Once upon a time, a woman referred to as Florence with a penchant for giant boots performed together with her bizarre buddies: a canine referred to as Dougal, a dopey rabbit referred to as Dylan and an unusually speedy snail referred to as Brian in a magic backyard dominated by a brightly colored merry-go-round.
The names may not imply something to folks born lower than 40-odd years in the past, however to these of a sure age they're immediately recognisable as characters from The Magic Roundabout, a French youngsters’s TV present that achieved cult standing in Britain within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.
For greater than a decade, Florence and buddies charmed younger and previous alike with easy tales advised with a witty grownup sub-text each night. Then the programme vanished into tv historical past faster than the speaking, teleporting jack-in-the-box Zebedee might say “time for mattress”.
A 2005 movie primarily based on the TV collection, did not revive its fortunes regardless of being voiced by a solid of A-list stars together with Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Tom Baker, Joanna Lumley, Invoice Nighy and Ian McKellen. It was described as “dumbed down” and a tragic bypassing of the cheeky 60s unique and plans for a sequel had been rapidly binned.
Now, Florence and buddies are set to enchant a brand new technology of pre-school kids with a collection of 52 11-minute programmes produced by Mediawan’s Methodology Animation, the corporate behind The Little Prince and Robin Hood.
Producer Camille Oesch mentioned there was big international curiosity in reviving the programme, and that whereas the brand new collection, anticipated to air in 2024, was aimed toward a younger viewers of three– to five-year-olds, she hoped it could “recreate the magic of the Magic Roundabout”.
“We wish to respect the characters, personalities and spirit of the unique. It’s not a query of going again into the previous, however of reviving this iconic work with the methods of the current,” Oesch mentioned.
“In England, The Magic Roundabout was not simply an iconic programme of the Sixties it was a cultural reference in animation, however the context right now isn’t the identical as within the Sixties so we have now to discover a path between the 2.
“The response to the information has been monumental. Many channels have an interest.”
The Magic Roundabout began life as Le Manège Enchanté, created by Frenchman Serge Danot, a former decorator whose earlier declare to fame was that he had helped paint the Eiffel Tower. His pink, pink, blue and orange merry-go-round was set in a magic backyard the place the color inexperienced, which he hated, was bizarrely absent.
In 2004, Danot’s widow Martine, now in her early 70s, recalled how Dougal (Pollux within the French model) was an sudden star. “He was initially a minor character within the programme,” Danot advised the Guardian again then.
“At first he didn’t say something, he simply made an odd noise. However after the primary few programmes viewers started writing asking to see extra of the canine, so he grew to become the primary character,” she mentioned.
“Serge gave him a heavy English accent, which French folks discovered enormously amusing. He went, ‘Bow- wow-wow’ [French dogs go, ‘Ouah, ouah’].” Dylan, in the meantime, was referred to as Flappy and had a heavy Spanish accent, whereas Brian the snail was Ambroise and Ermintrude the cow, Azalée.
France’s state broadcaster initially commissioned 13 programmes, the primary of which was broadcast in black and white in October 1964. It was an prompt hit, and an extra 50 episodes had been ordered. In the long run Danot made about 700 and The Magic Roundabout went international; it was translated into 30 languages and broadcast in additional than 60 nations, together with Iran and Japan.
The BBC was initally unimpressed, rejecting the programme twice as charming however too “bizarre”, earlier than agreeing to purchase it in 1965. In the long run, its success within the UK was credited to narrator Eric Thompson, the daddy of actor Emma Thompson, who was presenting BBC2’s Play Faculty on the time. Thompson deemed the unique French tales simplistic and boring. As a substitute of translating them, he turned down the French sound and made up the narrative as he went alongside.
Whereas it was an enormous hit with youngsters, Thompson’s double entendres additionally appealed to adults. At its peak, The Magic Roundabout, proven within the five-minute slot earlier than the early night information on BBC1, was attracting about 8 million viewers. To younger followers, the hippy, guitar-strumming rabbit Dylan was simply dopey – whereas it was evident to oldsters that he had clearly been smoking one thing. And what was in these sugar cubes that despatched Dougal spinning in circles? Each episode ended with Zebedee (Ze Baddie, one other Thompson invention) declaring: “Time for mattress”.
Danot was much less pleased with Dougal’s English identify – he was satisfied Thompson was having a sly dig on the French president Charles de Gaulle.
Jérôme Brizé, founding father of Magic, co-producers of the brand new collection, who manages the rights to the Magic Roundabout on behalf of Martine Danot, admits Thompson’s method gave the British model a sure grownup attraction, however doubts the celebrated actor and script author would get away with doing the identical today.
“Eric Thompson would flip the sound down and make up his personal story. I don’t suppose he even knew what the unique was about; I suppose he was despatched the scripts in French however I don’t suppose they had been translated,” Brizé mentioned.
“He actually took some liberties however this was a part of his genius and contributed to it turning into such an iconic programme within the UK. I believe the UK was the one place the place the programme was addressed to adults in addition to youngsters.”
Brizé added: “We hope to recreate the spirit and English humour in it, however we will probably be taking it again to its unique roots as a collection for youngsters.”
Oesch agreed this was a problem. “We will probably be attempting laborious to discover a stability between the French and English contexts,” she mentioned.
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