The Magic Roundabout - Show News, Reviews, Recaps and Photos - TV.com The Magic Roundabout EDIT Welcome to The Magic Roundabout guide at TV.com. Created by Serge Danot in 1965, The Magic Roundabout became a television legend. The five minute slot just before the early evening news guaranteed the programme a viewing figure of over eight million. Seemingly innocent children's animation series included witty commentary for the adults, allowing two generations to enjoy it. Flavoured with a laid-back and surreal view of life, the programme reflected a heavy sixties feel. It soon achieved a cult status. The programme featured a rather off-the-wall cast. Its included Dougal, a shaggy dog who lived on a strict diet of sugar; an eccentric bouncing character called Zebedee, who would announce his arrival with a 'boing'; a rabbit named Dylan,Whos grew drugs in his carrot patch (which may be why the magic roundabout got cancelled and then came back on later. Ermintrude the pink cow, Florence, Brian the snail and their friends in the Garden. Thus The Magic Roundabout staked its place in television history.

The most famous sentence of the series was Zebedee's standard declaration "Time for Bed" sending millions of children to sleep every evening. The Magic Roundabout was re-run on channel 4 television at the end of last year, winning yet another generation of young fans. The beginning of the Magic Roundabout series kicks off with an unhappy Mr Rusty wishing that the magic would return to his roundabout, Zebedee achieves this by bringing children to play in the garden and ride the roundabout. Heya sonic revolution her!

just saying its been a fun couple of months on the guide.Thanks everyone.moreless Much-loved characters from children’s televison celebrated by Royal Mail in stamp issue Much-loved characters from children’s televison celebrated by Royal Mail in stamp issue 3 January 2014 Much-loved characters from children’s televison celebrated by Royal Mail in stamp issue Some of the most popular shows from over 60 years of children’s television are celebrated with 12 much-loved characters featured on a new set of Special Stamps Characters in the issue are Andy Pandy, Ivor the Engine, Dougal - from The Magic Roundabout, Windy Miller - from Camberwick Green, Mr Benn, Great Uncle Bulgaria - from The Wombles, Bagpuss, Paddington Bear, Postman Pat, Bob the Builder, Peppa Pig and Shaun the Sheep Each decade since the 1950s is represented in this stamp issue 2014 marks the 40th anniversary of Bagpuss appearing on television Stamps are designed so each character ‘breaks out’ of the border The stamps are available from 7th January online at , by phone on 08457 641 64

1 and in 10,000 Post Offices throughout the UK Royal Mail’s Special Stamp programme kicks-off 2014 with an issue that celebrates over 60 years of Classic Children’s TV.

12 of the most popular characters from children’s television are included in the set. The full line-up features Andy Pandy, Ivor the Engine, Dougal - from The Magic Roundabout, Windy Miller - from Camberwick Green, Mr Benn, Great Uncle Bulgaria - from The Wombles, Bagpuss, Paddington Bear, Postman Pat, Bob the Builder, Peppa Pig and Shaun the Sheep. 2014 will mark the 40th anniversary of Bagpuss first appearing on TV. The saggy cloth cat is continually cited as one of the most favourite British children’s TV character of all time. The year will also mark the 50th anniversary of The Magic Roundabout. The prolific British animator Ivor Wood created Dougal, one of the show’s memorable characters, who also ranks highly in people’s affections. Wood also went on to animate Paddington Bear and Postman Pat for TV. Each decade since the 1950s is represented in this issue. Even the older programmes have been frequently repeated and new series created of them.

Such is the popularity of these characters, that 2014 will see the films ‘Postman Pat: The Movie’ and ‘Paddington’ hit the big-screen at cinemas nationwide. 2015 will see a return to television for The Wombles and a new CGI series giving them a high-tech makeover. Many of these shows have acquired cult status, and while intended for a young audience, they also attract devoted adult fans. Such was the attraction of The Magic Roundabout that, when, in 1967 it was moved to an earlier timeslot, the BBC received complaints from the programme’s adult fans who could not get home in time from work to watch the show. Andrew Hammond, Royal Mail Stamps, said: “For over 60 years, Britain’s children’s TV characters have brought cheer to generations of viewers. More importantly it has presented us with a cast of characters that, like the memories of the programmes themselves, remain with us throughout our lives.

