The Welsh in old kids’ shows

2 July 2008 Rob Buckley UK TV 10 Comments

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, the Welsh didn’t get much of a look-in on British TV until quite recently. For the most part, they were often the butt of comedy or segregated into cartoons, where they didn’t fare much better. Rarely even did the part of the Welsh character go to a Welsh actor: invariably it went to someone English who couldn’t do a proper Welsh accent.

To see what I mean, here are a few classic cartoons featuring the Welsh:

1) The Willo The Wisp episode The Dragon

2) The Ivor the Engine episode The Egg

3) And the Chorlton and the Wheelies episode Happiness is Hatched

You’ll notice that:

  1. There are no Welsh people doing the voices, only English actors doing bad Welsh accents
  2. In two of the episodes they’re over-excitable and evil. In the other, they have no respect for the natural world
  3. There’s a dragon in each one (although one’s not Welsh)

Just thought I’d mention it. Honestly, though, it’s really only an excuse for some old kids shows, seeing as it’s shaping up into nostalgia week, this week.

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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