Television and the Media

Bod
Here comes Bod	This was a popular pseudo-educational children's programme featuring funnily enough a character called Bod. What the name actually means is lost in the mists of time but probably is slang for "badly drawn". Yes Bod was an incredibly basic looking character of indeterminate gender who, to be fair, was probably meant to look something like a child's drawing. The format was a third person narrative performed by Sergeant Wilson from Dad's Army,replaced at the end by a female voice over. It always started with "Here comes Bod" accompanied by his distinctive theme-ditty. He then had an adventure with his friends, each of whom had their own distinctive theme-ditty. After this finished there was various different items designed to stimulate the young mind. This included stories about an animal orchestra which always finished by guessing what flavour of milkshake the frog conductor, Alberto would drink at the end. The programme finished with Bod and his friends seen from behind disappearing into the distance and the phrase "there goes Bod". Thankfully.

Bod

Here comes Bod

This was a popular pseudo-educational children's programme featuring funnily enough a character called Bod. What the name actually means is lost in the mists of time but probably is slang for "badly drawn". Yes Bod was an incredibly basic looking character of indeterminate gender who, to be fair, was probably meant to look something like a child's drawing.

The format was a third person narrative performed by Sergeant Wilson from Dad's Army,replaced at the end by a female voice over. It always started with "Here comes Bod" accompanied by his distinctive theme-ditty. He then had an adventure with his friends, each of whom had their own distinctive theme-ditty.

After this finished there was various different items designed to stimulate the young mind. This included stories about an animal orchestra which always finished by guessing what flavour of milkshake the frog conductor, Alberto would drink at the end.

The programme finished with Bod and his friends seen from behind disappearing into the distance and the phrase "there goes Bod". Thankfully.

Keep Britain Tidy
Tidy Man Protecting our streets	The "frozen in time" tidy man was an American from the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign who first widely appeared in Britain in the early 70s. The slogan actually dated backed to the early 60s and the campaign to the 50s. The keep Britain tidy campaign became very famous in the Seventies with celebrities helping out as well as the famous Wombles. At one time you could hardly walk past a bus stop or advertising board without spotting his geometric features. The only thing spoiling the perfect angles was that unsightly irregular piece of rubbish he was disposing of. Today however the tidy man keeps a discrete appearance along with all the other environmental related logos on the back of crisp packets and drinks cans.

Keep Britain Tidy

Tidy Man
Protecting our streets

The "frozen in time" tidy man was an American from the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign who first widely appeared in Britain in the early 70s. The slogan actually dated backed to the early 60s and the campaign to the 50s.

The keep Britain tidy campaign became very famous in the Seventies with celebrities helping out as well as the famous Wombles. At one time you could hardly walk past a bus stop or advertising board without spotting his geometric features. The only thing spoiling the perfect angles was that unsightly irregular piece of rubbish he was disposing of.

Today however the tidy man keeps a discrete appearance along with all the other environmental related logos on the back of crisp packets and drinks cans.

Monkey
Monkey's spirit was irrepressible	If it has never been watched Monkey defies most rational explanations to both it's popularity and what the programme was actually about. I shall brave an attempt anyway. This was a dubbed Japanese mythical/fantasy/action programme made in the late 1970s and shown on BBC2 in the early evenings up until the mid-1980s. The basic premise was that Monkey (a powerful animal spirit) and several other spirits are thrown out of the heavens for creating chaos. Entry back into the heavens is to be given only after they escort a boy priest (played by a woman) across China and India to bring the Buddhist teachings to the world and prevent the suffering of mankind. Interspersed between the action scenes were various philosophical voice-overs that tried to show the merits of enlightenment e.g. peace over violence and order over chaos.(?!?!?) The Buddhist stuff was okay but most male youngsters watched it for the fight scenes. Years before the power rangers were getting into trouble because kids were mimicking it's cartoon like violence Monkey was doing exactly the same thing. To add a bit of variation when beating up the local herd of demons he often threw in some extravagent magic tricks. The best remembered of these was his flying cloud which seemed to be evoked by Monkey blowing through his fingers. Recently released on video along with a pile of other shows from the same period.