”It feels appropriate to celebrate all of these unforgettable characters on a set of very special stamps.” Natasha Ayivor NOTES TO EDITORS For almost 50 years, Royal Mail’s Special Stamp programme has commemorated and celebrated events and anniversaries pertinent to UK heritage and life. Today, there are an estimated 2.5 million stamp collectors and gifters in the UK and millions worldwide. Her Majesty the Queen approves all UK stamp designs before they are printed. Stamps and stamp products are available at Post Office Branches, online at and from Royal Mail Tallents House (tel. 08457 641 641), 21 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB. Stamp Characters: ANDY PANDY “Andy Pandy’s coming to play, la-la-la-la-la-la!” Devised by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird, Andy Pandy was first screened live in summer 1950 during the BBC’s For the Very Young slot. Subsequent episodes were filmed to enable repeat broadcasts and became central to the Watch with Mother segment from 1953.

Narrator Vera McKechnie addressed string puppets Andy Pandy, Teddy and Looby Loo directly, and encouraged young viewers to sing and dance along with the music and songs. After the original filmed episodes had become too damaged to be broadcast, in 1970 13 brand-new colour programmes were recorded. IVOR THE ENGINE Developed for ITV by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, Ivor the Engine told the story of small steam train working on a remote line in the “top left-hand corner of Wales”. Narrated by Postgate, in his best Under Milk Wood voice, the show used charmingly rudimentary techniques to animate illustrations of Ivor and driver Jones the Steam. While Ivor would perambulate along the rails making a pleasing “pssh-te-cuff” sound, Vernon Elliott, a classical bassoonist, provided the accompanying music. A total of 32 episodes were made between 1959 and 1964, and a further 40 were commissioned in colour by the BBC in 1975. THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT In the early 1960s, French animator Serge Danot created an innovative stop-motion series, Le Manège Enchanté.

British animator Ivor Wood joined Danot to work on the original episodes. Set in a magical park, it featured a dog named Pollux and his friends. Pollus was Wood’s invention, First broadcast in 1964, the unique programme soon caught the attention of TV executives in the UK. BBC Head of Children’s Programming Doreen Stephens was charmed by the feel of the series, but felt the script needed changes. Eric Thompson, who was brought in to redub it, wrote and narrated entirely new stories around the visual elements. The Magic Roundabout debuted on British TV in 1965, with Pollux renamed Dougal, and was an immediate hit. CAMBERWICK GREEN Created by Gordon Murray, Camberwick Green featured stories about the folk of a picturesque rural village in the county of Trumptonshire. Thirteen 15-minute episodes were filmed in colour and narrated by the Play School presenter Brian Cant. First broadcast in 1966, each episode began with a rhyme: “Here is a box, a musical box, wound up and ready to play. But this box can hide a secret inside.

Can you guess what is in it today?” The featured character – perhaps Windy Miller, Dr Mopp or Mrs Honeyman – would then be revealed. Accompanying songs were composed by classical guitarist Freddie Phillips. MR BENN It all began in Festing Road, Putney, where author and illustrator David McKee lived. He used the street as the inspiration for Festive Road, the home of Mr Benn. First published in book form in the late 1960s, Mr Benn the TV series followed in 1971. Each episode saw our hero visit a fancy-dress shop where, “as if by magic”, the shopkeeper would appear. Dressed in his chosen costume, Mr Benn would leave the changing room and end up in an unusual location – a knight’s armour, for example, led to an encounter with a dragon, while a caveman outfit took him to the Stone Age and a spaceman costume took him to outer space. THE WOMBLES Created by Elisabeth Beresford in a series of books starting in 1968, the Wombles are conical-faced creatures that live in a burrow under Wimbledon Common and spend their days collecting and recycling rubbish.

