Worzel Gummidge

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Worzel Gummidge
Format	Children's television series
Created by	Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall based on characters created by Barbara Euphan Todd
Starring	See cast below
Country of origin	United Kingdom (1979-81) New Zealand (1987-89)
No. of episodes	30 plus one Christmas Special (UK); 22 (New Zealand)
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Southern Television for ITV (1979-81) Toti Productions for Channel 4 (1987) Creative Arts for Channel 4 (1989)
Original run	1979 – 1989
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Worzel Gummidge is a British children's character, a walking, talking scarecrow, who originally appeared in a series of books by Barbara Euphan Todd.^[1]

Contents 1 Versions 1.1 Radio 1.2 Television 1.3 New Zealand 2 Storyline 3 Cast 4 Episode list 4.1 WORZEL GUMMIDGE (1979-1981) 4.1.1 Series One 4.1.2 Series Two 4.1.3 Series Three 4.1.4 Christmas Special 4.1.5 Series Four 4.2 WORZEL GUMMIDGE DOWN UNDER 4.2.1 Series One (1987) 4.2.2 Series Two (1989) 5 Popular culture 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Versions

[edit] Radio

The first broadcast with Worzel was before WWII on the BBC's Children's Hour. By 1946, Worzel was being played by veteran radio actor Philip Wade, John by John Clark, Susan by Rosamund Barnes, and Earthy Mangold by Mabel Constanduros. Later, Worzel was played by Denis Folwell, who went on to play Jack Archer in the BBC's perennial soap opera The Archers.^[2]

[edit] Television

In July 1967 five Worzel Gummidge stories were read on Jackanory by the actor Gordon Rollings^[3]. In 1979 a television adaptation of Worzel Gummidge was produced by Southern Television for ITV, written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, and starred former Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee as Worzel and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally, a life-size fairground doll and Worzel's femme fatale.^[4] The Crowman, who made Worzel and some of his other scarecrow friends, is played by Geoffrey Bayldon (better known for his starring role as the title character of Catweazle). Occasional guest appearances were made by Barbara Windsor as Saucy Nancy, a ship's figurehead, and Lorraine Chase as Dolly Clothes-peg, a shop window mannequin. Four series, totaling 30 episodes and one extended Christmas special, were made between 1979 and 1981, when Southern lost its franchise. The new franchise-holder, TVS, did not renew the show (despite a massive press campaign led by the Daily Star) after a deal with HTV fell through. Pertwee and Stubbs also starred in the musical 'Worzel Gummidge' in 1981 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Jon Pertwee's final TV appearance as Worzel was in 1995, to celebrate 40 years of ITV. The main locations for filming were the villages of Braishfield and King's Somborne, both near Romsey, Hampshire.

"Worzel's Song", sung by Jon Pertwee, was released at the height of the original series' popularity. Less remembered is Worzel's second single, warning children about the danger of strangers, released in 1987.^[5]

[edit] New Zealand

The programme remained in limbo until Television New Zealand commissioned Worzel Gummidge Down Under in 1987, which was shot in New Zealand^[6] and ran for two series totaling a further 22 episodes. Only Pertwee and Stubbs remained from the original cast, with Bruce Phillips joining the cast as the Crowman (Geoffrey Bayldon declined to re-create the role, partly because he didn't want to be type-cast in the part, but partly because he didn't want to work so far away from home) and Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler, daughter of prominent Maori author Witi Ihimaera joining as one of the children. Lord of the Rings movie director Peter Jackson received an early credit for his work providing special effects for the series.

Series two of Worzel Gummidge Down Under was written by a rotation of New Zealand writers, while everything that had gone before was entirely the work of Waterhouse and Hall. Jon Pertwee was unhappy with the scripts for the sequel, which he stated did not have "the underlying morality" of the originals. Aunt Sally found herself a human boyfriend in this new series, which infuriated Pertwee - he considered this beneath the series^{[citation needed]}. These are interesting comments given that, in series 3 of the original Worzel Gummidge, Aunt Sally goes on a dinner date with the strong man at the fairground where both she and Worzel are working!

Michael Grade, the newly appointed head of Channel 4 which co-financed the programme, ordered its axing when the New Zealand version of the show failed to catch the viewers imagination as before.^[7]

[edit] Storyline

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Worzel Gummidge was a special scarecrow that came to life and lived in Ten Acre Field. He often wandered into the nearby village of Scatterbrook to see what mischief he could get up to. In the first episode he befriends children, brother and sister, John and Sue Peters, who spend most of the next four series trying to clear up the messes he creates. Charlotte Coleman (Sue) went on to secure considerable achievements in the acting profession. Jeremy Austin (John) went on to play Humphrey in the BBC children's drama Jonny Briggs.

Worzel's gimmick was a set of interchangeable turnip heads each head allowing Worzel to perform a certain skill or to suit a particular occasion. Should Worzel be required to sing, for example, he would put on his singing head. He also had his own language Zummerset dialect Worzelese.^[8] Worzel's catchphrases were: "A cup o’ tea an’ a slice o’ cake" and "Arma darma deema darma arma darma Worzel". He was madly in love with Aunt Sally, a cruel-hearted fairground coconut-shy doll^[9] who considered herself a lady and far too good for a common scarecrow such as Worzel. Aunt Sally often exploits Worzel for her own ends (in one episode, she promises to marry him if he frees her from a junkshop washing machine, but she never has any intention of going through with it and jilts him at the altar).

