Wednesday 24 December 2014

43 Noggin The Nog


First  watched : Uncertain

Noggin  had  been  off  screen  for  a  while  before  it  was  briefly  brought  back  in  August  1970  to  fill   gaps  in  the  teatime  schedule  while  Jackanory  and  Blue  Peter  had  a  summer  break. Noggin  The  Nog  was  the  first  of   Postgate  and  Firmin's  shows  to  be  aired  on  BBC  ( in  1959 )  as  Ivor  The  Engine  had  been  broadcast  by  ITV.

Noggin  was  the  young  king  of  a  Northern  land, always  assumed  to  be  Scandinavian  largely  because  the  character  design  was  based  on  the  Norwegian-made  Lewis  chessmen. He  was  a  benevolent  ruler  who  constantly  had  to  fend  off  threats  from  his  uncle  Nogbad  the  Bad  who  wished  to  usurp  his  throne. The  stories  wed  something  to  Norse  saga   in  the  storytelling  mode  but  do  not  integrate  actual  Norse  myth.

Noggin  the  Nog  has  been  much-praised  over  the  years  but  it  never  really  grabbed  me. Perhaps  I  couldn't  see  past  the  beyond-primitive  animation  which  makes  Pogles'  Wood  look like  The  Matrix. It's  said  that  Noggin  brought  a   blast  of  Scandinavian  darkness  into  kids viewing  though  I  suspect  its  look  owed  more  to  Firmin's  intelligent  appreciation  of  what would  work  best  on  monochrome  TV.

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