Ann Evans remembers the popular childhood television series.
Ann Evans remembers the popular childhood television series.
If you were a child of the 1950s, 60s or early 70s you will probably remember Watch with Mother, televised by the BBC from 1952 to 1975. This was the first BBC television series designed especially for pre-school children, and was a development of Listen with Mother which was broadcast on BBC radio from 1950 to 1982.
The radio programme was originally produced by Freda Violet Lingstom OBE, who along with her friend Maria Bird then introduced us to Watch with Mother. Together, the pair set up Westerham Arts. This was based in Chartwell Cottage, owned by the two women and later bequeathed to the National Trust.
The programmes were broadcast every weekday, and if you need any reminding, it was Picture Book on Mondays, Andy Pandy on Tuesdays, Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men on Wednesdays, Rag, Tag and Bobtail on Thursdays and The Woodentops on Fridays.
Each of the shows only had a small number of episodes. The programme had a very small budget with some of the episodes rehearsed and filmed in a tin shed at the BBC’s Lime Grove studios. Usually there were a maximum number of 26 episodes of each show, although Bill and Ben had 120 15-minute episodes. But 26 episodes were sufficient for a 6-month run, and then repeated over and over without complaint by the very young and undemanding audience.
Back in the 1950s it was all black and white, and I can remember in the late 1950s how my mother would put our chunky second-hand 12-inch television on for me and I’d sit and watch these wonderful adventures – often, if the sun was shining, beneath a heavy cover, which blocked out the daylight and we could actually see the screen!
I’m sure most children had their favourite Watch with Mother show. Mine was Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men. These funny puppets, who were made out of flowerpots and spoke the ‘Flobbadob’ language, lived at the bottom of the garden, with a plant, named Little Weed growing between their large flowerpot homes. The pair would have their adventure when the man who worked in the garden had gone in for his dinner until Little Weed would anxiously warn them of his return by shouting “Weeed… weeed!” The language was invented by Peter Hawkins who was also the voice of Bill, Ben and Little Weed, while Audrey Atterbury and Molly Gibson worked the puppets. The stories were written by Maria Bird.
My next favourite was Andy Pandy which always began with the song: Andy Pandy’s coming to play la la la la la la… With the stories written by Freda Lingstrom and told by Vera McKechnie, there never seemed any attempt at hiding the puppets’ strings, which were also worked by Audrey Atterbury and Molly Gibson. It’s said that an old man who lived in Freda and Maria’s village crafted the puppet that became Andy Pandy, making a toddler in a blue and white striped clown suit. Rehearsals often took place on the women’s garden wall which was just the right height for the puppets.
This was a gentle musical series where Andy Pandy along with his friends, ragdoll LoobyLoo and Teddy would have lovely simple adventures until it was bedtime. Usually, there would be a chance to sing Looby-Loo’s signature song: Here we go Looby-Loo, here we go LoobyLye, here we go Looby-Loo all on a Saturday night. And then came the final song, delivered in a slow and sleepy manner: Time to go home, time to go home – Andy is waving goodbye, goodbye.
Friday’s The Woodentops was also a popular favourite – or rather for me it was Spotty Dog. I loved Spotty Dog – “the largest spotty dog you ever did see”. As I always wanted a dog when I was a child, the idea of a dog that could almost talk was a dream come true. The stories related a gentle, peaceful existence with Mummy and Daddy Woodentop, the twins Willy and Jenny, Mrs
Scrubbitt, who helped Mummy around the house, and Sam who helped Daddy in the garden (as he was always so busy in the turnip fields). I’d forgotten how perfect life could be.
Audrey Atterbury and Molly Gibson pulled the Woodentops’ strings. The only odd thing was baby Woodentop’s voice. Watching an episode on the internet recently, Baby Woodentop’s voice seemed reminiscent of those Wild West Apache Indians of 1950s Cowboys and Indian films. But oh, so nostalgic!
Picture Book on a Monday was all about encouraging little children to make things and was a nice variety of real life, puppets and simple stories. Regulars included Bizzy Lizzy who had a magic flower on her dress, which she only had to touch to have a wish granted; and Sausage, a talking dachshund stringed puppet. The show was presented by Patricia Driscoll who went on to play Maid Marian opposite Richard Greene in Robin Hood. Vera McKechnie took over. If I were to re-assess my preferences, Picture Book would now be top of my list.
Sadly, Rag, Tag and Bobtail would still come in last. Thursdays seemed to be a bad reception day on our little TV. Rag, Tag and Bobtail, those hedgehog, mouse and rabbit gloved puppets and the five baby rabbits who would sometimes make an appearance, merged into a grey indistinguishable blur on our TV. And even for a little pre-school child, the stories were just a bit too tame for me. They were written by Louise Cochrane and narrated by Charles E Stidwell, then David Enders and James Urquhart. The gloved puppets were worked by Sam and Elizabeth Williams.
As time marched on new children’s programmes took over. Camberwick Green took the Monday slot, seeing an end to Picture Book, followed by other new series such as Tales of the Riverbank, Pogles’ Wood and Fingerbobs.
Watch with Mother was finally taken off air in 1975 although a Watch with Mother video became a best seller in 1987 followed by three more.
In 1983 some of the original puppets were stolen from the BBC. Luckily, they were spotted a year later in an auction room in London by a member of the Blue Peter production team and returned. They are now in the Museum of London’s permanent collection.