The subtext of the move to New Zealand in Down Under was that Aunt Sally is purchased by an antiques dealer visiting from New Zealand. At the airport, Worzel spots Aunt Sally going down the luggage chute and throws himself in after her.

A good deal of the show's entertainment value came from the interaction between Worzel and Sally, played with relish by Pertwee and Stubbs. Pertwee is virtually unrecognisable due to the make-up that was applied to him in a gruelling six hour process every day - and the audience is invited to cry along with Worzel as much as laugh at him. The character Worzel has often been referred to as "the tragi-comic scarecrow."

There was a notable inconsistency in Worzel's ability or non-ability to pronounce certain words. He would often struggle with "bonfire" or "compost heap" (though for perhaps understandable reasons), yet when he meets Aunt Sally he protests: "I ain't snivellin'! It's me rheumaticky eyes what's waterin'!"

[edit] Cast

Jon Pertwee - Worzel

Una Stubbs - Aunt Sally

Geoffrey Bayldon - The Crowman

Jeremy Austin - John

Charlotte Coleman - Sue

Mike Berry - Mr Peters

Norman Bird - Mr Braithwaite

Megs Jenkins - Mrs Braithwaite (series 1-3

Joan Sims - Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton (series 1-2)

Michael Ripper - Mr Shepherd

Barbara Windsor - Saucy Nancy

Lorraine Chase - Dolly Clothes-Peg (series 3, 4)

Billy Connolly - Bogle McNeep (Christmas special)

Bernard Cribbins - Jolly Jack (series 4)

Thorley Walters - Colonel Bloodstock (series 3)

Bruce Phillips - The Crowman (Down Under)

Jonathan Marks - Mickey (Down Under)

Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler - Manu (Down Under)

Wi Kuki Kaa - Travelling Scarecrow Maker (Down Under series 1)

Maria James - Eloise (Down Under; alternated role in series 2 with Olivia Ihimaera-Smiler as Manu)

[edit] Episode list

[edit] WORZEL GUMMIDGE (1979-1981)

[edit] Series One

• Worzel's Washing Day
• A Home Fit For Scarecrows
• Aunt Sally
• The Crowman
• A Little Learning
• Worzel Pays A Visit
• The Scarecrow Hop

[edit] Series Two

• Worzel and the Saucy Nancy
• Worzel's Nephew
• A Fishy Tale
• The Trial of Worzel Gummidge
• Very Good Worzel
• Worzel In The Limelight
• Fire Drill
• The Scarecrow Wedding

[edit] Series Three

• Moving On
• Dolly Clothes-Peg
• A Fair Old Pullover
• Worzel The Brave
• Worzel's Wager
• The Return of Dafthead
• Captain Worzel
• Choir Practice

[edit] Christmas Special

A Cup O'Tea and a Slice Of Cake (27/12/1980)

[edit] Series Four

• Muvver's Day
• The Golden Hind
• Will The Real Aunt Sally..?
• The Jumbly Sale
• The Return Of Dolly Clothes-Peg
• Worzel In Revolt
• Worzel's Birthday

[edit] WORZEL GUMMIDGE DOWN UNDER

[edit] Series One (1987)

• As The Scarecrow Flies
• The Sleeping Beauty
• Full Employment
• Worzel's Handicap
• King of the Scarecrows
• Worzel to the Rescue
• Slave Scarecrow
• The Traveller Unmasked
• A Friend In Need

[edit] Series Two (1989)

• Stage Struck
• A Red Sky In T'Morning
• Them Thar Hills
• The Beauty Contest
• Balbous Cauliflower
• Weevily Swede
• Elementary My Dear Worty
• Dreams Of Avarish
• The Runaway Train
• Aunt Sally, R.A.
• Wattle Hearthbrush
• The Bestest Scarecrow

[edit] Popular culture

• In the early 1980s British Labour Party leader Michael Foot was satirically compared to Worzel Gummidge as a criticism of his allegedly unkempt appearance.^[10]

• Jon Pertwee's character of 'The Doctor' refers to Patrick Troughton's portrayal of the same character in the Doctor Who episode The Five Doctors as a "Scarecrow". This is ironic considering it was Pertwee himself who is famous for playing a scarecrow.

• In the 1980's Harvester restaurants had a full size Worzel in the entrance to greet people.

• Comedien Ross Noble referenced the character, Aunt Sally, in the DVD recording of his tour, 'Randomist', noting the similarities in facial make-up of her, and Queen Amidala from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He then proceeded to improvise lines of Anakin Skywalker in a country accent. 'I'm gonna put my Jedi hat on...I was thinking...I was thinking of fighting some lords of Sith'.

• The term "Worzel" is public school slang for a local person of poor education from the west Country. It is used at Millfield School and Sherborne School.

[edit] Trivia

• In the first episode of the series, when Worzel first comes to life and visits John, Worzel doesn’t tell John his first name, only ‘Mr Gummidge’. Yet in the very next scene, John tells Sue they are looking for ‘Worzel Gummidge’.
• Whilst filming the Christmas Special in the town of Lymington during the summer of 1980, sudden winds blew the titanium dioxide which was being used as 'snow' all over nearby homes, shops and businesses. The resultant mess caused food shops to dispose of stock, clothing to be ruined and forced many businesses to close early, landing Southern Television with a considerable bill for damages.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Screenonline: Worzel Gummidge