Charley Says

Just don’t. You never know what’s round the corner.

Most public information films from the 1970s were designed to scare you to death in order to prevent you from doing something the government thought silly. However, this week’s ‘Charley says’ focuses on a relatively unique public information film – one that recommended the best way to kill yourself.

Let the lovely Michael Palin talk you through the worst ways of ending it all, before revealing the one that’s largely guaranteed to work – it probably won’t be the one you were thinking of.

Charley the cat wasn’t the only popular recurring character of 1970s public information films. Another was Tufty the Squirrel, around whom the road safety-oriented Tufty Club was created.

Despite being a rather cute little squirrel, Tufty was a bit annoying in his ads, unfortunately, with neighbouring animal Willy Weasel always doing something silly on the roads and getting hurt, while Tufty primly did exactly what he was told by his mummy and thus survived the all-out carnage that seemed to follow him wherever he went.

Here, we learn the right and the wrong ways to approach an ice cream van. Poor Willy Weasel.

Obviously not a real one (it’s based on this one), but in retrospect, it should have been: