Were you born in the 50's 60's or 70's ?

[Shuntstick]

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Trigger: Sometimes I think about the future. I don't want to end up a lonely bachelor like my cousin Ronnie. Then again he always had a strange taste in women.

Denzil: In what way?

Trigger: Well, they were men!

 

[GazTech]

" As if by magic the shopkeeper appeared"
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Pipkins
The plot was very simple - there was a group of animals and one human who lived together and ran an organisation called "The Help People". They performed useful tasks, that were seldom advertised in Yellow Pages, such as rescuing model aeroplanes from trees!
Every member of the household had a job:

Tortoise (played by Nigel Plaskitt) lived on a cash register and acted as treasurer, but as he was the ultimate cautious pessimist he wouldn't allow anyone to spend any money, as they might never have any more...

Pig (played by Heather Tobias, Lorain Betorelli, Anne Rutter and Alex Knight) was the inventor who created amazing machines - mostly connected with food (how to inject chocolate into a cheese sandwich, for example)...

Topov (played by Heather Tobias, Lorain Bertorelli and Elizabeth Lindsay) was the monkey because he was always on top of something...

Octavia (played by Heather Tobias, Lorain Bertorelli and Elizabeth Lindsay) was an ostrich who just had to look beautiful and sing opera...

Mooney the Badger (played by Nigel Plaskitt) was an occasional character who visited Pipkins. Introduced around 1976 he was an Irish storyteller and carried all his worldly possessions in a red hanky on the end of a stick.

Hartley Hare (played by Nigel Plaskitt) was the Managing Director - or at least he had an office with a portrait of himself and a telephone. He was convinced that he was in charge although funnily the others never realised this...

The series was produced at Elstree, Herts., in the ATV studios which are now owned by BBC TV and home to productions such as EastEnders and Grange Hill. Originally the set was built at ground level as any normal TV set with a yard, a kitchen, workshop area, a puppet stage (which became Hartley's desk area after the death of Mr Pipkin) and the quiet area where they could sit for stories, etc. Tortoise also lived in a hole under the bench here. Eventually they moved to a large composite set constructed three feet off the ground, so that the puppets could move from room to room. There was also a kitchen/living room with steps out to the back yard where Topov lived in a tree house, a serving hatch through to Hartley's office, and a dumb waiter lift going from the kitchen up to Hartley's bedroom and down to Pig's laboratory in the basement.
Hartley also travelled out from time to time, to places that included Billingsgate Fish Market, a public library, the University College School of Dentistry and the Royal Free Hospital. He also went on trains and was once seen at a tube station (Knightsbridge).
Hartley once went down The Mall, and having learnt that the flag flying on top of Buckingham Palace was to let him know that The Queen was in, he hoisted one back at Pipkins so that if she happened to be passing she would be able to see that he was at home and pop in for a cup of tea.

Hartley had two relatives. Uncle Hare (left), who lived in a country telephone box (a genuine one), almost completely surrounded by greenery.
The other was more distant, Scottish and known as Angus McHare.

The programmes appealed to adults as well as children; and some of the more adult humour was slipped in deliberately to encourage parents to watch with their children. As a result it became something of a cult programme which was watched by many.
Before any puppets were designed, the characters were worked out. They were based on human weaknesses and strengths. Knowing each one's personality, animals were found to fit them. For example, a tempremental hare rushes around in circles apparently achieving very little, so one of these seemed exactly right for Hartley. Equally, a slow humourless boring accountant just had to be a tortoise!
The programmes were shown continuously from 1973 to 1981, and in total 313 shows were made. With the transition of ATV to Central Independent Television, Pipkins disappeared and was replaced by a new pre-school show called Let's Pretend.

Hartley managed to incorporate into his personality the worst human frailties which all of us possess in varying degrees, which meant that viewers could easily identify with him. He had to be the centre of attention, and if he wasn't, he would not be beyond creating some diversion to swing the attention back to him. He also cheated and sulked when found out. Often he would not be the least bit interested in some object until someone else wanted it. Then he would go to enormous and devious lengths to get it for himself. Yet at the same time there was always something charmingly naive and open about him. He would be genuinely horrified if it was pointed out to him that his actions had been selfish and hurt someone else. He would even go out of his way to make it up to them. He was also extremely highly strung so that even the simplest decision or action would become a dramatic highlight!

Tortoise was entirely without humour. He spoke very slowly and was boring, so that by the time he had finished everyone had gone off. He was very tight with money, largely because his pessimistic view of life told him that each penny they earned could be their last. He was also very accident-prone. If there was an open manhole, he'd go down it.

Pig had the most brilliant scientific brain - which seemed odd coming from someone who spoke with such a broad Birmingham accent. He had an enormous appetite, and it was this which led to his experiments to convert everyday objects into food. Like all great inventors, he often got carried away and would go past his original objective as more and more interesting challenges emerged.

 

[Fekin]

I remember this with naked women 😀

 

[GazTech]

I used to love this little fella
Bod: Words and Music (Narrated By John Le Mesurier)

 

[Shuntstick]

'Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb' was the roll call that Captain Flack read every time the Trumpton Fire Brigade were called into action.

Remember 'Watch with Mother' after the BBC lunchtime news, then the BBC shut down till about 4pm every day and all you had to look at was that girl playing O's & X's

 

[White Room]

'Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb' was the roll call that Captain Flack read every time the Trumpton Fire Brigade were called into action.

Remember 'Watch with Mother' after the BBC lunchtime news, then the BBC shut down till about 4pm every day and all you had to look at was that girl playing O's & X's

Were'nt they on "Life on mars" with that dodgy detective

 

[Shuntstick]

Were'nt they on "Life on mars" with that dodgy detective

'Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb' ?


Think they made an appearence recently under Steve McClaren.

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[GazTech]

'Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb' ?


Think they made an appearence recently under Steve McClaren.

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pmsl..really gettting good now
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class

 

[Dan]

What if one were to say one was born in the 80's? 😱

 

[GazTech]

What if one were to say one was born in the 80's? 😱

One would be too young for this thread....then lol