Wednesday 29 October 2014

5. Watch With Mother : Pogles' Wood



First  watched : Uncertain

Now  here  is  the  first  programme  I  can  recall  being  enthusiastic  about,  perhaps  because  there was  a  little  more  imagination  involved.

About  three  years  ago  I  bought  a  video  comprised  of  a  few  episodes  from  a  car  boot  sale in Ramsbottom   ostensibly  for  my  son  (  who  only  found  it  mildly  diverting ) but  really  to  see  if it  would  trigger  any  fond  memories. Sadly  it  didn't,  apart  from  hearing  the  magical  voice  of  Oliver  Postgate  ( voicing  Mr  Pogle   and  the  Magic  Plant )  which  is  always  a  joy,   and  I  conclude   that  I  only  remembered  missing  it  ( because  the  black  and  white  stuff  was  all  dropped  in  the  early  70s )  without   recalling  the  reasons  why. Looking  at  it  now  I  pick  up  on  the  melancholic  strain  that   was  always  present  in  Postgate's  work  accentuated  by  the  filming. It's  usually  dim  lit  and  the  episode  titled  "Umbrellas"  bravely  starts  with  footage  of  a  pouring  wet  day  in  the  countryside.

The  Pogles  were  not  actually  created  for  kids  TV  at  all. They  were  originally  a  series  of  shorts  made  for  a  film  programme  in  1965  and  deemed  unsuitable  for  kids  because  of  a  rather  nasty  witch  character.  However  the  suits  did  like   the  Pogle  characters  and  asked  Postgate  and  his  puppeting  partner  Peter  Firmin  to  make  a  series  using  them  to  illustrate  facets  of  country  life.  Filmed  footage  of  people  doing  ordinary  rural  chores  was  inserted  into  the  episodes.Their  company  Smallfilms  made  two  series  of  thirteen  episodes  each,  largely  filmed  in  Firmin's  backyard.  The  second  had  more  fantasy  content  involving  extra  puppets   which  I  suspect  was  more  to  their  taste. Mrs  Pogle's  instructions  to  the  Magic  Plant  not  to  include  any  violence  or  unpleasant  stuff  in  his  stories  seems  like  a  pop  at  critics  of  the  original  series.

We'll  be  meeting  Smallfilms  again  of  course.

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