Rod, Jane and Freddy

Children’s Programme, 1981 – 1991

This musical trio popped up to provide a musical interlude on the cult children’s show Rainbow and they became so popular they gained their own spin off show and were still appearing in pantomime a decade later.

The trio had originally started as Rod, Matt and Jane – Matt being Matthew Corbet, later of Sooty fame. Matt was then replaced by Roger before Freddy Marks finally joined completing the trio.

Rod, Jane and Freddy would appear in some Rainbow episodes. They would turn up, sometimes as part of the overarching storyline such as everyone coming around for a picnic, and then find a way to perform a relevant musical number.

Rod, Jane and Freddy on their theatre stage set with their odd 1980s style mime-artist clothing.

On other occasions their song would be a completely separate recording without any interaction between the rest of the Rainbow cast – yet always relevant to the storyline for that episode.

While their musical numbers would be considered twee and cheesy today for a children’s show they were surprisingly well produced and sometimes catchy songs.

I really enjoyed the antics of Rod, Jane and Freddy as a preschooler and I was as much a fan of their spin off show which was set as if on a theatre stage. Somewhere I have conflated a false memory that I went to see them perform at the theatre but that definitely didn’t happen.

Yes at this point it is worth mentioning that Jane had once been in a relationship with Rod she then later had a relationship with Freddy, eventually marrying him a few years ago before he sadly died.

Jane and Freddy, later husband and wife.

Also, just because I love obscure trivia like this I’ll mention that Freddy saved Bill Oddie from drowning off the Seychelles in 1985. Freddy had previously been a lifeguard.

Staying on the theme of trivia, I’m attempting to stick to writing just my memories of things but I like to do a bit of fact checking and I have to admit I had no idea that Rod, Jane and Freddie’s stand alone show had run for so long (starting before I was even born back in 1981).

For me the musical interludes in Rainbow kept my short childhood attention span firmly planted towards the screen and they still remain firmly imbedded in my early childhood memory banks.

30th Sep 2023 0

George

Puppet from Rainbow, ITV, 1972 – 1992

The camp pink hippo from Rainbow. In a show without a main female character it was often left to George to fill that role, playing with dolls and so forth. He was the most sensitive of the three puppets living in the Rainbow house.

George was the softer of the three Rainbow puppets. If Zippy was the brash naughty one the George was the complete opposite. Softly spoken, if a little camp He was also probably the most loveable.

Where Bungle always thought he knew best George often came across as being the brighter of the three. He always wanted to do right and do well.

George, fluffy, adorable and pink what’s not to love?

As well as being slightly camp and often preferring the pastimes of those stereotypically seen as girls activities he could also be quite dramatic at times too a real drama queen.

Without George in Rainbow then the whole set up would have been so much different with only Geoffrey to provide a calming alternative voice to events and I always thought that George was the most sensible of all the characters in Rainbow – including Geoffrey (although I was only a toddler and had no business making those kind of judgements at that age).

George wasn’t adverse to sneaking in some product placement long before that was allowed, seen here reading the Rainbow Comic.

George could get into arguments with Zippy although Zippy would usually overpower him and that’s quite impressive seeing as both were voiced by the same person and (not to shatter any childhood illussions) both puppets were attached to one frame.

Although I was an only child I think I might possibly have been quite a bit like George of I’d had other to bounce off of. He was the quite sensible one who just wanted to get on with things.

23rd Sep 2023 0

Zippy

Puppet from Rainbow, ITV, 1972 – 1992

The most memorable character to come out of Rainbow. Zippy was loud and brash with a zipper along his mouth. It can’t have taken too long to come up with the name.

Rainbow set the ground rules for almost every show that would ever appear on CBeebies. Bright colours, a mix of human and puppet characters. Of those puppet characters some were recognisable anthropomorphic versions of real world toys like Bungle the giant Teddy bear. But others were totally made up and when you write a description down of them they sound bonkers.

Zippy during a dream sequence fantasying about CITV presenter Debbie Shore, yes really.

So to Zippy, he was the made up character. What exactly was Zippy, bright yellow, massive static blue eyes. No nose. Oh yeah and a giant zipper across his mouth of all things. Who knows who came up with that idea but I suspect a frustrated parent with a noisy child.

Zippy was that noisy child on Rainbow. He was the loud mouth who always had something to say and yes he could often be naughty too. Despite having free will he pretty much always was found alongside George (nothing to do with them sharing puppeteers I’m sure).

When it comes to disecting puppet characters from a children’s television show you watched nearly 40 years ago Zippy is the easiest to remember. With his stand out personality and his free will to not always behave as he’d be expected to by geoffry.

