Bill the Minder

Episode summaries

Each episode begins with a brief title sequence and title music, then the narrator introduces the characters in the same way except for the first episode. The narrator's introduction states: "Bill the minder looked after his cousins Boadicea and Chad. They wandered with him everywhere, even in his dreams." At the end, the same title page appears with more credits and the same title music. The theme music is the "Triumphal March" from Verdi's opera Aida.

Episode 1 – "Old Crispin": Bill visits his uncle Crispin, a mushroom picker who can hear mushrooms popping up from the ground. Old Crispin grows unhappy and ill; a holiday does not help. His wife feeds him jelly, and he eats so much that he becomes too fat to pick mushrooms. Bill builds a machine for Old Crispin to lose weight. Bill agrees to take on his cousins Boadicea and Chad to keep them out of the way.

Episode 2 – "The King": Bill and his companions meet an unhappy king on the downs. The king was so good that his subjects held him too highly to visit, making him lonely. His prime minister took him to the chicken shed, where they played cards and dominoes all night and roasted chickens. After eating all the hens, they cooked the old cock, forgot the time, and were discovered. The king fled in shame. Bill makes the king a chair and agrees to take him back to his kingdom.

Episode 3 – "The Navigator": (No further details provided in the notes.)