As a mum to a two-year-old in 2026 there is no shortage of things to make me feel bad about my capabilities as a parent. His snacks aren’t always organic or made from scratch. Some of his toys are plastic and noisy, not wooden and Montessori-inspired. And – most heinous of all – he is sometimes allowed screen time.

Like any good, middle-class millennial mother, I try to approach it “consciously”. There are specific TV conditions in our house – he can watch post-nap to ward off an afternoon meltdown, we always watch together, and we have a strict time-limit of 20 minutes. But more important than how he is watching is what he is watching. OG Thomas the Tank Engine (complete with Ringo Starr’s iconic voiceover), Pingu, Sesame Street, early Wallace and Gromit. I have joined a growing number of parents who almost exclusively choose 90s TV for their children, the very same shows we watched as kids.

So the news that Play School is returning to CBeebies for a new generation – with the BBC promising to retain its mix of stories, movement, poetry and imaginative play – is so welcome. There is something deliciously warm and fuzzy about curling up on the sofa with your toddler to rerun the TV of your childhood. But the appeal of retro screen time is deeper than nostalgia. These shows feel........

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