So who remembers You and Me? Set on a market stall with puppets Cosmo and Dibs and humans including Gary Wilmot and Indira Joshi, apparently the manifesto was to inform, educate, entertain, and see the world from a child’s point of view - but never patronise the young audience. I think it succeeded. We used to watch this at school way back when, but it's only more recently when I've seen a few through adult eyes that I realise one of the major themes of the show is diversity and inclusivity - from the obvious such as gender and skin colour right through to relatively minor regional differences (e.g. accents) and those with disabilities. It genuinely was a programme well ahead of its time.

None of which really applies to this particular episode, though, which I gather was first broadcast on Thursday, 18th October, 1984. This is a vaguely sciencey one about ice and water, based as it is on a hot summer's day. Running the market stall is Michael Balfour, whose impressive IMDB goes right back to 1938, and he delivers a well-crafted lesson about wet hats and speaking up. We're also treated to a piece on skating, while the animated story read to us is Meg at Sea, the whole thing bookended by a theme tune recorded by none other than UB40. Nice and gentle kids' TV, all in all.

I'm trying to figure out if the lady who plays Cosmo is Frances Kay the writer, or a different Frances Kay. Any ideas? Dibs, on the other hand, is an easy one: that's Francis Wright, the guy who was The Head on Art Attack, the Psammead in Five Children and It, and Colin the Bat in Grotbags. He's done loads, from Spitting Image to Labyrinth to Sooty, and is one of the foremost puppeteers of a televisual generation, even though he'll never be a household name. Extremely talented chap, nonetheless.

Grateful thanks to Lee for providing this recording.

(This is a transfer from an old videotape, so please don't expect full HD quality. To the best of my knowledge, this material is not available commercially anywhere in the world, and has been uploaded for its historic interest. That said, if you are a copyright holder and object, please don't hesitate to contact me.)

свернуть