10 facts to bring out Worzel in you
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WORZEL Gummidge makes his return to TV screens tonight. The Detectorists star Mackenzie Crook has rebooted the children’s classic character with an environmental message.
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Here NADINE
LINGE presents 10 bum-swizzling facts.
THE character was in a series of 10 children’s books written by English author Barbara Euphan Todd between 1936 and 1963. She grew up in the countryside, which is where she got the inspiration for Worzel, the scarecrow who came to life when Susan and John came to play.
HE’s probably best known from the TV series which ran for 31 episodes between 1979 and 1981 with Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee in the lead role and Una Stubbs as the vain life-size fairground doll Aunt Sally.
YOU might think his name is just a made-up word but it actually comes from a real vegetable, the manglewurzel. That’s a root vegetable mainly used for feeding cattle and pigs. Gummidge likely comes from “gummy” – as in his lack of teeth.
IN the books, Aunt Sally was Worzel’s actual aunt rather than his love interest and he was married to Earthy Mangold, who doesn’t appear in the television episodes.
STARS including Billy Connolly, Lorraine Chase, Mike Reid and Barbara Windsor appeared in the telly series with Babs popping up as Saucy Nancy!
LORD Of The Rings director Peter Jackson worked on special effects on the show when it was revived in 1986. There were rumours in 2012 that he was to direct a film of Worzel with Russell Brand in the lead role – but it failed to happen.
THE scarecrow hit the charts in 1980 when Jon Pertwee released Worzel’s Song. It peaked at No 33.
IT was also turned into a musical. PERTWEE loved the scarecrow so much, he left instructions in his will for a toy
Worzel to be put on his coffin at his funeral.
THE series was voted No50 on Channel 5’s list of the greatest British children’s shows.
● Worzel Gummidge airs tonight at 6.20pm on BBC One and again tomorrow at 7pm.