Monkey

Monkey's spirit
was irrepressible

If it has never been watched Monkey defies most rational explanations to both it's popularity and what the programme was actually about. I shall brave an attempt anyway.

This was a dubbed Japanese mythical/fantasy/action programme made in the late 1970s and shown on BBC2 in the early evenings up until the mid-1980s. The basic premise was that Monkey (a powerful animal spirit) and several other spirits are thrown out of the heavens for creating chaos. Entry back into the heavens is to be given only after they escort a boy priest (played by a woman) across China and India to bring the Buddhist teachings to the world and prevent the suffering of mankind. Interspersed between the action scenes were various philosophical voice-overs that tried to show the merits of enlightenment e.g. peace over violence and order over chaos.(?!?!?)

The Buddhist stuff was okay but most male youngsters watched it for the fight scenes. Years before the power rangers were getting into trouble because kids were mimicking it's cartoon like violence Monkey was doing exactly the same thing. To add a bit of variation when beating up the local herd of demons he often threw in some extravagent magic tricks. The best remembered of these was his flying cloud which seemed to be evoked by Monkey blowing through his fingers.

Recently released on video along with a pile of other shows from the same period.

The Mr. Men
Mr. Topsy Turvy, Mr. Bump and Mr. Strong enjoying a Mr. Men reunion	The Mr. Men were picture book characters created by Roger Hargreaves in the early seventies. They were used as a tool to get across the ideas of basic morality, ethics and generally how to make the world a nicer place. The characterisation style was simplicity itself each of the Mr. Men would be based around a single concept which was generally represented by simple geometric shape and colour. On to this basic shape was placed a face, limbs and usually a hat (sometimes used as a plot device, see Mr. Chatterbox for more information). Often small variations were then added e.g Mr. Tickle's long arms, Mr. Bumps bandages and Mr. Uppity's monocle. That was the basis of each Mr. Man. Then the story would generally consist of a mix of a description of the character's wacky lifestyle and an adventure of some sort with possible cameos from other Mr. Men. Often some sort of ironic punishment was inflicted. The classic example being Mr. Tickle having his extra-long arms reduced to normal size becoming Mr. Used-To-Tickle until he had learnt his lesson. The other common plot was that of making the world a better place by improving a dull life. Examples of this being Mr. Happy making a sad version of himself happy and Mr. Impossible allowing a school boy to escape the boredom of the classroom by having impossible adventures. The books eventually became an animated series with ditty tune and narration from a friendly Arthur Lowe. In the Eighties it was updated by adding the Little Misses (for political correctness). John Alderton (who wasn't in Dad's Army)became the narrator and a more upbeat tempo replaced the original theme tune. See a selection of Mr Men Book Covers in the Rogues Gallery

The Mr. Men

Mr. Topsy Turvy, Mr. Bump
and Mr. Strong enjoying
a Mr. Men reunion

The Mr. Men were picture book characters created by Roger Hargreaves in the early seventies. They were used as a tool to get across the ideas of basic morality, ethics and generally how to make the world a nicer place.

The characterisation style was simplicity itself each of the Mr. Men would be based around a single concept which was generally represented by simple geometric shape and colour. On to this basic shape was placed a face, limbs and usually a hat (sometimes used as a plot device, see Mr. Chatterbox for more information). Often small variations were then added e.g Mr. Tickle's long arms, Mr. Bumps bandages and Mr. Uppity's monocle.

That was the basis of each Mr. Man. Then the story would generally consist of a mix of a description of the character's wacky lifestyle and an adventure of some sort with possible cameos from other Mr. Men. Often some sort of ironic punishment was inflicted. The classic example being Mr. Tickle having his extra-long arms reduced to normal size becoming Mr. Used-To-Tickle until he had learnt his lesson.