They arrived on our screens in a series of 60 short instalments first airing in 1973. Using stop-motion models directed by Ivor Wood and the perky narration of Bernard Cribbins, the show introduced us to, among others, the exotic Madame Cholet and wise old Great Uncle Bulgaria. ‘The Wombling Song’, the show’s catchy theme tune, gave rise to The Wombles pop group, which, with a little vocal help from songwriter Mike Batt, had many hits. BAGPUSS Another unique creation from Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, Bagpuss was a pink, striped, “saggy old cloth cat” who first appeared in 1974. The series was set in a lost-and-found shop where Bagpuss would come to life on delivery of a discarded, broken item from young girl Emily. He and his friends – including six mice, banjo-playing toad Gabriel, rag doll Madeleine and woodpecker bookend Professor Yaffle – would then weave songs and stories around the object while it was repaired. With the restored item placed in the shop window for its owner to collect, Bagpuss would give a contented yawn and settle back down to sleep.

PADDINGTON BEAR A Bear Called Paddington, written by Michael Bond, was first published in 1958. In 1975, the TV series directed by Ivor Wood and narrated by Michael Hordern was a mix of Paddington as stop-motion puppet animation and 2D illustration for all the other characters and backgrounds. In the first episode, Mr and Mrs Brown meet the marmalade-loving bear from Darkest Peru and take him home, naming him after the London railway station where he was found. Paddington is the classic innocent abroad, a kind bear, well-meaning and polite, who is unaware of the obstacles and imminent catastrophes so evident to everyone else – but things always turn out fine for Paddington in the end. POSTMAN PAT Postman Pat is the longest running animated series on the BBC and everyone knows the words to the theme tune. In each stop-frame episode, Pat makes his deliveries in the idyllic village of Greendale. Whilst he often gets distracted by the locals including farmer Alf Thompson, handyman Ted Glen, postmistress Mrs Goggins and various sheep, with his trusty sidekick Jess the Black and White Cat, Pat always makes his delivery.

Pat encourages sense of community spirit, bringing out the good neighbour in all of us. You can always count on Postman Pat! Ivor Wood collaborated with writer John Cunliffe to bring his Postman Pat stories to our screens in 1981. Originally narrated by Ken Barrie, Lewis MacLeod more recently took over as the voice of Pat. Pat’s famous red postal van was joined by a fleet of new vehicles in 2008 when his route was extended to include the bustling town of Pencaster. BOB THE BUILDER Can he fix it? Yes, he can! Making his debut in 1998, Bob the Builder was the brainchild of former Muppets designer Keith Chapman. As the world’s favourite builder, Bob’s ability to take on any project promotes a can-do attitude of positivity and the benefits of working together, as sung in his chart-topping theme tune. Bob is ably assisted by his ‘Can-Do Crew’ of Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Roley and Lofty, as well as his business partner Wendy.

PEPPA PIG Peppa is a lovable, cheeky little piggy who lives with her little brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig. Peppa’s favourite things include playing games, dressing up, days out and, most of all, jumping in muddy puddles. After Lily Snowden-Fine and Cecily Bloom, Harley Bird was the third person to provide Peppa’s vocals, and in 2011 she won Best Performer at the BAFTA Children’s Awards. The show sees its 10-year anniversary in 2014 and Peppa will be wearing her golden boots to celebrate. SHAUN THE SHEEP First appearing in Nick Park’s Oscar-winning 1995 Wallace and Gromit film A Close Shave, Shaun the Sheep graduated to his own TV series in 2007. Shaun is a sheep who doesn’t follow the flock – in fact, he leads them into all sorts of scrapes and scraps, turning peace at Mossybottom Farm into mayhem in the meadow. Shaun and his pals run rings around their poor sheepdog Bitzer, as he does his best to stop the Farmer from finding out what’s going on behind his back.

A Shaun the Sheep movie is currently in production. Classic Children's Television - new stamps - 7 January 2014 - Norvic Philatelics. Andy Pandy, Ivor The Engine, Dougal from The Magic Roundabout Windy Miller from Camberwick Green, Mr Benn, Great Uncle Bulgaria from The Wombles Bagpuss, Paddington Bear, Postman Pat Bob The Builder, Peppa Pig, Shaun The Sheep The stamps - all 1st Class Andy Pandy - Devised by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird, Andy Pandy was first screened live in summer 1950 during the BBC’s For the Very Young slot. Subsequent episodes were filmed to enable repeat broadcasts and became central to the Watch with Mother segment from 1953. Narrator Vera McKechnie addressed string puppets Andy Pandy, Teddy and Looby Loo directly, and encouraged young viewers to sing and dance along with the music and songs. After the original, filmed episodes had become too damaged to be broadcast, and in 1970, 13 brand-new colour programmes were recorded.

