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 The Magic Roundabout - Childrens TV | Jedi's Paradise The Magic Roundabout The Magic Roundabout is a 60’s Children’s TV animated show. It was created by a Frenchman Serge Danot with help from his English friend Ivor Wood and his wife Josiane. In 1964 it made its first appearance on French television (the 1st series was in black and white) and went on to become known a classic. The episodes were filmed in a derelict house in Paris where the fuses kept blowing because of the amount of electricity used by the lighting on the set.

Joy Whitby, the producer of Play School secured the rights to The Magic Roundabout for the UK, but knew that it needed more work on it for a UK audience. Eric Thompson, who was at the time working as a presenter of Play School, was asked to do the voices and narration of the programmes. He did not use any of the original character names and he did not work from the translations of the French scripts but made up stories to fit the pictures as he went along. This was attributed to his dislike of the French and that he felt the French version was too noisy. If you compare the two versions you will notice how quiet the English version is. Eric enjoyed making the show and didn’t dumb down the content for children, ensuring he didn’t write anything patronising for them and always used large words. It was full of humour and social commentary. In 1965 the Magic Roundabout was first broadcast to a UK audience. It gained many viewers young and old mainly because it was shown in the five minute slot before the early evening news. It became family viewing and garnered viewing figures of over eight million.

The French weren’t happy with the naming of the main character, ‘Dougal’ (from Pollux), as they thought his name was based on Charles De Gaul (De Gaul sounding like Dougal) and they took it as an insult. Eric maintained that this was not the case and instead the name was dreamt up while writing some of the episodes in Scotland, where Dougal was a popular name. Also you might notice that Dougal seems to have been based on the late comic Tony Hancock, as he has similar mannerisms to him. In 1972 a feature film was created by Serge Danot. It upped the quality of the shows, employing a number of techniques not seen in the TV series. Again Eric Thompson provided nearly all the voices and wrote the script from the visuals again (he was credited as the writer / director). But he asked Fenella Fielding to supply the voice of the character ‘The Blue Voice’. She was surprised when she found out that it was only Eric and herself supplying the voices. In 1992, Nigel Planer was asked to do the voices and narration for some overlooked episodes which had never been translated. They were shown on Channel Four.

In 2005 there was a reinvention of the Magic Roundabout, when a feature film was created using the latest CGI technology. Robbie Williams voiced Dougal and Kylie Minogue voiced Florence. Soon after the movie release a TV series was produced, using the same CGI characters used for the film. Story The Magic Roundabout is a carousel that is owned my Mr Rusty, which the local children used to use. One day a magical being called Zebedee arrives bringing magic to the area and casting a spell, ensuring the children return and play on the Magic Roundabout. Around it lives a host of eccentric characters including Dougal, a shaggy dog who lives on a strict diet of sugar lumps, Zebedee, a bizarre bouncing character, who announces his arrival with a 'boing', a laid back rabbit called Dylan, Ermintrude - the pink cow, Florence a young girl, and Brian the snail. Once, they had a sinister visitor called Buxton, the blue cat, who wanted to take over the area they lived in and turn everything blue and imprison anyone that wasn’t blue.

As you can tell, Dougal wasn’t happy about this and decided to take on the blue cat and stop his dastardly scheme. The Magic Roundabout Characters Dougal (voiced by Eric Thompson) He is a yellow dog who loves to eat sugar. His best friend is Florence, a young girl, who he loves dearly. He even has a picture of her next to his bed and likes to pick flowers for her (awww). He especially loves her to stroke his fur. He is a very sarcastic dog and complains a lot about life and his friends, but he still loves them in his strangle little way. Dougal can also be a jealous dog, which became very obvious when Buxton, the Blue Cat, appeared. He instantly became suspicious of the Blue Cat, which everyone put down to jealousy. But Dougal's initial thoughts were true...that cat was trouble, which was realised when Buxton took over the surrounding area and imprisoned all of Dougal’s friends. Now, Dougal isn’t the bravest dog in the world, but when his friends are threatened his brave streak shines through. He infiltrated the Blue Cat’s lair by dying himself blue and calling himself Blue Peter.

