A Rubovian Legend
Marionette adventures in the tiny kingdom of Rubovia.
A Rubovian Legend is a British marionette children's television series created by Gordon Murray. It centres around a fictional kingdom ruled by King Rufus XIV and Queen Caroline, assisted by Albert Weatherspoon and the Lord Chamberlain. The series received a live broadcast of its first episodes from 1955 to 1956. It was revived with recorded plays from 1958 to 1964. A remake of the series was broadcast in 1976, but it only lasted for six episodes.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Puppetry (1955-1964); Stop-motion animation (1976)
- Creator
- Gordon Murray
- Voices
- Derek Nimmo
- Violet Lamb
- Roy Skelton
- James Beattie
- Pamela Binns
- Raymond Rollett
- Peter Hawkins
- Philip Latham
- Theme music
- Patrick Harvey (1958-1964); Freddie Phillips (1976)
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Seasons
- 3
- Episodes
- 35
Facts from the source article.
Premise
The series is set in the small, fictitious kingdom of Rubovia, ruled by King Rufus XIV and Queen Caroline. Because the kingdom is so small, a chicken named Henrietta lays golden eggs, eliminating the need for high taxes. This allows the King and Queen to focus on problems created by Albert Weatherspoon, the Royal Gardener, who tends Queen Caroline's prized cabbages. Weatherspoon is also a magician, and when asked to entertain visitors or solve problems, his magic usually causes trouble. He is a more successful inventor, having created the speaking tube. Problems not involving magic are often caused by MacGregor, an Indian who schemes outside the garden wall for personal gain. Queen Caroline occasionally pursues her own get-rich-quick plans.
Main characters
King Rufus XIV, voiced by Raymond Rollett in the 1955 plays and by Derek Nimmo from 1958 onward (with Michael Logan standing in for two episodes), is the fourteenth ruler of Rubovia, all of whom shared the same name. He enjoys playing draughts with the Lord Chamberlain, to his wife's annoyance. Queen Caroline, voiced by Violet Lamb, is assertive but calmer in the company of her pet Chinese dragon Pongo; she rarely rules the kingdom except during her money-making schemes. The Lord Chamberlain, voiced by Philip Latham and then Peter Hawkins in the 1955 plays, and by Roy Skelton from 1958, is the senior officer of the royal household and enjoys draughts with the King. Albert Weatherspoon, voiced by Peter Hawkins in the 1955 plays and James Beattie from 1958, is officially the Royal Gardener but also serves as Court Photographer and Royal Magician; his magic often goes wrong, but he is a better inventor. MacGregor is a rogue who commits acts for financial gain; originally a black Indian, he was changed to a Native American for the 1976 series after a complaint.
Production
Gordon Murray created the series to break the mold of British puppet shows. The first four plays were transmitted live from 1955 to 1956, featuring voices by Raymond Rollett, Violet Lamb, and Peter Hawkins, with Philip Latham in the first play. Kim Allen designed the 1/5-scale puppets, operated by Audrey Atterbury, Bob Bura, John Hardwick, Molly Gibson, Elizabeth Thorndike, and Joan Garrick. Each of the first three plays had a different setting and costume designer; Andrew Brownfoot began designing costumes with the third play. After The Mystery of Rubovia Castle, Murray revamped the series, designing his own 1/3-scale puppets. From 1958, twenty-five recorded plays were broadcast sporadically until 1964, with only Lamb reprising her voice role; Derek Nimmo, Roy Skelton, and James Beattie joined. Puppeteers Gibson, Thorndike, and Garrick left, leaving Atterbury, Bura, and Hardwick. Murray sometimes funded plays himself when BBC budget was low. Andrew Brownfoot based his model of Rubovia Castle on Bohemia and Moravia. A twenty-sixth play, The Giddy Ghost, was never broadcast due to the BBC abandoning black-and-white programmes for colour television. Little of the series survives in the archive; a four-minute clip of the 1961 episode Knight for a Day appeared in a 1988 episode of DEF II.
1976 revival
In 1976, following the success of Gordon Murray's Trumptonshire trilogy, A Rubovian Legend was remade in a similar style, renamed Rubovia, with watered-down writing. Gordon Murray and Roy Skelton provided the voices. All six episodes have appeared on YouTube from time to time. An LP containing soundtracks of two episodes was released by BBC Records. The castle seen in Murray's later series The Gublins is rumoured to be the same one used here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of A Rubovian Legend are there?
A Rubovian Legend has 35 episodes across 3 seasons.
When did A Rubovian Legend first air?
A Rubovian Legend first aired on 15 December 1955.
When did A Rubovian Legend end?
A Rubovian Legend last aired on 22 March 1976.
More in 1950s British Children's Television Series
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