Monday 23 February 2015

99 Rainbow


First  watched : Uncertain   

If  I  had  to  list   my  least  favourite  children's  TV  characters  , Bungle  the  giant  bear  on  Rainbow  would  probably  come  out  on  top.  I  just  couldn't   abide  this  giant  wet  blanket  with  his  mincing  voice  and  self-appointed  head  boy  status  in  the  household  simpering  up  to  Geoffrey  ( Hayes ) at  every  opportunity  like  the  school  creep. While  loud-mouthed  Zippy  , a  creature  of  indeterminate  species, was  undoubtedly  annoying  in  his  own  right,  I  unfailingly  rooted  for  him  when  he  was  undermining  Bungle's  position, to  which  the  big  oaf  could  only  respond  with  violence. About  dumb  hippo  George  I  couldn't  muster  any  strong  feeling  one  way  or  the  other.

Rainbow  was  conceived  as  a  British  version   of  Sesame  Street  with  a  similarly  balanced  mix  of  music, educational  content  and  puppet  fun. It's  the  best  example  of  a  programme  I  watched  because  there  was  nothing  else  on   and  I  don't  remember  finding  it  anything  other  than  childish  and  irritating. As  I  must  have  been  at  least  pushing  eight  - quite  possibly  older  as  I've  no  recollection  of  original  presenter  David  Cook -  when  I  first  saw  it  that's  not  too  surprising . Rainbow  is   therefore  the  first  programme   I  was  "a  bit  too  old  for  ".

It  continued  all  the  way  to  1992  when  Thames Television  controversially  lost  the  ITV  franchise  in  the  London  area  and  disappeared  from  the  network. Two  separate  revivals  in  the  nineties  were  short-lived.


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