He even had to prove he wasn’t Dougal by being imprisoned in the torture chamber, a room full of sugar. Dougal resisted the temptation of eating the sugar and became Buxton’s closest friend and was given the position of Prime Minister. From this power of authority Dougal rescued his friends and defeated Buxton. Buxton the Blue Cat (voiced by Eric Thompson) Buxton is the only Blue Cat in the world and everyone in the area came to see such a wondrous thing. He liked the attention he received, so decided to stay indefinitely. But Buxton isn't a nice cat. He has a plan is to become the Blue King (with the help of the Blue Voice and her Blue Army) and ensure that everything in the world is blue. So anything that isn't blue would be destroyed and anyone that isn't blue would be imprisoned. He speaks with a northern accent and likes saying to himself, 'I'm so evil', but he has a talent for playing the piano (a blue one of course) with his feet and tail. Dougal tried to warn everyone about how nasty he was, but Buxton pretended to cry and said he was being rejected for his colour.

Everyone felt sorry for him and ignored Dougal's protests. They even said he should stay at Dougal's place, as he had the room. Dougal wasn't happy, especially when Buxton went to sleep in his bed. Buxton became the Blue King after passing the tests of the Blue Voice and she gave him her Blue Army to ensure that everything turned blue. But Buxton became over confident and his downfall was orchestrated by Dougal, who stopped Buxton from taking over the moon, and he freed all the prisoners. The Blue Voice doesn’t like failure and so stripped him of his powers and his reign of terror came to an end. Afterwards Buxton asked Dougal and his friends for forgiveness. He blushed in shame and turned white. The Blue Voice (voiced by Fenella Fielding) We never get to see the owner of the Blue Voice, but she says that she is blue. She is very powerful and can move objects around without touching them. Her main aim is to make the whole universe ‘blue’ and in Buxton, she can see a cat that can help her achieve her goal.

She offered Buxton the opportunity to be the Blue King and have the powers and privileges that go with the position. But first he would have to pass a test. The test consisted of 7 doors/rooms that Buxton had to progress through. He had to tell the Blue Voice what the door’s colour was, each was a different shade of blue. The Blue Voice told Buxton that she did not tolerate failure and that he would pay the ultimate price if he didn’t answer the questions correctly. Once in each room, Buxton was able to see what things the Blue Voice was making to help him make the world ‘blue’: 1) Making Blue Flowers 2) Dying the clothes of the world blue 3) Blue Nightmares 4) Room of the World (Blue Sky/Sea) 5) Room of thunder and lightening 6) The Guard room, where the Blue Army is made 7) The Throne Room. Luckily for Buxton he got all the answers right and was crowned the Blue King and was given the red carpet treatment and an army of blue soldiers. But Buxton is fickle and he whispered that he would imprison the Blue Voice too! The power hungry cat!

Once Buxton had imprisoned most people from the surrounding area, the Blue Voice ordered Buxton to go to the moon and push forward her plans to conquer the universe. He took Blue Peter (Dougal) with him. But Dougal stopped him from claiming the moon and the rocket ship crash landed back on Earth. As mentioned earlier, the Blue Voice doesn’t tolerate failure and stripped him of the title of Blue King. She was so mad that she made lightening bolts rain down around them. The voice kept saying that ‘blue was beautiful’ and the treacle factory collapsed in on itself. That was the last time the ‘Blue Voice’ was heard of again. Blue Soldiers (voiced by Eric Thompson) These are the Blue Cat's soldiers and are the instruments that he uses to enforce his reign of blue terror. The are made in the Blue Voice’s treacle factory and use their blue hair to ensnare people, allowing them to imprison them in chains in an underground cave. Buxton doesn’t get his hands dirty and instead watches them take over the area from his throne room, using the periscope built into a pillar. The area turned blue, but there was still one person that they couldn’t find, that was Dougal.

