British Children's Fantasy Television Series Codexery

Pob's Programme

A puppet who lives in your TV set.

Pob's Programme is a British children's television series broadcast on Channel 4, presented by a puppet named Pob who lives inside the viewer's television set. It was the first show produced by Ragdoll Productions, created by Doug Wilcox and Anne Wood, and is notable for its distinctive opening titles in which Pob breathes on the camera lens and traces his name in the condensation.

Quick Facts

Runtime
25 minutes
Genre
Slapstick
Creator
Anne Wood
Starring
Robin Stevens
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Company
Ragdoll Productions Channel 4
Network
Channel 4

Facts from the source article.

Content

Each episode begins with a celebrity visitor finding a label attached to a piece of string on the gates of Pob's garden. The label reads: "If in my programme you would be, Wind the wool and follow me. Follow where the wool is led first the Yellow then the Red." The guest follows the woollen string, winding it as they go, and encounters a second label: "Wind it slowly, wind it fast, A secret you will find at last." The wool turns out to be Pob's unravelled jumper, and Pob is awoken to trace his name on the screen. During the programme, the celebrity reads a story and solves a word puzzle with Pob. Over 28 celebrity visitors appeared, including Roy Castle, Jan Francis, Charlie Williams, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian Blessed, Spike Milligan, Toyah Willcox, and Patricia Hodge. Some visitors had recurring segments: Nigel Kennedy attempted to teach Pob the violin, Dick King-Smith followed nature trails based on clues from Pob, Alan Dart (shown hands only) did handicraft projects, and Rod Campbell devised ways to open a mystery box. Pob was often accompanied by a silent teddy bear called Teddy, operated by Bob Berk and Wanda Szajna-Hopgood.

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