Ivor The Engine Developed for ITV by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, Ivor the Engine told the story of small steam train working on a remote line in the “top left-hand corner of Wales”. Narrated by Postgate, in his best Under Milk Wood voice, the show used charmingly rudimentary techniques to animate illustrations of Ivor and driver Jones the Steam. While Ivor would perambulate along the rails making a pleasing “pssh-te-cuff” sound, Vernon Elliott, a classical bassoonist, provided the accompanying music. A total of 32 episodes were made between 1959 and 1964, and a further 40 were commissioned by the BBC in 1975. The Magic Roundabout In the early 1960s, French animator Serge Danot created an innovative stop-motion series, Le Manège Enchanté. Ivor Wood joined Danot to work on the original episodes. Set in a magical park, it featured a dog named Pollux and his friends. First broadcast in 1964, the unique programme soon caught the attention of TV executives in the UK.

BBC Head of Children’s Programming Doreen Stephens was charmed by the feel of the series, but felt the script needed changes. Eric Thompson, who was brought in to redub it, wrote and narrated new stories around the visual elements. Retitled The Magic Roundabout, and featuring Dougal the dog, it was a hit upon its UK debut in 1965. Camberwick Green Created by Gordon Murray, Camberwick Green featured stories about the folk of a picturesque rural village in the county of Trumptonshire. Thirteen 15-minute episodes were filmed in colour and narrated by the Play School presenter Brian Cant. First broadcast in 1966, each episode began with a rhyme: “Here is a box, a musical box, wound up and ready to play. But this box can hide a secret inside. Can you guess what is in it today?” The featured character – perhaps Windy Miller, Dr Mopp or Mrs Honeyman – would then be revealed. Accompanying songs were composed by classical guitarist Freddie Phillips. Mr Benn It all began in Festing Road, Putney, where author and illustrator David McKee lived.

He used the street as the inspiration for Festive Road, the home of Mr Benn. First published in book form in the late 1960s, Mr Benn the TV series followed in 1971. Each episode saw our hero visit a fancy-dress shop where, “as if by magic”, the shopkeeper would appear. Dressed in his chosen costume, Mr Benn would leave the changing room and end up in an unusual location – a knight’s armour, for example, led to an encounter with a dragon, while a caveman outfit took him to the Stone Age and a spaceman costume took him to outer space. The Wombles Created by Elisabeth Beresford for a series of novels in 1968, the Wombles are conical-faced creatures that live in a burrow under Wimbledon Common and spend their days collecting and recycling rubbish. They arrived on our screens in a series of 60 short instalments first airing in 1973. Using stop-motion models directed by Ivor Wood and the perky narration of Bernard Cribbins, the show introduced us to, among others, the exotic Madame Cholet and wise old Great Uncle Bulgaria.

‘The Wombling Song’, the show’s catchy theme tune, gave rise to The Wombles pop group, which, with a little vocal help from songwriter Mike Batt, had many hits. Bagpuss Another unique creation from Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, Bagpuss was a pink, striped, “saggy old cloth cat” who first appeared in 1974. The series was set in a lost-and-found shop where Bagpuss would come to life on delivery of a discarded, broken item from young girl Emily. He and his friends – including six mice, banjo-playing toad Gabriel, rag doll Madeleine and woodpecker bookend Professor Yaffle – would then weave songs and stories around the object while it was repaired. With the restored item placed in the shop window for its owner to collect, Bagpuss would give a contented yawn and settle back down to sleep. Paddington Bear A Bear Called Paddington, written by Michael Bond, was first published in 1958.