Florence (voiced by Eric Thompson) She is a very sensible girl, who lives in the local village and loves to sing while cleaning the house. Her best friend is Dougal who she loves dearly and she even has a picture of him in her house. But she also has a soft spot for cats, especially the Blue Cat, Buxton, which upsets Dougal. The influence of Buxton made her think that the colour blue was important to her and she wondered why. Brian (voiced by Eric Thompson) He is a snail that likes to take life in the slow lane, but is faster than 'The Train'. He is one of Dougal's closest friends, but is the one that seems to take the brunt of Dougal's bad moods. Still Brian isn't phased by it and just plods on. But if he wants to get away from everything, then he can always pop into his shell. Brian became a hero, when he went back into the collapsing Treacle Factory that the Blue Voice started destroying. He had gone back to get Zebedee’s Magic Moustache, but everyone thought he was dead after it fully collapsed.

But a triumphant Brian emerged with the moustache, and Zebedee was understandably overjoyed when it was returned to him. Zebedee (voiced by Eric Thompson) He is a strange looking fellow, with a red head and a spring instead of legs. Still, that doesn't stop him from getting around as he has a powerful spring that lets him bounce long distances and he appears with a ‘Boing’ from out of nowhere. Zebedee is a Jack-In-The-Box, that arrived in a box addressed to Mr Rusty. Once opened, Zebedee knew instantly of the issue Mr Rusty had, where no children were visiting his roundabout. You see Zebedee possess magic, or to be precise he has a magic moustache. He promised Mr Rusty that he would use his magic to ensure the children returned and once again use the ‘Magic’ Roundabout. But once Zebedee’s moustache was stolen by Buxton, the blue cat, and as you can guess he was in a right state. Ermintrude (voiced by Eric Thompson) Ermintrude loves standing in the way of things, such as the train.

She loves watching trains or cows and likes being waved at. She even likes to paint, and she started her 'blue period' of paintings when the blue cat arrived (probably brain washed). Dylan (voiced by Eric Thompson) He is the hippy rabbit that always seems to be asleep, he even uses his ears to cover his eyes to help him sleep. In his spare time he likes watching mushrooms grow (and probably likes eating the special variety). Oh, and he doesn’t like to work. He's seems to be on a different planet than everyone else, and others suspect he is taking something. Dylan doesn't go anywhere without his guitar...as he is a musician and he likes to say 'Hi man'. The Train (voiced by Eric Thompson) The Train loves to chuff around the landscape picking up passengers. Dougal even has his own compartment, but is always commenting on how slow she is. Mr. Rusty (voiced by Eric Thompson) He is the owner of the Magic Roundabout. He was so sad before Zebedee arrived in the area, as the children no longer came to use his roundabout. He missed the children having fun while he played music on his barrel organ, it had lost its magic.

Luckily for Mr Rusty, someone was listening and a packaged arrived for him. Inside he found Zebedee a magical Jack-In-The-Box, who promised that the children would return the next day. True to his word the children returned and brought happiness to Mr Rusty, the children and the animals who lived around the Magic Roundabout. Mr. Machenry (voiced by Eric Thompson) He has one of the longest beards that you’ll have ever seen, its down to his ankles. He wears a cowboy hat and zooms around on his little trike. His hobby is growing things in his garden. He’s even made his own perfume in his greenhouse. It seems he has some magic as he made it snow instantly, in the magic garden. Paul (voiced by Eric Thompson) Paul is a friend of Florence’s and hangs out on the Magic Roundabout with her. Basil (voiced by Eric Thompson) Basil is a friend of Florence’s and hangs out on the Magic Roundabout with her. Rosalie (voiced by Eric Thompson) Rosalie is a friend of Florence’s and hangs out on the Magic Roundabout with her.

