Behind the scenes of classic children’s TV, part two: Kids loved the magic of giving animals a voice

By the dawning of the 1960s, Muffin the Mule was heading out to pasture while The Woodentops had sold their farm, retired to a bungalow on the south coast and were living the life of Riley on repeat fees that would line their pockets for years to come.

Even The Flowerpot Men, those indefatigable twins who conversed in their indecipherable flobadob language, had left Weed behind and headed for new horizons, leaving behind a televisual legacy – like many of their contemporaries.

The 1960s introduced us to a new batch of children’s programmes, many of which would also become mainstays of the TV schedules for years to come.

But classic children’s programmes weren’t all about animation. Some series, such as Animal Magic, introduced their young audience to a host of creatures many had never seen before.

When the BBC’s Natural History Unit was established in Bristol, presenter Johnny Morris was asked to present a new weekly show based around a zookeeper at Bristol Zoo.

Animal Magic began in 1962 and ran for over 20 years, during which time Morris often risked his own safety by entering animals’ cages accompanied by an anxious cameraman.

Morris once commented: “The more equipment you introduce into an animal’s enclosure the more trouble you heap upon yourself.

“I’ve seen a young gorilla rip a tripod from a cameraman’s grasp and bash him over the head with it. He was not observing rule number one, which is never go into a great ape’s enclosure with anything in your hand.”

Animal Magic ended in the early 80s, a sad occasion for Morris. “It was hated by the scientific section of the BBC’s Natural History Unit because it was anthropomorphic – that is, it treated animals like humans.”

Working with animals can be fraught with problems, as David Ellison – who created Tales Of The Riverbank with his Canadian partner Paul Sutherland – acknowledges.

While employed by the BBC, he was transferred to Canada to assist the launch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

During four years spent across the Atlantic, he worked for a French producer who was making a children’s series with various animals, including goats, spider monkeys, pigs and chickens.

Ellison says: “It was chaos in the studio, there was no control at all.”

The series failed to impress but gave Ellison an idea. “I started thinking about using animals for children’s television, but small animals that were handleable.”

Ellison filmed a pilot episode, titled Tales Of The Riverbank, and was commissioned by the BBC initially to make 13 episodes.

The enchanting televisual world Ellison created saw Hammy Hamster, Roderick Rat and friends pootling along in a minuscule motorboat while undertaking daily chores at their riverside homes.

It’s estimated that 100 hamsters were employed in the central role of Hammy and once pensioned off were adopted by friends of the production crew.

With Johnny Morris narrating, British children made their first visit to the Riverbank in July 1960, and they’d be returning on a regular basis for years to come.

During the programme’s lifetime, the BBC received occasional letters from worried viewers – perhaps to be expected considering the young audience’s affinity with the fluffy balls of fur performing on screen.

Seeing an animal apparently taking to the skies was enough for a 10-year-old from Bristol. Writing to the Beeb, she stated: “I was unhappy watching this as it seemed to be cruel to the animals. When Hammy was in the aeroplane he seemed to be frightened. He nearly fell on the propellers as they were going round and tried to get out as the plane was flying.”

But great care was always taken making the little films, which were shown in over 50 countries.

Some of you may remember the animated series Hatty Town, originally shown by Thames Television between 1971-72. But in fact, it began its screen life in 1967 as part of ITV’s Small Time.

There was no animation, simply each programme being read out by the man of many voices, Peter Hawkins (who provided voices for so many children’s characters, including The Flowerpot Men) with pictures by John McLusky.

Later, the series was adapted into an animated series, with Ivor Wood creating the collection of oversized talking hats, each with limbs and faces, who populated Hatty Town.

Characters included Bobby the Policeman’s Helmet and Posty the Postman’s Hat, but the storylines usually centred on Sancho and a donkey called Carrots who were adept at solving problems and mysteries for fellow members of the community.

Creator Keith Chatfield says: “I wrote the story to keep my son, who’s now grown up, entertained when he was about five.