In 1975, the TV series directed by Ivor Wood and narrated by Michael Hordern was a mix of Paddington as stop-motion puppet animation and 2D illustration for all the other characters and backgrounds. In the first episode, Mr and Mrs Brown meet the marmalade-loving bear from Darkest Peru and take him home, naming him after the London railway station where he was found. Paddington is the classic innocent abroad, a kind bear, well-meaning and polite, who is unaware of the obstacles and imminent catastrophes so evident to everyone else – but things always turn out fine for Paddington in the end. Postman Pat Ivor Wood collaborated with writer John Cunliffe to bring Postman Pat to our screens in 1981. As he worked his route in bucolic Greendale, each stopmotion episode would see the Postman become distracted by the plight of one of the locals, who included farmer Alf Thompson, handyman Ted Glen and postmistress Mrs Goggins. Originally narrated by Ken Barrie, Lewis MacLeod more recently took over as the voice of Pat, whose route now includes the bustling town of Pencaster. Bob The Builder Can he fix it?

Yes, he can! Making his debut in 1998, Bob the Builder was the brainchild of former Muppets designer Keith Chapman. As the world’s favourite builder, Bob’s ability to take on any project promotes a can-do attitude of positivity and the benefits of working together, as sung in his chart-topping theme tune. Voiced by Neil Morrissey, Bob is ably assisted by his ‘Can-Do Crew’ of Scoop, Muck, Dizzy, Roley and Lofty, as well as his business partner Wendy. Peppa Pig Peppa is a lovable, cheeky little piggy who lives with her little brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig. Peppa’s favourite things include playing games, dressing up, days out and, most of all, jumping in muddy puddles. After Lily Snowden-Fine and Cecily Bloom, Harley Bird was the third person to provide Peppa’s vocals, and in 2011 she won Best Performer at the BAFTA Children’s Awards. The show sees its 10-year anniversary in 2014 and Peppa will be wearing her golden boots to celebrate.

Shaun The Sheep First appearing in the Oscar-winning 1995 Wallace and Gromit film A Close Shave, Shaun the Sheep graduated to his own TV series in 2007. Shaun is a sheep who doesn’t follow the flock – in fact, he leads them into all sorts of scrapes and scraps, turning peace at Mossybottom Farm into mayhem in the meadow. Shaun and his pals run rings around their poor sheepdog Bitzer, as he does his best to stop the Farmer from finding out what’s going on behind his back. Technical details and details of background images: The stamps were designed by Interabang and are printed by International Security Printers in Gravure. The 25mm square stamps will be issued in two sheets of 30/60 with five se-tenant designs per sheet, enabling customers to buy a vertical strip of five of any individual.

Acknowledgements: Andy Pandy © Ben Productions LLC; Ivor the Engine and Bagpuss © 2014 Smallfilms Ltd and Peter Firmin; Dougal, The Magic Roundabout © Serge Danot; Windy Miller, Camberwick Green © Gordon Murray (Trumptonshire) Ltd; Mr Benn © 2013 David McKee/Licensed by Clive Juster & Associates; Great Uncle Bulgaria, The Wombles © WCH Ltd; Paddington Bear™ © P & Co Ltd 2013; Postman Pat © 2014 Woodland Animations Ltd, a division of Classic Media UK Limited. Licensed by Classic Media Distribution Limited. Original writer John Cunliffe; all rights reserved; Bob the Builder ™ © 2014 HIT Entertainment Limited and Keith Chapman; Peppa Pig © ABD Ltd/Ent.

One UK Ltd 2003; Shaun the Sheep © Aardman Animations Ltd 2014 Products issued, available from Royal Mail: Set of 12 stamps (2 strips of 6) -- Strip of 6 from sheet 1 or sheet 2, or vertical strip of 5 of any single stamp First day cover -- Presentation pack -- Stamp cards (set of 12) -- Medal Cover -- Framed sets -- Pin-badges Special Postmarks Postmarks available for the day of issue are shown here. These postmarks cannot be obtained after the date of issue. The images shown here may not be to scale. Ref FD1401TH Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark Ref FD1401PL Wimbledon Official Postmark Ref FD1401NP Round And About BY Tim Worthington When French animator Serge Danot began work on a small scale animated series called "La Manege Enchante" back in 1963, he can hardly have realised that he was creating something that would become an integral part of popular culture in another nation altogether.

