Rainbow (TV series)

For the first three seasons of Rainbow, the show was presented by David Cook, who lived in the Rainbow House with Bungle the Bear, played by John Leeson. Each episode (most of which were written by John Kershaw) would focus on a particular educational subject, for instance shapes, houses, or animals of some kind, and would involve Bungle inquisitively asking David about that subject, and David educating him about it. Real-world footage of the episode's subject would usually be shown, over which David and Bungle would comment. The character of Zippy (voiced by Peter Hawkins and operated by Violet Philpott), a yellow oval-headed monster with a zip for a mouth, would occasionally appear outside the window and provide most of the comedy, by adding his own input. As a 'know-it-all', Zippy would boast about his superior knowledge of the episode's subject, which would lead to humorous banter and squabbling between him and Bungle, who would occasionally zip up Zippy's mouth to stop him boasting. Each episode featured a song from the group Telltale about that episode's subject; Telltale also performed the show's theme tune which would be used for the entirety of its run. The scenes in the Rainbow House would also be interspersed with animations, as well as short sketches featuring the puppet characters of Sunshine and Moony (both operated and voiced by Violet Philpott), stories from the Rainbow book, usually read by a guest star, occasionally taking the form of stop-motion animations, and occasionally scenes involving different puppet characters. Most episodes ended with David showing the viewer how to make a particular item at home using paper or cardboard, again relating to that episode's theme.

Episode 18, 'Cats and Dogs' introduced an additional puppet character - Duffy the Dog, a white sheepdog who was friends with Zippy and would occasionally pop up at his side outside the window. Again, Duffy was both operated and voiced by Violet Philpott.

The third season of the show in 1974 brought in some notable changes - the character of Duffy was replaced by George the Hippo, a shy pink hippo friend of Zippy's who would crouch behind the window sill, only rarely coming into full view, and was so shy that he rarely spoke, preferring to make funny noises rather than speak. Zippy was now voiced by Roy Skelton, who also voiced George, with Zippy now operated by John Thirtle and George by Valerie Heberden. Bungle's appearance was also changed significantly with a completely different head design, and the show's title sequence was changed though the theme tune remained the same; the new title sequence was used for the rest of the show's run.

The fifth season of the show saw several major cast changes, some of which would remain for the entirety of the show's run. David Cook was replaced as presenter by Geoffrey Hayes, with Stanley Bates replacing Leeson in the role of Bungle, whose appearance also saw several further changes over the ensuing years. The characters of Sunshine and Moony were dropped altogether. The singers also changed; Telltale now replaced by the trio of Charlie Dore, Julian Littman and Karl Johnson. Halfway through the fifth season, Ronnie Le Drew took over as Zippy's puppeteer.

In series 5 in 1975, the aforementioned singing trio were replaced by Rod Burton, Jane Tucker and Matthew Corbett, known as Rod, Matt & Jane. Matthew Corbett departed the show in 1976 to become presenter of The Sooty Show, and was replaced by Roger Walker; the trio now known as Rod, Jane & Roger.

While the structure of the episodes remained generally the same as the early years, during this time the show's characters and format were developed significantly. Zippy became increasingly loud and boastful, his mischief a regular source of humour, while George became slightly more extroverted and was no longer afraid to speak, though his shyness remained a predominant character trait. Bungle also became increasingly 'goody-two-shoes' and showed a sneaky side, which put him frequently at odds with Zippy. Rather than just remaining outside the window, Zippy and George were shown within the Rainbow House itself more often, behind a table, while the singers would more frequently join the characters in the Rainbow House scenes rather than being confined to the song segment.

In 1976, Pamela Lonsdale was replaced by Charles Warren as the show's producer. John Kershaw remained the prime scriptwriter of the show during this era.

In 1981, Roger Walker was replaced by Freddy Marks as the third member of the singing trio, and Rod, Jane and Freddy were to become the show's best-remembered group of singers, eventually given their own spin-off show and establishing an identity in their own right outside of Rainbow. Valerie Heberden was replaced around this time by Malcolm Lord as George's puppeteer.

The format of the show was significantly built upon during this era. 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. The puppets were portrayed more like actual children, albeit exaggerated for comedy effect, with Zippy the loud and mischievous one, Bungle the tell-tale conformist, and George the shy, timid character caught between them. Geoffrey's character moved beyond the simple role of presenter to be more of a realistic parent figure, often becoming exasperated and harried by the antics of the three puppets, occasionally showing a grumpy side or losing his temper. As the show moved increasingly into sitcom territory, Rod, Jane & Freddy's roles increased vastly, involved more heavily in the storylines instead of just singing the song. More of the Rainbow House was shown instead of just the living room, with the bedrooms, kitchen, garden and occasionally additional rooms shown frequently. As the show increased in popularity, more celebrity guests began to feature, usually to read a story from the Rainbow book or help with the song. Another common theme for episodes around this time involved the cast acting out a well-known fairytale, such as Rumplestiltskin, The Ugly Duckling or The Hare and the Tortoise. Various guest characters were introduced who would make the occasional recurring appearances, most notably 'Aunty' played by Patsy Rowlands, and Zippy's cousin Zippo (voiced by Roy Skelton and usually operated by Valerie Heberden).

