Oh, no - Robot Redford's broken down, and The Magnificent Fred is furious about it! How will Grotbags and Croc get themselves out of such a mess? This episode was originally broadcast on Friday, 7th March, 1986 (Kelly's birthday, as is relevant to proceedings), and this upload replaces a previous one that cut out after half an hour or so. Finally we get to see how it all turns out!
The show opens with the Pink Windmill Kids' astonishing rendition of the Elton John song Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance!) - on roller skates. In front of a live studio audience. On national television. Seriously, they didn't make things easy for themselves, did they? That one wouldn't make it past the ideas phase these days. Or, if it did, the producer would get twenty pages into his risk assessment form before deciding it's just not worth it. Think of all the things that could have gone wrong - and, yet, nothing did. As usual, they all nailed it. Adding to the musical festivities later on are Freddie Stevens and David Tate - Redford and Croc - performing Slide Some Oil to Me, originally from the musical The Wiz.
Look out for a guest appearance from Paul Hardcastle, promoting his latest single Don't Waste My Time. Sing along, now: I'm sure you remember it much better than any of his other hits. (Oh, for the days of when Paul Hardcastle needed a fake beard to avoid being recognised!) Meanwhile, King Boggle's finally twigged what's going on with Victor Spinetti and his band of pirates, but who will save the day? Not to give anything away, but if you look closely, Doggle's trainer seems to make an unplanned appearance around 19:54. And if you went to either St Laurence CofE Primary School in Long Eaton or Lindfield East Primary School in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, there's something for you here, too.
Other things that the searching beak of Emu picked up on: The Magnificent Fred really doesn't like being touched by Grotbags; a Blankety Blank reference in the Cauldron Game as Croc gets his very own mic; Boggle's guards being played mostly by the same people playing the pirates; Croc reacting to being hit at 10:32 when he wasn't; and Sarah not taking kindly to Emu eating her cake. Oh, and of course the Spin Quiz goes wrong as usual - but you didn't need me to tell you that.
There's some nice Children's ITV continuity at the beginning, presented by David "I was in my mid-30s even then" Jensen and featuring a promo for the brand new Seal Morning (which I have no memory of, but seems to be elsewhere on RU-vid). You can also catch a brief glimpse of Horace the Gorilla at the end, which as similarly left me stumped. Anyone?
Many thanks to both Joe and Lindsay for lending me tapes with at least part of this episode.
(To the best of my knowledge, the contents of this video have never been available commercially anywhere in the world. Please also note that I don't monetise any of my uploads. Nevertheless, if you are a copyright holder and have an objection, please don't hesitate to contact me.)
4 авг 2024
