Children's Programmes
Ace of Wands1972 Devised by writer Trevor Preston with Pamela Lonsdale (the producer who created Rainbow), this popular children's series starred Michael Mackenzie as Tarot, a magical entertainer, conjurer and escapologist. He solved mysteries and fought crime with his special powers. There were three series, the first two guest starred Tony Selby and Judy Loe, while series three guest starred Petra Markham and Roy Holder. One of the villains, the diabolical Mr Stabs, appeared in the spin off series Shadows (1975), and also in an episode of Dramarama (1984), played by Russell Hunter and David Jason respectively. These titles are from 1972.
Alias The Jester1986 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
The animated adventures of a space time traveller whose rocket ship gets stuck in the Earth's magnetic hold, throwing him back in time to medieval England. Richard Briers, Brian Wilde and Brian Trueman provided the voices.
Button Moon1986
Mr Spoon and his family take another trip to Button Moon in Blanket Sky. The Button Moon theme music was sung by Peter Davison and Sandra Dickinson.
Chocky1983
Children's drama series based on the novel by John Wyndham. When alien Chocky enters Matthew Gore's mind, not only does he start to develop new skills but he also begins to attract some dangerous attention from the Government. Two further serials 'Chocky's Children' and 'Chocky's Challenge' followed in 1984 and 1985 respectively.
Chorlton and the Wheelies1976 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
We have Messrs Cosgrove-Hall, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester, to thank for Chorlton the Happiness Dragon and his crazy adventures in Wheely World. My favourite character is Fenella the wicked witch, who lives in a giant kettle called Spout Hall, and speaks like Jones the Steam on acid... Three series and a Christmas special (40 episodes in total) were produced between 1976 and 1979.
Cockleshell Bay1980 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
The adventures of Robin and Rosie Cockle, who lived with their Mum, Dad and Gran at the Bucket & Spade Guesthouse in Cockleshell Bay. Other characters included Mr Ship and Paddy Fingal.
Count Duckula1988 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
This latter day Cosgrove-Hall series is a spin-off from Danger Mouse and covers the exploits of the world's only vegetarian vampire duck. Like Dangermouse, his cool, streetwise patter was spoken by David Jason. Duckula was put to death centuries ago, but he's brought back to life by his decrepit butler and cretinous nanny, voiced by Jack May and Brian Trueman respectively. Trueman's Westcountry nursemaid accent is quite hilarious.
Dangermouse1983 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
Utterly, utterly brilliant Cosgrove-Hall animated series that spoofs all our great detective shows, through the astounding adventures of Dangermouse and his cowardly, cuddly sidekick Penfold. David Jason and Terry Scott voiced them, respectively, with other characters played by Brian Trueman. Who can forget the villainous Baron Greenback?
Jamie and the Magic Torch1976 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
Unknown to his mummy, Jamie owns a special torch with magical powers. Every night, he switches it on and projects a wormhole through the floorboards into a multi-coloured helter-skelter, which leads to a colourful and extraordinary world. His trusty sheepdog Wordsworth follows him everywhere. Brian Trueman, of Screen Test fame, provides the voices...
Magpie1968-1980
A children's magazine show that gave ITV its answer to Blue Peter. The series launched in 1968 with hosts Susan Stranks, Tony Bastable and former DJ Pete Brady, and we have an example of the original title sequence, complete with the monochrome vignette skyline ident. The second clip shows the original colour titles, dating from 1969 - not 1968 as Frank Muir states in his TV Heaven introduction (Channel Four 1992).
Magpie1979
The title sequence became more funky as the 1970s drew on, while new presenters joined the team including Jenny Hanley, Mick Robertson, Tommy Boyd and Douglas Rae. Sadly none of them was a patch on John Noakes, Lesley Judd or Simon Groom. The series ended in 1980.
Michael Bentine's Potty Time1975-1976
Not only was Michael Bentine the urbane host of this children's puppet series, he created it and voiced it too. The characters engaged in all manner of bizarre scenarios, entertaining young and old alike with historical spoofs. The music is also very cool! There were two series, running from 1975-76. The second clip is of a summer 1986 repeat, introduced by Peter Marshall.
Paperplay1979
Ex-Magpie presenter Susan Stranks devised and hosted this popular pre-school programme, with the assistance of two fluffy puppet spiders - Itsy and Bitsy.
Pauline's Quirkes1976
A post-modern sketch-based comedy and music vehicle for Pauline Quirke. Each week she was joined by a company of young co-stars including Linda Robson plus resident teenage band 'Flintlock'. Thames announcer Philip Elsmore was sometimes press-ganged into making guest appearances.