The series that he produced is famous and well-known enough in France, but it was to be in Britain that "The Magic Roundabout", as it was retitled through the miracle of translation, really found its way into the affections of the public. So much, in fact, that in time it would become possibly the only product of French popular culture to have a major geographical feature in this country named after it (unless, of course, there's a Johnny Hallyday Avenue out there somewhere). The story of what would eventually become "The Magic Roundabout " began when Serge Danot was commissioned by the French television channel RTF to create a short animated series for children. Danot and his film crew (which included a young British animator named Ivor Wood, who would later return to Britain and go on to create the similarly successful "Postman Pat") spent most of 1963 working on the first set of episodes in the appropriately bohemian setting of a derelict Parisian house, where the huge studio lights that they used kept blowing the fuses.

Danot's basic concept for the series was that it would be set in a Magic Garden owned by roundabout operator Pere Pivoine and a strange creature on a spring known as Zebulan, which attracted such visitors as a girl called Margotte and a rabbit named Flappy. Ivor Wood suggested that Danot's characters should be joined by Pollux the dog, mainly because he had created a dog puppet with no legs (instead, it moved around on wheels that were obscured from view by long hair) that would allow them to save time and money on animating it. The bright and sharply contrasting colours (which were obvious to viewers even though the early episodes were shot and transmitted in monochrome) and charming stories ensured that "La Manege Enchante" was to become a huge success with French audiences, and the beautiful semi-psychedelic theme song, with its mesmerising organ work and vocals shared between a child and a Charles Aznavour soundalike, embellished the engaging otherworldly nature of the series. However, the "La Manege Enchante" was not to meet with its largest acclaim until it was spotted by chance by an overseas broadcaster.

Doreen Stephens, Head of Family Programmes at the BBC, saw a selection of episodes of "La Manege Enchante" in 1965 and decided to buy it for transmission in an early evening weekday pre-news slot. However, the series as it was transmitted over here was different to the French original in several significant respects. The theme song was sped up drastically and turned into a manic organ instrumental by a gentleman named Alain Legrand, but the most important work in reshaping the series was undertaken by the actor selected to provide the narration, Eric Thompson. Also a presenter on BBC2's pre-school programme "Play School" at that time, Thompson had notoriously strong ideas on what he thought constituted suitable entertainment for children, and was tireless in his quest to treat his audience with as much intelligence as he possibly could. He loathed the original French stories, which it is claimed he regarded as simplistic and dull, and refused to work with a straightforward translation. Instead, he watched the episodes with the soundtrack turned down, created new names and personalities for the characters, and invented completely new storylines to match the on-screen action.

The resultant scripts were sharp and witty, and traded in language and humour that was far in advance of the level of sophistication that might usually have been expected in a programme of this nature. This inevitably drew some criticism from concerned parents and educational experts, but Thompson refused to listen to their reasoning (or, to be more accurate, their lack thereof). He once replied to a viewer who complained that he used too many long words by writing them a letter using all of the longest words that he could find in the dictionary, and is said to have sent a 'strong' letter to a mother who had written to express her concern over the fact that her son had started to refer to his sister as a 'mollusc'. In a peculiar echo of the way that Scott Walker's contemporaneous interpretations of Jacques' Brel's compositions added an entirely new depth that complemented the originals, the imagination and hard work that Eric Thompson put into his interpretations of the visuals created by Danot's team resulted in what was, to all intents and purposes, a new programme.

Initially thirty nine episodes of "La Manege Enchante" were reworked for the BBC by Eric Thompson, and "The Magic Roundabout" made its debut in the British television schedules late in 1965, somewhat typically misdescribed by the "Radio Times" as something along the lines of "an exciting new foreign series". This rather sober and lacklustre description might have made it sound superficially similar to such tedious imported eight million episode children's drama series as "The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe", but "The Magic Roundabout" was refreshingly different - due as much to Danot's attractive and distinctive visual style as Thompson's scripts - and the series made its mark straight away. Unusually, this initial set of episodes contained a running storyline of sorts, and they have a strangely different feel to that of the more widely-remembered incarnation of "The Magic Roundabout". The series opened with Mr. Rusty, an old roundabout operator, feeling sad because no children ever seemed to visit his Magic Garden any more. Zebedee, a jack-in-the-box with magical powers, arrived in the post and announced that he had sent himself to help Mr. Rusty overcome his problems.