The Magic Roundabout T-Shirts - NONE The Magic Roundabout DVDs Region 2 (Europe) - Dougal and the Blue Cat Region 1 (USA) - NONE The Magic Roundabout Video Intro The Magic Roundabout Episodes Series 1 (1965) The first 20 episode names were taken from the Radio Times (supplied by John Archbold). We are unsure if they are the exact names of the episodes 1. Mr Rusty Meets Zebedee 2. Zebedee Starts The Roundabout 3. The Children Try To Win A Surprise 4. Florence Gets A Surprise 5. Florence Goes To Zebedee’s Magic Garden 6. Florence Gets Another Surprise 7. Florence Meets Some Strange Acrobats 8. Florence Meets Some Unusual Birds 9. Mr Rusty’s Barrel Organ Breaks Down 10. Florence Is Invited To Zebedee's House 11. Florence Gets To Zebedee’s House And Has A Surprise 12. All The Children Visit Zebedee 13. The Children Go To The Theatre 14. Mr Rusty’s Kitchen 15.

The Children Make A Plan 16. The Children Build Their House 17. The Children Decorate Their House 18. A Very Special Ride 19. Dougal Turns Detective 20. Dougal And Florence Meet The Monster ??. Bubbles ??. Piano Moving ??. Let's Play At Cats ??. Watch the Birdie ??. Sculptor ??. The Orchestra ??. Pack Of Cards ??. Toffee River ??. Oil Wells ??. Banana Skin ??. Spaghetti Party ??. Rain ??. Baking A Pie ??. Alarm Clock ??. Brian and the Train Race ??. The Chimney Sweep ??. Road Signs ??. Dylan Plays the Bagpipes ??. Dougals Glasses ??. Hide And Seek ??. The Lost Boing ??. Windy ??. The Scarecrow ??. Musical Box ??. The Oyster ??. The Hairdresser ??. TV Announcer ??. Magic Pot ??. The Picnic ??. Ermintrude's Folly ??. The Exhibition ??. Holidays ??. Relay Race ??. Soul of the Violin ??. The Tombola ??. Pancakes ??. Flying Saucer ??. The Sleepwalker ??.

A Starry Night ??. Film Director ??. Dougal Rustlers ??. Magic Carpet ??. The Experiment Movies Dougal and the Blue Cat (1972) The Magic Roundabout Images (click to enlarge) © JedisParadise.com THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT | A TELEVISION HEAVEN REVIEW THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT (1965) Mr Rusty's Magic Roundabout can be found in the heart of the Magic Garden and it is his barrel-organ which provides the show's theme music as the roundabout magically fades in and out of view at the beginning and end of each episode. But sadly for the whiskery old gent, this is just about where the magic begins and ends as his roundabout is now deserted. Then, one day a parcel arrives and it contains a jack-in-the-box figure called Zebedee who will eventually become the self-appointed guardian of the Magic Garden. It is with Zebedee's arrival that the magic begins. With a 'boing' Zebedee bounces into the picture accompanied by the mystical sound of harp strings and all manner of lovable and, at times, strange characters appear.

These include a young girl called Florence, a rather pompous sleek-haired dog called Dougal, an extremely laid-back beatnik rabbit named Dylan, Ermintrude the cow, Brian the snail, a cyclist called Mr MacHenry, a talking train and some occassional characters such as Florence's friend Paul. Although each episode was only five minutes in length the fact that it was broadcast daily (midweek), following the BBC's afternoon children's programmes and just before the early evening news, guaranteed the programme a viewing figure of over eight million and gave it a true 'cult' status that survives to this very day. However, the British public may never have heard of The Magic Roundabout because the year before they broadcast it the BBC had rejected the series out of hand. The Magic Roundabout was created in 1963 by Frenchman, Serge Danot, and was originally called Le Manège Enchanté ('The Enchanted Merry-go-round'). Danot devised and wrote the programme before teaming up with Englishman, Ivor Wood, in 1964 in order to complete and produce the original French series.

