Rainbow (TV series)

Rainbow is a British children's television series, created by Pamela Lonsdale, which ran from 16 October 1972 until 6 March 1992, made by Thames Television. The series was revived by Tetra Films from 10 January 1994 until 24 March 1997, in two different formats from the original Thames series, with differing cast members. The series was originally conceived as a British equivalent of Sesame Street.^[1]

The British series was developed in house by Thames Television, and had no input from the Children's Television Workshop.^[2] It was intended to develop language and social skills for pre-school children and went on to win the Society of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Children's Programme in 1975. It aired five times weekly, twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays then Tuesdays and Fridays, and finally once weekly at 12:10 on Fridays on the ITV network.

The show had three producers over its lifetime – Pamela Lonsdale, Charles Warren and Joe Boyer.

The original Thames series has gained cult status and continues to get frequent mentions on radio and television. A few DVDs have been produced, including one celebrating 30 Years of Rainbow.

Premise

Each episode of Rainbow revolved around a particular activity or situation that arose in the Rainbow House, where the main characters lived. Some episodes, particularly in the early years, were purely educational in format and consisted of a series of scenes involving the characters learning about that particular episode's subject. The puppet characters of Zippy, George and Bungle would take the role of inquisitive children asking about the episode's subject, with the presenter (initially David Cook, and from 1974 onwards Geoffrey Hayes) serving the role of teacher figure, educating them about the subject. From the 1980s onwards, most episodes were more story-driven and frequently involved some kind of squabble or dispute between the puppet characters of Zippy, George and Bungle, and Geoffrey's attempts to calm them down and keep the peace.

The main story was interspersed with songs (most notably from Rod, Jane and Freddy, although the musicians on the show changed several times during its run), animations by Cosgrove Hall Productions and stories read from the Rainbow storybook, usually by Geoffrey (David before 1974). Some episodes focused on a particular topic, such as sounds or opposites, and consisted mainly of short sketches or exchanges between the main characters, rather than a consistent storyline.

History

In 1972, Pamela Lonsdale was asked to create a preschool series for Thames Television. She cast John Kane as presenter and Tim Wylton as a bear named Rainbow.^[3] Violet Philpott was cast as the puppeteer of Zippy, with Peter Hawkins providing his voice, as well as those of Sunshine, Bramble and Pillar, however policy changes after the pilot meant those latter characters were recast.^[4] No script was made for the pilot,^[3] which led to Hawkins attempting to rewrite gags, difficult for the preschool audience, and would lead to him departing the show after its first year,^[4] recommending Roy Skelton to take over.^[5] For the first two filmed series, the show was presented by David Cook, with John Leeson as Rainbow, renamed Bungle, and featured songs by the group Telltale.

Philpott would leave the series after its first year due to suffering a back injury from Zippy’s appearances all being through a window.^[6] She was replaced by John Thirtle for the second series, and Ronnie Le Drew from 1974 onto the present day. Cook left afterwards due to focusing on his writing career, and was replaced by Geoffrey Hayes.^[3] John Leeson would also leave at this point, replaced as Bungle by Stanley Bates, and Telltale were replaced by the trio of Charlie Dore, Julian Littman and Karl Johnson, who the following year were replaced by the trio that would eventually become Rod, Jane and Freddy. The second series would also introduce George, operated by Valerie Herberden and voiced by Roy Skelton. Bungle's appearance was also changed significantly with a completely different head design, more like a teddy bear than the previous grizzly bear look.

Herberden was replaced by Malcolm Lord as George’s puppeteer, who Ronnie Le Drew recommended.^[7] The format of the show was significantly built upon during this era, with the scripts began to move beyond the educational format of the show and focus more on actual storylines, driven by character comedy rather than educational themes. More of the episodes were written by the cast members themselves, with Roy Skelton, Stanley Bates, Geoffrey Hayes and Freddy Marks all contributing a significant number of episodes to the show.

In 1989, Rod, Jane & Freddy left the show to concentrate on their own TV series and their touring. Rather than replace them, most episodes ditched the song feature altogether and the episodes became increasingly storyline-driven. Stanley Bates also left the show at this time although he continued to contribute as a scriptwriter, with George's puppeteer Malcolm Lord replacing him in the role of Bungle. George was now operated by Tony Holtham.