Together they repaired and rebuilt the roundabout, and before long the Magic Garden had attracted a new group of regular young visitors - Florence, Paul, Basil and Rosalie - and a curious (or, to be more accurate, nosey) dog named Dougal. Other characters may well have enjoyed a proportionately greater share of the screen time, but it was Dougal who was to emerge as the true star of the series. World-weary, cynical and imbued with major delusions of self-importance, the character of Dougal was intentionally based on the comic persona of the brilliant Tony Hancock, even down to Thompson's deliberate approximations of his vocal inflections. As time went by and further episodes were bought and shown by the BBC, the evolving plotline was abandoned in favour of self-contained stories. However, the subsequent episodes also saw the arrival of many other well-loved characters, including the terrifyingly over-energetic cow Ermintrude, the guitar-wielding beatnik rabbit Dylan, and most memorably the irrepressibly chirpy snail Brian, whose cheerful nature and permanent smile never failed to be a major source of annoyance for the relentlessly dour Dougal.

At its peak, "The Magic Roundabout" was attracting audiences of eight million viewers; this was almost twice as much as most other BBC childrens' programmes could manage at the time, and almost as high a figure as that of the day's main news bulletin that invariably followed it. The distinctive visual style of the series made it ideal fodder for tie-in merchandise, and an enormous range of spin-off products were soon available. These ranged from heavily stylised toy cars containing plastic models of the series characters (which are now highly collectable) to books written by Thompson which, reflecting his aims and intentions for the series, were packed with those controversial 'long' words and adopted a structure more commonly associated with books intended for adults. At one point in the 1960s, the BBC (for reasons best known to themselves, as always) decided to move the series back an hour in the schedules, and were amazed to recieve sackfuls of letters of complaint from adults who were no longer able to see it.

Similarly, a competition relating to the series staged by the BBC's children's magazine programme "Blue Peter" generated more than one hundred thousand entries, and a short gap in the series' transmission was met by a petition from an Army Barracks demanding its instant return! Serge Danot was both aware of and extremely proud of the success of his creation in Britain, although legend has it that he was initially somewhat less than happy with the naming of Dougal, which he took to be a pun on the name of French Defence Minister Charles De Gaulle. Nonetheless, he made several promotional visits to the UK, and on one occasion in the late 1960s took part in an edition of BBC2's arts review show "Late Night Line-Up" devoted to the origins and success of the series. Amazingly, this edition still exists in full in the BBC's archives, and some tantalisingly fascinating interview clips with Danot have been used in various documentaries in recent years. In 1971, after one hundred and sixty episodes had been made, "La Manege Enchante" came to an end in France in 1971, as the television networks began to favour hand-drawn animation over the stop-motion variety.

However, the BBC still had a plentiful supply of 'new' episodes to show (they did not begin to transmit the colour episodes, which Danot had been making since the mid-1960s, until October 1970), and in fact were able to continue showing previously unseen episodes of "The Magic Roundabout" until 1977. Even after the end of the series, Danot continued to work with the characters, and in 1972 he produced the full-length feature film "Pollux Et Le Chat Bleu", which arrived on these shores through the unique translational filter of Eric Thompson as "Dougal And The Blue Cat". This bizarre film treads a fine line between being charming and genuinely chilling, relating the thought-provoking story what happened when the inhabitants of the Magic Garden put their trust in a mysterious blue cat named Buxton, whose friendly demeanour masked a sinister plan to recolour the entire world blue.

Dougal, who was never taken in by his posturing, eventually manages to save the day (by way of a surreal visit to the moon, and an even more absurd sequence in which he poses as a blue lookalike of himself), but "Dougal And The Blue Cat" is a genuinely exciting and even at times disturbing film, veering wildly between such comic pieces as Dougal arguing with his abrupt and impolite cuckoo clock and such upsetting images as the well-loved characters being locked in a dungeon by Buxton (even then, though, they manage to inject a little humour into proceedings when they pretend to taunt the 'blue' Dougal). "Dougal And The Blue Cat" is often unfairly disregarded as a nondescript, standard cinematic interpretation of a popular childrens' television programme, but it deserves far greater recognition than that. The blend of humour, music (a highly collectable soundtrack album was issued at the time of release, containing songs and incidental music interspersed with Thompson's narration), strangely disquieting moments and brilliantly composed visuals make it far closer to The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" than it is to any standard shoddy cash-in piece.

