Published on 12, July, 2020
Being born in the fifties, and having my formative years in the sixties and seventies, I believe some of the best television programmes were those made for children. I am a great fan of programmes made for children, and even now think there is some quality work there.But some of the programmes of rhe past excelled in real quality.
For starting this thread I will include one or two of my favourites from the sixties to the eighties.
I will come back to this later with others, I think my avatar would indicate one of my favourites so that goes without saying, for the moment.
The Owl service, a programme made in the late sixties, a mystery about a tea service and the remote.locarion it was set in.
Follyfoot, with its theme tune about a farm for retired horses, the characer of Dora every lad in my year fell in love with
Children of the Stones, a very creepy tale set in Avebury, with similarities to the Wicker Man
The Witches and the Grinnygog, a tale of a gargoyle with a seemingly strange power.
Worzel Gummidge, with Jon Pertwee and Una Stubbs at their best.
Others to come, but opening up to reminiscences from other people.
When I started this thread I had no idea how popular it would be. But I think it shows that a lot of us do really have an 'innocent' streak, me included. And when I see replies that say certain programmes reduce the poster to tears, that is also me!
I will now add a few more of my favourite Children's Programmes:
Carries War: This had in the lead character an actress who later starred in the nurse soap opera 'Angels'. Without looking her up, I think her name was Joanne Munroe. In Carries War was a character called Mr Jonny, who at the start was mute but certainly not stupid. In the final episode, Carrie returned to the farm several years later and Mr Jonny had learned to speak. In retrospect, I think Mr Jonny had autistic characteristics, but I would need to watch the programme again to see if was some other learning disability.
Five Children and It - I tthink this knocked spots off the film version made few years later. Written by the author of The Railway Children, E Nesbitt, together with The Phoenix and the Carpet which was another excellent childrens drama series of the 1980s, and a similar sort of story to Five Children and It. The BBC version of the Railway Children had Jenny Agutter in the same role she played in the film and was also very memorable.
There was also an early version of Monty Python called Do Not Adjust Your Set, which had Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and David Jason, with animation by Terry Gilliam. A musical interlude was included by The Bonzo Dog Do-Dah Band, and there was a continuing story 'Captain Fantastic' starring David Jason. Some of the programme, especially one song as visualised by the Bonzo's certainly would not get through the politically correct brigade. This programme introduced me to the Bonzo's and was a great fan of theirs. Members of the band included Neil Innes (who wrote the songs for 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail and appeared in that film), and Viv Stanshall, who sadly died in a house fire about twenty years ago.