Worzel Gummidge (TV series)

Outline

In 1979 a television adaptation of Worzel Gummidge was produced by Southern Television for ITV, written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, and starred former Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee as Worzel and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally, a life-size fairground doll and Worzel's femme fatale. This is a significant change from the original books, where Aunt Sally is indeed Worzel's aunt, and Worzel is married to Earthy Mangold, a character who does not appear in the series. The Crowman, who made Worzel and some of his other scarecrow friends, is played by Geoffrey Bayldon better known for his starring role as the title character of Catweazle.

Occasional guest appearances were made by big TV stars of the time and appeal to a family audience – Barbara Windsor as Saucy Nancy, a ship's figurehead, Billy Connolly as a Scottish piper scarecrow, Bill Maynard as Sergeant Beetroot, Joan Sims as Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton, the local aristocrat, Lorraine Chase as Dolly Clothes-peg, a shop window mannequin, Bernard Cribbins as Jolly Jack, a ship's figurehead, David Lodge, Mike Reid and Connie Booth as Aunt Sally II, a kind hearted Aunt Sally, who falls in love with Worzel.

Four series, totalling 30 episodes and one extended Christmas special, were made between 1979 and 1981, when Southern lost its franchise. The new franchise-holder, TVS, did not renew the show, despite a massive press campaign led by the Daily Star. Attempts were made to continue the series, produced independently by Southern for the BBC and then to be produced in Ireland but these failed. HTV continued with their plans to produce the show in Ireland but these plans fell through because of trade union problems, as did attempts by the same company to make further episodes in England, although the scripts that Waterhouse & Hall had written for the Irish episodes were published in book form. Pertwee and Stubbs starred in the musical Worzel Gummidge in 1981 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre which also starred Lucy Benjamin (then Lucy Jane Baker) as Sue. Jon Pertwee's final TV appearance as Worzel was in 1995, to celebrate 40 years of ITV.

"Worzel's Song", sung by Jon Pertwee, was released in 1980 reaching number 33 in the UK charts.

Filming locations

The main locations for filming were the villages of Stockbridge, King's Somborne and Braishfield; all of which are near Romsey in Hampshire. The 'Scatterbrook Farm' scenes were filmed at Pucknall in Braishfield; Michelmersh was used for the scenes in the Scatterbrook barn.

New Zealand

The programme remained in limbo until Television New Zealand, in association with Channel 4 commissioned Worzel Gummidge Down Under in 1987, which was shot on location in New Zealand and ran for two series totalling a further 22 episodes. Only Pertwee and Stubbs remained from the original cast, with Bruce Phillips joining the cast as the Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon declined to reprise the role, partly because he didn't want to be typecast in the part, but also because the move to New Zealand was not convenient for him) and Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler, daughter of prominent Māori author Witi Ihimaera joining as one of the children. The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson received an early credit for his work providing special effects for the series.

Series two of Worzel Gummidge Down Under was written by a rotation of New Zealand writers, while everything that had gone before was entirely the work of Waterhouse and Hall. Jon Pertwee was unhappy with the scripts for the sequel, which he stated did not have "the underlying morality" of the originals. Aunt Sally found herself a human companion in this new series, which infuriated Pertwee – he considered this beneath the series.

Michael Grade, the newly appointed head of Channel 4, called for its cancellation when the New Zealand version of the show failed to catch the viewers' imagination as before.

Storyline

Worzel Gummidge was a scarecrow that could come to life. Living in Ten Acre Field, he would often visit the nearby village of Scatterbrook. He befriended two children, brother and sister John and Sue Peters, often trying to clear up the messes he created. Worzel had a collection of interchangeable turnip, mangel wurzel and swede heads; each suiting a particular occasion or allowing him to perform a certain task. He also had his own language, Worzelese. Worzel's catchphrases were: "A cup o' tea an' a slice o' cake", "I'll be bum-swizzled" and "Bozzy MCoo". He was madly in love with Aunt Sally, a vain, cruel-hearted fairground coconut-shy doll who considered herself a lady and far too good for a common scarecrow such as Worzel. Aunt Sally often exploits Worzel for her own ends (in one episode, she promises to marry him if he frees her from a junkshop washing machine, but she never has any intention of going through with it and jilts him at the altar).

The rationale for the move to New Zealand in Down Under was that Aunt Sally is purchased by a visiting museum curator from New Zealand. At the airport, Worzel spots Aunt Sally going down the luggage chute and throws himself in after her.

A good deal of the show's entertainment value came from the interaction between Worzel and Sally, played with relish by Pertwee and Stubbs. Pertwee is virtually unrecognisable due to the make-up that was applied to him in a gruelling six-hour process every day – and the audience is invited to cry along with Worzel as much as laugh at him. The character Worzel has often been referred to as "the tragi-comic scarecrow".

There was a notable inconsistency in Worzel's ability or inability to pronounce certain words. He would often struggle with "bonfire" or "compost heap" (though for perhaps understandable reasons), yet when he meets Aunt Sally he protests: "I ain't snivellin'! It's me rheumaticky eyes what's waterin'!"

Series 1

1. "Worzel's Washing Day" (25 February 1979) When the Peters family moves into the caravan on Scatterbrook Farm, young John and Sue make the acquaintance of Worzel Gummidge, a scarecrow come to life and full of mischief.
2. "A Home Fit for Scarecrows" (4 March 1979) John and Sue offer Worzel a proper chair for his home in the barn if he will teach them Worzelese; the sly scarecrow also gets the idea to filch a full set of furniture from the villagers.
3. "Aunt Sally" (11 March 1979) Worzel takes the afternoon off to go to the village fête to see his intended, Aunt Sally, even though the ladylike wooden figure considers associating with a scarecrow to be beneath her station. Aunt Sally takes advantage of his feelings for her and persuades him to exchange places with her so she can escape being sold to a museum.
4. "The Crowman" (18 March 1979) A lonely Worzel begs his creator the Crowman to make him a handsome head so he can get a wife; after a disastrous visit to the home of Mrs. Boomsbury-Barton, the foolish scarecrow learns that it is more important to be handsome inside than out.
5. "A Little Learning" (25 March 1979) Worzel turns the farm upside down looking for his Clever Head. When he finds it at the nearby school and puts it on, he encounters a teacher who takes him for a genius.
6. "Worzel Pays a Visit" (1 April 1979) When Worzel is told that the runaway Aunt Sally is working as a housemaid at Mrs. Bloomsbury-Barton's home, he decides to pay her a call. But the mistress is away, and Sally pretends to be the lady of the house and invites Worzel in for tea. Result: chaos.
7. "The Scarecrow Hop" (8 April 1979) Aunt Sally is in a despondent mood after being sacked from her position as lady's maid to Mrs. Bloomsbury-Barton. To cheer her up, Worzel asks her to the charity ball. Problem is, the only dance he knows is the comical Scarecrow Hop, which they do with surprising results.

Series 2

1. "Worzel and the Saucy Nancy" (6 January 1980)
2. "Worzel's Nephew" (13 January 1980)
3. "A Fishy Tale" (20 January 1980)
4. "The Trial of Worzel Gummidge" (27 January 1980)
5. "Very Good, Worzel" (3 February 1980)
6. "Worzel in the Limelight" (10 February 1980)
7. "Fire Drill" (17 February 1980)
8. "The Scarecrow Wedding" (24 February 1980)

Series 3

1. "Moving On" (1 November 1980)
2. "Dolly Clothes Peg" (8 November 1980)
3. "A Fair Old Pullover" (15 November 1980)
4. "Worzel the Brave" (22 November 1980)
5. "Worzel's Wager" (29 November 1980)
6. "The Return of Dafthead" (6 December 1980)
7. "Captain Worzel" (13 December 1980)
8. "Choir Practice" (20 December 1980)

Christmas special

1. "A Cup o' Tea and a Slice o' Cake" (27 December 1980) – Unusually this double-length musical special did not have the Worzel Gummidge title sequence, "A Cup o' Tea and a Slice o' Cake" being its only on screen title followed by "Starring Jon Pertwee" as per the standard titles.

Series 4

1. "Muvver's Day" (31 October 1981)
2. "The Return of Dolly Clothes-Peg" (7 November 1981)
3. "The Jumbly Sale" (14 November 1981)
4. "Worzel in Revolt" (21 November 1981)
5. "Will the Real Aunt Sally...?" (28 November 1981)
6. "The Golden Hind" (5 December 1981)
7. "Worzel's Birthday" (12 December 1981)

Series 5

1. "As The Scarecrow Flies" (4 October 1987)
2. "The Sleeping Beauty" (11 October 1987)
3. "Full Employment" (18 October 1987)
4. "Worzel's Handicap" (25 October 1987)
5. "King of the Scarecrows" (1 November 1987)
6. "Ten Heads Are Better Than One" (8 November 1987)
7. "Worzel to the Rescue" (15 November 1987)
8. "Slave Scarecrow" (22 November 1987)
9. "The Traveller Unmasked" (29 November 1987)
10. "A Friend in Need" (6 December 1987)

Series 6

1. "Stage Struck" (29 January 1989)
2. "A Red Sky in T'Morning"(5 February 1989)
3. "Them Thar Hills" (12 February 1989)
4. "The Beauty Contest" (19 February 1989)
5. "Bulbous Cauliflower" (26 February 1989)
6. "Weevily Swede" (5 March 1989)
7. "Elementary My Dear Worty" (12 March 1989)
8. "Dreams of Avarish" (19 March 1989)
9. "Runaway Train" (26 March 1989)
10. "Aunt Sally, R.A." (2 April 1989)
11. "Wattle Hearthbrush" (9 April 1989)
12. "The Bestest Scarecrow" (16 April 1989)

In popular culture

DVD releases