Worzel Gummidge (TV series)

For the character, see Worzel Gummidge.

Worzel Gummidge
Format	Children's television series
Created by	Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall based on characters created by Barbara Euphan Todd
Starring	Jon Pertwee Una Stubbs Geoffrey Bayldon Barbara Windsor Bill Maynard Lorraine Chase
Country of origin	United Kingdom (1979–81)  New Zealand (1987–89)
No. of episodes	31 (UK); 22 (New Zealand) (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Southern Television for ITV (1979–81) Toti Productions for Channel 4 (1987) Creative Arts for Channel 4 (1989)
Original run	25 February 1979 – 31 July/12 December 1981 (UK), 16 April 1989 (New Zealand)

Worzel Gummidge is a children's television series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, based on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd.^[1] Starting in 1979, the programme starred Jon Pertwee in the title role and ran for four series in the UK until 1981. Channel 4 reprised the show in 1987 as Worzel Gummidge Down Under, which was set in New Zealand.

Outline

In 1979 a television adaptation of Worzel Gummidge was produced by Southern Television for ITV, written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, and starred former Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee as Worzel and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally, a life-size fairground doll and Worzel's femme fatale.^[2] This is a significant change from the original books, where Aunt Sally is indeed Worzel's aunt. The Crowman, who made Worzel and some of his other scarecrow friends, is played by Geoffrey Bayldon better known for his starring role as the title character of Catweazle.

Occasional guest appearances were made by big TV stars of the time and appeal to a family audience – Barbara Windsor as Saucy Nancy, a ship's figurehead, Billy Connolly as a Scottish piper scarecrow, Bill Maynard as Sergeant Beetroot, Joan Sims as Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton, the local aristocrat, and Lorraine Chase as Dolly Clothes-peg, a shop window mannequin cum scarecrow.

Four series, totalling 30 episodes and one extended Christmas special, were made between 1979 and 1981, when Southern lost its franchise. The new franchise-holder, TVS, did not renew the show (despite a massive press campaign led by the Daily Star) after a deal with HTV fell through. Pertwee and Stubbs also starred in the musical Worzel Gummidge in 1981 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Jon Pertwee's final TV appearance as Worzel was in 1995, to celebrate 40 years of ITV.

"Worzel's Song", sung by Jon Pertwee, was released at the height of the original series' popularity.^[3]

Filming Locations

The main locations for filming were the villages of Stockbridge, King's Somborne and Braishfield; all of which are near Romsey in Hampshire. The 'Scatterbrook Farm' scenes were filmed at Pucknall in Braishfield; Michelmersh was used for the scenes in the Scatterbrook barn. The "Ten Acre Field" scenes (including the opening and closing title sequences) were filmed on a hillside on the Braishfield Road out of Kings Somborne just past Parnholt Wood.

In the summer of 1980, during filming of the Christmas-special episode "A Cup o' Tea and a Slice o' Cake" in the town of Lymington, sudden winds blew titanium dioxide — which was being used to create the illusion of snow — over nearby homes, shops, and businesses. As a result, clothing was ruined, food stock had to be disposed of, and some businesses had to close early, landing Southern Television with a considerable bill for damages.^{[citation needed]}

New Zealand

The programme remained in limbo until Television New Zealand commissioned Worzel Gummidge Down Under in 1987, which was shot on location in New Zealand^[3] and ran for two series totaling a further 22 episodes. Only Pertwee and Stubbs remained from the original cast, with Bruce Phillips joining the cast as the Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon declined to reprise the role, partly because he didn't want to be typecast in the part, but also because the move to New Zealand was not convenient for him) and Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler, daughter of prominent Māori author Witi Ihimaera joining as one of the children. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson received an early credit for his work providing special effects for the series.

Series two of Worzel Gummidge Down Under was written by a rotation of New Zealand writers, while everything that had gone before was entirely the work of Waterhouse and Hall. Jon Pertwee was unhappy with the scripts for the sequel, which he stated did not have "the underlying morality" of the originals. Aunt Sally found herself a human companion in this new series, which infuriated Pertwee – he considered this beneath the series.^{[citation needed]}

Michael Grade, the newly appointed head of Channel 4 which co-financed the programme, ordered its cancellation when the New Zealand version of the show failed to catch the viewers imagination as before.^[1]

Storyline

Worzel Gummidge was a scarecrow that could come to life. Living in Ten Acre Field, he would often visit the nearby village of Scatterbrook. He befriended two children, brother and sister John and Sue Peters, often trying to clear up the messes he created. Worzel had a collection of interchangeable turnip, mangel wurzel and swede heads; each suiting a particular occasion or allowing him to perform a certain task. He also had his own language, Worzelese.^[1] Worzel's catchphrases were: "A cup o’ tea an’ a slice o’ cake" "I'll be bum-swizzled" and "Bozzy MCoo". He was madly in love with Aunt Sally, a vain, cruel-hearted fairground coconut-shy doll^[1] who considered herself a lady and far too good for a common scarecrow such as Worzel. Aunt Sally often exploits Worzel for her own ends (in one episode, she promises to marry him if he frees her from a junkshop washing machine, but she never has any intention of going through with it and jilts him at the altar).

The rationale for the move to New Zealand in Down Under was that Aunt Sally is purchased by a visiting museum curator from New Zealand. At the airport, Worzel spots Aunt Sally going down the luggage chute and throws himself in after her.

