Camberwick Green

I always get this one mixed up with "Chigley", so my apologies if I end up rambling on about two different programmes.

Anyway, both programmes were, I believe, originally part of the BBC's umbrella "Watch With Mother" title, a series that, undoubtedly, shaped a nation. I clearly remember worrying my grandmother to check the newspaper as soon as it arrived each weekday morning to see which character was featured that day. Other programmes in the series included "Andy Pandy" (who, even at the tender age of five, I considered to be a right wimp), "Bill and Ben" (Kings of the "Watch with Mother" gang), and Hector's House (a later addition to the gang, I believe, which never possessed the same charisma as its predecessors).

"Camberwick Green" (and/or "Chigley") featured a host of fascinating characters: the trusty firemen (no demands for a 40% pay rise in the Camberwick Green division - a slippery pole and a shiny fire engine, and they were happy firemen); Windy Miller, the rustic windmill operator, who always managed to time his walk so that he passed between the rotating blades of the windmill without having to run or pause in order to avoid injury; the dear old lady who sold flowers; the fat mayor; the town clerk with the glasses. No five year old could help but be gripped by the dramatic twists and turns in their lives.

"Camberwick Green" and "Chigley" were invaluable in instilling a moral backbone into the tots of the 60s, thereby shaping today's movers and shakers in the UK. "Bananas in Pyjamas" and "Teletubbies"? Pah! and Piffle! - what hope for a nation whose future leaders have been raised on such uninspiring rot?