Although the show remained extremely popular with both children and adults, it finally came to an end in 1992 when Thames Television lost the London weekday ITV franchise to Carlton Television. Despite this, the cast continued to make frequent TV appearances throughout 1993, guesting on numerous talk shows as well as promoting the release of the "Raynboe" dance single by Eurobop (a mix of the theme tune set to a techno dance beat) and launching a newspaper campaign for the show to be brought back on air.

Following the nationwide newspaper campaign to bring Rainbow back on air, a reboot of the show was announced by Tetra Films in late 1993 and debuted on Children's ITV in on 10 January 1994. The reboot of the show reworked the format enormously as well as replacing nearly all of the cast members. Geoffrey's presenter role was scrapped altogether and the show instead focused on the characters of Zippy, George and Bungle, now independent of Geoffrey, running a toy shop for an unseen boss called Mr Top. Tetra could not afford Roy Skelton to voice Zippy as well as hiring Ronnie Le Drew to operate him, so Ronnie became Zippy’s voice,^[8] while George was operated and voiced by Craig Crane. Bungle's appearance was changed radically and he was now played by Richard Robinson. An additional puppet character was also introduced in the form of Cleo, a blue female rabbit voiced and operated by Gillian Robic. Cleo's role was unclear, with some episodes portraying her as a mere customer to the shop, others as a nosy neighbour and others as a playmate for Zippy and George.

After the poor reception to the first reboot, Tetra Films attempted a second reboot in 1996 in association with HTV, reworking the format again into a form closer to that of the original series. Now titled Rainbow Days, the new show ditched the toy shop setting and brought the characters back into a house environment, and reintroduced the role of the presenter, with Dale Superville now presenting the show. The character of Cleo was scrapped entirely, and Bungle's role was now played by Paul Cullinan. Rainbow Days re-embraced the 'variety show' format of the original series, generally focusing on an educational subject and consisting of scenes with Dale educating the puppet characters about the episode's subject, interspersed with comedic exchanges between Zippy and George in a similar style to the 'Sunshine and Moony' sketches from the earliest seasons, and songs performed by the whole cast, led by Dale.

Although Roy Skelton and Geoffrey Hayes died in 2011 and 2018 respectively, the characters of Zippy, George and Bungle still make the occasional TV appearances to the present day.

Theme song

The theme song for the show was actually a small part of the full version, also called "Rainbow" and written by Hugh Portnow, Lady Hornsbrie, Hugh Fraser and Tim Thomas of the band Telltale, who regularly appeared in the first two seasons of the show. It was released as a single on an offshoot of the Music for Pleasure label called Surprise, Surprise in 1973 with the B-side "Windy Day". Although Telltale left the show in 1974, their recording of the theme tune continued to be used until the end of the original show's run in 1992.

Episode list

Characters

Rainbow featured the following characters, each with their own character style:

