For the first time Time Shift tells the whole story
behind the success of The Magic Roundabout, the hugely popular children's
TV animation programme. Time Shift sources clips from the BBC archive
to tell the stories behind this classic series. It also interviews
many of the people who helped bring it to the TV screens including
Ivor Wood, Phyllida Law, Sophie Thompson and programme makers such
as Joy Whitby.
The story begins in Paris, 1963 when a working animator Serge Danot
devised and wrote a French children's animation TV programme. He
teamed up with Ivor Wood in 1965 in order to complete and produce
the original French series; Le Manège Enchanté. On selling the first
11 episodes to Ortf, they found that they had a huge hit on their
hands but Danot's family and Ivor continued to work in a derelict
Parisian house - as its success in France was so immediate (Ivor
Wood later became famous for his Paddington Bear, Wombles and Postman
Pat creations).
The BBC rejected the French series a couple of times as they felt
it was just too weird! But in 1965 they finally agreed to buy the
series on the understanding that they would have to change a lot
in order that the English would understand it. Eric Thompson (Emma's
father) who was a Playschool presenter at the time was asked to
voice this weird French series in a particularly British way. The
much-loved and often far-fetched stories were recorded off-the-cuff
by Eric whose inspired imagination led him to merely turn down the
sound on the original French series and make the stories up as he
went along. It was an instant success largely due to the fact that
it was on just before the 6 O'clock News which attracted a large
adult audience who enjoyed the surreal storylines. Many of the charming
anecdotes in the programme include stories behind both the French
and English characters: Dougal and Ermintrude were said to be comments
on French-Anglo relations at the time; the cynical Dougal was
based on Tony Hancock; and that the stoned hippy Dylan was based
on the American folk singer, Bob Dylan.
Time Shift's story continues as it follows the cultural phenomenon
of The Magic Roundabout during the 1970's through to the news that Hollywood is turning it into a feature film starring
the voices of Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue.
The Magic Roundabout continues to this day to be one of the most successful television animation series of all time.
Previous
documentaries on BBC Four
