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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