| Zippy | |
|---|---|
| Rainbow character | |
Zippy (second from left) appearing on TV show Rainbow. |
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| First appearance | 1972 |
| Portrayed by | Peter Hawkins |
Zippy was a fictional character on the British children's television programme Rainbow. Zippy is a brownish-orange puppet with a huge rugby ball shaped oval head, big blue eyes and a zip for a mouth, hence the name. The perennial question concerning Zippy is what kind of creature he represents: While Bungle is obviously a bear and George a hippo, Zippy bears no obvious resemblance to any real animal. His voice was first provided by Peter Hawkins, later by Roy Skelton. Ronnie Le Drew operated the character.
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The character retains a cult following among those who watched the show as a child. He is probably the most famous character from the show, probably because he was the only one who really spoke his mind and would make for hours of laughter. Zippy would claim to be the best at whatever was being discussed, and was always right. He also always had to be the centre of attention. For example, the other characters would be having a discussion, when Zippy would shout: "But I don't want to talk, I want to sing! I'm very good at singing! [starts singing] I'm a little teapot..."
Due to his frequently loud behaviour and silly voice getting him into all sorts of trouble, other characters in Rainbow would zip his mouth shut, rendering him unable to talk. Oddly, Zippy would never simply un-zip himself, preferring to stay down in the dumps, submissively accepting his punishment. He loves to eat sweets, sing songs and tell his favourite jokes, sometimes to the annoyance of the others.
Zippy is well known for his love of sausages, and indeed in many episodes is seen eating sausages. In one episode, Geoffrey threatens to not allow Zippy any sausages unless he behaves himself.
Zippy is also a big fan of the refreshing fruit drink Vimto, as is mentioned in the biopic of the Ranbow characters "Rainbow Unzipped"
In a The Sun tabloid newspaper article headlined "Revealed: Why lost star Zippy is orange", Zippy's orange colour is apparently due to presenter Geoffrey Hayes following Dundee United F.C. when living in Dundee, Scotland, during the 1960s and 1970s. The show's producers were set to make Zippy blue - the colour of neighbouring rivals Dundee F.C. - but Geoffrey was convinced otherwise.
| “ | Zippy was going to be blue before I begged the producers to make him tangerine. One of the most common questions I'm asked is "What in God's name is Zippy meant to be?" You have me, a big bear, and a pink hippo and then there's Zippy. I don't think anyone has a clue what he's meant to be, but I do know why he's tangerine. It's because - like me - he's a Dundee United fan.
I lived in Dundee for much of the 60s and even came back a few times in the 70s. I had very happy times there and my fondest memories are of going to Tannadice Park one week and Dens Park the next. I became a United fan. They were languishing in the Second Division in those days, playing teams like Brechin and Alloa. Dundee were the strong successful team at the time, but we thought United played the more attractive football. Because of that I was determined Zippy was not going to be blue. |
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In a BBC online poll from March 2006, Zippy was named as Britain's favourite sporting celebrity fan by a landslide margin with 47% of the vote.[1] Described as Dundee United's biggest fan, several newspapers including the Daily Record, The Courier and Sunday Herald also covered the story in print and online. The poll included lifelong Port Vale F.C. fan Robbie Williams and Delia Smith, a director at Norwich City F.C.. In second place with 9.74% was movie star and Sheffield United F.C. fan Sean Bean. The poll attracted more than 15,000 votes.
Zippy also appeared in the 2008 BBC Kudos programme Ashes to Ashes with George.
Zippy appeared twice in a 2008 episode of Harry Hill's TV Burp. He featured in an edited scene of EastEnders, appearing at the door after a character had been seen undoing a large number of zips when searching someone's handbag. He later appeared in a montage of television figures saying the word "cataracts".
On 4 August 2007, Roy Skelton was interviewed via telephone by Russell Brand on his Radio 2 show. Brand and his associate Matt Morgan asked Skelton some questions whilst in the persona of Zippy. But Skelton brought the interview to a halt when Brand asked him "Zippy? What do your genitals look like?" Skelton, whilst holidaying in the south of France, announced whilst in the voice of Zippy that he had to go and promptly hung up the phone. This left Brand and Morgan to speculate whether they had offended Skelton.
In 2002, Zippy appeared in the "My Mate / I hate" advertising campaign for Marmite in the UK.[2] In the TV commercial he zipped up his own mouth when confronted with Marmite, thus confirming his hate for the product.
During in-character interviews on shows such as SMTV Live, Zippy is often portrayed as even more loud mouthed and crude than normal. An infamous "Christmas tape" of the series also displays cruder humour from the entire cast.
In December 2007 Zippy and George appeared on a puppet special of the Weakest Link hosted by Anne Robinson which was originally broadcast on Friday, December 28, 2007 at 18:00GMT on BBC1. They were the 3rd one voted off. During the show, Zippy answered each of the questions asked to the pair, mostly incorrectly. During a between-rounds interview, Robinson zipped up Zippy.
Zippy and George appear on Peter Kay's The Official BBC Children in Need Medley, from 2009, on both the single cover and music video.
Also, it has become a somewhat popular emoticon and Internet meme in Chilean Internet forums.[3]