Rainbow (TV series)
Rainbow was a British children's television series, created by Pamela Lonsdale, which ran from 16 October 1972 until March 1992, only finishing when Thames Television lost its ITV franchise to Carlton Television. The series was revived by HTV in 1994 until 24 March 1997, in two different formats and voice actors compared to the original Thames series.
The series was originally conceived as a British equivalent of long-running American educational puppet series Sesame Street. The British series was developed in house by Thames Television, and had no input from the Children's Television Workshop. 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.
History
Premise
Each episode of Rainbow revolved around a particular activity or situation that arose in the Rainbow House, where the main characters lived. Often, it involved some kind of squabble or dispute between the puppet characters of Zippy, George and Bungle, and David Cook/Geoffrey Hayes's attempts to calm them down and keep the peace.The main story was interspersed with songs, animations, and stories read from the Rainbow storybook, usually by Geoffrey. 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. Brief sequences of animated line drawings, made by Cosgrove Hall Productions, were included in many episodes.
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, and was never shown at the time The cast later sang "The Plucking Song".The clip became famous after being aired on Victor Lewis-Smith's Channel 4 programme TV Offal 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.
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, and Zippy exclaimed to Geoffrey an expletive phrase quite out of character from his children's television persona.
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, Hugh Fraser and Tim Thomas of the band Telltale, who regularly appeared in the first two series of the show. It was released by Music for Pleasure in 1973 with the B-side "Windy Day".There have been several dance versions of the theme tune which have been released as singles. The dance act Solo had a minor hit in 1991 with a sample-free instrumental version of the Rainbow theme, while Eurobop released a dance version in 1993 featuring samples taken directly from the original theme as well as voice samples of the main characters, who appeared on several music TV shows to promote the single; a hardcore version entitled "Rainbow Vibes" by the Sonz of Bungle circulated on 12" vinyl in 1992 which sampled the theme tune over a chopped up breakbeat and featuring rave stabs. The most recent dance version, titled "It's a Rainbow!" and featuring the vocals of Zippy and George, reached the UK top 20 in 2002.
In 2019 Matt Berry produced a version of Rainbow included on an album recreating some 70s and 80s TV theme tunes, called Television Themes.
Episode list
Characters
Rainbow featured the following characters, each with their own character style:- The presenter – at first David Cook, who was replaced in early 1973 by the best-known presenter Geoffrey Hayes. He brought the other members of the Rainbow household to order or give 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. There were infrequent mentions to his life outside of the Rainbow household, such as ex-girlfriends.
- Zippy – loud and domineering, but usually very funny. The puppet was originally voiced by Peter Hawkins and operated by Violet Philpott and later voiced by Roy Skelton – both were also well known for voicing Daleks and Cybermen in Doctor Who – and operated by Ronnie Le Drew. 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. He broadly represented childhood self-centredness, "naughtiness" and extroversion.
- George – a shy, pink and slightly camp hippo. He broadly represented sensitivity and introversion.. First appeared in 1973.
- 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. A Bear costume; played by John Leeson, Stanley Bates, Malcolm Lord, Anthony Pitt and Paul Cullinan. Although unclothed most of the time, he wraps a towel around his waist after a shower and also wears pyjamas at bed time. The original 1972 costume resembled a wild brown bear, but in 1973 this was replaced with a new design resembling a teddy bear.
- 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. Matt was replaced from 1977 by Roger Walker, before Freddy Marks in turn took over in 1983. When the series began in 1972, the regular singing trio were Telltale who were replaced in 1974 by Charlie Dore, Julian Littman and Karl Johnson.
- Sunshine and Moony – optimistic sunshine and his more gloomy friend Moony were the original 'stars' of the programme, but soon became little more than foils to the more popular Zippy; they were phased out by 1973, in favour of greater roles for Bungle and George. They were voiced by Violet Yeomans.
- Telltale – a six-piece group who provided the music in the early days of the show being replaced by Charlie Dore and Julian Littman and then Rod, Matt and Jane.
- Dusty - a sheepdog. Zippy's short-lived original sidekick for a handful of episodes circa Christmas 1972. Replaced by George for the 1973 series.
- Zippo – Zippy's cousin, identical in appearance to Zippy but slightly brighter in colour, who appeared occasionally. Originally portrayed as an eloquent Frenchman, but a later episode depicted him as an American-accented rapper with loud, flashy clothing.
- Georgette, a cousin of George. Georgette is physically identical to George, except for her longer eyelashes and floppy hat.
- Dawn – the next-door neighbour, played by Dawn Bowden, who was introduced in the show's later years, first appearing in 1990.
- Aunty – played by numerous actresses, is the aunt of one of the characters, probably Geoffrey.
In 1989, Rod, Jane and Freddy left the show to concentrate on touring, pantomime appearances and their own separate TV show. This meant that Dawn Bowden was introduced as a regular female character in place of Jane, while the songs were generally provided by guest singers, notably Christopher Lillicrap. The show also often included guest stars, to make a change from Geoffrey telling all the lessons – this way, the characters would be told stories and lessons by a fresh face. Even so, Geoffrey was never completely eliminated and continued to act as presenter and "member of the Rainbow House" until the end of the programme in 1992.
VHS releases
- Video Collection International
- FremantleMedia
Rainbow (1972–1992) VHS releases
Revival
Rainbow 1994
Although the original Rainbow ended with the loss of Thames's broadcasting licence in 1992, Tetra Films revived it for ITV in January 1994 and 1995. The new version of the show departed from the original format, centred on the slightly redesigned puppet characters – without a presenter – running a toy shop. A new character was introduced, a Scouse-sounding blue rabbit named Cleo. Geoffrey Hayes said that he heard the news of his 'sacking' from the tabloids, rather than from Tetra: "I was shocked really, and for a couple of days I thought it was just me who had been dropped. But then Rod, Jane and Freddy had already left and of course Roy had now been dropped too. The guy playing Bungle – he was history, as was the puppeteer doing George; only Zippy's puppeteer was left. Ronnie Le Drew who also voiced Zippy for the new Tetra series; I discovered later, had auditioned for it. Bungle looked different too, though Zippy and George looked much the same".Rainbow (1994-1995) VHS releases
Rainbow Days
A second revival, in 1996, saw a return to something like the original format in a series of short 10-minute shows entitled Rainbow Days, presented by Dale Superville, which ran to only one series of 12 episodes. Both were produced in association with HTV. A comic based on the latter series, also titled Rainbow Days, ran for a handful of issues in 1997.Mole in the Hole
In 1996, GMTV ordered a 26-part series, Mole in the Hole, for its weekend morning children's strand. Produced by AMG Productions, a division of the Artist Management Group, the GMTV series, set in the fictional village of Codswallop, featured Geoffrey Hayes as lead presenter, and puppet characters, voiced by Rainbow performers including Roy Skelton. Following its GMTV transmission, the series was repeated as part of the Tiny Living block on LivingTV.Reruns
Episodes of the original Rainbow, dating from the early 1980s, were shown sporadically on the UK satellite TV channel Nick Jr. in the late 2000s as part of its Nick Jr. Classics reruns. A previous repeat run took place on UK Gold from its launch in November 1992 to 1994; these were mostly from the last three years of the programme.Sweet Cherry Publishing
An initial range of three hand puppet books featuring Bungle, Zippy and George was launched at the London Book Fair on March 12 on Sweet Cherry's stand, and then at the Bologna Book Fair on April 1. These books were going to be available at retail from July–October 2019, but it was delayed further until May 2020.- I Love You, Bungle!
- Time For Bed, Zippy!
- Let's Play, George!