BBC may have had Fingerbobs- but ITV had Pipkins. Compared to the spartan Fingerbobs with its bits of card and paper, Pipkins was an epic production, featuring proper puppets and real locations. Pipkins was a sort of puppet helping agency, with Hartley Hare as the self styled, bombastic managing director. Other puppets in the team included food loving brummie pig, miserly tortoise (the book keeper) and Topov the monkey.
Nobody ever marketed a rangle of Pipkins cuddly toys, and its not difficult to see why - they were some of the tattiest puppets ever to grace the screens of kids' TV. Hartley was a particularly moth eaten specimen, and at best resembled something found in a ditch. Together with various human helpers (Sue Nicholls, et al), this rag bag of toys inhabited a junk shop, not dissimilar to that of Steptoe and Son.
However, what they lacked in looks, they made up for in character; and the antics of Hartley and Co. kept many a 70s kid amused at lunchtime. Notable episodes include Hartley running amok with a scary glove puppet called Michael, a Wild West showdown in the back yard and of course the infamous 'Odd One Out' where Hartley develops a strange fixation with a fish slice.
In 30 odd years, Kids' TV has come a long way, and largely thanks to CGI, the programmes my children watch are far more slicker and sophisticated compared to the homespun productions of my childhood. But more entertaining? Hmmm, I'm not so sure...
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