The Magic Roundabout

You know, when you are a kid, you tend to accept what is put in front of you as normal, but even as an eight-year-old I thought this was weird. Who is this guy with a bright red head and bounces around on a spring, telling everyone it was time for bed?

The English language version of The Magic Roundabout ran from 1965 to 1977 in 441 five minute episodes on BBC TV. The series was originally French, which begins to explain some of the weirdness. The English version just used the French footage and had completely new, unrelated scripts written and spoken by Eric Thompson.

The main character is Dougal the dog. Other characters include Zebedee, a talking jack-in-the-box with magical powers; Brian, a snail; Ermintrude, a cow; and Dylan, a hippy rabbit and some human characters: Florence, a young girl; Mr Rusty, the elderly moustached operator of the roundabout, and Mr McHenry, the elderly gardener who rode a tricycle; there was also a talking locomotive. Weird, even for the French.

859 Mr McHenry's Trike & Zebedee

Mr McHenry was released (escaped) in August 1972 and remained in the range until 1977, values are modest.

807 Dougal's Car

This car was released in November 1971 and remained in the catalogue until 1973. It is a re-working of the Tour de France Citroen DS. I'm not sure why it is Dougal's car as Dillon the rabbit and Brian the snail are there too and Brian appears to be driving. There are not too many of these around and prices can be high.