It was magic, in a roundabout way
Animated favourite The Magic Roundabout first had children spellbound 55 years ago
IT HELD a five-minute slot before the BBC Six O’Clock News and every episode ended the same way, with spring-powered jack-in-the box Zebedee reminding everyone “time for bed”. The Magic Roundabout first aired on October, 18, 1965 and introduced a generation of young viewers to colourful characters like Dougal gal the dog, Brian the snail, Dylan the e rabbit and pink cow Ermintrude.
It began life as a French children’s ldren’s TV series called Le Manège Enchante with Dougal named Pollux and speaking French with a strong g English accent.
Eric Thompson, the father of Oscar-winner Emma Thompson, came up with a witty reinvention of the French original, and wrote and narrated 441 episodes.
The first show featured Zebedee restoring the magic to Mr Rusty’s barrel organ and roundabout, while the human characters in the garden included Florence and d her young friends and Mr MacHenry the elderly gardener. er.
Eric Thompson’s version of the story also saw Pollux renamed d Dougal and his character was said to be loosely based on comedian Tony Hancock. Eric had to deny that the name Dougal was a dig at the French president Charles de
Gaulle when the British version was first shown to the French film-makers.
The appeal of the show led to versions in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria, and in America it was broadcast as The Magic Carousel. Dougal was renamed Bobo in Italy.
The Magic Roundabout remained on the BBC until 1977 and a feature film, Dougal And The Blue Cat (known as Pollux et le Chat Bleu in France) was released in 1972.
It was written and narrated by Eric Thompson, and featured actress Fenella Fielding as Madam Blue and introduced a new character, Buxton the blue cat.
Everyone loved Buxton... except Dougal.