POB
A puppet
boy called Pob, who writes his name by steaming up the inside of the TV screen
and tracing it out, invites celebrity guests to his garden to entertain him.
Pob was
the brainchild of Anne Wood of Ragdoll Productions, making him older
brainbrother to the Teletubbies. Like them, Pob would speak in his own
unorthodox dialect.
Channel
4 doesn’t have a reputation for children’s programmes, but Pob got up to some
classic mischief during his late 80s run. He regained recognition when Pob’s
Programme came in at #60 on Channel 4’s 100
Greatest Kids TV Shows. I managed to commit over two dozen Pob
shows to video a decade ago, and I’ve amassed as much info as I can from them.
So without wanting to steal thunder from other Pob websites, this page focuses
on what I’ve seen of Pob’s Programme, and doesn’t aim to cover Pob’s
appearances on Pob’s Playtime and Just4Fun. You can also find out
about Pob’s books on this page.
Updates
March 2009: After some downtime due to the closure of this
website’s previous host, it is now back online, as you can see. During the
interval, I’ve discovered that Pob is back! The professional puppeteer
behind (or should that be below and to the side of?) Pob, Robin Stevens, has
been posting brand new clips of Pob on YouTube. You can see them here at Pob’s Place. And here is a link to Robin’s website.
I have now seen the whole of Children’s TV On Trial,
as mentioned in the previous update. I’m pleased that the BBC took my
suggestion to include a clip of Spike Milligan’s visit.
Autumn 2007: Earlier this year, I was contacted by the
BBC. They were making a series of documentaries about children’s TV, decade by
decade, and wanted to include Pob in the 1980s one. The programme, which was
shown on BBC Four several weeks later, came to be titled Children’s TV
On Trial: The 1980s. I never got to see the whole episode, so I don’t
know if Pob featured in the end.
Also, a belated thank you to Robin Stevens, Pob’s puppeteer,
for contacting me via the guestbook.
April 2007: During the past couple of years, I’ve been
contacted by Wanda Szajna-Hopgood
and Nick Boyes, who were both involved with the programme. You can now read
extracts from their emails below.
A Typical Day For Pob
Pob’s day starts when
his celebrity visitor for the show finds a label on the gates of Pob’s garden:
‘If in
my programme you would be,
Wind the
wool and follow me.’
They follow the trail
of stripy wool attached. Winding the wool as they go, the visitor finds a 2nd
label:
‘Wind it
slowly, wind it fast,
A secret
you will find at last.’
As the wool is wound,
it tugs on the source - Pob’s sweater. Pob jumps to life, and mists up the
screen so he can trace out his name.
Then, the visitor reads
a story, or reads it later and now finds a label with missing words - a rhyming
puzzle. Pob helps his visitor to guess the words using dressing-up and
drawings. (To help one celebrity get the word ‘beat’, Pob beat her at tennis
with a carpet beater, and threw in a John McEnroe impersonation).
In fact, Pob interacts
with most of the guests on the programme. After Alan Dart has made his piece of
handicraft for the day, Pob plays with it. (When Alan made a Pob mask, Pob told
him to add more freckles.) The cartoons are often edited so it looks like Pob
is influencing the action. Often, Pob draws Dick King-Smith a symbol, and Dick
then takes his dog on a nature trail to investigate. (a criss-cross pattern
that Pob had drawn turned out to represent the alcoves of an old dovecote,
where Dick found an Easter egg.) Pob also likes to mimic his musical and
dancing guests. (Pob once tried to copy a rhythmic gymnast with a ribbon, but
wrapped himself up in his ribbon.)
Almost finally, the
celebrity visitor reads a poem. Sometimes, they then visit Pob’s tree (see
picture below), where he hangs pictures and letters and handicraft sent in to
him. Then, the visitor sends Pob a toy related to the earlier story. The toy is
attached to Pob’s wool, so he ropes it in, to play with while he uses ‘spit
& polish’ to wipe the end credits off the screen a few at a time. (One
celebrity sent Pob a pair of sunglasses, which turned him into a pop idol with
screaming fans.)
After this, the
celebrity says goodbye, Pob pops up to plug his latest newsletter, then closes
things by blowing out a candle (held by Ragdoll Productions’ trademark
ragdoll). Finally, the next celebrity visitor comes to the gate, realises they
are a week too early, and leaves.
There was a special
episode where Polly James, who was supposed to be visiting the programme, did
not turn up because she needed an ear operation. The cameras followed her stay
on a Birmingham children’s ward (i.e. demonstrated to viewers that hospital is
not scary), while Pob pestered her via phone and TV screen, and donned a white
coat and forced his teddy into a soft-toy hospital, claiming he was ill.
Brian Blessed told
Pob, ‘It’s a privilege to be your friend.’ So there you have it.
I’ve been lucky enough
to receive an email from Kjartan Poskitt,
a multi-talented author and musician who both appeared on Pob and wrote
material for the programme. Here are his gems of information (dare I say,
exclusive to this website?) on what it’s like to appear before Pob:
‘I remember Pob with
great affection. I had been working on BBC’s Swap Shop and Anne
Wood had been asked to come up with an ITV Saturday morning format and she
invited me to a 30 minute meeting. After 3 hours we’d abandoned Saturday
morning formats and she’d outlined Pob for whom I ended up doing quite a bit of
writing. I was amazed to be asked to present especially seeing who the other
presenters were to be and me being pretty much a nobody! I was the first
one to be filmed (the “guinea pig” really) and I’ll never forget standing in a
rainy wet garden in Bushey with Bob Berk patiently explaining that I had to
follow a line of yellow and pink wool then showering me with “rain” from a
hosepipe. I also had to do umpteen re-takes as I kept calling him “pub”.
‘Having got
completely frozen outside, I had to sit in a bath and do a couple of stories,
and the bath (in the studio) wasn’t plumbed in so the well meaning scene lads
filled it with kettles of boiling water and washing up liquid to make the
bubbles thick. As a consequence the steam and the fumes had me completely woozy
and I’ve no idea how I spoke rationally to the camera. And after that I KNEW
I’d hit the big time when the Daily Star phoned up and asked if it was true
that I’d been naked in a bath on a kids telly programme. Even though I had been
wearing trunks, the loofa lurking under the surface did wonders for my
reputation, particularly as I was a regular piano player in a gay pub at the
time!’
I was also lucky
enough to be emailed by Pob’s gardener Nick Boyes in April 2005:
‘Hallo from pob's garden,
We were remembering
all the past tv productions here at Bushey during lunch yesterday which
lead me to your excellent site. I was,and still am at present, the gardener when
the pob series was recorded in our grounds. The gates are still here although
the hedge behind is somewhat taller. Ragdoll would use anything and everything
that wasn't screwed down and my wheelbarrows, sheds, tools and even my dog was
swept along in the madness of it all. The Kathy Staff episode of her
moving house was done in my tied house along with my old English sheepdog
Heidi. I have fond memories of chatting for ages in the greenhouse with Spike
Milligan while the rain caused a break in recording (which it often did),and an
hilarious hour trying to fit Bill Pertwee into my yew hedge for one of the
stories. All us chaps fell madly in love with the girl circus performer
probably because she was so flexible as well as beautiful. I had some imput in
one of the next ragdoll productions Tots Tv ,the garden around the puppets
cottage was real and done by me even the donkey did try and eat most of it.
Unfortunately the
facilities company that owns the studios, and more importantly for me the
garden,is soon to move to London and it looks likely that the site will go for
housing developement maybe Pob Gardens will appear soon in the A to Z of
Bushey.’
Pob’s guests
Pob has a huge range
of celebrity guests making up his programmes. (There are hyperlinks to
biographies and official websites for many of them, below.)
CELEBRITY
FRIEND
Would solve a puzzle,
read a story and a poem, perhaps read some of the mail hung on Pob’s tree, and
send Pob a parting gift. Several had a return visit (or filmed two in one go).
The list includes:
Bill Pertwee (actor)
Rupert Frazer (actor)
Kjartan Poskitt (author,
musician)
Charlie Williams (late comedian)
Madhur Jaffrey (twice) (actress, cook)
Brian Blessed (actor)
Jan Francis (actress)
Josette Simon (actress)
Polly James (twice) (actress) – Including a special where
she was in hospital.
Hannah Gordon (actress)
Bernard Hepton (actor)
Roy Castle (late entertainer)
Su Pollard (actress)
John Duttine (twice) (actor)
Brian Patten (actor)
Anni Domingo (actress)
Tony Armatrading (actor)
Kathy Staff (twice) (late actress)
Cheryl Campbell (twice) (actress)
Toyah Willcox (actress,
musician, presenter) – See above for picture.
Peter Howitt (actor)
Ross Davidson (late actor)
Susan Gilmore (actress)
Patty [or Pat] Coombs (late actress)
Spike Milligan (legendary late comedian.
A clip of his Pob appearance was shown in Children’s TV
On Trial.)
TEDDY
Pob’s often-seen companion
was a standard teddy bear, called Teddy. He was silent and largely inanimate,
and so was picked on a bit by Pob. Teddy was initially operated by Pob
designer Bob Berk, who owned him as a child. Wanda Szajna-Hopgood sent me
further information in September 2006:
‘Hi, I'd like to put the record straight(er!). Teddy was operated by
Bob in the early days of 'Pob', but later on he was managed and handled by me.
We made another series of 'Pob', and then links for C4 and 'Pob's Playbox. I can
say with some knowledge that 'Eddy was delightful to work with, very
co-operative, and amenable. He very occasionally got one over on his friend
Pob.’
CARTOONS/
ANIMATIONS
Every programme
featured a cartoon courtesy of ‘Czech Telexport’, starring 2 rabbits or a girl
& her dog (Maxi-dog). Others include:
Quido - a yellow alien
Plasticine
rodents
A man who had
accidents caused by Pob’s shadow (e.g. he tried to clean a window but Pob’s
hand came on from the side and moved the ladder).
Sometimes, Oscar Grillo would draw a giant scene which came
to life as he told a story to go with it.
DANCERS
& ACROBATS
A series of Pob
was like a circus, filled with mimes, rhythmic gymnasts and dance acts. These
include:
The
Dewhurst Family - Dancers with a
piano-playing dog
Paul
& Joyce Springer - Dancers,
with Deidre Lovell on the piano.
Bunty
Matthias – Rhythmic gymnast,
who performed routines with balloons and ribbons.
Perry
Douglin – Dancer.
Simon
Horritt – Acrobat.
MUSICIANS
Often accompanied
dancers. Include:
Ann Mackay
& Anthea Gifford – singer and
guitarist. Performed Hush Little Baby and There Was An Old Woman Who
Swallowed A Fly.
Bronwen
Naish - played double bass, using
different ways of playing to represent different characters in the story of the
instrument, Bartholomew (A musician and politician
by professions.)
When eminent musician Nigel Kennedy came on, he and Pob would play the
violin and argue about football teams (Pob, a Watford supporter, told Nigel, an Aston Villa fan, that he was
‘going down’).
HIDE AND
SEEK 100 YEARS AGO
Pob’s face would be
hidden in a drawing of a Victorian household scene. The celebrity guest gives a
voiceover about the scene, allowing time for the viewer to spot Pob. Pob
eventually reveals himself by growing large.
ALAN
DART
Made a piece of
handicraft each programme before our eyes. By convention we only ever saw his hands,
except when he put on a mask. (Currently works as a professional designer of
toys, handicraft and knitwear.)
ROD’S
BOX
Rod Campbell designed
then constructed a kind of ‘obstacle course’ to knock open a box (e.g. a ball
would roll down a series of pipes to land on a seesaw, causing the other end to
rise and catch the edge of the lid, levering it up), revealing a surprise
(balloons, confetti, water jets etc.). Always turned to the camera and said
‘again?’ then gave a second demonstration.
DICK
KING-SMITH’S NATURE TRAIL
Pob sends Dick a
mystery drawing (e.g. an animal’s footprint, or a carved symbol), and Dick goes
on a nature trail with his dog to find it, taking in countryside, farmland and
old buildings. Pob sometimes followed Dick’s progress on
a map. (Dick
King-Smith is a well-known author of animal-based children’s books,
including Babe The Sheep-Pig.)
Pob Books
Three Pob books were
brought out, including contributions from celebrities who appeared on Pob:
POB’S
STORIES
Chosen by Anne Wood.
Illustrated by Jonathan Hills. 1986. Yellow cover. Many celebrity guests
appeared on Pob, actually reading from this anthology of stories and
poems. Includes the story Kjartan Poskitt wrote and then read in the bath (see
above).
HERE
COMES POB
Chosen by Anne Wood.
Illustrated by Jonathan Hills. 1987. Blue cover. Another anthology used on the
programme. Includes contributions from guests Kjartan Poskitt, Brian Patten,
and some gems from Spike Milligan.
POB’S
POEMS AND WORD GAMES
Chosen by Anne Wood and
Robin Stevens. 1988. Red and yellow cover. Mixture of traditional children’s
poems, poetry by Pob viewers (some of which was read out on the
programme from Pob’s hanging tree), riddles, and the word puzzles set by Pob
for his celebrity guests.
The Links Effect
o
Are you after Pob on
video? You may be in luck if you look up ‘Pob’ on auction website eBay.
o
There are now clips of
Pob on YouTube.
o
Jedi’s Paradise has a splendid page
on Pob, plus a fantastic collection of Pob pictures. A gift to Pob fans.
o
And here is a link to Ragdoll’s official
website.
o
This
link will take you to an archived version of Pob-tastic, a colourful Pob
site with plenty of images, no longer online.
o
Warning: It’s wholly inadvisable to confuse Pob,
the TV-dwelling-goblin-baby-rod-puppet, with POB, the Paris Opera Ballet; but
for the reckless amongst you, here’s a link. Good luck.
Any comments are
welcome; you can email
them here. Remember to delete ‘nospam.’ from the address before sending.
Please exercise your
right to sign my
guestbook.
Pob |
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