround and The Saturday Show. There will also be programmes such as Stitch Up!, in which passers-by and shop assistants are subjected to tricks, and their reactions captured on hidden cameras. Most of the participants will be children and teenagers, and the emphasis will be on interaction.

BEST FOR SCHOOLS

Working in Education BBC2, Wednesday, February 13, 5-6am Working in Education, which started on February 4, continues with two programmes on accidents in schools, followed by advice on eczema, asthma and epilepsy. The two-week series, which also deals with careers in education, technology, motivation, curriculum management, primary teaching skills and other topics, will be repeated from February 18 to March 1.

BEST OF THE REST

Crime and Punishment BBC2, Tuesday, February 12 and Wednesday, February 13 Any teacher of film or media studies needing material for analysis of literary adaptation could do a lot worse than take a look at Julian Jarrold’s television version of Dostoyevsky’s 19th-century masterpiece, Crime and Punishment.

In Tony Marchant’s screenplay, whole pages of the author’s original dialogue have been reduced to a single sentence. A letter from Raskolnikov’s mother is summarised by the recipient as: “My mother’s praying for me and my sister’s pawning herself in marriage for my sake.” The letter takes11 pages in the original.

In place of Dostoyevsky’s expansive prose, we have John Simm’s Raskolnikov caught up in Jarrold’s nervy direction, Eigil Bryld’s expressionistic photography and Adrian Johnston’s obsessive music - neatly epitomising the differences between the language of the novel and that of the cinema.

Robin Buss

Full educational programme schedules can be found online at www.bbc.co.ukeducationlzonesched.shtmlwww.4learning.co.ukprogrammesspri ng2002.cfm