The presenter – at first David Cook, who was replaced in 1974 by the best-known presenter Geoffrey Hayes. He brought the other members of the Rainbow household to order or gave them something to do. He acted as the symbol of adult wisdom, and rarely demonstrated overt affection to any of the three puppet characters, acting more as a carer/teacher than a father. While bright and cheery by default, Geoffrey occasionally became exasperated and flustered by the misbehaviour of the puppet characters, and a lot of the comedy in the later episodes revolved around him showing a grumpier side and occasionally losing his temper. There were infrequent mentions of his life outside of the Rainbow household, such as girlfriends, while several episodes stated that Geoffrey had a day job, apparently working in an office during weekdays.
Zippy – loud and domineering, but usually very funny (albeit not to the other characters in the show). The puppet was originally voiced by Peter Hawkins and operated by Violet Philpott and later voiced by Roy Skelton and Ronnie Le Drew – Hawkins and Skelton were voice artists also well known for voicing Daleks and Cybermen in Doctor Who. Ronnie has also operated Zippy and has done since 1974. Zippy's mouth is a zip, and when he became too bossy or irritating, this was zipped shut to prevent him from continuing: on at least one occasion he unzipped himself, though he appears unable to do so on other occasions or simply submits to this punishment. He broadly represented childhood self-centeredness, "naughtiness" and extroversion. Zippy was extremely boastful and would frequently brag about his superior intelligence and singing skill (both of which proved to be completely unfounded when put to the test) and was also greedy, often overeating and displaying a particular love for chocolate and sweets.
George – a shy, pink and slightly camp hippo. He broadly represented sensitivity and introversion. (puppet; voiced by Roy Skelton and operated by Malcolm Lord, Tony Holtham and later Craig Crane). George first appeared in 1973, introduced as a shy friend of Zippy's who was afraid of being seen or heard, usually crouching very low behind the window pane and rarely speaking, preferring to make funny noises. In subsequent seasons George gradually became more extroverted and spoke more, though he remained predominantly shy and timid. The most generally well-behaved and well-meaning of the puppet characters, George often found himself caught between Zippy and Bungle's squabbling, and his good nature taken advantage of by the other characters. Although mostly introverted, several episodes reveal that he aspires to be a singer.
Bungle – a brown furry bear with a squashed face, who is inquisitive but also clumsy and usually complains a lot about the other characters, especially Zippy's antics. He broadly represented conformity. Although on the surface he appears well-behaved and sensible, Bungle has a very sneaky side and a tendency to suck up to authority, making him frequently just as troublesome as Zippy, if not more so. The polar opposites of Zippy and Bungle's personalities are the source of much humour. Unlike Zippy and George, Bungle is a costume rather than a puppet; played by John Leeson, Stanley Bates and Malcolm Lord in the Thames TV series and by Richard Robinson and Paul Cullinan in the reboot. The stunt double in the late 90s was Stuart Nichol.^[9] Although unclothed most of the time, he wraps a towel around his waist after a shower and also wears tartan pyjamas at bedtime. His friends would on occasion put his bed in the shower if he was not vigilant. The original 1972 costume resembled a wild brown bear, but in 1973 this was replaced with a new design resembling a teddy bear. The costume design underwent another overhaul upon Bates assuming the role in 1974 with an all brown pelt (instead of the previous brown/white) slimmer torso and further modified face.
Rod, Jane and Freddy – a group of musicians who regularly featured on the show. When they debuted in 1974 they were 'Rod, Jane and Matt', Matt being Matthew Corbett (of The Sooty Show fame). Matt was replaced from 1977 by Roger Walker, before Freddy Marks, in turn, took over in 1981. Although initially confined to the song segment of the show, gradually Rod, Jane & Freddy began to feature more heavily in the episode's storylines during the show's run, often playing significant roles in the plot. Some of the early 80s episodes stated they lived in the Rainbow House and they were shown to have a bedroom of their own, although later episodes implied they lived next door. Rod, Jane & Freddy were very well-respected and looked up to by Zippy, George and Bungle, who admired their singing and rarely ever got into any conflict with them.
Sunshine and Moony – optimistic sunshine (yellow with a red hat) and his more gloomy friend Moony (brown with a tuft of yellow hair) were the original 'stars' of the programme, but soon became little more than foils to the more popular Zippy. They would occupy short sketches in the early episodes, the humour coming from the boastful, extroverted Sunshine winding up the more modest, cynical Moony, in a loose parallel of the later relationship between Zippy and George. They were phased out by 1974, in favour of greater roles for Bungle and (especially) George. They were voiced by Violet Philpott.
Telltale – a six-piece group who provided the music in the early days of the show. They were a folk-rock band and their repertoire would consist of both original compositions and cover versions.
Charlie Dore, Julian Littman and Karl Johnson – the singing trio who replaced Telltale in 1974. They stayed with the show before being replaced by Rod, Matt & Jane in 1975. Charlie Dore and Julian Littman went on to have hugely successful music careers, while Karl Johnson became a well-known actor.
Duffy – a white sheepdog. Zippy's short-lived original sidekick for a handful of episodes circa 1972. Replaced by George in the 1973 series.
Zippo – Zippy's cousin, identical in appearance to Zippy but slightly brighter in colour, who would make the occasional guest appearance throughout the 80s and 90s seasons. Originally portrayed as an eloquent Frenchman, but a later episode depicted him as an American-accented rapper with loud, flashy clothing. Operated by Valerie Heberden, and voiced by Roy Skelton.
Georgette – a pink female hippo, identical in appearance to George except for her longer eyelashes and floppy hat. She appears in the 1986 episode "Falling Out and Making Up" in which she moves into the house next door to the Rainbow House and immediately gets along well with George. Despite her close resemblance to George in appearance and name, this appears to be nothing more than sheer coincidence.
Dawn – the next-door neighbour, played by Dawn Bowden, who was introduced in the show's later years, first appearing in 1990. Dawn would often visit the Rainbow House to help out with everyday chores and socialize with the characters, as well as performing songs with the rest of the cast on her Casio keyboard.
Aunty – played by Patsy Rowlands, is apparently Geoffrey's aunt, who he used to stay with as a little boy. Aunty comes round to visit in several episodes, while in others the cast visit her. Aunty is a very old-fashioned woman, which occasionally exasperates the puppet characters, although they enjoy her company nonetheless.
Christopher – played by Christopher Lillicrap, a semi-regular guest star who would guest on the show from time to time since the 70s, at first to read stories and later to perform songs, which the main cast would join in with.
Vince – played by Vince Hill, a singer who would occasionally visit the Rainbow House and join in a song with Rod, Jane & Freddy. One episode portrayed him as a kind of 'Geoffrey' figure for Zippo when he showed up with Zippo to a garden party.