Rainbow1972 - 1992 Thames children's producer Pamela Lonsdale devised this seminal show, held in high esteem by people of a certain age, with a theme by Fraser, Portnow and Thomas that takes you right back to the nursery. But what's all this? Who's that bloke? And that's not the Bungle I remember! Here we have the original titles on episode one (tx: 16/10/1972), presented by David Cook. The clip also features the original and, frankly, rather spooky-looking Bungle as played by John Leeson, later to become famous as the voice of K9.
Rainbow1981
Rainbow became one of ITV's best known and much-missed children's programmes. This 1981 edition shows a more familiar cast: Geoffrey Hayes is the host, with Bungle, Zippy and George. The songs in the show were provided by Rod, Jane and Freddy; the voices of Zippy and George were performed by Roy Skelton and Bungle was played by Stanley Bates.
Rainbow1988
An edition from much later in the series, which eventually ran to 1000 programmes. Perhaps in order to relieve the boredom of so many scenarios in the Rainbow house, this episode took place in outer space: a studio full of tinsel and inflatable rocks, a bit like late 80s Dr Who... Zippy and George have been left in charge of the spaceship and chaos ensues...
Rainbow - Naughty Bits!1980 / 1985
Two snippets from Thames TV Christmas tapes, made by "NAFF Productions", reveal Jim Davidson and Tommy Boyd larking about with Geoffrey, George and Zippy during a rehearsal. Their language is certainly not for the children. In the second clip, Rod, Jane and Freddy perform a satirical song, with members of the puppet cast stripping off at the back of set!
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/41983 Sue Townsend's book provided the basis for this entertaining comedy series, starring Gian Sammarco - whatever happened to him? Excellent stellar support from Julie Walters and Stephen Moore as Adrian's dysfunctional parents, Beryl Reid as his gran, Bill Fraser as his elderly friend Bert, and Freddie Jones as his malevolent headmaster, Mr Scroot. The memorable theme tune, with its lyric "I'm... Profoundly in love with Pandora" was performed by Ian Dury.
Shadows1975
The opening titles and credits sequences to the first of the creepy Thames children's anthology series. These clips are from the episode Dutch Schlitz's Shoes by Trevor Preston. Russell Hunter reprised his role as Mr Stabs, from that other popular Thames children's show, Ace of Wands.
Shadows1976
The second series titles and credits sequences from 1976. These clips are from Penelope Lively's story, Time Out of Mind. The opening titles are actually chilling in a way one might not expect for a children's series, for they juxtapose eery sound effects against surreal images of buildings, stern children, ghostly silhouettes and empty rocking chairs. In contrast, the jolly closing music sounds like something off an ITV School's clock!
Shadows1978
From the final series, originally shown in 1978, titles and credits from the story, The Boy Merlin by Stewart Farrar. Once again, the titles are eye catching; not as spooky as before but just as surreal, combining animation with live action model shots. These titles wouldn't look out of place on a paranormal phone-in show, although they would actually be too classy for such a show!
The Sooty Show1983 - 1990 The idea for Sooty, the teddy bear puppet, came about in 1948 when Harry Corbett spotted him in Blackpool. The act first appeared on TV in 1952, with a series on BBC-TV from 1955, but the corporation took a dim view of the introduction of Sooty's girlfriend Soo in 1964. The show moved to Thames and has remained with ITV ever since. Harry's son Matthew Corbett took over as host in the 1970s and these episodes date from 1983, 1987 and 1990. Harry passed away in 1989, aged 71. My favourite character is Sweep, a squeaking and sometimes argumentative dog with long ears and a liking for water pistols, who joined the series in 1957...
The Tomorrow People1973
Thames made the The Tomorrow People to chill the spines of children across the UK. The title theme composer Dudley Simpson, of Dr Who and Blake's Seven fame, made a massive contribution to that thrill factor. The series was produced by Ruth Boswell and followed the adventures of John, Stephen, Carol and Kenny, who are gifted with superpowers and are forerunners of a new breed of humanity. This serial, The Medusa Strain, dates from June 1973.
Wind in the Willows1985 Thames Television/Cosgrove-Hall
Following a successful pilot episode made in 1983 of Kenneth Grahame's classic novel, Cosgrove-Hall produced an entire series of tales revolving around Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger set in Edwardian England. The series featured the vocal talents of Richard Pearson, Peter Sallis, David Jason and Michael Hordern, with Ian Carmichael as narrator.