Zippy was operated by Ronnie Le Drew. Thankfully, as his name would suggest, his mouth was actually a zip, and the most joyous moment of the programme for me, at least! George the hippo was my favourite character, being introverted and sensitive like myself , although his loveable character bordered on being camp, and his pink colour didn't help matters. Add to this his dumb-sounding laugh, and no young lad was ever going to admit to his friends that he actually liked George, for fear of being ridiculed or bullied in the school playground!
Surprisingly, his gentle voice was also provided by Roy Skelton. Bungle the Bear was loveable, too, of course. He was curious, clumsy and also critical of the other characters. He never wore any clothes, so it was always baffling as to why he would decide to put pyjamas on at bedtime!
He was replaced by Roger Walker until , when Freddy Marks took over and they became the more well-known trio of musicians. Rod, Jane and Freddy left Rainbow in to focus on touring and pantomime, as well as their own TV show which first started in Guest singers and Dawn Bowden who replaced Jane were used instead. In the first series in , the characters Sunshine and Moony were the main puppet stars, with Zippy, George and Bungle having less prominent roles. Other characters that occasionally made an appearance;.
Zippy's cousin, Zippo nothing to do with the cigarette lighters, although he could have been a pyromaniac in his spare time originally appeared as a French character, although later made an appearance as a rapper, possibly in a desperate attempt to stop the show's decline in ratings.
George's cousin Georgina looked exactly like him, but had longer eyelashes and wore a floppy hat. Geoffrey's Aunty was played by a number of different actresses. Dawn, the next door neighbour, appeared from onwards. Rainbow has developed a cult status since its demise, and several dance versions of the theme tune have been released as singles.
Solo released an instrumental version in , and Eurobop released a version in which used samples of the theme music and characters in the show. Zippy and George at the National Media Museum. Generally speaking, George and Zippy represented two 'types' of child, George being the quiet and shy type, while Zippy represented the hyperactive and destructive type. George was usually vindicated, but Zippy got his comeuppance. While they were apparently young 'children' aged around 7 or 8 , Bungle was an older 'child' aged around 12—13 , and differed from them in being a costume rather than a hand puppet.
Geoffrey's relationship to them was unclear, other than being a kind of father figure although he is referred to as 'Uncle' Geoffrey in at least one episode.
Apart from Jane and in the early days Sunshine, females rarely appeared on the programme, despite some ambiguity concerning the often effeminate and permanently pink George.
In , Rod, Jane and Freddy left the show to concentrate on touring, pantomime appearances and their own separate TV show which had run parallel with Rainbow since This meant that Dawn Bowden was introduced as a regular female character in place of Jane, while the songs were generally provided by guest singers, notably Christopher Lillicrap.
The show would also often include guest stars, to make a change from Geoffrey telling all the lessons — this way, the characters would be told stories and lessons by a fresh face. Even so, Geoffrey was never completely eliminated and continued to act as presenter and "member of the Rainbow House" until the end of the programme in The theme song for the show was actually a small part of the full version, also called 'Rainbow' and written by Hugh Portnow, Hugh Fraser and Tim Thomas of the band Telltale , who regularly appeared in the first series of the show.
There have been several dance versions of the theme tune which have been released as singles. The dance act Solo had a minor hit in with a sample-free instrumental version of the Rainbow theme, while Eurobop released a dance version in featuring samples taken directly from the original theme as well as voice samples of the main characters, who appeared on several music TV shows to promote the single; a hardcore version entitled 'Rainbow Vibes' by the Sonz of Bungle circulated on 12" vinyl in which sampled the theme tune over a chopped up breakbeat and featuring rave stabs.
The most recent dance version, titled "It's a Rainbow! Although the original Rainbow died with the loss of Thames' broadcasting licence in , Tetra Films an independent production company created by Thames' children's department revived it for ITV in 10 January and two series, 33 episodes in total. The new version of the show departed from the original format, centred on the slightly redesigned puppet characters — without a presenter — running a toy shop.
A new character was introduced, a Scouse -sounding blue rabbit named Cleo voiced by Gillian Robic. Geoffrey Hayes claims to have heard the news of his 'sacking' from the tabloids, rather than from Tetra: "I was shocked really, and for a couple of days I thought it was just me who had been dropped. But then Rod, Jane and Freddy had already left and of course Roy had now been dropped too.
The guy playing Bungle — he was history, as was the puppeteer doing George; only Zippy's puppeteer was left. This was a compilation of outtakes, bloopers and specially shot material usually with a more adult tone than usual designed to be watched at Christmas parties. As the tape rolled and a few drinks and snacks went down, the people who worked at the TV stations would see presenters drop their guard and even send themselves up for the amusement of their co-workers. And TV legend Doctor Who even got in on the act.
Other, independent broadcasters got in on the act. The vulgar script was written by none other than Roy Skelton, the voice of Zippy and George, and also known for voicing the Daleks in the s. We can honestly say that the Rainbow team upped the ante that year. It was specially scripted and we did it and I never saw it!
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