At this time, 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. A special 1,000th episode was screened in October 1986 around the time the show celebrated its 14th birthday, featuring a whole load of child viewers of the show joining the cast for a party, with Matthew Corbett and Sooty appearing as guest characters, alongside Christopher Lillicrap.

Series 21, in 1989, saw some major cast changes. 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.

With the show's popularity among children continually proving enduring, and the show having attained a cult following among adults and students, its popularity was capitalized on in the form of a stage show, with the 'Rainbow Roadshow' touring throughout 1989, and a weekly Rainbow comic published by London Editions, which would occasionally itself be featured in the show. Items of Rainbow merchandise such as toys and storybooks were also produced frequently by this time.

In Series 22 in 1990, a new character was introduced in the form of Dawn, the next-door neighbour, played by Dawn Bowden, who stepped into Jane's role as the show's regular female character. Several episodes in this series also brought back the song feature, with the songs provided either by Dawn on her Casio keyboard or by Christopher Lillicrap on his guitar. The main cast members would usually join in on the songs themselves. Other frequent guest stars at this time were stage magician John Styles, who would entertain the cast by performing stories about Marzipan the Magician using his own magic tricks, and Gabrielle Bradshaw, who would show the cast how to make special items from paper and cardboard.

Although the show remained extremely popular with both children and adults, it finally came to an end in 1992 when Thames Television was taken over by 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 February 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. Bungle's appearance was changed radically and he was now played by Richard Robinson, and in the absence of a presenter figure, served a kind of parent role towards Zippy and George whilst retaining his blundering, clumsy nature. Zippy and George's puppets were redesigned more subtly but Roy Skelton no longer voiced them; their voices now provided by their puppeteers - Ronnie Le Drew, the only member of the original show's cast still on board, voiced and operated Zippy, while George was operated and voiced by Craig Crane. Their personalities were also altered slightly, with George no longer shy but instead confident and assertive, with Zippy consequently forced into more of a self-pitying, submissive role although retaining his boastful nature. 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. The theme tune and opening sequence was changed altogether. The new format was not well-received at all by either children or adults, and the show received overwhelmingly negative reviews in the newspapers; its lack of popularity reflected in poor viewing figures.

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".[3]

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. Bungle's character was now portrayed as a pure bumbling oaf, the butt of Zippy and George's jokes. Although Rainbow Days was better-received than the previous reboot and popular enough to spawn a short-lived comic series, viewer ratings failed to match those of the original series and the show was cancelled after just one season of 13 episodes.

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,[4] the GMTV series was essentially Geoffrey Hayes, Roy Skelton and Malcolm Lord's own attempt to reboot Rainbow, having been left out of the Tetra Films revivals. Set in the fictional village of Codswallop, Mole in the Hole featured Geoffrey Hayes as lead presenter, living in a country cottage with three puppet characters - a large mole called Norman (played by Malcolm Lord in a bodysuit), a dog called Freddie and a cat called Fifi (both voiced by Roy Skelton). Respectively, these characters had strongly similar voices and personalities to Bungle, Zippy and George. While the format was strikingly similar to that of Rainbow, the puppet characters had more independence of Geoffrey, such as driving out in the countryside by themselves, and had more mature knowledge, including knowledge of Shakespeare's plays. Most episodes would end with the cast performing a song together. [5] The series lasted for one season of 26 episodes. Following its GMTV transmission, the series was repeated as part of the Tiny Living block on LivingTV.

In the early 00s, Rainbow saw a revival of sorts among the student disco circuit, after a huge amount of Rainbow merchandise began to appear in shops and proved extremely popular with students who had grown up with the original TV series. The cast of Geoffrey Hayes, Roy Skelton, Malcolm Lord and Ronnie Le Drew reunited for the Rainbow Disco Roadshow, which would go on to tour university campuses and student discos for the bulk of the 00s. The shows consisted of Zippy assuming the role of 'Superstar DJ' and a stage show in which Geoffrey would invite members of the audience onstage to participate in a quiz with the characters of Zippy, Bungle and George, before joining students on the dancefloor.

The Rainbow Disco Roadshow proved popular on the student disco circuit throughout the 00s, and spawned another dance version of the Rainbow theme tune to be released as a single in 2002, titled "It's A Rainbow". During the 00s, the characters made guest appearances on numerous TV and radio shows, while Zippy featured in a popular Marmite TV commercial, a series of Rainbow DVDs were released, and Zippy and George made a guest appearance in the TV police drama series Ashes to Ashes. While there were reportedly numerous pitches for a new Rainbow TV series tailored to a student audience, none of these came to fruition.

In 2008, Zippy, George and Bungle returned to the stage with the Rainbow Live theatre show, which toured theatres throughout the UK. Written and presented by Mike Newman, who stepped into Geoffrey's role as presenter, the stage show featured the storyline of Zippy becoming a Superstar DJ and leaving the Rainbow House to tour the world, but missing his old friends back at the Rainbow House. The show brought the characters to a new generation of children as well as attracting adults who grew up with the original series. [6]

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

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! (Sweet Cherry Publishing, May 28, 2020) (ISBN 1782266062)
• Time For Bed, Zippy! (Sweet Cherry Publishing, May 28, 2020) (ISBN 1782266070)
• Let's Play, George! (Sweet Cherry Publishing, May 28, 2020) (ISBN 1782266089)