In
1984 Anne Wood, who had already been the Head of
Children's television at
TV-AM started her own production company,
Ragdoll Productions. Later to be responsible for "
Rosie and Jim" and the "
Teletubbies" the first character she created was Pob, a
baby goblin who wore a long red and yellow striped
woolly jumper. Pob lived inside the television, in reality a small set in the corner of a
conference room. He started every
episode of his show, "Pob's Programme" by
breathing heavily onto the television screen from the inside until it was misted up. He then drew his name on the screen with his finger, much like a child would do in a car on a cold day. This was actually done successfuly after experimentation using a spray polish for both sides of the
glass screen.
The show would then progress to one of its many sections. These were:
In addition to these sections, Pob himself who would leave messages in his
secret garden, which was actually the television studio's
garden, for his special guests on labels attached to things with red and yellow
string. The special guests were numerous and included
Roy Castle,
Nigel Kennedy,
Su Pollard,
Bill Pertwee,
Kathy Staff,
Toyah Willcox, and
Spike Milligan. Pob also had a friend called
Teddy who belonged to
Bob Berk, a
designer on the show.
Pob was actually a
rod puppet designed by
John Blundell. He was made from
wood with solid hands which were unable to grip. To combat this in the show, props had to be pinned onto his hands. His
face also had to be repainted every day. Pob didn't
talk as an
adult, and was frequently
criticized for his lack of correct speech as "
Bill and Ben" were before him, and "
Teletubbies" were after.
Pob was also in the links between the children's television programmes on
Channel 4. He frequently dressed up to
mimic a character in a show he was linking to in his own unique style. Many of the links were improvised, and around 30 to 40 were shot in a day.
"Pob's Programme" was first transmitted in 1985 on Channel 4. There were fifty-two 25 minute programmes in all, shown on Sunday mornings, made over three years.
In the two years after "Pob's Programme", two series of "Pob's Playtime" were made. These programmes took the format of a guest telling a
story using wooden
toy props in a make believe town. The town was made in a
sand pit and Pob would interact with the guest and the wooden "Pobbly" people by digging his way through the
sand pit.
Sources:
http://www.crash.to/pob
http://www.jediman.free-online.co.uk/childrenstv/Pob/Pob.htm
http://www.ragdoll.co.uk/annewood_pob01.html
http://www.ragdoll.co.uk/annewood_pob02.html