Generally speaking, George and Zippy represented two 'types' of a child, George being the quiet and shy type, while Zippy represented the hyperactive and destructive type. Zippy often demonstrated a cynicism and wit that went beyond the "4th wall" and appealed to older viewers. George was usually vindicated, and Zippy got his comeuppance. While they were apparently young 'children' (aged around 6), Bungle was an older 'child' (aged around 8), and differed from them in being a costume rather than a hand puppet. Geoffrey's relationship to them was unclear, other than being a kind of mentor/teacher/carer.

The "adult" version

In 1979, the cast and crew of Rainbow made a special exclusive sketch for the Thames TV staff Christmas tape, sometimes referred to as the "Twangers" episode. This sketch featured plenty of deliberate sexual innuendo (beginning with Zippy peeling a banana, saying 'One skin, two skin, three skin...' before being interrupted by George), and was never shown at the time (as it was never intended to be screened to the general public.) The cast later sang "The Plucking Song".^[10]

The clip became famous after being aired on Victor Lewis-Smith's Channel 4 programme TV Offal (1997) and was referred to as 'the pilot episode' in order to fit into the regular programme segment "The Pilots That Crashed"; however, the clip clearly was not a pilot, as Geoffrey Hayes was not a regular presenter until the series itself was a year old. The clip became widespread with the increasing popularity of the Internet, first as an e-mail attachment and later via online video websites such as YouTube. This has led to many erroneous claims that the episode was publicly broadcast as a regular episode.^{[citation needed]}

TV Offal also broadcast some very risqué material featuring Hayes, Zippy and George as guests on a variety programme hosted by comedian Jim Davidson in the 1980s; the sketch in question featured former children's TV presenter Tommy Boyd asking a question about Adam and Eve. Boyd and Davidson used some profanities in the sketch, along with some innuendo from George (presumably again not intended for broadcast like the above), and Zippy exclaimed to Geoffrey an expletive phrase quite out of character from his children's television persona. (Incidentally, the said footage appeared uncut on Thames Television's 1984 Christmas tape.)

Home video releases

Video Collection International (1986–1996)
FremantleMedia (2002–2018)

Rainbow (1972–1992) releases

Rainbow (1994–1995) VHS releases

Reruns

Episodes of the original Rainbow, dating from the early 1980s, were shown sporadically on the UK satellite TV channel Nick Jr. (and/or its sister channel, Nick Jr. 2) from 2006 to 2009 as part of its Nick Jr. Classics reruns. A previous repeat run took place on UK Gold (now Gold) from its launch in November 1992 to 1994; these were mostly from the last three years of the programme (without Rod, Jane and Freddy).

References

^ Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 211–217. ISBN 1903111277.
^ "History". archive.is. 19 March 2002. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
^ a b c "www.rainbow.web.com (Wayback Machine) - Programme History". Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ a b Hawkins, Silas (October 2014). "Voices-Voices-Voices!". Doctor Who Magazine (477). Panini Comics: 66.
^ "www.rainbow.web.com (Wayback Machine) - Roy Skelton interview".
^ March, Cath; Francis, Penny (6 January 2013). "Violet Philpott obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
^ "www.rainbow.web.com (Wayback Machine) - Malcolm Lord interview".
^ "www.rainbow.web.com (Wayback Machine) - Ronnie Le Drew interview".
^ Moses-Lloyd, Rachel (10 January 2015). "The Voice returns for 2015 – with a new judge, and Bungle from Rainbow". South Wales Evening Post. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
^ "Was There a Banned "Rude" Episode of Rainbow?".