On selling the first 11 episodes to Ortf (Office of Broadcasting French Television), they found that they had a huge hit on their hands and quickly turned their attention to England. But on offering Le Manège Enchanté to the BBC it was rejected as being far too awkward and difficult to dub into English. But in 1965 the Beeb finally agreed to buy the series which was then passed on to Joy Whitby, the producer of 'Playschool', who in turn handed the series over to one of that show's presenters, Eric Thompson (father of actress Emma). Emma Thompson later recalled; "When the BBC asked him (Eric) to write The Magic Roundabout they lent him a machine with a tiny screen which he used to work with his feet. He watched the pictures without sound and wrote the script with a pencil and pad balanced on his knees. The stories had originally been written in French, but he didn't much like the French, so he changed it all - even the names, like Ermintrude the cow, who was inspired by his wife." It has been said the adults may have found a lot more to smile about in the series than merely sitting down to watch television with their little ones.

The more 'tuned in' viewers may have discovered certain similarities to 1960s drug culture and references to topical issues and personalities of the day. Dougal was most certainly named after French leader Charles De Gaulle and his favourite food was sugar cubes which, it is pointed out, when laced with LSD is a popular way of taking the hallucinatory drug. Dougal and Ermintrude were said to be comments on French-Anglo relations at the time while the cynical dog's character was based on British comedian Tony Hancock, always known for his cynical hangdog expression. Dylan (based on the American folk singer, Bob Dylan) always appeared 'spaced out', and has been accused of growing something considerably stronger than carrots in his vegetable garden, while the Magic Roundabout itself is supposedly an allegory for 'taking a trip.' And then again, perhaps not. After all, this was 1965 and the pre-psychedelic era, and perhaps the series, like Lennon's 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', just fitted conveniently into the context.

Whatever the truth behind the series The Magic Roundabout stayed on top of the tea-time viewing figures for two years and when the BBC tried to move it from its 5.55pm time-slot to an hour earlier there was a public outcry from its loyal fans and the Corporation had to reconsider. Even as late as the early seventies, the series, now being shown in colour retained its popularity and another attempt to move it from its regular slot resulted in angry letters to the Radio Times such as the one published on 25th March, 1971: "I should like to know how the BBC thinks I am going to regain my equilibrium after teaching all day if there is no Magic Roundabout to come home to?" That was the year the show concluded its French broadcast but in the UK a surplus of episodes allowed it to continue through to 1977. Then, in 1992, Channel 4 in Britain discovered that 39 of the original episodes had never been broadcast by the BBC. Sadly, Eric Thompson had died in 1982, so for the new version actor Nigel Planer was brought in, with his brother Roger producing. There have also been two 'Magic Roundabout' feature films.

The first, in 1972, distributed by Nat Cohen for Anglo-EMI Film Distributors Ltd and produced by Goodtimes Enterprises run by Sandford Lieberson and David Puttnam and also written by Eric Thompson, featured a new character, Buxton, the Blue Cat, a North Country lad with delusions of grandeur who meets the regulars in the Beautiful Wood where he is given an enthusiastic welcome by everyone -except for Dougal. The story did nothing to dispel the 'drug culture' allusions and if anything was even more outside the edge than the series had been. Then in 2005 a new version appeared in theatres, this time using state-of-the-art animation techniques in place of the stop-frame animation of the original. As another departure from the original series, there was no narration and each character was given his, her, or it's own voice and featured an all-star cast including Robbie Williams (Dougal), Bill Nighy (Dylan), Joanna Lumley (Ermintrude), Jim Broadbent (Brian), Kylie Minogue (Florence), Lee Evans (The Train), Sir Ian McKellan (Zebedee), and Ray Winstone (Soldier Sam).