“I was working for the Express Dairy Company in London and had been at a very important meeting. But it had been so boring, I’d doodled all over the blotting paper in front of me.

“At the end of the meeting, I took the paper with me because I didn’t want anyone else to find it. I put it in my pocket and it wasn’t until weeks later, while clearing out my pockets, that I found the paper.

“My son asked what it was and, jokingly, I pointed to the doodles of large hats with big, bulging eyes, and said: ‘This is very important.’ Having said that to a five-year-old, I had to make it important and literally started some pictures and storylines.”

The rest is history.

Among programmes which relied, largely, on humans to entertain kids rather than puppets or cartoon characters was Play School.

One of the show’s original presenters was Brian Cant, who once told me about his audition.

“I met the producer in an office at the BBC and after chatting for a while she kicked a box out from under the table and said: ‘Get in there and row out to sea.’

“So I did an ad-lib journey on water, caught a pretend boot on my fishing rod and after making up some more rubbish rowed back in, climbed up the table leg and back into my seat. I think the producer was suitably impressed because she asked me to go away and write a script for a film test.

“I was working on No Hiding Place, a police drama, at the time and had to dash up one lunchtime to audition. Luckily, I got the job and joined the team in 1964. I stayed 18 years and had a wonderful time – it’s funny to think the original contract was only for three months.”

Inevitably things went wrong but as the show was recorded, no one knew. Cant recalled: “Once this guy brought an eagle into the studio, assuring us that it didn’t need to be tethered.

“It sat on his arm until something frightened it and it flew up, crashing into the lights before relieving itself. All this muck was falling down and we ended up having to clear the studio.”

A groundbreaking series which kicked off in 1964 was Vision On. Geared towards deaf children, it became a landmark in terms of social inclusion and ran until 1977, making household names of, among others, presenters Pat Keysell and Tony Hart.

The premise behind Vision On was that it would become a programme for all children but because it was so visual, it would appeal to deaf children, too.

Transmitted weekly from BBC Bristol, this innovative show was chiefly art-based and among its most popular segments was the Gallery, each week exhibiting a tiny sample of the thousands of paintings and drawings that deluged the Beeb’s production office.

As well as artwork, the presenters received bags of fan mail.

“People asked the strangest things,” recalled Keysell.

“I got lots of letters from girls wanting to know where I bought my clothes. Another asked why I wore a bra? Apparently she’d been told at school that it was best not to because they weakened the muscles. I replied saying I was told the opposite in my day at school and that it was good to have the support. I also mentioned that Marilyn Monroe slept in her bra, so there must be something in it.”

For scientifically-minded kids, or those too inquisitive for their own good, Southern Television’s long-running series, How!, was essential viewing.

A Tomorrow’s World for youngsters, How! ran between 1966-81, boasting a line-up of Fred Dinenage, Bunty James (later replaced by Marian Davies), Jack Hargreaves and Jon Miller.

Each week, the team provided answers to all those unfathomable mysteries niggling at the viewers’ young minds – and, to be honest, many adult minds, too.

Fred Dinenage, just 23 when the series began, recalls: “Jack Hargreaves concentrated on general knowledge items while Jon Miller’s great interest in life was explosions. He was particularly good at them, so we had lots in the studio. Frequently the fire alarms were set off and the local fire brigade would come round.”

Dinenage has nothing but happy memories of those days but readily admits that not everything went to plan, like the time he tried explaining how golf balls were painted.

“To demonstrate the impossibility of doing it by hand, I had a golf ball, a pair of large tweezers and can of white spray paint.

“In those days, Bunty and I sat on the back row, slightly above Jon and Jack. Unfortunately for me and Jon Miller, as I pressed the can of white paint, the nozzle stuck and a huge jet shot out, catching Jon in the back of the head. He couldn’t get the paint off, so for several weeks afterwards all I could see was this white blob in front of me.”

There are so many more examples of classic kids’ TV I’d like to share with you and I’m sorry if your own personal favourites haven’t been included this time. I hope, though, you’ve enjoyed our journey back in time to revisit some gems from the archives.