News: BBC Releases Classic & Cult Shows For Children

To mark the 70th anniversary of the first television broadcast of Muffin the Mule on 20th October 1946, the BBC Store is celebrating children’s TV by releasing programmes each day this week, including previously unavailable shows and those which have now achieved cult status. Among those featured in the newly available episodes are Red Dwarf's Danny John-Jules who appeared in The Demon Headmaster as Eddy Hair and stand-up Dave Thompson, who played Tinky Winky in Teletubbies.

 

Included in the new releases are original episodes of Andy Pandy from the 1950s, which haven’t been available since their VHS release and the cult and previously unavailable 1980s celebrity game show The Adventure Game. BBC Store will also publish a Classic Children’s Drama Collection available from Thursday 20th October recalling some much-loved tea-time drama serials. Three of these series - Break in the Sun; Codename Icarusand The Enchanted Castle have never before been available to buy, while Moon Stallionwas only released briefly on VHS in the 1980s.

Purchase the shows here.

Highlights of the BBC Store Classic Children’s week include:

Monday 17th October

Andy Pandy (1952) The 15 original and definitive black and white episodes of the Watch with Mother classic featuring the adventures of romper suit clad puppet Andy Pandy and his friends Teddy and rag-doll Looby Lou.  This is the first time ever that audiences have been able to buy the original series since their VHS release.

Tuesday 18th October

The Adventure Game (1980) Series one of the time travelling celebrity challenge show which gained a cult following and has never available for viewers to watch again or own until now. This imaginative and ground- breaking format featured contestants travelling through space to the planet Arg on a tube train to tackle mind-bending tasks. It spawned a legion of TV quiz games and, more recently, the craze for locked-room experiences. Please note only 4 of the original 6 episodes will be available.

Wednesday 19th October

Crystal Tipps and Alistair (1972) Big-haired Crystal lived with her dog Alistair, Birdie and Butterfly in a psychedelic world that reflected the vibrant fashions and décor of the time. The cult animation was created by Richard Taylor Cartoons who also produced the public information films of the time including Charley Says.

Rentaghost S1 (1976) Comedy drama series in which the hapless Fred Mumford return to Earth from the Spirit World to open a business hiring out ghosts and poltergeists. He is aided and abetted as well as being distracted and frustrated by Hubert Davenport, a fastidious Victorian ghost, and Timothy Claypole, a mischievous medieval poltergeist whose absent knowledge of the 20th century is a running gag. Cast for S1 included Anthony Jackson, Michael Staniforth and Ann Emery.

Thursday 20th October

Classic Children’s Drama Collection remembering some of the most engaging and loved drama serials including series which are available for audiences to buy for the first time ever:

Break in the Sun (1981) gritty drama about a young girl Patsy Bligh with a troubled home life. Her mum’s remarried a violent man and moved to Deptford but Patsy wants to escape to the family home of Margate. The series won praise for its uncompromising portrait of a difficult subject.

The Enchanted Castle (1979) adapted from Edith Nesbitt’s Edwardian fantasy novel in which three children, Gerald, James and Kathleen discover a magical castle in the West Country and find themselves menaced by the ‘Ugli-Wuglies’, eerie mannequins that come to life.

Codename Icarus (1981) a conspiracy thriller about child geniuses, a sinister school and a nuclear missile testing programme. 

Moon Stallion (1978) starring Doctor Who companion Sarah Sutton (who played Nyssa, companion to Tom Baker’s and Peter Davison’s Doctors) here as Diana Purwell, a young blind girl who becomes embroiled in mystical intrigue set around the Berkshire and Wiltshire countryside. The series was set in the Vale of the White Horse and was inspired by Arthurian legends.

The Classic Children’s Drama collection also features much-loved dramas already available on BBC Store including The Railway Children (1968), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1976), The Swish of the Curtain (1980), Moondial (1988), Five Children and It(1991) and recent David Walliams adaptations Gangsta Granny and Mr Stink.

Thursday 20th October

Henry’s Cat ((1983) Animated series about a laid back yellow cat from the creators of Roobarb and Custard and Noah and Nelly

Puppydog Tales (1989) Animated series from the creator of Crystal Tipps and Alastair and narrated by Victoria Wood.

Friday 21st October

Demon Headmaster (1996) Drama series based on Gillian Cross’s Demon Headmaster series of books and adapted by Helen Cresswell. Cast includes Tessa Peake-Jones and Danny John-Jules.

Teletubbies (1997) The multi-award winning colourful adventures of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po.

All shows can be purchased after they have been released here.

 

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