This was another classic story of good versus evil the malevolence coming from Zebedee's evil twin Zee-Bad, voiced with glorious over-the-topness by Tom Baker. Serge Danot said of his show: "It comes from a simple history of everyday life, with characters having humour, poetry and an anecdote and aims to be as close to the parents as children, which makes it possible to join together various generations." And it seems there are countless more generations waiting to discover the magic of The Roundabout. "Time for Bed!" Review: Laurence Marcus. 2005 The Magic Roundabout | TV Show Facts | BBC | France | Serge Danot | Eric Thompson | Stop Animation Hate 1 Ever wonder what your parents watched when they were younger? Have you seen the new movie Doogal? Well, that's what your parents probably watched (the TV show), especially if they're from England ! It was a cartoon that would come on just before the news and was an absolute hit in the '60s and '70s. The Magic Roundabout - Main Characters Brian - This snail has been known to lose his temper .

He agrees to everything that Dougal says so he's obviously not the leader of the group. Dougal - Dougal's the shaggy dog who's addicted to sugar . He's known to be sarcastic and sometimes rude, but of course, everybody's got a soft side! He is of course the leader of the pack and he believes everything revolves around him. Dylan - Now every show has to have an oddball. Dylan, the spacey rabbit, is the hippie of the group. You'll usually find him sleeping or playing his guitar . Ermintrude - The pink cow is the only other character to steal the show. She has a crush on Dougal, which is pretty obvious. Florence - Florence is a real girl, not an animal. She is caring, loving and really sweet. That's why she always worries about Dougal. Zebedee - He's the jack in the box who announces his arrival with a 'boing'. He's the reason the magic returned to the roundabout. Zebedee brought all the children to play there and he's the one who makes everything right when it goes wrong. Every episode ends with Zebedee saying, "Time for bed". Mr.

Rusty - The operator of the roundabout. The Magic Roundabout - Fun Facts Doogal was an original series created in 1963 by French author Serge Danot. The series first aired in 1964 on French television. For the English version, translations were done by Eric Thompson but he made the stories up according to the pictures . He didn't follow exact translations. In the UK, this show had cult status - people were addicted to the show. It was on TV everyday for five minutes at 5:55PM. The show ran until 1977 in the UK and 1971 in France. Now you can catch The Magic Roundabout crew in the flick, Doogal . In 1970 a feature length movie was created by Eric Thompson and Serge Danot called Dougal and the Blue Cat. The show was made using stop animation. This means it was made using real toys and the animators would take a picture of a scene and then move the characters and then take another picture. From there they would turn it into the cartoon. Each five-minute episode required 7,500 pictures!

Eric Thompson is the father of Emma Thompson, the actress from the movie Nanny McPhee . Eric Thompson said he was most like Brian, the snail. There were approximately 500 episodes of The Magic Roundabout made. The series was seen in black and white for the first few years because the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) didn't use color until 1969. Magic Roundabout, The Magic Roundabout, The by • Kids TV , TV Shows - 1960s , TV Shows - 1970s 1 9 6 5 - 1 9 7 5 (UK/France) The five-minute slot just before the early evening BBC1 news on Monday (at 5:50 pm) guaranteed Magic Roundabout a viewing audience of over eight million. While parents waited for the news, kids got to see the antics of Florence, Ermintrude, Zebedee and friends - including the dog that inspired a million birthday cakes, Dougal. This 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. Filmed using frame-by-frame stop motion photography in a superbly colourful setting, the programme featured a rather off-the-wall cast: Dougal, the 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, who could have been accused of growing something considerably stronger than carrots in his vegetable patch; 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. Meanwhile he got to stay up and take drugs with Dylan, the rabbit. (And is it just coincidence that the Zeb-meister looked like Frank Zappa ?). Concept and animation was by Frenchman Serge Danot and the English version was written and told by Eric Thompson (the late father of actress Emma Thompson). A feature film, Dougal and the Blue Cat, was released in Britain in 1972.

