First watched : 7th October 1969
As it was first broadcast the day after Chigley I guess I saw this one from the beginning too.
Mary. Mungo And Midge was always more of a favourite with my sister than me. I guess that's because one of the titular characters was a young girl although she had all the personality of a tin can before they put the label on.
The series ( 13 episodes in total ) was made by John Ryan Studios who had previously done Captain Pugwash. It was in colour but was otherwise extremely basic with its figures merely cardboard cut outs with few moving parts bobbing along in front of stylised static backdrops.
The "novel" feature of the show was its urban setting. The trio lived on the top floor of a tower block in a busy town which formed the backdrop to most of their adventures. However Mary's room seemed suspiciously spacious and her voicing , by Ryan's daughter Isabel, wasn't particularly proletarian. The other voices and narration were by straight laced news reader Richard Baker.
The formula was pretty simple. Midge the irrepressible mouse got into scrapes from which he was usually rescued by grouchy old dog Mungo, a killjoy and know it all that I absolutely hated. Mary often only had a peripheral part in proceedings. Being a BBC show it often dropped educational content into the script which gave the series a rather leaden feel though I suppose I can muster some affection for it now.
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