15 The Magic Roundabout

First  watched : Uncertain

Another French  import  , the  story  of  The  Magic  Roundabout  has  often  been  told  but  not  always  accurately  and  there  are  one  or  two  enduring  myths  that  keep  re-surfacing. It  began  in  France  as  a  series  of  short  films  by  former  advertising  executive  Serge  Danot  assisted  by  Welsh  puppeteer  Ivor  Wood. Its  immediate  success  there  attracted  the  BBC  but  due  to  inept    negotiations  they  found  that  they  had  only  bought  the  pictures  not  the  script. Rather  than  pay  another  wad  out  to  the  French,  the  Beeb  engaged  Play  School  presenter  Eric  "father  of  Emma"  Thompson  to  produce  his  own  scripts  for  the  show  without  reference  to  the  original.

Thompson's  erudite  scripts  incorporated  contemporary  references  like  re- naming   the  beatnik  rabbit  Dylan  and  basing  the  grouchy  personality  of  legless  leading  dog  Dougal  ( the name  caused  mild  consternation  to  Danot  who  thought  it  may  be   a  reference  to  De  Gaulle)  on  comedian  Tony  Hancock. He  attracted  some  criticism  for  pitching  the  dialogue  way  above  the  intended  age  range  which  he  blithely  ignored  and  it's  quite  plausible  that  The  Simpsons  owes  something  to  his  subversive  example. Its  appeal  to  adults  was  brought  home  to  the  Beeb  when  moving  it  to  an  earlier  time  slot  from  the  one  just  before  the  evening  news  brought  a  storm  of  protests

The  subversion  angle   has  been  overstated  of  course. You  still  get  pub  bores  droning  on  about  how  all  the  characters  were  based  on  drugs  - Brian  represents  speed, Ermintrude  magic  mushrooms, Dylan  dope  and  so  on  - something  the  surviving  participants  strenuously  deny.

Danot  churned  them  out  relentlessly  - though  latterly  without  Wood  who  bailed  out  when  the  operation  moved  out  of  Paris  to  the  French  sticks - until  1971. Thompson  couldn't match  that  pace  which  meant  that  there  were  still  "new "  episodes   in  Britain  until  1977 . In  fact  there  were  still  52  episodes  that  Thompson  hadn't  worked  on  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1982  , which  Channel  4  purchased  and  gave  to  Nigel  Planer  to  develop  to  a  generally  favourable  response  in  1991.

My  own  strongest  recollection  of  the  series  is  disappointment  that  my  favourite  character  Paul  ( the  lad  in  the  yellow  jersey  centre  left )  so  rarely  featured. In  fact  none  of  Florence's  three  human  playmates  got  much  of  a  look  in  after  the  first  year  of  the  series  as  the  animals  proved  more  popular.