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Post by thomgray on Dec 19, 2015 13:36:56 GMT
Hi all, I've been trying to track down a copy of the obscure mockumentary 'The Return of the Magic Roundabout', originally shown on Christmas Day 1991 on Channel 4, and repeated a week or two later and never seen or heard of since. The one-off programme told the fictional story of the Planer brothers trying to recover the Magic Roundabout and bring the show back to the public, following various issues surrounding drug references and suspicious missing episodes. It sounds hilarious, and while there is a YouTube video of the last few minutes (mainly featuring Nigel Planer awakening to discover the whole event was a dream), there appears to be barely any other mention of it online. I contacted the film company behind it, but sadly their archives were destroyed in a fire and no other copies are known to exist. Does anyone have any suggestions of where to go to next, or perhaps have a copy they can share?? Many thanks  |
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Post by Mark Tinkler on Dec 19, 2015 20:08:39 GMT
have you tried Screen Ocean who sell clips of the C4 archive? They should at least be able to tell if C4 still have their TX copy - if not, ask Nigel Planer!
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Post by thomgray on Dec 19, 2015 20:37:41 GMT
have you tried Screen Ocean who sell clips of the C4 archive? They should at least be able to tell if C4 still have their TX copy - if not, ask Nigel Planer! I forgot to add that I'd already tried Channel 4 and they pointed me to the production house who made the programme, but Nigel Planer is a good idea! |
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Post by Nigel Lamb on Dec 19, 2015 20:38:55 GMT
I have it on vhs. PM me. I'll try to help.
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Post by richardfitzgerald on Dec 20, 2015 1:30:45 GMT
have you tried Screen Ocean who sell clips of the C4 archive? They should at least be able to tell if C4 still have their TX copy - if not, ask Nigel Planer! I forgot to add that I'd already tried Channel 4 and they pointed me to the production house who made the programme, but Nigel Planer is a good idea! Won't the BFI have a copy as they took off-airs of C4's whole output from the Eighties onwards? |
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Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 21, 2015 22:41:34 GMT
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Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 21, 2015 22:44:13 GMT
Also see www.magicroundabout.com/magicroundabout.com/The-Magic-Roundandabout-History.aspEven after the BBC had stopped showing "The Magic Roundabout", the series and its characters remained lodged in the public's affections and enjoyed enduring popularity. Many years before the current boom in sales of videos of old childrens' television programmes, the popularity of a compilation of episodes of "The Magic Roundabout" took the BBC completely by surprise, and the title was reissued on at least two occasions. In 1991, the series made an unexpected and much-publicised return to British television. Discovering that several of the original episodes had not been translated or transmitted by the BBC, Channel 4 bought the rights to a total of thirty nine episodes which they intended to add to their own children's programming. Eric Thompson had sadly died in the early 1980s, and for this new set of episodes his place was taken by Nigel Planer, whose Mr. Rusty-lookalike brother Roger was acting as producer for the project. In addition to translating and redubbing the episodes, the Planers also produced "The Return Of The Magic Roundabout", a tongue-in-cheek 'documentary' shown on Christmas Day 1991. The bizarre storyline follow's Planer's life as he finds himself haunted by the programme, which hounds him eventually to the extent of leaving cryptic messages on his answering machine. |
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Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 21, 2015 22:54:47 GMT
ON THE TWELFTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS, MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME, ONE BAFFLED EX-YOUNG ONE, ONE GEOFFREY PALMER, SIX HAPPY MONDAYS, ONE PERTWEE THATIRITHING, SIX ACAPELLA VOCALISTS, ONE CARICATURED BIGOT, FIVE MOTH-EATEN PUPPETS, ONE NEWSPAPER STRIP DOG, ONE VETERAN SATIRIST, ONE CROONING CLIFF, AND AN OUTDATED SINGING FAMILY... DougalTHE RETURN OF THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT (CHANNEL 4, 25/12/1991) tv.cream.org/christmas/obscure.htmIn 1991, Channel 4 acquired the rights to some episodes of The Magic Roundabout that had never been dubbed and shown in the UK. As original narrator and general lunacy provider Eric Thompson had sadly died some years previously, translation and narration duties fell to Nigel Planer. Later claiming to have suffered from 'Roundabout Blindness' during this period, Planer also scripted and appeared in an odd comic fantasy based very loosely (and the word 'very' is of particular importance there) on his experiences while working on the series. Lord alone knows what bizarre hallucinations had actually troubled him in the dubbing suite, but The Return Of The Magic Roundabout hinted at many clandestine conspiracy theories involving missing master tapes, meetings with French secret service agents, and a mysteriously knowledgeable hippy named Whizzbang. This is Christmas viewing as it should be - utterly devoid of concern for mainstream entertainment, and you needed to get up at some ridiculous unChristmassy hour of the morning to see it. Bear that in mind when we're all feeling walled in by endless repeats of Never Mind The Buzzcocks. |
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Post by Paul Tivy on Dec 28, 2015 2:06:44 GMT
Hi. Spotted this thread. Dug out my VHS. Uploaded to Youtube. Not sure how long it'll stay up there but here's the link: youtu.be/31YyaTwHn6ECheers. |
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Post by Stephen Byers on Dec 30, 2015 11:47:28 GMT
Excellent - thank you indeed. I see that there are some real episodes there too. But is there a definitive list of episodes to search for?
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