Year: 2010

Classic TV

Weird old title sequences: Pipkins (1973-1981)

21 May 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Hartley Hare

Death. Always a good thing in kids’ stuff, hey? Bambi’s mum dying – that was great, wasn’t it? Ditto Simba’s dad in The Lion King.

Back in the day, there was a TV programme called Pipkins. Or at least, that’s what it eventually became known as. It started as Inigo Pipkin, the main character being an elderly puppet maker called Inigo Pipkin played by George Woodbridge. During the course of Inigo Pipkin, Pipkin brought to life a series of puppets including Topov the monkey and Octavia the ostrich.

However, Woodbridge died during the recording of the second series. In a first for children’s television, Inigo’s death was worked into the programme. From this episode onwards the show was renamed Pipkins, and Inigo’s assistant, Johnny (Wayne Laryea), took over. The direction of the programme also changed, the show no longer centering around a puppet workshop and the characters becoming “The Help People”, helping anyone in need.

Most iconic of all the puppets was Hartley Hare, a very arch hare who loved to be the centre of attention. As this weird old title sequence and series of clips shows you.

Sitting Tennant

Friday’s Sitting Tennant (week 20, 2010)

21 May 2010 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Erin C's Sitting Tennant

Rachel's Sitting Tennant

Rullsenberg's Sitting Tennant

Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

Toby's Sitting Tennant

Today’s Sitting Tennants are brought to you in association with the letter Mmmmm.      

  1. Rullsenberg: 140
  2. Erin C: 130
  3. Sister Chastity: 120
  4. Toby: 110
  5. Rachel: 80
  6. Sabine: 60
  7. Karen: 35
  8. Dawn: 10
  9. kellyann06: 5

BTW, after creating the eight perfect island paradises of Japan with their spear, Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto let it be known that you mustn’t forget Tuesday’s caption competition.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Monday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Monday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.

On the impossibility of knowing whether Chris Morris is joking or not

21 May 2010 Rob Buckley 6 Comments

So I went to a showing of Four Lions followed by a Q&A with Chris Morris, Sam Bain and two of the film’s stars. Very funny film that’s also full of pathos – you should go see it if you haven’t already.

However, Chris Morris did discuss some of the research he’d done, which involved talking to some very odd people, as you’d expect from a film about suicide bombers. And there was one story he told that shows you just how hard it is to tell if he’s making things up or not.

The story was that he’d been to see a guy who, as a teenager, had put a fake bomb in WH Smith’s to protest about The Satanic Verses. Now he’s working as a security guard for the Crown Prosecution Service – to be precise, as a nightwatchman. Even though he’s afraid of the dark.

So one night a moth sets off an alarm on the eighth floor of the building he’s supposed to be guarding, and he calls the police, not just because he’s afraid of the dark, but because he thinks the moth is possessed by the spirit of his cousin who wants to get back at him for something.

What do you think? BS or not?

PS There was another story about how he persuaded some guy that it was possible to train crows to talk. Again…

The CW’s new Fall 2010 shows

21 May 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Rounding the upfronts off, it’s time to look at The CW’s new shows for Fall 2010. There’s two of them, so this won’t be hard.

First up is Hellcats, which is exec-produced by Superman himself, Tom Welling. It’s about cheerleaders. That’s all you really need to know.

The second is Nikita, which stars Maggie Q as Nikita. Looks more than a bit rubbish to me and the acting is truly dreadful, but let’s see how it pans out.