Pob's Programme ( TV Series 1985 - 1990 )





 

Plot

Pob's Programme was a children's television programme, which was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 and BBC between October 1985 and 1990. The programme is presented by a puppet named Pob (played by puppeteer Robin Stevens), who speaks a primitive version of English and who supposedly lives inside the viewer's TV (the casing and red, green and blue electron guns visible behind him). The opening titles of the show consist of the character breathing on the camera lens (this breathing was often mistaken for spitting, given the loud noise accompanying it and the thick condensation appearing on screen), and tracing his name in the condensation. Each week on the programme, a celebrity guest visits Pob's garden, and entertains him  though Pob and the guest never appear on screen together.

 

In a typical episode, the celebrity visitor to the show finds a label attached to a piece of string on the gates of Pob's garden;

If in my programme you would be,
Wind the wool and follow me.
The celebrity guest then follows the woollen string, winding it as they go, and encountering a second label;

 

Wind it slowly, wind it fast,
A secret you will find at last.
Ultimately the wool is found to be Pob's unravelled jumper, and he is awoken to trace his name on the screen. Over the course of the programme, the celebrity guest reads a story, and solves a word puzzle with Pob.

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Before the end of the programme, the celebrity guest gives Pob a gift, usually related to their story, which they attach to the woollen thread of Pob's jumper. Pob retrieves the gift, and plays with it, stopping periodically to wipe the programme's end credits from the camera lens. The Ragdoll logo follows at the end of every episode, but Pob blows out the candle held by the ragdoll. The next celebrity visitor is seen arriving at Pob's garden, realises they are a week too early, and leaves.

 

Celebrity guests on the show included; Roy Castle, Nigel Kennedy, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian Blessed, Hannah Gordon, Kathy Staff and Spike Milligan.

Pob is often accompanied in his mischief by a silent teddy bear called Teddy.