From the opening argument with the beligerent cuckoo clock right up to the closing fall of snow as happiness is restored to the Magic Garden, the brilliantly crafted film is nothing short of excellent. As is usually the case with 'cult' children's television programmes, "The Magic Roundabout" has in later years found itself dogged by bizarre rumours - namely, in this instance, the suggestion that it was somehow inspired by the ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs and that its characters contained those elusive, Beatles album cover-like 'coded symbols' that supposedly refer to the favoured mind-altering substances of the day. Many a superficial individual blessed with the ignorance of a selective memory will swear as if giving evidence in court that such wild allegations were genuine and true, but unfortunately for them and their weak imaginations, all of the available evidence points to the contrary. Not only was Serge Danot at least well into his forties by the time that he began work on the series, but at the time that "La Manege Enchante" first went into production in 1963, many of the 'substances' that were supposedly being referred to were in fact only just becoming known even to scientific researchers.

Numerous members of Danot's team, including Ivor Wood, have laughed off the suggestion that drugs were invovled in the creative process, and Phyllida Law (Eric Thompson's widow) treats the pathetic rumours with similar disdain. Stick that in your so-called 'pipe' and smoke it. Even after the BBC had stopped showing "The Magic Roundabout", the series and its characters remained lodged in the public's affections and enjoyed enduring popularity. Many years before the current boom in sales of videos of old childrens' television programmes, the popularity of a compilation of episodes of "The Magic Roundabout" took the BBC completely by surprise, and the title was reissued on at least two occasions. In 1991, the series made an unexpected and much-publicised return to British television. Discovering that several of the original episodes had not been translated or transmitted by the BBC, Channel 4 bought the rights to a total of thirty nine episodes which they intended to add to their own children's programming. Eric Thompson had sadly died in the early 1980s, and for this new set of episodes his place was taken by Nigel Planer, whose Mr.

Rusty-lookalike brother Roger was acting as producer for the project. In addition to translating and redubbing the episodes, the Planers also produced "The Return Of The Magic Roundabout", a tongue-in-cheek 'documentary' shown on Christmas Day 1991. The bizarre storyline follow's Planer's life as he finds himself haunted by the programme, which hounds him eventually to the extent of leaving cryptic messages on his answering machine. A riot of jokes based on 1960s conspiracy theories (including an amusing cameo by Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour), interviews with everyone from John Craven to Roy Hattersley, visits to archives with ominously missing tapes and files, and a final climactic encounter with Michael Grade ("Sir Michael... Your Gradeness"), the programme was seen by few but stands as one of the most genuinely individual and downright surreal comedy shows of the decade, and really deserves to be dusted down and given a repeat showing.

The Planers also produced an equally amusing book, "Zen And The Magic Of Roundabout Maintenance", which told the same story from the point of view of the characters, and also posited a disturbing new conspiracy theory about the series: 'da da', as in the phrase that most people use when attempting to sing the theme tune of "The Magic Roundabout", was also the name of a nihilistic 1960s European art movement. Although the original Eric Thompson episodes are not currently available on video or being repeated, which seems a bit strange in light of the fact that videos of old children's television shows are selling so well at the moment, the Nigel Planer episodes are in constant rotation on terrestrial and cable television. While purists might feel that the latter don't quite manage to scale the exact same heights as Thompson's originals, they are still highly enjoyable and very much in the style and spirit that always characterised "The Magic Roundabout". Thompson's original storybooks and scripts have recently been issued in book form, they are highly recommended to anyone who has ever enjoyed the series.

In fact, despite the initial merchandising goldrush that surrounded the original broadcasts, "The Magic Roundabout" seems to have escaped the superficial adoption of inconography that has dogged many other vintage BBC childrens' programmes, and the majority of present day interest in the series comes from those who show proper appreciation for the series rather than just deciding that its characters would look good as a mobile phone cover. If only the BBC would dig out the original episodes... Note: Many thanks to Tim Worthington for his kind permission to reprint this article. (Copyright © Tim Worthington).

Question: One of the most successful children's TV shows of all time was The Magic Roundabout. Which French animator created the show?
Answer: SERGE DANOT