A good deal of the show's entertainment value came from the interaction between Worzel and Sally, played with relish by Pertwee and Stubbs. Pertwee is virtually unrecognisable due to the make-up that was applied to him in a gruelling six hour process every day — and the audience is invited to cry along with Worzel as much as laugh at him. The character Worzel has often been referred to as "the tragi-comic scarecrow."

There was a notable inconsistency in Worzel's ability or inability to pronounce certain words. He would often struggle with "bonfire" or "compost heap" (though for perhaps understandable reasons), yet when he meets Aunt Sally he protests: "I ain't snivellin'! It's me rheumaticky eyes what's waterin'!"

Cast

• Jon Pertwee … Worzel Gummidge
• Una Stubbs … Aunt Sally
• Geoffrey Bayldon … The Crowman
• Jeremy Austin … John
• Charlotte Coleman … Sue
• Mike Berry … Mr Peters
• Bill Maynard … Sergeant Beetroot
• Wayne Norman … Pickles Brambles
• Norman Bird … Mr Braithwaite
• Megs Jenkins … Mrs Braithwaite (series 1–3)
• Joan Sims … Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton (series 1–2)
• Sarah Thomas … Enid Simmons (series 1-3)
• Michael Ripper … Mr Shepherd
• Barbara Windsor … Saucy Nancy
• Lorraine Chase … Dolly Clothes-Peg (series 3–4)
• Billy Connolly … Bogle McNeep (#3.9)
• Bernard Cribbins … Jolly Jack (series 4)
• Thorley Walters … Colonel Bloodstock (series 3)
• Alex Scott … Cobber Gummidge (series 2)

Episode list

Series 1

1. "Worzel's Washing Day" (25 February 1979)
2. "A Home Fit for Scarecrows" (4 March 1979)
3. "Aunt Sally" (11 March 1979)
4. "The Crowman" (18 March 1979)
5. "A Little Learning" (25 March 1979)
6. "Worzel Pays a Visit" (1 April 1979)
7. "The Scarecrow Hop" (8 April 1979)

Series 2

1. "Worzel and the Saucy Nancy" (6 January 1980)
2. "Worzel's Nephew" (13 January 1980)
3. "A Fishy Tale" (20 January 1980)
4. "The Trial of Worzel Gummidge" (27 January 1980)
5. "Very Good Worzel" (3 February 1980)
6. "Worzel in the Limelight" (10 February 1980)
7. "Fire Drill" (17 February 1980)
8. "The Scarecrow Wedding" (24 February 1980)

Series 3

1. "Moving On" (1 November 1980)
2. "Dolly Clothes-Peg" (8 November 1980)
3. "A Fair Old Pullover" (15 November 1980)
4. "Worzel the Brave" (22 November 1980)
5. "Worzel's Wager" (29 November 1980)
6. "The Return of Dafthead" (6 December 1980)
7. "Captain Worzel" (13 December 1980)
8. "Choir Practice" (20 December 1980)

Christmas Special

1. "A Cup o' Tea and a Slice o' Cake" (27 December 1980) unusually this two part special did not have the Worzel Gummidge title sequence, 'A Cup o' Tea and a Slice o' Cake' being its only on screen title followed by Starring Jon Pertwee as per the standard titles.^[4]

Series 4

1. "Muvver's Day" (12 June 1981, Southern; 31 October 1981, LWT)^[5]
2. "The Return of Dolly Clothes-Peg" (19 June 1981, Southern; 7 November 1981, LWT)^[5]
3. "The Jumbly Sale" (26 June 1981, Southern; 14 November 1981, LWT)^[5]
4. "Worzel in Revolt" (3 July 1981, Southern; 21 November 1981, LWT)^[5]
5. "Will the Real Aunt Sally…?" (10 July 1981, Southern; 28 November 1981, LWT)^[5]
6. "The Golden Hind" (17 July 1981, Southern; 5 December 1981, LWT)^[5]
7. "Worzel's Birthday" (31 July 1981, Southern; 12 December 1981, LWT)^[5]

In popular culture

• In the early 1980s, British Labour Party leader Michael Foot was satirically compared to Worzel Gummidge as a criticism of his allegedly unkempt appearance.^[6]

DVD releases

• Worzel Gummidge Box Set - Series 1 - 4 and Christmas Special - Region 4 (Australia & New Zealand)
• Worzel Gummidge Complete - Series 1 - 4, Christmas Special and Down Under - Region 2 (UK)

References and notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Worzel Gummidge (1979-81)" ScreenOnline.org.uk
2. ^ "I Love 1979: Worzel Gummidge" BBC.co.uk
3. ^ ^{a b} "Television Heaven: Worzel Gummidge" TelevisionHeaven.co.uk
4. ^ Two-part Christmas special — both parts were broadcast on 27 December 1980.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Transmissions varied between ITV regions: Southern Television broadcast the episdoes on Fridays at 5:15pm; London Weekend Television on Saturdays at 5:05pm
6. ^ "Private Eye Covers Library: Issue 547, 3 December 1982" Private-Eye.co.uk

External links

• Screenonline: Worzel Gummidge
• Worzel Gummidge at the Internet Movie Database
• Worzel Gummidge at TV.com