The other common plot was that of making the world a better place by improving a dull life. Examples of this being Mr. Happy making a sad version of himself happy and Mr. Impossible allowing a school boy to escape the boredom of the classroom by having impossible adventures.

The books eventually became an animated series with ditty tune and narration from a friendly Arthur Lowe.

In the Eighties it was updated by adding the Little Misses (for political correctness). John Alderton (who wasn't in Dad's Army)became the narrator and a more upbeat tempo replaced the original theme tune.

See a selection of Mr Men Book Covers in the Rogues Gallery

Public Information Films
Charley is rewarded with a fish for saving humanity from the hidden danger of matches	These exist today although they are very tame compared to the pieces of safety propaganda which appeared during advert breaks of Saturday morning children programmes during the seventies and eighties. The idea behind these short movies was to make children and adults behave in safe ways by being careful crossing the road, not playing with matches, lifting heavy objects etc. This in itself was a reasonable idea, using the dead-zone advertising space (in those days before the toy companies found it was prime time) during children's programmes to put the message across. Some of these films were quite calm affairs with humorous robots but the bulk of them by todays standard would have an 18 certificate. Every Saturday morning was a regular slaughter-fest of kids and adults being electrified, catching fire, falling under trains, being involved in hideous traffic accidents. If that wasn't enough to have your average 7 year old quivering in fear these horror scenes were often accompanied by jarring chords and creepy voice overs. These films were so traumatic that even now when someone mentions a distinctive phrase from one of these adverts such as "never mix cross-ply and radial on the same axle" or "charley says...." they are almost instantly recognized.

Public Information Films

Charley is rewarded
with a fish for saving
humanity from the
hidden danger of
matches

These exist today although they are very tame compared to the pieces of safety propaganda which appeared during advert breaks of Saturday morning children programmes during the seventies and eighties. The idea behind these short movies was to make children and adults behave in safe ways by being careful crossing the road, not playing with matches, lifting heavy objects etc. This in itself was a reasonable idea, using the dead-zone advertising space (in those days before the toy companies found it was prime time) during children's programmes to put the message across. Some of these films were quite calm affairs with humorous robots but the bulk of them by todays standard would have an 18 certificate.

Every Saturday morning was a regular slaughter-fest of kids and adults being electrified, catching fire, falling under trains, being involved in hideous traffic accidents. If that wasn't enough to have your average 7 year old quivering in fear these horror scenes were often accompanied by jarring chords and creepy voice overs.

These films were so traumatic that even now when someone mentions a distinctive phrase from one of these adverts such as "never mix cross-ply and radial on the same axle" or "charley says...." they are almost instantly recognized.

Roobarb
Roobarb bounding for a tree Not for the reason you might think though!	Seventies cartoon series created by animator Bob Godfrey (Later to create Henry's Cat) and narrated by Richard Briers (him off the Good Life). Roobarb was a dog, albeit a green dog who liked to invent things in his shed. These inventions normally failed because of the mocking and evil Custard, the pink cat from next door (Roobarb and Custard! Get it? Never mind). Custard's only goal in life appeared to be bringing misery to the poor Roobarb usually aided with wildlife from the garden. The animation itself was a clever wobbly felt-tip pen affair which actually gave the programme quite a unique feel to it. Often repeated but so is everything else these days. Introduced to a new generation when the distinctive theme music was sampled for a dance track a number of years ago. Interesting to note that Roobarb scratches a door open, runs on all fours and barks in the titles. When the story actually starts in the five-minute long programme (usually with the sun rising) he'd gained opposable thumbs, the ability to walk on his hind legs, speak in English and own property. This is rapid animal evolution worthy of an entry in the record books.

Roobarb

Roobarb bounding
for a tree
Not for the reason
you might think though!

Seventies cartoon series created by animator Bob Godfrey (Later to create Henry's Cat) and narrated by Richard Briers (him off the Good Life). Roobarb was a dog, albeit a green dog who liked to invent things in his shed. These inventions normally failed because of the mocking and evil Custard, the pink cat from next door (Roobarb and Custard! Get it? Never mind). Custard's only goal in life appeared to be bringing misery to the poor Roobarb usually aided with wildlife from the garden.

