Come Outside

This article is about the UK children's TV series. For the 1962 single, see Come Outside (song).

Come Outside
Come Outside Title Card
Genre	Children's Educational
Created by	BBC
Directed by	Elizabeth Bennett Peter Rose
Starring	Lynda Baron Pippin
Composer(s)	Jonathan Cohen
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Judy Whitfield Stacey Adams
Producer(s)	Elizabeth Bennett
Editor(s)	David Austin Jon Bignold
Location(s)	Middlesex & Buckinghamshire
Camera setup	Jeremy Braben
Running time	14 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two CBBC CBeebies
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV) (now cropped to 16:9 for broadcast)
Original run	23 September 1993 (1993-09-23) – 18 March 1997 (1997-03-18)
External links
Website

Come Outside is a BBC educational children's television series that ran from 23 September 1993 to 18 March 1997. The two main characters of the show are Auntie Mabel (played by Lynda Baron of Open All Hours), and her dog Pippin. They go on adventures in Auntie Mabel's aeroplane^[1] which is covered in coloured spots. Pippin was a mixed breed dog, possibly part Tibetan Terrier, roughly third generation descended from the famous American acting dog Benji and was owned and trained by Ann Head. The first Pippin has since died in 2008. One of the dogs to play Pippin also starred as the Bakers dog for Bakers Complete pet food commercials and is still pictured on the products.^{[citation needed]}

Overview

The "adventures" are generally concerned with showing how something is made, or how everyday objects and systems work. Examples are:

• "Clay" - Auntie Mabel's teapot breaks. They have to buy a new one, but the potter has run out of clay. Auntie Mabel and Pippin bring him some, then find out how teapots are made.
• "Sewage" - Auntie Mabel goes down a drain to see where waste water goes. Then she visits a sewage treatment plant to see what happens to what's flushed down the toilet.
• "Street Lamps" - Auntie Mabel reports an out-of-order street lamp. She joins the maintenance man as he uses a hydraulic platform to replace the bulb, and explains the mystery of how the streetlights switch on when it gets dark. She also tells a story explaining how street lamps were lit in the olden days.
• "Buses" - Auntie Mabel's plane won't start, so she and Pippin have to go on a bus instead. She gets on at Hill End Road in Harefield and accidentally leaves Pippin on the bus, but is soon reunited with her thanks to the helpful driver of the U9 in Uxbridge.
• "A Woolly Jumper" - Auntie Mabel has run out of wool while knitting a woolly jumper. She and Pippin visit a sheep farm and a wool factory in search of supplies.

As well as adventures, Mabel often tells stories to Pippin. Pippin also often receives treats related to the adventures. The show was originally broadcast in 1993, but is still being shown as of 2011 on CBeebies.

Many of the episodes were filmed in the Middlesex area, for example in the episode "Buses", Auntie Mabel boards a bus bound for Uxbridge, and is later seen exiting the public library at Ruislip Manor. Scenes were also filmed in Woodley, in the precinct and in the veterinary clinic. Auntie Mabel's new house can be seen in a corner of Denham Aerodrome close to Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire where one of the planes used in the series, G-RAFG, was based. G-BOCM and G-SFTZ were also used in the series. Some episodes feature a different plane, however it is of the same make (Slingsby Firefly). This plane however had a different propeller with black stripes which made a whirling spiral effect when spinning. All episodes where Aunt Mabel flies in this plane feature a slightly different, more up-beat flying theme tune. Aunt Mabel also wears an orange coat, rather than the usual green anorak she wears when flying in the alternative plane. The episode "bulbs" however has an exception to this, where Mabel wears her green coat and scarf in the different plane.

Although Aunt Mabel's new cottage can be seen in the corner of Denham Aerodrome, it is difficult to say where the other house featuring in the series was located. This house seems to be located somewhere in the countryside, with the back garden looking similar to a paddock/large field, running onto a farm or a set of outbuildings containing livestock. This area is seen in the "carrots" episode, where Pippin goes to see the goats in these outbuildings.

In the episode "Marmalade" Auntie Mabel flies to Seville to see some Orange Groves. However, the budget obviously didn't stretch to flying Lynda Baron to Spain, as she only appears from the front against a Chroma key background. An Auntie Mabel body double was used for shots of her in the orange grove with the locals, the double only ever being seen from behind.

Characters

• Auntie Mabel - the main human character of the show. She lives with her dog, Pippin. In some episodes a close up of Auntie Mabel's hand can be seen, revealing a wedding ring. Auntie Mabel never talks of her husband, but rather about her sister Edie. Played by Lynda Baron
• Pippin - Mabel's pet dog. Pippin often has a comedy sub-plot during each episode, where she gets up to mischief without Auntie Mabel knowing. For example, in the episode "A carton drink", she secretly eats the sausages from her lunch box. In the episode "Soap", she hides the bar of soap to avoid having a bath. Played by Pippin.
• Edie - Auntie Mabel's sister, who is often referred to but never seen on screen.

Production details

Two different production companies are credited at the end of episodes; Tricorn Productions and Spelthorne Productions. In the "Boxes" episode, Auntie Mabel and Pippin both move house. This episode was created for the transition between the two production companies, as the house used when Tricorn was the producer was not the same as the one owned by Spelthorne Productions. One aspect of the "new" house is the front garden - it is directly adjacent to the field/strip containing Auntie's plane. Although the companies were merging together some fundamental assets changed, for example the acting dog used to portray Pippin was replaced in some scenes with a similar looking dog - later in many scenes Pippin was portrayed by a puppet. Also due to Spelthorne's new director, the scenes of Auntie Mabel at home were now filmed in a film set, rather than Tricorn's use of an actual house. Elements of the set can be clearly seen in some episodes, where the kitchen window displays a blatant backdrop rather than an actual garden. All scenes where Auntie Mabel herself can be clearly seen were done on the ground, the flying was by well-known aerobatics pilot Alan Cassidy and not by Lynda Baron.

Episodes

Main article: List of Come Outside episodes

Series guide

• Series 1: 11 editions first shown 23 September 1993 - 2 December 1993
• Series 2: 18 editions first shown 22 September 1994 - 9 March 1995
• Series 3: 10 editions first shown 7 January 1997 - 18 March 1997

References

1. ^ In fact, more than one aeroplane is seen in the show; all are Slingsby T-67 Fireflys - G-BOCM, G-RAFG and G-SFTZ.

External links

• Come Outside at the Internet Movie Database
• Come Outside at TV.com
• Come Outside at BBC Online
• Come Outside pilot Alan Cassidy's website.