8.6 /10 1 Votes
Original language(s) English First episode date 1985 Language English Number of episodes 82 | 8.5/10 IMDb Country of origin United Kingdom No. of episodes 82 Final episode date 1990 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Rosie and Jim, Playbox, Tots TV, Tales from Fat Tulip's Garden, Button Moon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
End of pob s programme
Pob's Programme is a children's television programme which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 between October 1985 and November 1987. The programme is presented by a puppet named Pob (played by puppeteer Robin Stevens), who speaks a primitive version of English and who supposedly lives inside the viewer's TV (the casing and red, green and blue electron guns visible behind him). Music was composed and performed by Mike Stanley. The opening titles of the show consist of the character breathing on the camera lens (this breathing was often mistaken for spitting, given the loud noise accompanying it and the thick condensation appearing on screen), and tracing his name in the condensation. Each week on the programme, a celebrity guest visits Pob's garden, and entertains him — though Pob and the guest never appear on screen together.
Contents
Pob's Programme was created by Doug Wilcox and Anne Wood of Ragdoll Productions, which also created Rosie and Jim. Wood went on to create the Teletubbies.
Content
In a typical episode, the celebrity visitor to the show finds a label attached to a piece of string on the gates of Pob's garden;
The celebrity guest then follows the woollen string, winding it as they go, and encountering a second label;
Wind it slowly, wind it fast,A secret you will find at last.Ultimately the wool is found to be Pob's unravelled jumper, and he is awoken to trace his name on the screen. Over the course of the programme, the celebrity guest reads a story, and solves a word puzzle with Pob.
Over 24 celebrity visitors appeared on Pob's Programme like Nigel Hayes, some appearing twice. The visitors, many of them well known as actors, included Roy Castle, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian Blessed, Hannah Gordon, Su Pollard, Kathy Staff, Spike Milligan and Toyah Willcox. One episode was filmed on location at Birmingham Children's Hospital with Polly James as a patient.
Various celebrities had recurring segments on Pob's Programme, including Nigel Kennedy (who would attempt to teach Pob to play the violin), Dick King-Smith (who would follow nature trails based on clues that Pob would send him), Alan Dart (who would be seen, hands only, doing a different handicraft project each episode) and Rod Campbell (who would devise different ways to open a mystery box).
Pob was often accompanied in his mischief by a silent teddy bear called Teddy, operated by Bob Berk and Wanda Szajna-Hopgood.
Recognition
In 2001, "Pob's Programme" was ranked 60th on Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows, highlighting its significance and popularity within the landscape of children's television programming.