Plus he had that zip right across his mouth and yes sometimes it got pulled to shut him up – the one thing as a kid you were really hoping would happen because, well it’s funny.

Zippy, shortly after his zip was zipped shut.

Was it funny though? Poor Zippy not only being born with a zip across his mouth also seemed to be completely incapable of undoing it once pulled meaning all that he could do was lean on his on arm looking sorry for himself.

I have to say, looking back as an adult that Zippy, and all the characters in Rainbow for that matter, didn’t really have much they could do with their faces and yet with a mix of puppeteers skills and great voice work from Roy Skelton, they managed to get the most personality of Zippy.

So much so that Zippy was a cult figure amongst celebrities of the time and around ten years after Rainbow finished he began popping up in adverts and then later making cameo appearances in things like Life on Mars.

When attempts to revive Rainbow were made in the mid-90s both Zippy and George made it through pretty much as they were except they suddenly now had two arms and different voices ruining the whole thing. Not that I watched of course I would have been too old. Not that I’ve watched more recently on YouTube either, honest.

Zippy would have been every kids favourite mainly because he was naughty. I’m sure the adults loved it too because he said exactly what everyone else was thinking.

16th Sep 2023 0

Bungle

Puppet from Rainbow, ITV, 1972 – 1992

Bungle was the big fluffy, man-size Teddy bear from Rainbow. He knew his own mind and wasn’t afraid to share his opinions but was often frustrated, particularly with Zippy.

Of the Rainbow three, Bungle was probably the one that least qualifies as a puppet seeing as he was essentially just a man in a bear suit.

If the three puppets from Rainbow were supposed to represent siblings then Bungle was the slightly older one. A bit of a know it all, but he wasn’t always right.

Bungle, who only put clothes on usually when it was time for bed.

Bungle was the more independent of the three he would often walk around doing his own thing or be shown playing his own games. He’d often assume the position of responsibility if Geoffrey was out of the room.

But Bungle was still meant to represent a child, probably a six year old. He would often strop when the others didn’t listen or agree with him and would still get a telling off from Geoffrey dispite being bigger and taller than him.

In the earliest series of Rainbow bungle was portrayed by a different actor and with a different costume. His appearance was a lot more frightening while his personality seemed a lot calmer.

I was an only child so it’s only now as an adult I can see that each character had a distinct role and personality for the pre-school viewers to identify and relate with. Having said that I think of all the characters on Rainbow, Bungle was the one I could associate with the least. Frankly he’d be the one I’d be trying to wind up the most if it came to it.

The curious thing about Bungle was that he was often seen full frame with just his fur to preserve his dignity and yet when it was bedtime he put on a full set of pyjamas. He also shared a bed with Zippy and George, but that sort of thing was OK on kids TV in the 80s.

9th Sep 2023 0

Rainbow

Children’s Programme, ITV, 1972 – 1992

This was a classic children’s television show that formed a huge part of my own childhood. Aimed at preschoolers of which I was one when I used to watch, it was quite possibly the first TV show that I latched onto.

In a way Rainbow set the standard for all future children’s shows in the UK. While it may not have been the first to do what it did, it was the first major success at doing it.

Inspired by the success of Sesame Street in America, Rainbow mixed its format with human presenters, puppets, short animations and musical interludes. However, the budget and scale was considerably smaller than the American show.

Although the first series had a slightly different format and cast, it quickly settled into its stride and not only became a children’s TV success but a cult hit too.

The Rainbow gang, complete with Bungle bear in pyjamas instead of just naked as usual.

With Geoffrey Hayes acting as the father figure to the three puppets that were intended to represent the children at home – Bungle, Zippy and George.

As I was thinking back over my memories of Rainbow I attemped to find a slightly different slant because anyone who would be interested in reading this probably remembers the show anyway. The one thing that struck me was the all male cast.

While some would raise an eyebrow at that statement and certainly TV was a male dominated world back then, the one area where that was less-so the case was children’s television which in the UK had its foundations in Watch with Mother. In other words it was women and children first.

_{Geoffrey, the classic architype Children’s TV presenter of the 70s and 80s.}

Not that I would ever have noticed that as a child. In truth the things I watched for most were to see Zippy’s mouth get zipped up or to see the someone farting in bed joke they did more often than they probably should.

Yet Rainbow was so integral to my childhood I feel like it was on daily when in fact it only ever aired at most a couple of times a week. Usually at midday, just after This Morning.

Rainbow was an integral part of a generation of children’s lives and I was one of them. In some ways it was just like every other children’s show but that I think is mainly because it set the direction that kids shows would go in for decades to come.

2nd Sep 2023 0