118 The Wombles

First  watched :  February  1973

With  this  well-loved  little  series in  The  Magic  Roundabout  slot  , the  BBC  proved  itself  somewhat  ahead  of   the  curve  in  promoting  environmental  concern  and  recycling.  The  Wombles  first  appeared  in  a  series  of  novels  by   Elisabeth  Beresford   about  these  furtive  creatures  who  lived  on  Wimbledon  Common  and  found  new  uses  for  things  left  behind  ( rather  than  actual  litter   as  such )  by  human  visitors. When  the  first one , The  Wombles   ( published   1968 )  featured  on  Jackanory  the  response  prompted  the  Beeb  to  commission  Ivor  Wood  to  make  a  new  stop  motion  series  based  on  the  characters. Beresford's  creatures  were  basically   child-sized  teddy  bears; Wood  shrank  them  to  knee  height  and  gave  them  a  more  individual  appearance. Otherwise  it  was  pretty  faithful  to  Beresford's  creation  requiring  children  to  grapple  with  difficult  geographical   character  names  like  Tomsk  and  Tobermory.  The  reliable  Bernard  Cribbins  was  brought  in  to  narrate  it  and  a  young  songwriter / producer  of  hitherto  moderate  success  , Mike  Batt  came  up  with  the  Beatleesque  theme  tune.

The  show  was  an  instant  success  creating  a  huge  demand  for  Wombles  merchandise  which  the  BBC  were  still  a  little  unsteady  in  meeting. Batt  had  no  such  qualms; having  craftily  obtained  musical  rights  to  the  characters  in  lieu  of  a  fee  he  launched  a  string  of  hit  singles  ( only  narrowly  failing  to  qualify  for  my  Hello  Goodbye  blog )  two  of  which  nearly  made  the  number  one  spot. Indeed  Batt  claims  that  "A  Wombling  Merry  Christmas"  was  well  ahead  of  Mud's  "Lonely  This  Christmas"  in  1974  until  negative  reviews  of  a  Wombles  stage  show  which  Beresford's  husband  had  authorised  despite  Batt's  opposition,  hit  the  press.

The  show  survived  this  embarrassment  and  its  two  series   of  30  episodes  each  were  regularly  repeated  although  the  live  action  film  Wombling  Free  in   1977  was  a  bit  too  late  in  arriving .  A  new  Canadian-produced  series  was  aired  on  ITV  in  1996  and  another  new  series   is  due  to  be  aired  this  year.  How  much  it  affected  attitudes  to  litter  is  hard  to  say; the  statistics  just  aren't  there  to  say  one  way  or  the  other. Schools  mounting  litter  campaigns  were  obviously  grateful  and  the  Keep  Britain  Tidy  campaign  got  a  shot  in  the  arm. Previously  there  had  been  some  resistance  to  its  propaganda  due  to  the  movement's   roots  in  the Women's  Institute  protesting  at   the  newly  mobile  working  class  coming  into  the  countryside. Wimbledon  Common  clearly  wasn't  in  a  National  Park  so  this  association  was  painted  over by  Orinoco  and  his  pals'  ubiquity.  While  waste  and  its  treatment  remains  a  live  issue  I  suppose  they'll  never  go  away.