It originally screened in France in 1970 as Pollux et le Chat Bleu. A set of previously undiscovered French episodes were voiced by Nigel Planer and shown on Channel 4 from 1992. Yet another batch was later voiced by a different actor for AB Productions. Narrator The Magic Roundabout | 20 great TV shows for young children - TV TV Previous slide Next slide 4 of 20 View All Skip Ad The Magic Roundabout Shown in the five-minute slot just before the early-evening BBC One news between 1965 and 1977, The Magic Roundaboutregularly attracted an audience of over eight million. The main characters were a young girl named Florence, Ermintrude the pink cow, bouncing Zebedee, Dougal the shaggy dog and Dylan the rabbit. The seemingly innocent children's animation series included witty commentary for the adults, allowing two generations to enjoy it. Credit: Sipa Press / Rex Features Toonhound - The Magic Roundabout (1965-1991) Mr Rusty's Magic Roundabout could be found in the heart of the Magic Garden.

It didn't really do anything magic at all apart from fade in and fade out of view at the beginning and end of each episode, but what it did have was an associated collection of magical characters including Dougal the dog, a girl called Florence, a rabbit called Dylan, Brian the snail, Ermintrude the cow, the red chuffing Train, and a jack-in-a- box with a moustache called Zebedee who was the self-appointed guardian of the garden. Add to this some fabulous set design, a memorable theme tune and big buckets of irony and droll dry humour and you have here one of the biggest tea-time tv treats of all time. But this magical series very nearly didn't make it to our screens at all... "The Magic Roundabout" was created by a Frenchman, Serge Danot, in 1963 and it was originally called "La Manege Enchante" (The Enchanted Merry-go-round). Danot was assisted by a friend from England, our very own Ivor Wood in fact, together with his wife Josiane, and you can clearly see his design sense imbued in the character and set designs.

The show was first broadcast in France in 1964, and was distinctly Gallic in flavour. Dougal the dog was then called Pollux, whilst Florence was called Margote and when Dylan was introduced in later colour episodes, he was presented as a lazy Spaniard called Flappy. When this hit French series was first offered to the BBC they rejected it as awkward, and difficult to dub into English. Subsequently, for whatever reason, the BBC's Head of Children's Programming gave the project a second look. It was passed on to the then producer of "Playschool2 Joy Whitby, who in turn handed the series to one of the show's presenter Eric Thompson, to see if he might try voicing an adaptation. And that folks, is how magic is created. Eric Thompson decided to ignore the original scripts altogether. Working with the volume turned down to avoid distraction, he completely rewrote the French stories and redefined and renamed the characters, injecting much irony, wit and melancholy in to the re-edited shows. In Thompson's hands, Pollux became dry, laconic Dougal, floating around the garden with a Hancock-like turn of phrase and a put-down for all occasions.

He was a star in the making, together with the newly-hippified Dylan, ever-cheery Brian, enthusiastic flower-chewing Ermintrude and the entire garden gang. Even the theme song didn't escape reinvention, with the musical calliope being speeded up for British production. The "new" series first aired in the UK on 18 October 1965. The rest is history. After two years atop of the tea-time viewing figures, when the BBC attempted to move the show from its regular broadcast slot of 5.55pm to one an hour earlier, the audience responded en-masse and forced them to rescind. And even come the 1970s, folks had opinions to express about any scheduling changes: "I should like to know how the BBC thinks I am going to regain my equilibrium after teaching all day if there is no Magic Roundabout to come home to?'" - letter to the Radio Times, March 25th 1971 The show concluded its French broadcast in 1971, but here in the UK the surplus of episodes allowed it to continue through to 1977.

