The Magic Roundabout
“Time for bed Florence”
“Time for bed Zebedee. Your place or mine?”
“All Along the Watch..zzzzz”
The Magic Roundabout was once described as the filthiest children's tv programme in the 1960s and 1970s. It's portrayal of a world where all the characters were always on the verge of being 'ready for bed', gained the show the reputation of being hippy propaganda and was eventually removed from the schedules.
Originally made for French television, in the hands of the British the show was transformed into an orgy of puppet drug taking and lust on an industrial scale. Set in a world dominated by a carousel (the supposed 'roundabout'), the short five minute stories usually involved a round faced girl with garish make-up called Florence and her shaggy, Old English sheepdog called Dougal. Their friends included a think snail known as Brian, a narcoleptic rabbit called Dylan and a Lady Bracknell style cow called Ermentrude. The only other usualy guest was Zebedee, a semi-bald French puppet with a cad's mustache and a coiled spring instead of legs. It was always Zebedee that called time to end the on-screen filth before turning off the lights.
Origins[edit]
The programme was originally shot in black and white in France. It used the stop-go animation method of moving puppets around the set to appear that they were alive. The French were proud of the show and happily let it be exported. It was picked up by the British who loved the puppets but said the scripts (in French or translated badly into English) were 'more Jean-Paul Sartre' than fare suitable for the target audience of five year olds.
Unsure what do do the Brits resorted to having a narrator rather than voice the individual puppets. Essentially they needed someone to adapt a script so it more or less matched the visuals. One actor claimed he could do both. This was Eric Thompson. It was he who re-named the characters so they sounded at least English and dished up the verbal filth in the bargain.
Cast[edit]
- Florence. A rosey cheeked girl in the Alice in Wonderland mould. Always asking questions. Always ready for bed - the minx!
- Dougal. Known as 'Pollux' in French, though no sign of having a twin brother. A sugar lump addict, though that was likely cocaine as in 'Brown Sugar'.
- Brian. A snail. Dougal always referred to him as 'that mollusc'.
- Dylan. A guitar playing rabbit who usually fell asleep after the first few music chords. To the French he was 'flappy'. Bob Dylan was unaware that his name was being used for a sleepy bunny.
- Ermintrude. A cow that would burst into song for no reason.
- Mr Rusty. Rusty by name, rusty by nature. A pensionable gent who owns the carousel. Suspected of kidnapping children and selling them on to the toy industry.
- Mr McHenry. The bearded gardener. Travels around on a disability scooter. Plays the bagpipes to calm the flowers. Ex-convict. Also known as Bluebeard.
- Train. A transexual steam engine.
- Zebedee. God with a French accent. Also wrote a book in The Bible.
British Innuendo[edit]
| # | French title | British title | innuendo level | Filth factor | Notes |
| 1 | Bon rat | Good rat | 75% | 9/10 | Dougal discovers Florence has a pet rat |
| 2 | Poser un lapin | Dylan goes full hippy | 55% | 8/10 | Dylan shares a joint with Florence and Dougal |
| 3 | Chats a fouetter | Sado-masochist pussy | 98% | 9/10 | A blue cat appears at The Magic Roundabout and wants to meet Dougal |
| 4 | Avoir un chat dans la gorge | Florence strangles a blue cat | 69% | 6/10 | Florence commits her first murder |
| 5 | Vache folle | Ermintrude goes nuts | 76% | 7/10 | Brian argues Ermintrude should be shot as she has mad cow disease |
| 6 | La jeune fille curieux | Florence learns the facts of live | 99% | 0/10 | Florence' ask questions about sex and puppetry |
Banned[edit]
The growing filth in the British version of The Magic Roundabout finally saw the BBC to remove the show from the schedules. Eric Thompson was sacked and died shortly after. His daughter, the actress Emma Thompson blamed the BBC for its treatment of her father.
Historical legacy[edit]
The Magic Roundabout continued to be a cultural reference for many Brits. A British version was revived in the 1990s with Nigel Planer providing the dead pan commentary to go along with the French visuals. Today the show has been revived again but has been thoroughly 'Disneyfied'. No innuendo or smuggled filth can be shown or referenced.