The animation itself was a clever wobbly felt-tip pen affair which actually gave the programme quite a unique feel to it. Often repeated but so is everything else these days. Introduced to a new generation when the distinctive theme music was sampled for a dance track a number of years ago.

Interesting to note that Roobarb scratches a door open, runs on all fours and barks in the titles. When the story actually starts in the five-minute long programme (usually with the sun rising) he'd gained opposable thumbs, the ability to walk on his hind legs, speak in English and own property. This is rapid animal evolution worthy of an entry in the record books.

Space 1999
An obvious case of giving a programme a cool sounding title	This programme seemed to be constantly repeated on Saturday mornings up until the early eighties. The premise was a bit silly but excusable. For anyone who doesn't know the idea was that in the near future the moon would be used to store dangerous nuclear waste (ok so far) which one day decides for no good reason to blow up (ok) and send the moon hurtling out of the Earth's orbit and through space taking with it all the inhabitants of the local space base (which is where "sensible idea" goes out the window). So this gallant group of individuals spent their time travelling on the moon from adventure to adventure, losing transport ships (called Eagles) and crew nearly every episode. They also used technology levels far more advanced than was likely. I should not be too critical some of it wasn't too bad and the programme itself has quite a large group of fans on the web and if I critisise it too much they might beat me up. (only joking) See a selection of Space 1999 characters in the Rogues Gallery

Space 1999

An obvious case
of giving a
programme a cool
sounding title

This programme seemed to be constantly repeated on Saturday mornings up until the early eighties. The premise was a bit silly but excusable. For anyone who doesn't know the idea was that in the near future the moon would be used to store dangerous nuclear waste (ok so far) which one day decides for no good reason to blow up (ok) and send the moon hurtling out of the Earth's orbit and through space taking with it all the inhabitants of the local space base (which is where "sensible idea" goes out the window).

So this gallant group of individuals spent their time travelling on the moon from adventure to adventure, losing transport ships (called Eagles) and crew nearly every episode. They also used technology levels far more advanced than was likely.

I should not be too critical some of it wasn't too bad and the programme itself has quite a large group of fans on the web and if I critisise it too much they might beat me up. (only joking)

See a selection of Space 1999 characters in the Rogues Gallery

The Test Card
30 years to make a move in a game of noughts and crosses is a bit excessive	There may have been many different test cards over time but the one most fondly remembered will always be the little girl playing noughts and crosses with a toy clown. It was simplistic, it was artistic and accompanied by what the BBC considered hip music. In this modern age of 24 hour television it's hard to believe that the BBC used to close down for hours at a time during the day and we would be offered this delightful little visage or pages from Ceefax for half an afternoon especially if the cricket was cancelled (which it often was) because they had no contingency plan whatsoever. She is little more than a memory now although there is an occasional showing after closedown on BBC 2 sometimes when the engineers claim to be doing some sort of test but they are probably just as nostalgic as the rest of us.

The Test Card

30 years to
make a move in a game
of noughts and crosses
is a bit excessive

There may have been many different test cards over time but the one most fondly remembered will always be the little girl playing noughts and crosses with a toy clown. It was simplistic, it was artistic and accompanied by what the BBC considered hip music.

In this modern age of 24 hour television it's hard to believe that the BBC used to close down for hours at a time during the day and we would be offered this delightful little visage or pages from Ceefax for half an afternoon especially if the cricket was cancelled (which it often was) because they had no contingency plan whatsoever.

She is little more than a memory now although there is an occasional showing after closedown on BBC 2 sometimes when the engineers claim to be doing some sort of test but they are probably just as nostalgic as the rest of us.

Television and the Media

See a selection of Mr Men Book Covers in the Rogues Gallery

See a selection of Space 1999 characters in the Rogues Gallery

Click Here to Return to Category List

Click Here to Return to Home Page