What's more, in 1972 we were presented with a fabulously eccentric film version. The movie Dougal and the Blue Cat introduced us to Buxton the would-be usurper of the Magic Garden. In later years, when reflecting on his efforts reconstructing the series, Eric Thompson suggested he was most like Brian the snail in spirit, but let's take another look at Zebedee there (above). Interesting to see how Thompson shared a similar fondness for facial hair, and how he was a kind of 'guardian' for the show, much like Zebedee was for the Magic Garden. What goes around Great shows never die, of course. They live on in the jolly tea-time memories of a generation and as luck would have it, "The Magic Roundabout" was given a chance to stimulate and excite a new generation of viewers, fourteen years after it disappeared from our screens. Dougal and co. returned via Channel 4, and their discovery that 39 of the original episodes had never been broadcast by the BBC before they retired the series. Sadly, Eric Thompson had died in 1982, so for the new version actor Nigel Planer was brought in, with his brother Roger producing.

The newer series obviously lacked some of the original's charm, but what the heck, it was still "The Magic Roundabout" and that was certainly no to be sniffed at. Shiny new roundabout In 2005 the cast of the Magic Garden returned in a shiny new CGI film from Dave Borthwick and his bolexbrothers. This time around a host of famous names supplied the voices for the characters. And new cast members were created, including Soldier Sam and a bad relation of Zebedee, called ZeeBad. Though it was an underperforming feature, it ushered in an equally shiny new CGI series via Silver Fox Films which shall receive its own indexing here at Toonhound, in time. Magic stuff With its beatnik rabbit, laconic dog, spring-thing, pink cow and talking snail, folks have happily read all sorts of ludicrous and suspicious undercurrents in to proceedings.

Dylan simply had to have been on drugs; Dougal's craving for sugarlumps is shorthand for a speed addiction; Many of the characters chew on flowers all day; The name Dougal was a play on 'De Gaulle' and the garden itself was colour coordinated in accordance with the French flag, in dominant red, white, and blue as some kind of subliminal attack on the French... . Oh, the list is endless. Many will never be proven or disproved, but all are born from the fact that 'The Magic Roundabout' is a witty and timeless gem of a show. Ivor Wood Ivor Wood has of course gone on to to much more animated brilliance, of course. After 'Roundabout' he returned to London to bring us a wonderful concoction of characters and series through FilmFair, and then Woodland Animations. Parsley The Lion was a Michael Bond creation, but he still owes a debt to Dougal, with his melancholic ways and woes. Indeed, those Herbs in their 'herbidacious' surroundings are surely related to the folks within the Magic Garden? Jump forward to 1980 and you find Sancho and Carrots strolling around Hatty Town .

Once again, this is an adaptation of stories by Keith Chatfield, but again the production is tinged with melancholia, and now we have the self-same Magic Garden design returning with those 2D trees and sprinklings of flowers. By the way, did you know, there's a real-life Magic Roundabout Here's a great reference page for researchers. Tim Worthington chronicles the history of this - erm - "magic" show. No images, just good old-fashioned well-reaserched info - much more than The Hound has offered you thus far... A little bit of info here too, with some clips, theme WAV and a selection of Roundabout puzzle games to play. The image section is impressive, collating material from across the web, although it would be nice to credit sources. Worth a look, though, certainly... A series of sweet scrolling pages featuring plenty of character pics and games, things to buy, plus a fab page charting the French history of the show including sleeve pics and lyrics for some of the Gallic recordings made to promote the series - It could do with an update now, but it's still a good stopping point...

Film - The Magic Roundabout - Into Film The Magic Roundabout The Magic Roundabout © PATHE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Year Home | Films | Explore Films | The Magic Roundabout (2004) This 2005 film version of the classic 1960s children's television series sees the return of beloved animated characters Dougal the dog, Ermintrude the cow, Brian the snail, Dylan the rabbit, and of course, magician-on-a-spring, Zebedee. When Zebedee's evil brother ZeeBad tries to freeze the whole world, it's up to sugar-loving Dougal, voiced by pop star Robbie Williams, to save the day. Clubs provide opportunities to watch, review and make films. Start a film club today Director/s

Question: What is the name of the dog in the television series ‘The Magic Roundabout’?
Answer: Dougal