Thread by @Paracelsus1092

**THREAD**

British children's television between the late 60s and 90s was a cultural moment, ranging from the gently eccentric to the truly frightening. It deserves to be better studied to help understand the post-imperial and newly liberated vibe in the UK over those decades

We start with the Clangers (1969-74), small pig like creatures who live on the moon, make strange noises and who collect musical notes. Their enemy was the voracious soup dragon who would eat their creations. Odd, not threatening, but v British.

1974's Bagpuss, a sepia soaked dreamy show about an old striped cat isn't scary, but def melancholic and sometimes verging on creepy, with its singing mice and pale faced dolls.

Early Thomas the Tank Engine had its darker moments. Naughty trains were sometimes turned into scrap. When Henry refused to go out in the rain, the Fat Controller ordered him bricked up into a tunnel, as a solemn narrator asked "I think he deserved his punishment, don't you?"

In much weirder territory, Jigsaw
(1979-1984) is legit scary. Ostensibly a puzzle solving show aimed at 4-7yr olds, the character Mr Noseybonk has been referenced by the X Files and possibly Jigsaw from the Saw franchise.

1984's Chocky was a book adaptation about a young boy who communicates with an imaginary friend who turns out to be the scouting party of an alien civilisation. Again, frightening!

The Children of the Stones has been called 'the scariest TV show for kids'. An astrophysicist moves to a small town with a stone circle and solves mysteries. The opening music of weird chanting and plot details even had the director concerned about the target audience.

Worzel Gummidge (1979 – 1981) was a show about a murderous scarecrow who could remove and replace his own head with turnips and swedes. Really forces the question, why?

The 1980s show Terrahawks was a SF future set in 2020, where aliens threaten to destroy Earth. The puppets and style would be used for Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet, but they look genuinely unnerving.

The Box of Delights (1984) sees a boy entrusted with a magic box, granting him the powers of shapeshifting, flight and to shrink and see other times and places. A cast of characters from Herne the Hunter to Punch n Judy top off a truly weird kids TV show.

Knightmare (1987 – 1994) was a dungeon adventure where groups of children tried to battle their way through traps, obstacles and enemies, even as their life force was drained away by monsters and faces leered down from high. Is this ok?

Mr Blobby probably takes the crown for downright horrifying. A bloated pink being with manic eyes who screeches 'blobby' and assaults his guests with a clumsy and floundering energy. First broadcast in 1992 he has featured on numerous shows over the years.

While many more could have been added to the list, this gives a flavour of the range. Eccentric, odd, haunting, creepy and sometimes menacing, the question is - what was it about UK culture as the television became more popular that led to these shows being considered acceptable?

Perhaps we're just softer, but there def seems a weird British edge to these shows. Masks, stone circles, Punch n Judy, automata dolls. Did the Cultural Revolution of the 60s let loose some of the older and weirder forces of pre Edwardian and pre Wars Britain?

Feel free to add any shows I missed that deserve to be more widely known, esp from the 70s and 80s.